doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Darne R10

Hi everyone, Im new to the site and new to SxS. I just bought this Darne on whim because i thought it looked cool. I tried researching about it and everywhere on the internet tells me to come here.

I have a couple questions about it. Just to make sure, i think i saw from another post that if its a 5wXXX it should have been made from 1952-68?
Is there anything I should look for before going out and shooting it?
It was advertised as being Modified and full choke, is that normal and how would one go about checking which barrel is which?
It has a stock sleeve? on it, would it be wise to try to remove the sleeve? I have no idea what they are used for. This one appears to be made out of rubber or plastic.
Were they shipped from France in cosmoline, because this one has a crap ton of residue in all the nooks and crannies that remind me of cosmoline.

Id really appreciate the help and would love to learn more about these shotguns, If you want more pictures id be more than happy to snap a few more.

Welcome. You’ve got a lot going on there.

The stock sleeve thingy doesn’t seem like it is removable. If you can get it off you might find the original stock is damaged or modified.

If the gun was sold new in Europe, the numbers of the serial number might be close on age. Guns exported were built out of sequence, and I don’t even guess anymore on guns sold here in the states, going by the serial number. There are some other clues, that I’ll get to in another post.

We need a bit clearer photos of the flats of the barrels to give you more information. About all I can see is that it is an R10 and it was triple proofed. Triple proof is the highest level of proof in Europe, and, depending on chamber length, you can shoot just about anything it.

The key with a Darne is to get one that fits. You can’t bend the stock in a Darne to get the cast and or drop you need, as the is a big screw down the wrist. Don’t attempt to bend it.



We will wait around for your better pictures of the flats.

Best,
Ted

Hopefully these look a little better. My phone does not have the best camera.

That one is bulletproof.

The 18.2 tells us it is a 12 gauge. The “Non pour La Balle” marking tells us there is a tight choke in the left tube, and the factory didn’t want you firing pumpkin ball slugs in it. 70 is the length of the chambers, translates to good old 2 3/4” here. It was proofed in St. Etienne in a finished state with French proof powder T. Your gunsmith can measure the bores and chokes for you. The 18.2mm was measured 9” from the breech, is fairly snug for a 12 gauge, and if it doesn’t measure within a few ‘thou of that, now, the bore has been tampered with and the gun is no longer in Proof. Sounds worse than it is, most of the time, most Darne R models have a ton of wall thickness.

The cosmoline thing probably didn’t happen at the factory.

I’d use light loads in it, but, you do you. The gun itself is up to whatever 2 3/4” round you can find. Short of steel shot.

Might want to figure out what is going on with that stock, first, however.

Enjoy.

Best,
Ted

A different buttstock seems to have been grafted to the original pistol grip.
Mike

Thank you for the answers! I really appreciate it.

I will only be using light loads in it. I’ll probably only use it for clays, especially because of the non-toxic shot laws here.

Just from perusing this forum, you seem to be the expert on Darnes. Would you recommend trying to take the sleeve off the stock? I can get some better pictures of it later. I did unscrew the original darne butt pad off of it, and the wood underneath looked rough. I know little about shotguns and especially SxSs, I don’t want to ruin it out of curiosity.

Thank you again!

It would be useful to know how much it weighs, and how long the barrels are.
I understand that Darnes are often quite light, under seven pounds, which has an effect on the recoil/ They were built to be carried all day and fired infrequently. Also is it cast to one side for a right-handed shooter?

Otherwise a great find!

HB

Without seeing it, I’m in no position to even speculate what is going on with that stock. The picture I posted shows that MOST OF THE TIME, the stock is mounted to the action from the front. Hard to say what is going on here, without seeing it.

The real Darne experts are all pretty much dead, I’m just a student. I imported the guns into the US for two decades, and visited the shop in St. Etienne, France.

I suppose there are guys that know more, but, on this side of the pond they aren’t running around in bunches, anyway.

Do no harm is a good place to start. It will be interesting to see your reports on how you are getting along with it. I have a soft spot in my heart for the lower grade Darne R models, especially the guns that have seen enough use to be well broken in, and smooth as silk to open and close.

