doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com New Verney-Carron

I won an auction this weekend for a Verney-Carron I had never seen. It is a Stopvis model. I had never heard of it until I saw the listing. A little research show them to be somewhat common in Europe but essentially unknown in the US. The sliding action is what hooked me. I wanted it to go ith the Darne and Charlin models I have.

This one is surprisingly a 10 gauge. It appears to have been refinished at one time because the the stock appears to be fiddleback maple but they were made with walnut stocks. I presume that it was a stock made from some light European walnut and refinished with no stain. The pad was obviously added for obvious reasons. The weight is 3 kg (6 lb 6 oz) which is frightening to think about shooting. I doubt it has seen much service.

I located several catalogs for V-C and believe it was made for a short time from 1938-1939 until the war. They started these in I believe 1928 and made them until around 1966 or so. The 10 gauge does not appear up through 1935, it is in the 1939 catalog and then is not seen in the 1947 or 1955 catalogs. Over the years they made models called the Standard, the Luxe, the Colonial, the Supercharge, and the Canardier. Grades were standard, 83,84 and 87. The Supercharge (with the higher proof) was available several years after the war in 83 and 87. The Colonial was the only one available in 84. This gun is a Canardier Model 83. It is the only model ever made in 10 gauge apparently, and only available for 2-3 years befor the war. The 1939 catalog was likely the last year of sporting production in France.