Ted, have you seen the Darne design where the breech pivots? Saw a couple of those one year at the old UP Classic SxS Shoot.

Of course not everything French is that different. WWI French ace of aces Rene Fonck (75 kills) did an ad for Verney-Carron. He said that shooting his V-C, the birds fell "like Boches!" And V-C described him in the ad as a "hunter of men". A gun ad that's definitely different, even if the gun itself isn't.