doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Verney Carron Short Barrelled Double

Nice gun, sort of plain wood but you are buying it as a shooter and that stock should be stronger than some of the fancier woods I've seen. The best part is it has double proofs (16,366lbs/psi) so you should be able to shoot normal loads through it. I say this because I have a super light French double that has single proofs and because of that I've pretty much restricted my shooting with it to lighter loads. The French do have a thing for sculpted balls don't they!

Steve

PS at the risk of controversy, with 2.5" chambers I simply extend the forcing cones and shoot 2.75" shells though them. I usually use lighter 2.75" loads but it's still nice to be able to use easy to acquire shells when you're out in the middle of nowhere and run out of shells.

Let us face fact, someone out there has already made a modification that would be heavily frowned upon by most on this board.
I'd simply extend the chambers to 2 3/4" if the wall thickness is robust (never seen a French gun that wasn't) and call it good. Mike Orlen could sneak a choke tube in one or both barrels as well, should you want a bit of choke.
An occasional promo load wouldn't likely hurt a thing, except, perhaps, your shoulder.
Most of the conscious bet wetting and hand wringing that goes on here, in regards to short chamber guns, 2 3/4" loads in 2 1/2" chambers, high versus low pressure, whatever, is a moot point with French guns.
Have the WT measured. Lengthen to 2 3/4, assuming it has not been modified or honed, and keep on keeping on.

Best,
Ted

Thanks Ted. I will have to measure the chambers when I pick up the gun because with the barrel 'modification', the chambers may have been lengthened as well.

Looks like a pretty basic V-C. Too bad the barrels were cut. Double St. Etienne proof.

Congrats on the new gun! Do wear hearing protection! I shot a Franchi o/u with 24" barrels for years, everything from snipe to ducks. I like short barrels fine, but this fall I'll be experimenting in the opposite direction to see if my Darne V21 with 75mm (~29.75") barrels can make an effective grouse and woodcock gun. I'm hoping the weight (5# 15oz) and really sweet balance offset the long tubes, even in the thick stuff.

Verney Carron made and make wonderful doubles. Probably the last gun I'll ever sell is a little VC 20b model "Sologne" made in the late 50s. [/URL]
Weighs 5# 6oz with light 67cm tubes and swamped rib. Chokes opened to .003"R, .010"L. Slightly pitted bores and noticeable carry wear only add to its appeal. Wonderful little woodcock gun!

Enjoy your new VC!

Bill

Thanks Bill! Please do report back on you adventures with the long tube grouse gun...

Note that former SAAMI specs for a minimum chamber for the 2 3/4" 12 gauge call for a chamber length of 2.6136" (66.4mm). Minimum chamber diameter at the junction of the cone is given as .798" & a max angle of the cone hrom the horizontal of 5�. With a nominal .729" bore this would give a minimum cone length of .394".

One further dimension is given & this is a diameter of .764"at a point in the cone of 2.808" forward of the breech.

Essentially the bottom line is "IF" the loaded shell is not pushed into the cone itself & "IF" the cone is not so short & steep as to prevent adequate movement of the wads upon exit then an exact chamber length or diameter does not truly matter that much.

Max length of an uncrimped hull is listed at 2760", A roll crimped shell @ 2.530" & fold crimp shell @ 2.410". Within these parameters the moist important thing is that the gun itself was designed to handle the pressures & loads under consideration. As Ted has so well pointed out I would not foresee any problem with a French gun bearing the double proof.

Will also not that while SAAMI no longer lists these shorter cahmbers as their recommendation they do note that former, Shorter, standards are still acceptable for use, as long as the gun was made to handle SAAMI pressures to begin with.

This does not automatically apply to guns built to British, CIP etc proofs unless you "Know" the gun was proofed to handle pressures which were in the SAAMI range, regardless of chamber dimensions.

Overloading can & does lead to cracked stocks, loose actions, bruised & sore shoulders, flinch development & etc, but very seldom actually results in a Blown Up gun.

Depending on other factors a short barreled gun can have a more forward balance point than another with longer barrels. Obviously shortening an existing set of barrels will move the balance point rearward. This may or may not work out for any given individual. One simply has to try it & see.

From a purely ballistic standpoint a short barrel gives up virtually nothing to a long barrel one, within reason of course. I have not done a tremendous amount of duck hunting but all the ducks I ever killed were done with a 26" barreled 12 gauge chocked .012"/024" using 1� oz loads of #6 or #5 in lead. Since lead was still legal obviously this was some time ago.

Very good information Miller, thank you...

Weight is just under 5.7 lbs...

Any thoughts on the CMR clearly stamped on the barrels? Tube maker?