Brent,
You owned ONE example. It was not a high grade, was not ordered by you, and had lived a long life prior to you getting it. Much like the English stuff everybody chases, there were periods of better guns, and other periods. Late 1940s was not a great or highly sought out period from either country. Here, in the US either, as far as that goes.
About a million Darne guns were produced, 1870s until very recently. It strains credibility to believe that regulation was a “common” issue on these guns, as people wouldn’t have kept buying them, were it so. People don’t keep buying guns that don’t work.
Regulation issues don’t seem to be “common” on any specific brand of gun. Period. I had trouble with a Ruger Red Label, a first year 20 gauge. I’ve seen trouble with Ruger Gold Labels, two to be exact, and the company quit making them due to “production issues” whatever that might be.
A long time ago, one of the English gun makers who used to post regularly, “gunman” posted that he had spent a lifetime chasing regulation issues in his trade, and he guessed 60% of the time it was the Indian, and not the arrow. I can dig that post up for you, but, you dismissed his view entirely, in spite of him being eminently qualified to offer that advice.
That, more than anything, tells me you have an axe to grind. Nobody here, who uses a Darne, and there are many of us, has had that exact issue. Hard triggers on R models, guns that kick with hunting loads, broken stocks, but, no complaints on regulation.
Save yours.
Good luck with your next gun, Brent.
Best,
Ted
