doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Darne, Charlin, Delalle?

Recently visited a collector who had three sliding breech shotguns. One was a Darne: one of the others was a Charlin Automatique. Proofed in St Etienne, double proof (the Darne had treble proof). I don't know what the 'automatique' was about. The other was a Delalle, also St Etienne proofed (single proof). The Delalle was dated 1914. All had mechanisms identical to the Darne. Does anyone have any information on the other makers: Charlin and Delalle? Does anyone know where I can get a copy of the book on Darnes by Bruchet. I already have the one by Jean-Claude Mournetas.

I was advised to come here thru a query I posted on Parallax Bill's forums. Nobody over there had ever heard of Charflin and Delalle. I'd never heard of the latter until I saw one.

What's that 'boxlock' under my name?

Cyrano:

Try this forum: http://www.gournetusa.com/forum/

Mr. Gournet is something of an expert on Darnes and Darne clones, as is Ted Schefelbein, who sometimes posts here.

Does anyone know what is going on at http://www.gournetusa? I think registration and signon are blocked, and when I e-mailed Mr Gournet, his mailing address has been deleted.

Cyrano:

The "Boxlock" is the beginning level. I logged into GG's site and it seemed to work although, there has been a virus or some hacking or the like. Here's one thread: http://www.gournetusa.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=65 .

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

I have a Charlin and a Darne. Initially they look the same, both sliding breech, but I have learned on this forum they are different. The Charlin is an over the top, cam type lockup which is sufficient for shotshells. The Darne has a large round rod extending back from between the barrels. On the bottom of this rod is a blind hole, When the breech slides forward a bolt comes up and engages in the hole, locking the breech solidly to the barrels. This enables the Darne to be chambered in some large and powerful rifle cartridges.

Jeff,
Well, kinda', but, not exactly.The extension on the barrels, and it's "rising bite" (to steal a term from conventional guns) are actually a secondary lockup. The primary is the toggle driven cam that meets the wedge under that sliding breech.

The "Automatique" word stamped on every Charlin I have ever seen refers to the selective "ejectors" (stealing another word to use in description of something similar, but, not identical) which extract spent shells, but not fired ones. There is no "lockup" per say in a Charlin-it is an over-the-center device, pure and simple. Force on the face of the breech will only hold the breech closed tighter. Sometimes, a knucklehead out there will shove hot, 2 3/4" US spec loads into a 2 1/2" chamber Charlin and see the toggle has raised slightly after the shot. This usually causes the knucklehead to soil himself and pronounce the gun "unsafe". However, nothing could be further from the truth. The last little bit of travel in the opening lever, or key, in a Charlin is an "interupter", (stealing a term from Star Trek!) which keeps the gun from firing until it is completely closed. Hot loads in short chambers can cause the key to move into the interupted position, out of battery, and unable to be fired again.

There are dozens of Darne patent "clones", (hell, let's steal some medical terminology, while we are at it) sometimes marked, often nameless, that were produced in the St. Etienne region after the first 1894 patents went public in France. Most of these copies are very good quality, but, as with any gun, judge it on it's individual merits. There exist Purdeys that are not up to the usual standards of that firm, and there exist Darnes and Darne clones that fall into the same catagory. If you can't figure out the difference, then hire someone who can, before you throw a pile of money at any gun. What is most often wrong with sliding breech guns is that someone who shouldn't have been has done some work to it. They are quite different than any other gun, and even good gunsmiths get stymied on them, sometimes.
Best,
Ted

Not to get off topic. He had his hosting company clean the virus. It was part of a very large attack.

Pete

One must be pretty bored to attack a website devoted to French guns.
Best,
Ted

Ted,

They didn't "pick" sites. Their software randomly selected ip addresses and infected them. It was a trial run from a group out of China. They have the government there going crazy. Afraid this group will release a virus during the Olympics attacking all the Olympic related sites.

The Chinese government has not been able to identify the people responsible but believe they can block the next attempt. It is a matter of saving "face" for them.

It was written up in the industry ( computer security ) trades.

Pete

Anything the unidentified people do to undermine the Chinese government is A OK with me.

Where do I send my donation?
Best,
Ted