[quote=Robert Chambers
Whatever degree I have misinterpreted...whatever degree Larry Brown is just being ignorant (he owned a Darne once). . .
[/quote]
Well Robert, I'll let the readers decide for themselves on the subjects of your misinterpretation and my ignorance by summarizing this thread, to this point:
On p. 1, you offer to Beagle to "explain what your gun is".
On p. 2, you refer to an "1894 patent Darne but made by Charlin" (of which you later post a photo).
On p. 3, you refer to a "catalog photo of a 1929 Charlin" (seemingly the same 1894 Darne patent gun).
On p. 4, Ted agrees that the photo is indeed of a gun built on the 1894 Darne patent. So you and Ted agree on that much. But . . .
On p. 5, we finally get the full page photos of a sliding breech gun called a "Regina". Not only is there no indication ANYWHERE on that page that the gun was built by Charlin, but on the bottom of the page, it clearly reads: "See the famous Charlin shotgun ON THE NEXT PAGE"--which would certainly seem to indicate that while the Regina is an 1894 Darne clone of some sort, it was probably not built by Charlin. Likely just another of the many non-Darne built, non-Charlin built, Darne clones.
And on the next catalog page--the one with the REAL Charlin, clearly identified and described as such--we learn that Caunier simply REPRESENTS Charlin (as a dealer--much like any dealer that sells more than one make of gun), and we're not talking about a catalog that deals exclusively with Charlin shotguns.
So your research, Robert--assuming you weren't trying to lead us all down the garden path and celebrate April 1 either a little early or a little late--runs into the significant obstacle posed by your not being able to understand what's written on the pages you posted. (Although it's awfully convenient, I'd say, that your first photo of the catalog page with the Regina/Darne clone both left out the name "Regina" and the rest of the sentence which told us that the famous Charlin was on the NEXT page, not the page we were looking at.)
So other than giving Beagle some advice on making his own stock (and maybe helping him find the proper blank), we've pretty much ended up back where we started: He has a Darne clone. Built by Charlin? Maybe, but likely not--because, as M. Gournet points out, we still have no evidence (although we did take a very interesting trip around the block, ending up back where we started) that Charlin built any Darne clones, let alone Beagle's "Abeille".
Just a suggestion, but you might want to post information in French that you don't understand, and ask for the help of those of us who do, before you try to beat Ted or me or anyone else over the head with your "evidence". No harm done, however . . . just another "woops" moment.
As for the patent research, I'm not sure where the difficulty lies. As long as you have a drawing (which you should have, for anything gun related), a date, and to whom the patent was assigned, what more do you need?
