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I have a Darne V gun. Just returned from Mr. Merrington with a clean bill of health. My question- it is clearly marked as a V20- 10 poincon strikes but with V22 style engraving with dogs and fox hunting scenes each side. It is a very early gun with 3 digit serial #. Can I assume earlier guns had more extensive engraving patterns on lower grade guns?

Salut,

Plus ils sont vieux plus ils sont beaux !
V19 fabriqué vers 1905.

Plus ils sont vieux plus ils sont beaux !
V19 fabriqué vers 1905.

The older they are, the more beautiful
V19 made around 1905

Serial #37x- can anybody tell me the year of manufacture?

I have two Darnes, both early guns. The first is an R11 (one grade stamp, done as an asterisk and not the later circle) 10 gauge with 2-7/8 inch chambers and a serial number in the 6500 range. The second is a P19 12 gauge with 6.5 cm chambers in the 13000 serial number range. Both are extremely nice guns. The 10 gauge weighs a mere 7 pounds 3 ounces and gets a diet of RST and reloaded 1-1/8 ounce shells. The 12 weighs right at 6 pounds 12 ounces.

They either have been refinished or were extraordinarily well cared for, as both are in excellent condition.

That is the latest incarnation of the Darne V gun, lever held in place by a powerful spring up the lever. Very good design, but, a bad, bad thing when the spring breaks. That is the bad news. The very good news is that in forty years of playing this game, I’ve never seen a broken Darne V lever spring. It happens infrequently enough that the guys in France didn’t give me a spare for my Darne dealer parts collection. The only spare V parts I got were trigger return springs, and I have every one I watched Paul Bruchet bend up for me when I was there.

Use that gun in good health. I was out today, using a straight stocked V19 20 gauge with a swamped rib. Too warm, too many bugs, but the worst thing was my dog handled three woodcock spectacularly, and the area I was hunting was closed to hunting migratory birds.

All we could do was watch them fly away.




Anyway, your Darne is a short chamber 12 (or, was a short chamber gun, might not be, now) that was subjected to French triple proof and marked with the new style marking for that level of proof. That mark came into use with the new proof laws, circa 1923. The old mark for triple proof had been four crossed sheaths of wheat. But, other marks are on the gun that disappeared from use around the same time the laws changed.

Again, I’m pretty close on the date. I’m mostly sure the last patent V gun was being produced and sold well before that patent was issued in 1928.

Best,
Ted

None of this is about “need”. I believe it was our own Chuck, who opined that once you have driven past a KFC, there is no legitimate reason to continue on to a bird hunting expedition.

I should really watch for a 16 gauge Darne. I have a 28, a 20, and a 12 at the moment, but, have never owned a 16 gauge Darne.

Need. Are you kidding me?

Best,
Ted