Thanks for the excellent information Ted.
I'm confused here by the differing locks of the 'V' and 'R' Darnes. They both look the same (the 'V' and the 'R') but are completely differant locks?
Two differant eras of builders,....or?
They might look the same in pictures on the web, but, up close and in person, you can't really mistake them. If you were the guy that insisted on a 28 gauge that weighed no more than 5 lbs (I met that guy, believe it or not) you would pull that off by using a V action. They are more petite than the same gauge R, usually, but the factory did have tricks to alter weight of guns built for custom orders. Honestly, most of the ad copy in the catalogs (which, loses something in translation to English) is really just hype, plain and simple. They have the V advertised as having "double sears", true enough, although they aren't really sears, as such, but, never mention that the sears are actually blocked by the safety in a 1909 patent Darne R, and you would just about have to drop it out of a plane at altitude to get one to go off with the safety on.
I really like a long barreled, and well broken in R model. I owned a 1910 vintage V20 two barrel set that still wasn't broken in when I had it.
Best,
Ted
