Not directly related to Argo's very good effort at dating guns via serial number, but, a good example of some of the horseflies that show up in the yogurt:

http://www.gunsinternational.com/guns-fo...un_id=100884559

Mr. Dealer has a gun he has listed as a Darne, R13. He does mention that he doesn't know what era it was produced in, and would like some help in that area.

A sharp eyed, and interested, student of the Darne guns emailed me, wondering just what the hell it was. I guessed (not having a photo of the barrel flats) that it could be a Bruchet, produced early after they received permission to use the Darne name, as it is engraved, similar to the method used to put the Bruchet name on the even earlier production Paul Bruchet guns. Student proceeded to ask for, and receive photos of the barrel flats.




It is neither a Darne, nor an R13. It appears to be an upgrade to a Francisque Darne gun, with that makers information stamped on the flats of the barrels, and the trademark Darne script applied to the opening lever.

If it had been a Bruchet produced gun, it would be an OK deal at that price. Based on what we can see, it is a lower grade clone aping a more expensive gun, and not a good deal. I can't help but notice that although the dealer provided barrel flat pictures to someone who requested them, he did not put them in the original ad, or correct/edit the ad. This bothers me a bit. It would bother you too, if you had graded as many Darne guns as lower in actual grade AFTER someone purchased them, as I have. That, sucks.

Many thanks to the sharp eyed Bill Wolf, who stumbled upon this little quandary to begin with.

Do be careful out there.


Best,
Ted