Ted, I seem to recall seeing production figures on the Manufrance Robust, which I've always thought of as the French equivalent of a Stevens 311 in terms of sales, but obviously a much better gun. I believe that number was in the vicinity of 800,000. A Darne brochure I picked up in Rouen (would've been the summer I taught in France, 1977) which states the following:
"It has been more than 90 years since Darne first brought out its side by side with fixed barrels, now famous worldwide where more than 300,000 of them are in service . . . "
Clearly kinky, but certainly not rare.
The only thing that might keep me from using it a lot when bird hunting is the safety. I'm guessing that it will be like hammerguns: I wait for the dog to go on point, take safety off, and flush the bird. But I'm having fun playing around with it. Glad I finally got one that both fits and does not have godawful triggers. I think Dustin may remember a fellow Flatwater attendee who had a Darne with what I think were the heaviest pulls I'd ever experienced on any double. But I've found that even break-action French guns often have fairly heavy pulls.
