doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com A Darne waterfowler-or, close.

Yes. There is a radius on the Darne's grip that begins at the very front, i.e., no sign of a straight section. Try to picture how it would look if you tried to remove the round knob and convert it to a straight grip and you can see what I mean. Also, there is no delineation at the rear of the round knob ..... it just kinda becomes the belly of the stock.

SRH

Somebody has to do it. I'm pretty sure Stan won't.

Best,
Ted

After assembling an R model Darne, you might not be completely done. This view shows the main spring, with the only tool you should ever consider using on it, besides your finger. Always push down on the solid metal behind the forks to remove the barrels. I cannot stress that point enough, using a metal tool of some sort on one or both of the serrated forks will usually break them, and then you are SOL. It, the spring, that is, has to be able to rock on the pin to allow you to remove the barrels. Too tight is bad, and so is too loose. This one was too loose, and would flop when you slid the sliding breech back. The adjustment is adding a bit of bend to the pin that retains the spring.



The pin is the one at the top, that passes through the link that connects the triggers to the actual sears in a Darne R model.




The "little old lady" way to remove the pin is to start it with a proper Starret punch, and finish driving it out with a finishing nail to hold all the parts in place while you beat a little more bend into the pin itself. It kinda' sucks trying to hold everything together to reassemble the gun, so, use the nail to do that, and drift the nail out with the pin when you put it back together.




Here is a view of the little devil himself. I just take them over to my little vise, that has flat jaws, clamp them up and give them a little wack. I got it on the first try this time, and the spring is snug and doesn't flop in the gun when you open it.
Notice the pins on the back of the front wood. These locate the wood on the metal at the back. On my guns the wood all fits pretty tight, I imagine you could fire the gun without the screws in the wood, but, don't do that.



I hit the case colors with a light coat of lacquer when I was done, and finished putting it all together. This one is done now.

Best,
Ted

Ted, I'd appreciate it if you would give the tutorial on barrel removal and re-assembly of the R models. I've seen everything from banging on the old stock to muzzle jabs on a carpet. Thanks. Gil

Ted, some of us would appreciate your weighing the gun for an exact weight. .100 wall thickness would suggest a heavier gun than 7 pounds. I have never seen or heard of such a Darne and would like to own it.

Thanks, Ted. Fascinating work there. Interesting your 12 is so heavy, my R-16 is 7 lbs 2 oz, but it's a short 10 gauge!

Regards, Tim

Gil, the barrel/action fit is just the friction of the barrel lug once the top slide has been removed. You can break the friction fit with a gentle stock bump on the carpet or bump the muzzles if you prefer. Either one will work. You may be strong enough just to push it apart between your hands, but I'm not...Geo

P.S.: Be careful to hold onto the barrels when you break the friction fit or they'll end up clattering across the floor.

Tim:

My R-10 short 10 gauge is 7 lbs 3 oz. 27-1/2 inch barrels. Seems like yours and mine were designed as game guns, not water fowlers.

Rem

A Darne is what Rube Goldberg shot.
JR

Negative. Mr. Goldberg no doubt shot a Cosmi......his other gun was a model 12.