doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com My new French 12 gauge

I got lucky the other day and purchased this nice 12 gauge French SXS. I took photos, but was using a new camera so not everything came out as I�d hoped. I�m also having trouble downloading to my image host so that I can post photos of the proofs etc. According to the seller it�s a Fauget & Co., I can�t find them in my Carders book so I suspect they were a sales outlet and not a manufacturer. I�m pretty excited about this gun. It has 27� barrels (68.5cm�s) with dual proofs, it appears to have been almost unused, and it weighs in at a svelt 5lbs 14ounces. The French know how to build them! I�ll try my image host again later and see if I can�t get pictures of the barrels flats posted. I�d like to learn more about this gun.
Steve

Very nice!

Thanks 775.
I just went back to my image host and was finally able to get my barrel flats images posted. As usual I had trouble with the camera focusing on the barrel lug and not the flats.
Steve


]

Very nice looking gun-swamped rib, I presume? Shorty chambers (you knew that) or have they been lenghtened?
Nice weight to carry all day, I'm afraid few people shoot a truly light gun well. I'd likely load it to the 16 gauge standard of an ounce of shot, and I'd bet it still recoils with authority.
Do enjoy.

Best,
Ted

Hi Ted, yes it's got a swamped rib, quoi encore? I won't lengthen the chambers, but I do see extended forcing cones in this guns future. Your right about the loads, with double proofs I'm not worried about standard loads, but you do pay for it in your shoulder. I shot a 100 clay sporting clays round with my 5lb 16 gauge using 1ounce Federals and felt it in my shoulder for days afterwards. At least with this gun I can use Winchester AA Low recoil/noise shells for sporting clays.
Steve

Nice find Steve. I love the engraving on the top and barrels. Almost looks like cocking indicators on the flowers.

That's a nicern!

Steve - that is a very nice find! The Helicobloc lockup is a very strong design. I have to wonder if that might have been made by Verney-Carron, based on the Helicolbloc mark and the scalloped back - just a hunch. Other makers used the Helicobloc mark after V-C's patent expired, but that gun just looks like a V-C for some reason.

Compare it to this gun:

V-C

Doverham, there are similarities, especially in the stock carving, I'm guessing the gun you're showing is a boxlock with side-plates. When you say scalloped back do you mean the heavily carved fences on both these guns? If so that's pretty common on French guns, they loved carved balls. One thing that is interesting on both guns is how thin the fences (balls) are. I don't have this gun in hand yet, but when I do and can really inspect it and take some nice closeup pictures I'll learn a lot more. After all that's half the fun! My son bought me a Canon SLR camera for Christmas, so once I thoroughly figure out how to use the thing taking good pictures should be a snap.
Steve

It's kind of hard to say from the pictures, but it looks to me that the barrels bear the "canons Fanget" mark, which means that the barrels were made by Fanget who was a good barrel maker. Perhaps not as well known as "Jean Breuil" but good nonetheless.
He did *not* make the gun.
I like the bulbous fences of belgian influence. You can see that they have been trimmed to a bear minimum in order to meet the weight goal.
Best regards,
WC-

Steve - I was actually referring the action, where it meets the stock head. The Brits also call that fancy-back I believe. I have some V-C catalogs and they show both boxlocks with sideplates and ones with scalloping with a similar pattern to yours. I will try to post a couple examples if time permits.

Steve I really like your Frenchy. Maybe there will be some pheasants for us to chase in Kansas next season and I can show you how to shoot it.

Very nice.

who will you hire to teach him? As I recall...never mind...

Looks like a heckuva buy at that price. The Winchesters will work, but they're often "poofy" in cold weather--although that's more of a problem for us up here in the north country than it would be in TX. If it were mine, shooting targets, I'd reload 7/8 oz. Not too much of a pressure concern with the double proof, just keep the velocity at a moderate level. Maybe even 3/4 oz if you're shooting skeet with it.

Hello Steve,

What a great buy! Congratulations!

JC

Thanks guys, for a bottom feeding upland hunter such as myself finding this gun was like finding the Holy Grail of upland guns. Just like my 16's it's lighweight, yet I don't have to feel I'm getting screwed every time I buy ammo and I have a huge selection of 12 gauge loads to choose from right off the shelf. Like I said for me it was like finding the Holy Gail.
Steve

Steve, re your last sentence: double proof aside, it wouldn't be a good idea to run standard American 2 3/4" factory ammo through that gun. You'd be OK with the low noise/low recoil Winchesters, but even "light" American target loads are not necessarily light in terms of pressure. (Particularly true of the cheap stuff at places like Wal-Mart.) And most factory 7/8 oz loads for the 12ga are pretty fast because they're made for international competition where the shot charge is limited. And any 2 3/4" hull fired in a 2 1/2" chamber will raise pressures, anywhere from a few hundred to over 1,000 psi--which is why those of us that reload light 2 3/4" loads for 2 1/2" guns build in a significant safety margin in terms of pressure. If you're talking about availability of 2 1/2" 12's from people like RST and Polywad, plus foreign-made shells, you do have an advantage there over what you can find for the 16. But I think most of us who shoot a lot of targets with 2 1/2" guns would recommend going the low pressure reload route. You'll save a bunch of money, components are readily available, lots of good 12ga target hulls for multiple reloads, and easy to keep the pressure very low.

Larry,
I appreciate your concerns and I certainly didn't mean "Whoopee, magnum loads here I come!" I found standard field loads with off-the-shelf Wnchester and Federal 1-1/8 ounc standard loads work just fine, I prefer 1 ounce loads when I can find them. What I was remarking at was being out in the boonies somewhere with my 16 gauge and being stuck having to use "magnum" 1-1/8 ounce 16 gauge loads, take it or leave it, and having to pay a premium price for something I didn't really prefer to begin with. As far as the 2.5" chamber, I've found that simply lengthening the forcing cones makes digesting 2.75" shells much easier for the gun. After all we're only talking about 0.25".
Steve
PS as far as reloading, I purchased a 16 gauge reloader several months ago and still haven't used it. I'm hoping within the next 6 months to leave my sticks & bricks Texas home and move into a large RV and begin a mobile lifestyle with my falls/early winter spent up north in pheasant or ruffed grouse country. With that type of lifestyle you have to keep extra baggage (such as reloading equipment) to a minimum.