A friend of mine asked me to look at a Darne side by side 12 gauge that belongs to a friend of his. This gun started out in life as a relatively high grade gun but neglect and abuse has taken its toll.
It looks to be the early Classic model with the one piece stock and has serial number 6223, which I believe makes it pre 1900. It has 4 quality stamps on the barrel flats.
It has 27” (plus a little bit) barrels that look to be choked Full and Modified. A US dime will not go in the left barrel but will go in the right one. Extra piece added to the straight stock making the length of pull 15 + inches. The stock is cracked and has a crude repair. Severe pitting on the barrels.
I did not have snap caps so I did not dry fire either barrel to see if they were functional.
The owner would like to sell it. The question is: what is the gun worth and what can he expect to get for it?
Pictures below.
Thanks for looking.
Jolly
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What's it worth to have it hanging above the fireplace? If its a wallhanger, about $50.
I don't have a fireplace but I'd give $25.00
Sometimes the condition of an item goes past the point of no return. IMO You are all looking at just such an item.
Jim
Shame. Let's say you found it in the woods.
Suspect the barrels may be beyond recovery - but let's say the pitting could be polished away and still leave the gun in proof. You would still have a new stock and major engraving effort to tackle. Low end, you would have a $3500 investment and it would more likely cost $5k - and all to create a $1500 - 1800 dollar gun. He'll have trouble giving it away.
I'd suggest to him he take up jOe on his offer.
What a shame. Once a very nice gun and neglect has made it into something worth very little.Perhaps,the internal parts are in decent shape and they can be used to help another gun.
Wallhanger would be best use.
You guys just don't like a challenge! Before you condemn it completely you should check out the inside of the barrels and the action. Now lets assume the action and barrels are okay. As for the stock, take off that sheet metal, epoxy the break,install some pins through the area for strength and then rechecker it across the repair to repair it cosmetically. Sand down the wood for the stock extension and use some dye to match it and it could come out looking surprizingly good for not much money. Yes to make it pristine would cost a fortune, but for a small amount of money it could be made into a nice looking shooter.
And that is my free advice, and worth every penny you paid for it!
Steve
Interesting. The Darne name seems there on the lever although the photo is not sharp, and the flats have Canons Darne stamped. But, the punch marks are not the round stamps with Darne in them that we all know and love. 12 gauge with 2-1/2 (6.5 cm) chambers and two St. Etienne proof stamps. Can't make out the forwardmost stamp on the left barrel. Yes, check out the inside of the barrels before condemning it to wall hanging, although the pits, if they continue that deep all along the outside of the barrels would condemn it...
Regards
Wallhanger would be best use.
Why would you even want to look at it?
That gun was proofed with powder S, and is almost certainly pre 1900, and, likely pre 1898. It is the 1894 patent version of the R model, nice enough design, but, way past it's prime. The grade marks are the old style, not seen regularly because they are very old. It was, at one time, a very nice gun. Myself, I'd use it as a wall hanger AFTER I recovered the main spring and the ejector hooks (the only parts that break with a bit of regularity on a Darne R model) but, it would be on a wall in my garage-not my house. And, I've got a crummy house.
Best,
Ted
Few guns decline to have a negative value. This is one. Sad and sorry looking gun. Not a wall hanger, more like a tomato stake. Why waste time and money in trying to fix or restore this gun? You need to say when a gun has been abused enough and this gun has reached the end. Unless you were stuck fixing this gun up to save your life in some TV reality show, leave it as is and where it is.
Thank you all very much for your comments.
And I agree, it is too far gone to even try to make it look respectable again.
The bores looked very dirty but did not see any serious pits. But dirty enough that pits could well be present. The outside of the barrels do have some serious pitting however.
I will let the owner know what he has: a pathetic example of what used to be a very fine shotgun and its value is near zero (0).
And thanks again for your comments.
Jolly
I beat snakes to death with nicer guns!
John Boyd
This gun could be an Ed challenge
Tent stake IMO. PS. Make sure it's a tent made in France.
There was a guy on another forum looking for a junker double to use as a fire poker at his camp. This one may have a use yet! LOL!!
Ponder this-
Ted frequently remarks about Darnes (I have none) having very heavy barrels in order to manage balance and recoil.
If a person had an interest, these barrels might be excellent for learning to strike, and actually might be useable.
Secondarily, the stock would need to be replaced. Most would say it was not worth the money, and that all sliding breech shotguns are a bear to restock. Robert Chambers claimed vociferously, and ..amusingly, that they were not that hard to restock,and that he had done it economically. I think he even gave an inletted stock to someone.
So, purely for discussion, and in the interest of adding to the great pile of incomplete, clapped out, shotgun projects in the universe we share, I would have to say that if there was enough wall thickness, it might be made serviceable. I don't know why anyone would want to expend that much file time to create a field grade Darne, but heck, there's a black guy in the whitehouse, and he isn't the cook.
I don't know why anyone would want to, but as a learning tool, if the wall thickness was as Ted has described, it would have plenty of meat to file.
The shorter the barrels, typically, the heavier the wall. Not to say every single gun falls into that description.
I recently bought a perfectly servicable Uggie Falcon for the princely sum of $379. What was wrong? Not much-an ugly repair to the stock toe that I am pretty sure I can make disappear. If a guy wanted to learn to strike barrels something like THAT would be a better plan of attack than this old Darne.
I seem to remember Mr. Chambers being upset that I pointed out, even with his nice restock, his gun was worth about $600. I believe he thought I was picking on non-Darne name sliding breech guns, but, I was just repeating my experiences-they don't sell for a ton of money, and as used guns go, any sliding breech gun is easier to buy than to sell, in this country, anyway.
A Darne isn't that hard to restock-I watched mine happen, in France, and it took about two hours with a semi turned blank. But, stockers here have their preferences, and semi turned blanks don't come from Wal Mart.
There are individuals who collect guns that might seek something like this out to have a representative of an 1894 patent Darne gun. I have a good friend that might be interested, but, he wouldn't fix anything or ever fire it. He simply would use it as a marker in his collection until something better came along. He might go the $50 for it, but, maybe not.
Contact me at tedjs@usfamily,net if interested.
Thanks,
Ted
Get in line Ted there's already a 50 dollar offer.
Again, thanks for the additional responses.
I rather suspect that the current owner would not consider letting the gun go for 50 bucks. Said it's been in his family for as long as he can remember.
And as Ted said, "any sliding breech gun is easier to buy than to sell, in this country, anyway". And especially one that's seen a world of hurt.
Thanks again for your comments.
Jolly