doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Darne?

Thank you Gil!
I have been very fortunate in finding a wife who has not only put up with me for close on 40 years, but who grew up in France. We have maintained a residence there for almost as long as we have been together. Our home is in a village that was the frontier between occupied and free France, and was billeted by German soldiers.
We have a 103 year old neighbor, who is fairly alert and speaks of this time as being more peaceful than one might imagine. A bit difficult for me fathom!

Azure,
The 18.2 on both barrels represents the bore diameter, expressed in mm, 9" from the standing breech. It clearly identifies the gun as a 12 gauge, will tell you positively if the bores have been honed in the past (I doubt it, from what you have told us so far) and will tell you how much choke either barrel has if you measure the constriction at the muzzle with a dial indicator.
18.2 is about .717 in inches. Standard 12 gauge bore is about .729. The gun comes from an era when wads were typically felt or horse hair, and while it would still work well with those, you will typically find plastic wads in ammunition today.
I have lengthened chambers on older sliding breech guns, and advised others to do the same. The barrels on this type of gun are usually constructed much heavier than barrels on other types of shotguns (minimum wall on my little R10 12 gauge is about .060, and goes up to .090, very stout for a double gun) as there was less metal elsewhere in the design of a sliding breech gun, and because French proof is, by law, the highest in Europe. But, I'm more sympathetic these days to leaving original guns in original condition, and altering the ammunition to produce desired results.
You will be well served going either route, and you can make the choice to suit your needs.
As an aside, you would simply not believe how many times in the last 30 years I have heard a similar story about a Darne coming to the US in the same fashion that your example did. I wish I had a dime for every single time I have heard that, or seen it written.

Good luck. I hope you can put the gun to it's intended use from time to time.

Best,
Ted

I have a wish to buy a darne at some stage, but know little about them. There were two for sale near me, i didn't see them in person, merely photographs. They seemed to me to be farmers grade, beech stocks, pressed on chequering, no engraving, very plain.

Do they shoot loose after many rounds like normal opening shotguns do ? If so,is it a difficult job to tighten them ?

Bonny, if the stocks are indeed "beech" I doubt if original wood. Darne used walnut. As for pressed on checkering, that wouldn't be Darne. They were hand checkered. Perhaps the wood has been refinished and the checkering was sanded giving it the appearance you note. The actions are probably the strongest made on a double. I don't believe shooting appropriate shells would loosen the action. Hopefully Ted will give his opinion. He's probably seen and handled more Darnes on this side of the pond than anyone. While the guns may appear to be plain, they are the same actions that are found in the higher graded guns. Gil

Thanks Ted, for your generosity in sharing information! I will test fire at week's end, and will be happy to report. I most likely will be content with a 2.5" shell. RST does not make the 00 buckshot load that my range requires for firing on site, but they said that they would direct me to another manufacturer that also used paper shells. While I have no experience hunting, I now live more rurally than I have, and have seen frequent bobcat and coyote, so the Darne may well serve a utilitarian function at some point.

With best wishes!
Ben

Most of what goes wrong on a Darne involves unqualified gunsmithing. They don't shoot loose, like a gun with a hinge pin, and I liked what Michael McIntosh said in his appraisal of the design, noting that the wear tends to get spread over a far larger area on a sliding breech gun, as opposed to a conventional gun, which, I happen to agree with. There are fewer parts in a Darne than there are in a boxlock or a sidelock, and less to go wrong.
Watch for broken stocks, broken main springs, and lower grades that have seen severe use in areas like French colonies from the 1920s-1950s, that have somehow ended up back in civilization. A friend owns a Halifax, in perfect operating condition, with an Asian Colonels name carved into the stock. Unbeautiful history, I guess. Wonder where it has been?
Plain wood was a hallmark of the lower grade guns, and copies, or clones, as we call them, guns like the OPs that don't have a name on them. Most of those are as well fitted, and finished, as well as an actual Darne gun from the Darne factory, guns always noted as being high quality.

Avoid Darne project guns like the plague. That might be OK if you lived across the street from the factory, but, none of us do.

There do exist high grade R model Darnes, but, the truly high grade guns are V and P models, which turn up much much less frequently, and are completely different from the R models, with no parts interchange.

A Darne simply isn't for everyone. Try to handle and shoot one before you buy one, if at all possible. The different grades handle a bit differently, and you may need to search a bit before you find out which grade you prefer.

I prefer regular, old, R10s. Perfect hunting implements, and none of the many examples that has passed through my hands has ever required any gunsmithing, although I have restocked one example, to fit me, and I am considering doing it again on a different gun, to hopefully get the same results.

Good luck in your quest. Let us know how it goes.

Best,
Ted

Bonny,
As Ted stated, there are fewer parts in a Darne than in what Darne refers to as a "Tipping Gun". Go to the forums section of doublegunshop.com . The second heading,
Double Gun FAQs shows "Darne compilation...." Page 5 of the pdf is a small pamphlet by Darne. It depicts a chart (in green background) at the bottom comparing the Darne's action versus a "tipping" gun. Depicted in the chart are the parts utilized by both the Darne and "tipping" gun in 4 categories. The Darne utilizes 25 parts compared to the tipping gun's 41 utilized in fastening, percussion, ejection and safety. Gil
PS: Here's link to above that Geo posted earlier in thread:
http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=454604#Post454604

My R10 fits me very well and is a very enjoyable gun to carry. However, as Ted said, they are not for everyone and the chance to try one first would be very beneficial.

Ted,
At my age, when I hear of an "Asian colonel's" name carved into the stock, I naturally think French Indo China, and within it, Viet Nam. I remember during the 60s, large importers( Ye Olde Hunter?, Century Arms?)brought in hundreds, if not thousands of double barrel 16ga shotguns that had belonged to the French Forces when they lost their colonies. I don't remember seeing Darnes advertised, but I suspect there would have been some. Maybe they were separated out and disposed of a different way for a better price.
Mike

Mike,
I think the name was Vietnamese. I don't remember it, but, that was the conclusion we came to, years ago. The gun was run hard, and put away wet for many years prior to coming here. I'll ask, next time I see my friend, who still owns it.
Your notion makes sense. We figured it was a soldiers bring back.
At the end of the day, it is an example of a Halifax version of a Darne that has received little to no care during it's life, and still functions perfectly.
There are many of those examples out there, as well.

Best,
Ted