Just saw photos of the barrel flats and water table on one of those. 3 birds on either side. Are those like the "poincons" (quality stamps) on a Darne? Seems like I recall seeing an explanation somewhere previously.
Yes, you did, Larry. I believe our own Tim Carney has a copy of that catalog page that explains the grades. Keep in mind, it would be for whatever regime was in control of Charlin at the time, and there were several different regimes over time.
That is a good looking 12 that Mark has, no? I have shyed away from Charlins of late, my main complaint is the safety is a stout leaf spring arrangement, and, tough to get off in the heat of battle. Same rules with Darne guns, buy one that fits to begin with, although, a Charlin does not have the big through bolt in the stock, and should be easier to bend, but, I haven't tried it. If you have a Charlin that "clunk, clunks" upon opening, when it is cocked and you are just cycling the breech, there is a small, flat spring that needs to be replaced. Seen a few with that issue over the years.
Good luck.
Best,
Ted
That is a very nice Charlin.
Here's a copy of the Model list for the 1921 Charlin automatique, Larry. Having trouble getting imgur to embed in this post, hopefully you can access the website. If not, PM me with your email and I'll send you either just the Models page or the whole brochure (which is available from the folks at Cornell pubs.
Regards, Tim
https://imgur.com/a/6goIiUj
Ah, figured it out. Here you are, Larry.
Regards, Tim
Thanks, Tim. Looks like the gun Mark Beasland has is a Model G. Interesting that it's pretty plain as far as engraving goes, but 3 of those marks on either side of the barrel flats.
Welcome, Larry. The marks are hirondelle (swallows). Lower grade guns are tiger and rabbit.
Regards, Tim
Thanks again, Tim. Must've been some Chinese influence chez Charlin. Instead of year of the tiger, rabbit, etc, we've got grades of those critters.
Thanks, Tim. Looks like the gun Mark Beasland has is a Model G. Interesting that it's pretty plain as far as engraving goes, but 3 of those marks on either side of the barrel flats.
Larry,
I'm pretty sure when Mr. French customer placed his order for his new Charlin, from the above catalog, he selected and paid for his engraving, and, possibly, the wood that was used on the gun, at the time of the order. The exception would have been the LC1 model, which, typically is the gun we see. These were likely built for stock, and I've never seen one that was engraved. Have owned several, and a friend owns several more.
There is no mention of engraving that came on the Charlins in the above catalog page. Most of my other French catalogs mention whatever house engraving came standard, usually with a good illustration, the folks at Francisque Darne knocked it out of the park in that regard.
I have a different Charlin catalog that shows some Celtic styles of engraving, I'll try to scan a page and get it up.
Best,
Ted
First of all, many thanks to skeettx for having a computer new enough to convert PDF files to JPEGs, at least that is what I think happened. I couldn't get the photos up.
These are two pages from a different era Charlin catalog than Tim had, illustrating a rather higher grade Charlin, and, the semi-famous Charlin in a bottle of water, that is still sitting at the Darne factory, or, was, last time I was there in the mid 1990s. It is a stainless steel action, and barrels option that was available in Charlins at one time.
During the James Wayne era of Darne gun production, there was an option listed in his catalog for stainless steel barrels on Darne guns, and I have wondered if these were remaining production Charlin barrels being offered for sale on new Darnes. Keep in mine Darne bought Charlin in 1955, building the gun alongside Darnes until about 1968. I've never had the chance to examine one of the stainless barrel Darnes, and hope to run across one someday. I have never had a stainless Charlin "Littoral" in my hand, either. The catalog also illustrates a Charlin "Sologne", a cased Charlin sliding breech double with shotgun and rifle barrels, with options of cape barrels, and other mixte options.
Mike has two more pictures to post, either his program put a limit on what he could do in a day, or, he might have needed an ice cream break. Been hot in TX this week. But, in advance of him posting them, one is a picture of a typical color case hardened Charlin, and the other illustrates a vented rib available for the guns.
I don't know exactly when the catalog pictures I sent to Mike were current. No dates are in the catalog. I'd hazard a guess of post WWII and into the early 1950s. Note, also, that the catalog makes mention of the gun being grade marked with 5 stars (cinq étoiles) with three different levels of finish, so, it would appear that the lions and tigers and bears, or, whatever, were gone.
Best,
Ted
