For those of you who have any interest or care of such things as French Sliding doubles, here is a Charlin for you to look at. This particular gun from what I can tell has not been used much. It still shows lots of case color and the wood shows very little use. It appears to be a Model A with one hare stamped on each barrel. At some point somebody took a saw to the stock but the gun fits me well with the recoil pad and extension. Most guns are not perfect. I have added a German leather sling that came from Germany on a new Merkel Over and Under back in the 60's. I don't know that a German sling fits a French gun but when I look at my ancestry, I am half German and about an 1/8th French so I guess it works for me. I have experience with R Series Darnes and know how there actions feel and I must say that after working this Charlin, the action does seem smoother to me but that is just my observation and I may be imagining things. I would not say that the design is better than a Darne considering I can not remove the sliding breech from the stock on a Charlin like I can on a Darne. I'm guessing this is a late 20's or earlier gun considering the short chambers but if anyone can add anything to it's approximate age and I am all ears. I am very satisfied with the overall gun. Enjoy the pictures.

The elusive running bunny grade Charlin....

Well done. The fact you are comfortable with a sliding breech gun demonstrates a few things, you can walk and chew gum at the same time, and you were picked first or second for team sports as a youth. These are undeniable truths. ‘Kinda. My guess on age would be just before the Second World War.

You can get the breech off a Charlin, it simply takes tools, and a bit of knowledge to do it. Contrary to what some gun salesmen say, there should be two tiny little springs, with a ball bearing perched upon the top of the springs, between the breech and the bottom metal. They preload the action a bit, against the lever work.They are beyond easy to lose, so, be very careful if you decide to go “in”, so to speak. The good news is, there is usually no good reason to take a Charlin down that far. The bad news is, if someone has been in there before you, they will likely be gone. The gun will work without them.

Save that, and an occasional broken flat lever spring (easy to diagnose, the gun will make a clunk, clunk sound as you cycle the cocked action, an easy fix, and the gun keeps working in this condition, as well) they are bulletproof.The “smoother” thing is debatable, and if the gun is not cocked, there is really no difference in effort or smoothness between a Darne R model, or, a Charlin. Hyperbole is where you find it. The Darne V guns pop right open in either case, but, I do actually prefer an R. I own some of each, at the moment, but, no Charlin. The damn safety on a Charlin is sprung like a truck, and I struggled getting it off at the flush. The interrupter built into the action key makes the lever an effective safety, as well, but, that said, we get back to the preferences issue.

Congrats. Finding one that fits is most of the battle. If you ever have any trouble with it, don’t hesitate to run it by me before sending the gun off. I see you are in Minnesota, perhaps we will cross paths sometime.

Good luck, and good hunting.

Best,
Ted

Very nice gun in great condition. I don't understand why someone would cut that stock. I hope it wasn't just to put the pad on. It kinda drives me nuts that most shooters think a recoil pad is a necessity.

I don't think that "most shooters" think a recoil pad is a "necessity". I see a lot more guns without, than with.

Many vintage guns with recoil pads have had them added because someone else, before them, cut the wood to shorten the LOP. Adding a nice looking rubber pad is a way of restoring shootability to a gun someone ELSE has screwed with, without restocking.

My Dad thought everything should have a pad. A big, ugly, white line pad. I don’t know why.

That gun is a 12, short of 6 1/2 lbs. I can visualize somebody complaining about recoil easily enough, and thinking a pad would help. I’ve not noticed that pads help with recoil all that much, for sure not as much as wisely choosing the load used in the gun. But, as the OP noticed, the gun fits him, and I would bet the stock was not too much longer when it was new, and the cut was just to get a flat surface for the pad. None of them, are long stocked, compared to current production guns. It is a pre war French gun. Short is common.

That gun has not been used very hard. But, it isn’t a museum piece, either, and a day afield would sure be enjoyable with it.

Best,
Ted

Beautiful gun. Thank you for sharing.
Where is the safety? Is it the lever on the side?

