Here's the last pieces I have time to offer before I switch to patents....
Beag, Don't forget to send a mailing address...
JC,
Here's Caunier page 15 that you requested (I've already posted 16. 17, 18, and 19)...all other pages are more conventional guns
George,
Just to let you know...I've probably owned (currently own or already horse traded for Belgian catalogs) about 25 French catalogs over the years...they're pretty hard to come by...almost everyone carried some sort of slider (Darne, Charlin, and a contract gun), Some even carried both Darne and Charlin but no contract gun, as can be seen in this Courty catalog...
Most catalogs show a contract slider...just as Rivolier sold the RPF slider...everyone had there own trade name it seems...It's highly unlikely that a company like Darne (who is already tooled to the teeth, and holds most of the patents) would allow these "clones" to dominate the market...unless it were to turn out that the arsenal at St Etienne or Chaterault actually produced all the rough actions to be finished by artisans across the region (including Darne) as they did with the St Etienne boxlock actions...
So it is possible....but...like I said before...Our collective knowledge hasn't yet reached that level of understanding...not even on the St Etienne boxlocks.....
My point is...I just assumed that Caunier had a business relationship with Charlin...why would anyone sell a Darne based gun while touting the prime competitors name on the same page?
Given how little we actually know about the Darne/Charlin evolution, I still say Charlin played a hand in the making of some of the one piece stocked guns...until someone show definitive proof otherwise...
This last photo is from another well known French supplier/maker Rouchouse...they call their gun "Le Wonder"...and you don't have to read French to know that double verrou means two locking points.
Beag, I hope you're reading this...because this is most likey what you have...a contract gun...probably, most likely a Darne (as Ted pointed out)...it IS NOT a knock-off or fake or "cheap copy" as many have suggested by labeling it a "clone"...anytime someone shows up with something these guys don't understand, they trash it...it's really nausiating the way they enjoy it so much....any Belgian gun that has no name is given a "used oats" label of "guild gun" even when the makers touchmarks are present on the barrels or action flats.
Pay no mind to the guys who downplay your gun...they trash anything they don't understand. Not 10 months ago, a kid showed up here (fishinghole I think) with 1 of 5 known "Marks Special" L C Smith trap guns with lots of case colors...they told him it was essentially some $150 piece of hardware store junk...he still doesn't know that he owns one of the rarest Smiths known...search it out at this forum, you'll see...fishinghole was his name (I think)
I may not be correct in my views of the French doublegun industry, but we will all find out together (about fixed shotguns (sliders))...one patent click at a time
