doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Pitted Barrels on French guns

It was a Charlin (flat couldn't remember the name earlier). Really stood out on a rack full of Remingtons, Mossbergs and CZs. Not a damascus gun either and not obviously abused. The action was smooth as silk. A shame, really. I've seen some very intriguing French Gun designs (the Manufrance Ideal comes to mind)so I know they can make exceptional bird guns.

France has been over-run in not one, but, two world wars. On both occasions, guns that should have and would have seen good care, didn't. Petro chemicals of any nature were in short supply, and the guns that were retained by natives were often stored off site, so as to avoid prosecution if they were discoverd by the Hun or the later Nazis.
I've read of one shotgun that rode out both wars stored in a living tree. I'd expect it's condition reflects that.
Having a gun while occupied might have meant the difference between starvation and seeing the end of hostilities. Desperate circumstances seldom leave energy for the consideration of belongings and the associated maintenance. I've also read of loads for guns comprised of bits of glass, broken nails, or salvaged ball bearings.
If you needed a meal, you might not care what the specifics of the load you used were.
Speaking only for Darne produced guns, the specific steels used for production since about the mid 1930s were XT, for non magnum guns, and XTC, a French version of 4140, used for everything else. They are both very, very good gun steels, and I assume other makers were using something similar. The chrome content on XTC makes it difficult to blue. Both Stoeger and James Wayne offered a stainless steel barrel option on Darne guns in their catalogs, something I've never seen in person.
I've seen plenty of French and English guns with pitted bores. I've seen more English guns that had honing done to remove pits. I'm not sure honing benefits anyone but a seller, especially if he can convince a buyer that the bores look as they did when new.

Best,
Ted

I have an older Darne 16 gauge with pitted to cratered bores. It has old property numbers stamped in the wood reflecting either military service or police evidence at some point in its life.
I have always assumed it might have been to Vietnam based on the bores. The wood and exterior metal look fine.
It shoots fine as well with factory 2 3/4 Remington game loads, I assume the bores look worse than the reality.

I would have had serious reservations about shooting the Charlin I saw. Minor pitting is one thing, but big craters are something else. I know that pressure drops off significatly as the shot charge makes its way down the bore, but craters are indicative of almost no metal being left in a barrel wall at that point. Moreover, the condition of the entire barrel would be in question for me, with a burst failure being possible at any location.

In its Vietnam section on the guns of America's wars, the NRA Museum has a Darne, cut down some, with the notation that they were well-liked in French Indochina because the strength of the action allowed them to close easily when fed humidity-swollen paper shells.

Dave, France had a lot of colonies in hot, wet places when Darnes first appeared. And that was one reason for the sliding breech action: not so much the strength of the action, but rather the fact it works better when it comes to the feeding and extraction of somewhat swollen paper shells.

Ted, re honing, I don't think it bothers anyone a whole lot on English guns, as long as the gun is still within proof. That is, not more than .010 oversized for the bore standard. Unless, of course, the barrel walls are extremely thin to start with.

Having to hid guns in inhospitable places would explain guns in overall bad condition but not the ones whose exterior is in good shape with bores looking like a bad road.