Interesting gun and dialogue from the folks. Thanks for sharing it. Gil

I almost bought a Charlin 16 in France about 25 years ago. It was relatively plain but in great shape. I still have the card from the shop in Dijon where I saw it. And spent quite a bit of time talking guns with the owner. I was delighted he took the time, and he was delighted to chat with an American who speaks French. Having owned a couple Darnes, that would have given me the full sliding breech experience. I actually had money left in my "gun fund" after purchasing one in England before the wife and I spent the rest of our vacation in France. Had second thoughts and called the owner from the States, which really surprised him. The gun had been sold. Price was somewhere in the $800 range at the exchange rate back then, IIRC.

Larry,
That 16 Darne you used to own popped up on my radar a few weeks past. The current owner is very much in love with it, and reports no issues with it, at all. He has shot it a fair amount, more than enough to decide if it is a keeper. He says it is. But, he is a guy who owns about four of them.

Best,
Ted

That lever is the safety and it is stiffer if that is the right word compared to any Darnes I have handled.

Tres Bon Mon Ami

Mike

I owned a Charlin I believe much older than yours. Ended up giving it to my daughter as a home protection gun when she went to college. I always had a Darne on my bucket list but was put off by the prices. I found the one I bought (very plain model 16 ga at Kittery Trading Post while on vacation for only a few hundred dollars. Mine actually was old enough to not have a safety. I thought thst strange until I realized the intent was to carry the gun with the action not snapped completely shut, then simply press down with your thumb as you mounted the gun. Really simple and within 5 minutes I found it faster than a safety,

I know Ted knows more than most of us have forgotten about these guns, but I will have to say that I found the one I had to be incredibly smoother than any of the Darnes I have ever examined.

As to the lost ball problem, I had to take it apart (inveterate tinkerer) and lost one. I was worried until I measured the other one and found they were a common sized hardened and polished metric ball bearing. I believe around 4mm. I bought a pack of 100 chrome plated stainless ones from McMaster Carr which fit perfectly. They also have tiny metric coil springs. For about $10 I had a liftem supply for an Charlin army. They worked so smoot, I changed both balls and both springs.

I also liked the push button barrel release. Took 2 seonds to remove the barrels for easy cleaning.

My final comment on the Charlin is all of them I have handled seem short. Somehow the geometry makes the "good feeling" LOP an 1" longer than normal for me. That may be why a lot of them have pasds installed, even though most of them are rather long to start with.

I find myself forgetting plenty of things these days.

I wonder if the safety was removed in your former Darne, it is actually easy to do, and requires no disassembly of the breech block?

A V Darne has a push button for the barrels to be released, as does a P model. But, I can’t say I prefer one version over the other, the barrels take down easily on either.

I would own a Charlin again, if the right gun came along.

Best,
Ted

I'm glad it found a good home. When I bought it, I thought that would be the gun to convince me I needed to own a Darne. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for me. I think I needed to buy one back in 1976, when I spent the summer in France and saw and handled several of them. Sometimes timing is everything.

Ted. I corrected my post. I hosed up at the get go. I said I owned a Darne but it was a Charlin I was describing.

As to the safety, the Charlin I had was never equipped with a safety; no place for one. It was designed to be used as I described, much like the original intent of the small bore Martini Cadets. At some point earlyon they went to a side safety.

Well, OK-have you ever owned a Darne?

The earliest Charlins are a weird morphing of R and V model Darne, with some other features mixed in. That version didn’t appear to last too long, and, I’ve only seen pictures. One showed up, here, years ago. The safety may have been optional in that era. Anyway, if you are going to have a sliding breech gun sans safety, the Charlin is the one you want that way. The interrupter will keep it from firing if the lever isn’t all the way down. The safety with a truck spring is the main reason I don’t have a Charlin, today.

You wouldn’t believe how many people told me I was wrong when I told them there are bearings and springs to pre load them in a Charlin. One bozo gun salesman makes it a point to say they aren’t there in every add he runs in the DGJ with a Charlin for sale, although he takes the time to point out HE has never had one apart. Glad you found replacements.

Enjoy the gun.

Best,
Ted