doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com An old Halifax.

I think I’ve posted this photo before, but, this gun nicely illustrates a few related notions on early Darne sliding breech guns, while being a bit of an enigma from where we stand today.




This is a 2 1/2’ 12, that would have been built prior to the overhaul of the French proof laws in 1923. The push button safety was patented in 1923, but, the barrels were proofed with the 6.5 mark, which, supposedly, fell out of use around 1912. Sculpted detonation, that styled curve on the breech balls, seemed to go away in the early 1920s. I’d guess we have a 20 year window, when it could have been produced, but, there is still one great, big, horsefly in the yogurt.

Most of the serial numbers on the old gun, do not match. Further, the gun was very nearly unused when I got it. The 2 1/2” chambers might explain some of that, but, I believe the horrible trigger pulls were just as much a reason. A guess I have is that the gun was a cleanup of parts from an era when the designs were evolving, and wasn’t ordered for anyone in particular. The safety button is a tortured little piece of round stock, ground to fit in a tight spot between the breech, the springs for the strikers, and the sears.
I worked the triggers down to tolerable, and would use it more if 2 1/2” ammunition weren’t so scarce. It is choked about IC and IM, and throws nice patterns right where I look, out of both tubes. I have been shooting it right handed, and still have a ways to go to perfect my mount and my sight picture (I sometimes close the wrong eye, after doing it that way for 50 seasons), but, it is a work in progress. It is not a heavy gun, but, it is heavier than average for a Darne:

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That rib on the barrels, was the standard raised rib, in this case with an under rib. The “plume” or swamped rib cost a few more bucks. Very stout barrels, no less than .050 anywhere, and often a bunch more. The barrels are 27 3/4” long, that is a factory length.This one was single proofed with powder T, fairly standard proof of a French hunting implement, and stout. The front swivel is mounted to the under rib, in this case, but, a customer could specify no under rib, with swivels, in which case a steel block was soldered between the barrels, to mount the swivel. You could get anything you wanted when it came to slings. Leather strap with swivels, bretelle Darne (the good one, if you ask me) or the retractable. The straight stock was the cheapest version as well. This has a horn butt plate, and course checkering. it weighs just under 6 1/2lbs, wearing the sling I bought for it. Sometimes I do take the sling off, I don’t always need it, and, as a fixed sling it is a bit more cumbersome than the bretelle Darne.I think swivels on hunting implements were so common on the continent that makers just put them there, and customers just accepted they would be there. Here in the states, guys actually seem distraught at the notion of a shotgun wearing swivels, and literally believe they have to remove them. You see guns that have had them amputated, all the time, here, but, that doesn’t happen in Continental Europe.

I don’t think it was intended to be a closet queen. It would have been about the least expensive way into a sliding breech gun, in it’s era. But, closet queen it was, until the guy who served with the Big Red One, a guy I never knew, passed away, and his granddaughter wanted it out of the house. It had very little use in the two decades or so it was in France before our guy ended up with it. It lived in a bedroom closet, in White Bear Lake, MN, for 70 years.

I sold it once. Then, it came back. I enjoy it enough that I’ll keep it around as long as I can get ammunition for it.


Best,
Ted

Thanks for the info and look at your Halifax. I bet that push button safety is nice. Not a feature you see to often on Darne's.

Ted,
I wouldn’t hesitate to use 2.75” shells in your Darne. You know better than I do that Darnes can handle it. I use 2.75” shells in my Halifax on occasion. I notice no discernible difference and it still kills birds deader than Dillinger.
I paid about $700 for my old 16 bore Halifax on gunbroker a while ago…..it sat on there for almost a year, I got the hint that these aren’t exactly flying off the shelf. Obviously, It’s a lot of gun for that kind of money. It’s a welcomed gun on Chukar hunts, it makes gaining elevation a little easier with its minuscule 5 lbs+ weight. It’s lightning quick, well balanced, factory cast on for a southpaw, and throws nice bird killing patterns with pretty much any shell I put into it. I have a regular euro type 3/4” wide leather sling mounted on my gun, it serves its purpose well. Good luck to you on your shooting, I’m rooting for ya. Merry Christmas.

I’ve fired a few 2 3/4” rounds in it. I had some ammunition produced in Hungary, that were marked 2 3/4” (70, actually), but, were 1/4” shorter than that, after firing. Nothing bad happened. The stuff actually worked well. One of the Winchester AA loads, I think an ounce, or an ounce and 1/8th, at 1150fps, is the bomb at the gun club, but, they are only 7 1/2 or 8 shot, when I can get them.

More along the lines of just using the right load because I should know what is supposed to be used. 2 1/2” 12 loads feel good in my pocket, too.

The gun could use a pad. The wood could use a freshening of the finish. While it may sound weird, I hesitate to take that horn butt plate off, because I was in France, and saw the rack above the wood stove, where the butt plates were warmed to be formed to the end of the stock, by the stock makers hands, pressed into shape, fitted, drilled and the two lightly engraved screws drilled, timed and installed. Seems a shame, a hundred plus years later, to undo that.

Have to give that some thought. The wood finish on that 16 gauge of yours is killer, Dustin. It just might inspire me.

Best,
Ted

[](https://goopics.net/i/vj1wiw)

[](https://goopics.net/i/25cwyk)

Salut Ted,

Deux photos extraites du catalogue 1922 où on voit la sûreté par poussoir brevetée en 1921.

Joyeux Noël, Fab!

Mon fusil Semble avoir manqué le banc des graveurs, le fusil du catalogue est plus beau que le mien. Merci pour les photos du catalogue. J'espère que vous allez bien.

Meilleurs reards,

Ted

Ted, there is something about the unique nature of French guns that appeals to the few who seem to be odd to those who don't get it. As far as which eye to close, sometimes I close both with no lowering of my shooting skill :-)

I wouldn’t mind being the guy who closes both eyes, and still gets the bird.

Happy New Year.

Best,
Ted