doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Charlin O/U--How Rare?

At the local gun show last weekend, I came across a gentleman that was selling one of these.
Neat little 16 gauge in pretty nice shape. He really didn't know what he had, he just knew it was French.
I didn't buy or even make an offer (way out of my league). Stock seemed short and pad was disintegrating,
otherwise had pretty, straight-grained wood. I didn't inspect too closely, just picked it up and marveled at it.

Don't want to get into the plus and minuses of sliding breech guns, but just wondered how rare of a bird was this?

Seemed like it would've made a handy little woodcock gun.
-jim

Jim, check out Charlin "Le Superfixe" 12 on GunBroker. It's the only one I've seen (which I suppose proves very little) but assume it's probably same model as your gunshow 16. Been there a while and the price is dropping. The normally streamlined look of the breechblock on a Charlin sxs is lost with the deep frame on the stackbarrel. It's not in the '51 catalog (all the O/Us there have a toplever and sliding lock hood like Rem 32/3200 and a host of others). You mention a short stock; the stock on the Gunbroker item "looks" short also. Do you have a sliding breech gun? I have a very light Charlin 12 I got from the late Thad Scott.

jack

Hey Jack,
Interesting. Just going from memory, the 16 I saw seemed
newer than the GB Superfixe. The 16 had Charlin only stamped
in the middle of the top lever. No model name was on the top lever.
Also condition of the metal seemed much better--wasn't
frosted like the GB gun. Wood on the 16 had the same lovely red hue as the GB
gun--very pretty. The guy selling it mentioned that the gun was part of an estate
collection that was mostly rifles.

I don't own a sliding breech gun, in fact know very little about them.
I do have a fascination with the mechanics of the action (as well as the MF Ideal action) though.

A guy never knows what will be around the next corner at a gun
show. Guess that's why I go.
-jim

A Charlin - sxs made for the Maharajah of Patiala


Charlin, designed and patented by Ribe


Charlin - Superfix




There are so many "copies" of the sliding breech, it is hard to keep track of them. This is true of both Darne and Charlin guns. The Charlin o/u guns are not common here, but they are not uncommon in France. Many were produced during the 1960's - 1970's.

Pete

I have reservations about the originality of the wood on the Superfix. Apparent girth at wrist; some shadow "crevasses" at the edge of inletting on both stock and forend; the strange proportions in profile of a stock with a very usual 14+ LOP-- all raise some questions. I had not noticed the corrosion "frosting" of the frame but certainly apparent if you take the finish in Pete's photo as normative.

jack

Pete, I think your dates may be off. I have an article on Charlin, in French, which states that they went out of business in 1968. The same article refers to the Maharajah of Patiala, and states that Charlin made him a pair of guns.

I have a Darne pamphlet from 1977 which shows 3 different models of conventional (top lever/break action) OU's.