Originally Posted By: canvasback
Ted, just curious. If Darne is not building guns and they aren't repairing guns, what are they doing? Busy being insolvent?


James,
I will admit, that I don't know, exactly. Hervé Bruchet was bought out by a firm known as Fort Royal, a French company that was interested in keeping French artisans of all types producing heirloom quality items for a home market. A quick read of the Fort Royal website shows nothing about the Darne guns, however, they used to be there. The Bruchet website seems to be on autopilot. My understanding of the Fort Royal organization is that money is not a problem, and never will be.
Geoffroy threw in the towel as US importer just after the purchase, and told me he doesn't believe the new owner had full grasp of just what he had bought.
People outside of France who contact (more like attempt to contact) the company report no response.
I did notice that the Bruchet website has no mention of the Petrik designed O/U that was in production from about when Geoffroy got out. There is a truly ugly single trigger Blitz action O/U in it's place, and I've got to believe when you ramp up to produce something like the Petrik, and it isn't listed a few short years later, something has gone terribly wrong.
Full disclosure, I, too, threw in the towel as US importer, and while I wish them the best of luck, I have my doubts a company producing a gun that unique can make it from where we are today.

Best,
Ted