I'm not sure why the post vanished over on Shooting Sportsman. Anyway, I don't know for sure about it being BS, but the company made a big deal in their catalogs about Darnes being good for colonial use-and some of the French colonies were truly located in the butt cracks of the world, where a good gunsmith wasn't going to be. So, a feature that would indicate service was due on the gun, when the instruction manual included with it called cleaning "optional" sort of seems a bit out of place.
The picture of the gun didn't look to be a V, by the way-looked like a P, to me, but the barrel flats would tell for sure. And, that's a hell of a lot of money for a P, by the way, if it is indeed sold. Hope Mr. customer has an idea about grading Darnes.
Best,
Ted