I'll post this chart again. Ted points out errors in the chart.
I will say that when we discussed this on Dating Early French Shotguns....a couple of things came out:
https://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=484199&page=41. The chart notes 26,000 guns made by Darne between 1910 and 1925 - using the numbers Axxx, Bxxx, Cxxx....Zxxx. Take out the war years...26,000 guns in 11 years = about 2350 guns a year.
2. By using dated Didier Drevet barrels we established that the chamber measures on Saint-Étienne guns changed in mid 1912 from cm to mm. It was later refined to after June 11, 1912.
3. We found two Darnes which actually make the chart look pretty good:
-- A Darne type 18 12 guage with Darne made barrels SN
C692 on the barrels and 692 on the gun and chambered for 6.5 cm (pre June 1912)
http://www.gunbroker.com/item/670294785
-- a Darne type 10 20 gauge with Darne made barrels SN
C643 on a gun with the number 643 and chambered for 70 mm (post June 1912).
http://www.gunbroker.com/item/671021768
-- C692 would = 2,692 gun on the "alphabet series" from sometime in 1910....It could put it into summer 1912 (with some shoe-horning, a allowances for expanding production post WWII, etc). Just saying.
-- C643 - ditto
Given this analysis....Larry's gun SN
F579 would be 5,579th gun produced after the alphabet series started sometime in 1910. It could make it late 1913, early 1914? If Darne started off in 1910 producing fewer guns but gradually ramped up production, it could put F579 after 1918, but this might stress the curve a bit. (Presuming of course that Darne produced no domestic shotguns during the war, something that might not be true). (And remember Skeetz has a Didier Drevet gun with barrel dated 1918).
Defer of course to the expert. -- and photos would be much appreciated. If Larry will send them to me, I'll post them; he has my email someplace. Gene
