doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Darnes, opinions

At the factory, the fellas would close the action, and snap both triggers before returning a gun to the rack. When I asked about tools or snap caps for the case, I was given a wave and a head shake. "So much crap that goes in the case of an English gun. For what?"
I have seen a Darne that had the pin in the percutator fall out, it was just retrieved from the action and pounded back in with a bit of varnish on it. Locktite would work, also. It was/is a mid 1930s Halifax, with an Asian Lt's. name carved into the butt stock, and has seen some use, to say the least. Lt. Quay, I think? Doubt anyone here knows him.
That was the only one. I snap my guns before I return them to the safe. No problems.
Don't dry fire a Darne with the barrels removed from the action. While the older guns have a dove-tailed plate in the front of the action, this gave way to a straight walled plate, retained with two screws from the bottom of the sliding breech. Dry firing the dove-tail guns won't hurt anything, but, it severely stresses the screws in the more modern design. When you dry fire any Darne with the barrels in place, the spring loaded extractor plate supports the face plate of the breech, so, no worries.

Best,
Ted

The first Darne I owned, I dry fired it with plastic snap caps in place. Plastic snappies are a bad idea anyhow, but a Darne will flat destroy them.

All I ever do with V Darne is hold both triggers back while closing the breech. That way the strikers don�t engage the sears so springs aren�t compressed.
Can you do this with an R action?

Nial,
I was intrigued with what you posted, and went to try it out. It is not possible on an R model, the triggers trip the sears as the breech gets close to the end of the barrels. When I tried what you described on my V model, the same exact thing happened, the triggers tripped the sears as the breech got close.
Are you sure your gun is a V?
My take on the procedure it is this-I don't want my non-operating hand near the closing breech on a Darne, that my operating hand is busy closing. If something gets pinched between fixed barrels and breech, as the breech is closing, it will most definitely NOT be a day brightener for me.
Don't ask me how I know this.
I won't argue with anyone else's success, but, it isn't the way I go about it.

Plastic snap caps suck, Mr. Brown. The Darne was just making sure you knew that.


Best,
Ted

Ted, this is weird. I�ll get the gun out tomorrow and put it together and have a look. My memory is that the sears protrude up through the flat part of the action just above the triggers and when I pull the triggers they both recede below the flats. So how could they engage the strikers? The old memory isn�t what it used to be but I seem to remember doing the same thing on other Darnes. No, I�m not dead certain I do have a V but every other V I�ve looked at seems exactly the same. I�ve never seen a P. I really don�t know how exactly they differ.
Yours
N

Nialmac:

I have a P, if you want to look at it. I'm not sure where you are in Philadelphia, but I'm in the suburbs about 20 miles from Center City.

Rem

Hi Remington, that�s a very kind offer. Yes I would like to look at it. I�m in Cheltenham. Should I pm my phone number?

Fellas,
DO let me know what you discover. I haven't had a P gun about the place in a long time.

Best,
Ted

Ted,

I know enough about a Darne to know what they are when I see one. The Charlin I assume was a licensed copy of a Darne? But what is the story on the Peugeot?

Can you enlighten us?

John

John,
If you do a search right here using the word Charlin, you will discover a lot more than I care to type. But, I'll give you a few highlights.
A Charlin is a distinct sliding breech gun that is different and unrelated to a Darne, until 1965, anyway. In 1965, the Darne company purchased the Charlin company, and produced the guns alongside Darnes, until stock was exhausted.
The Peugeot would have been produced using 1894 Darne R patent proofed and barreled actions, that were sold out the back door of the Darne company, after the introduction of the new model 1909 Darne, that is the action we are all familiar with today. This is commonly known as a clone. There were many. As a fast rule of thumb, they tend to be well finished, even the guns without a name on them, and they sell for less than a typical Darne.

As I said, a search right here will produce lots of reading and knowledge.

Best,
Ted