Pooch, if you'd been at Flatwater this year, you could've handled Rockie's Charlin--or maybe you already have. Very nice gun. Teddy Darne (or Darne Ted) will probably be along to help you as well.
Tim, always good to see more information on the sliding breech guns. A tidbit you may want to include in your DGJ article: Darne also made machineguns for airplanes during WWI. Don't know how often they were used, but saw one in the Ordnance Museum at Aberdeen Proving Grounds. As best I recall, it did not have a sliding breech.
In the discussion on Verney-Carron guns, it came out that V-C absorbed F. Darne. However, I'm not sure whether V-C ever made sliding breech guns under their own name, or whether they continued to produce F. Darne sliders after the merger.
Funny story about Darne: I'd read about them, saw and handled some when spending summers in France in 1976-77. (Still have a little Darne flier from the gunshop in Rouen.) A few years later, first time I ever saw any Darnes at a gun show in the States. So I said to the dealer "I see you have some Darnes." "I believe that's pronounced 'darnay'", he informed me. "Not in France it isn't," I replied.
Steve Bodio did a Darne article in DGJ (Winter 89), as did our own Ted Schefelbein (Summer 96). And Vic Venters reviewed the Bruchet/Darne in Shooting Sportsman, Jul/Aug 98.
Last edited by L. Brown; 05/31/13 10:35 AM.