I’d guess your gun was built in the late 1940s to the early 1950s. Is there any information stamped or engraved on the upper rib between the barrels?

Best,
Ted

I can measure the lengths of the barrels when I get home this evening.
I may have to take a rain check on weighing it, I could potentially procure something in a couple days.
I’ll have to take a closer look to see if it is cast to one side. I’m new to SxSs, I didn’t even know that was a thing.

I can check it when I get home this evening but I don’t remember seeing any info stamped on the upper rib, only decorative engravings. I know for a fact I didn’t see any info anywhere on the barrels except for the flats because I have an A5 and when I bought it I was looking everywhere for stars and dashes thinking maybe they would mark the choke in a similar way.
The only other spot that has any info besides the serial number is underneath that teeter-totter clip you push down to take the barrel off is marked EPI Arlington VA, which I understand was the importer?

I have looked at your pictures a number of times I am convinced, as someone has already said, that the butt stock has been drafted to a small part of the original stock. I do not believe that this is in any way a sleeve and if you try to remove it, you’ll destroy it. I hope you didn’t have to pay a lot of money. If the gun comes up nice and fits you, I would shoot it as is and leave it alone. As Ted will readily tell you, restocking a darne is a job for a skilled stock man and quite expensive.

Truth, brother.

Buttstock grafts were all the rage back ‘aboot 2005 or so, people grafting pretty wood onto the stub of the old buttstock. Artisans were collecting fat commissions and telling the world this was a great option for that tired old stock that didn’t fit.

I’d guess the cost eventually got to be close enough to a restock that the guys just ponied up for the whole job.

If the stock fits you, yea, maybe just shoot it, if you can keep your lunch down while doing that. It looks a bit like a gorillas leg grafted onto a super model.

Good luck.

Best,
Ted

Length of the barrels are 28 7/16" long. (If im measuring them correctly.)
It may have the slightest cant on it, i cant really tell for sure.

I didnt find any markings on the upper rib besides these engravings.



Is this what a buttstock graft looks like? just using my finger nail it started to flake off. Or is this one a bubba special?








Im not sure if i did or not to be truthful. It wouldnt be the first time i overpaid for something and if i keep buying older guns, im sure it wont be the last. I paid $1299.

Well,
A couple of guys suspected a grafted stock, which, that is not. A graft would have two pieces of wood, glued together, and I’m not sure just what the hell that is, it almost looks like an application over the top of something that looks like it could be wood. I’m pretty sure the original piece of wood doesn’t go all the way to where the buttplate mounts. Weird.

I got nothing. I can’t tell for sure what that is.

I wouldn’t have paid $1200, but, I’ve been at this for 40 years, and knowledge isn’t free, you end up learning from your mistakes. Nobody asked me, and the time to do research on an old double gun is before you have exchanged money for an old gun.You won’t likely make that mistake again. There was a time when beater Darne R10s and Halifax models were $400-$600, those guns are still around, but they seem to be about triple that price these days. So, there you are. Blame it on Biden inflation.

Whatever. If you can safely shoot it, and actually hit something with it, enjoy it for what it is, and move on to your next gun afterward.


Best,
Ted

I like to collect oddities, that's the main reason i bought it.

I was wondering if whatever this rubber/plastic sleeve goes over is just a couple pieces of wood that act as a cheek riser and an extension on the butt-plate, I may chance it and try to peel it off and see.

If the Original stock is toast, i'm guessing not any gunsmith or stock maker could make me another one. Does anyone know any that would take on work for it? it still has some of the case hardening left on it, and the barrels have some pitting but it isnt horrible. From what i can gather darne made the barrels fairly thick so it shouldn't be a problem as long as its not as bad as that thread from the darne in Mexico.

I like to buy older firearms and surplus guns and i hate to see them Bubba'd like this one. ill have to mull it over the long weekend and figure out what to do.

I really appreciate the answers you gentleman have given me and the patience of working with someone that doesnt know squat about SxSs. Ill update you all with what i decide to do.