doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Help! Detach Charlin barrels

First time handling one of these animals and would like some advice before doing something stupid. Thanks

WAIT!!! for the others to chime in but also look here

http://gourmetsportsman.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-to-disassemble-darne-shotgun.html

Thanks Skeet,Not sure if the Charlins detach the same way,standing by. Only in France ,the home of the Citroen, could they build a gun this weird....

As has been said on this list and other places: "The French copy no one and no one copies the French". I bet Ted will be able to answer this one. Gil

Push in and hold the button on the bottom of the frame.
Either tap the barrels or the butt on something soft and they should separate. Keep one hand on each piece.
I recommend tapping the barrels, rather than the stock, because of the way the stock is attached.
If they haven't been off in a while, they may be stuck pretty tight.

Not bad advice, but, there is a possible big horsefly in the yogurt-what Charlin?
For about a decade after the purchase of the Charlin company by Darne, in 1955, one could get regular production model Darnes that were marked Charlin-I am told they were available in R, P and V grades, but, will confess to only having seen photos of a pretty much standard R grade that was marked Charlin.
If you are looking at a full steel receiver gun, with no wood under the area the breech slides on, and a push button in front of the trigger guard, you have a typical Charlin. The advice above about tapping the barrels rearward, instead of hitting the toe of the stock forward is a very good idea, and will save the toe of the stock or an old dry buttplate from breaking.
It takes tools and skill to get the sliding breech block off a Charlin, so, don't try that. If, when the gun is cocked, and you open and close the breech you get a "clunk, clunk" sound, the gun has a broken flat spring on the opening lever, a simple fix, I've seen and repaired more than one over the years. The gun should open and close smoothly and nearly silently, if it hasn't been fired.

Good luck, take a camera with and show us some pictures.

Best,
Ted

Interesting.....
I wonder why would Darne purchase the Charlin name to build Darne models?
Do the Darne built Charlins have a button on the bottom of the action?
I'm guessing that there is no 'fly' if it has the button.
Otherwise, follow the previous link provided.

As I posted already, you have to know exactly what you have. The link above is useless to someone with a P or V model Darne. A P is similar to a Charlin in that the breech block isn't easily removed. The P grade was discontinued, along with Charlins, in 1965, but a few were produced as late as 1968. I suppose when the actions were gone, those models were gone.
1955 was a time of great upheaval for the gun makers around St. Etienne. Many companies went out of business, and the remains were purchased and used by those companies with deeper pockets.
To further confuse the issue, the Darne company also built Charlins alongside Charlin badged Darnes. Also, Fransisque Darne produced copies of the 1894 patent Darne R action sometimes have a button to release the barrels.
As far as I know, you are correct in stating that a gun with a button always has the barrels dismounted by depressing the button, and breaking the interference fit between the barrels and the action.

Best,
Ted

Thanks everyone. I will proceed cautiously,It does have the button ahead of the triggerguard so will start with Plan A
Terry

Please post some photos when possible.