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Forums10
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Most Online1,258 Mar 29th, 2024
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Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 182
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 182 |
I heard it, Father Ted, and I live it!!! That's how the gun arrived but I was too green to know what I was looking at and to lazy or distracted to get it straight to someone who would know. It all worked out for the best. I bought the gun for around $1k less than an R15 generally sells for and spent about that much getting it right.
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 683
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 683 |
I really love mine. It's a lower grade, utility gun and I love its eccentricities. Lightweight. I first saw a Darne in Vietnam, thought it was weird then and think so now. Mine is plain-stocked and unadorned, but I really like the 20 ga little fellow. I have no problem with the LOP; like to get up close. If it was a 12 ga I might object. Probably the last shotgun I'll buy.
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 9,748 Likes: 743
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 9,748 Likes: 743 |
The vintage examples generally were stocked to fit a runty 9 year old, in my experience. Thanks to Argo and his ongoing quest for more accurate dating of French guns, we can say this is pre 1912 and post 1900, which, seems vintage enough for me: Almost perfect dimensions, but, a bit short to use with just a t-shirt. It will be exactly perfect, come December. I would have guessed pre 1920 with this gun. Argo narrowed that window down some. Generalizations are often just that. I'm guilty of it myself. The chokes were .007 and .015, which, isn't all that tight by French standards. Of course, I have no idea if they were altered. Tight chambers, tight bores, all as per usual, and I have no intention of modifing anything on those pristine bores. The righthanded button safety is unusual. I'm having issues with my left eye, and this gun will be instrumental in helping me to learn to shoot right handed. Best, Ted
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Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 3,156 Likes: 318
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 3,156 Likes: 318 |
Ted, I think we can do better than 1900-1912. Is that the Halifax 3 you pictured previously? What's the serial number (can't make it out from the "dating early 20th Century Shotguns" line). But if it has an "A" prefix, per the SN chart posted by GLS (with all its imperfections) - it figure it to be 1910. Here's the analysis" The "letter" series began in 1910. If your gun has a letter series SN and the cm chamber mark, it would date the Halifax 3 between 1910 and 1912. We've posted Darnes in the "C600" series with both cm and mm stamps - meaning they almost certainly were mid 1912 when the chamber stamps changed: -- C692, a 12 gauge with a chamber stamp 6.5". -- C643, a 20 gauge with a chamber stamp "70". Analysis continued: -- 1910-1912 - A001 to C650 = 2650 guns (more or less) made with chambers in cm...beginning with A0001 - ending about C650 or so).... -- Since we don't know when in 1910 the A series began or exactly what month in 1912 the cm/mm changeover took place - say anywhere from 20 to 30 months of production = take a stab - if 24 months (June 1910-June 1912) then about 110 a month? Pretty easy then to date the Halifax within 3 or 4 months if the chart is true and yours has an alphabet prefix). Oh yes, in Spring 1971 I drove across France in a Citroen Deux Chevaux; I owned an Oldsmobile once but in Brussels 1985-88 drove a fuel injected Renault 21, a pocket rocket - ran a BMW out of gas at 130+mph running up from Luxembourg to Brussels..
Last edited by Argo44; 10/01/17 08:47 PM.
Baluch are not Brahui, Brahui are Baluch
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 9,748 Likes: 743
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 9,748 Likes: 743 |
Argo, This gun has a bunch of DIFFERENT serial numbers on it, but they are all in the 3500-3900 range-4 digit, no letter prefix. Further complication is that the Halifax was not cataloged that early, and I suspect there was but one, not the 3 and 4 number grades that came later. The Halifax grade guns tended to come and go with the ups and downs of the economy. As I stated previously, I owned a V20 Darne that was in the 50,000 serial number range and was dated to 1910 by the Darne factory. The number was less important for accurate dating than the signature of the engraver on the gun, and the quality (lack thereof, actually) of the very old man who was still working into his 90s.
The Olds likes gas, good gas at that. There is nothing like the sound of an American open element, dual exhaust, pushrod V8 coming into the cam and the secondaries of the carb, blasting down a freeway entrance ramp, and that makes it all worth while.
Best, Ted
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Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 3,156 Likes: 318
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 3,156 Likes: 318 |
I am schooled and I learn...and the Olds from the 1960 muscle car era looked something like this:
Last edited by Argo44; 09/30/17 11:37 PM.
Baluch are not Brahui, Brahui are Baluch
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Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 2,308 Likes: 44
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 2,308 Likes: 44 |
^^^^^^^ Gauche.
_______________________ Iso Grifo
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 11,377 Likes: 105
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 11,377 Likes: 105 |
Argo, I had the next step up from a Deux Chevaux when I lived in Morocco: Renault R-4. A white R-4 was by far the most common car you saw. It was my "work" car, and with local plates, I really blended in . . . which is why real spies don't drive rare and expensive sports cars. (But I always had to look at the license plate to make sure I was getting into the right car!) On the other hand, that little R-4 wasn't much for vehicular surveillance if the "rabbit" I was chasing drove much faster than 60 mph.
Back to Darnes: They're great if you're shooting paper shells in very humid conditions, when they're likely to get stuck in break action guns. That's supposedly one reason for the design.
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 9,748 Likes: 743
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 9,748 Likes: 743 |
Gene, I actually owned a copy of the 1971 W30 442: If a guy needed a front clip for that car, you would be out most of 10K. What I keep in the garage, today: Having an old car around keeps you proficient with your tools. I just serviced the wheel bearings in the rear axle of the gold 1967 442. I also serviced the fuel pump in my Wife's 2006 Malibu, I enjoy working on an older car much more than newer cars. You can put many, many Darnes in the trunk of a 1967 442. Best, Ted
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