doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Today she spoke again...

The checkering on these guns usually isn't perfect, anyway. So, saying you screwed up doesn't likely mean too much.

I looked at the first ding in my restocked Tobin as a great reason to keep on shooting. It only hurts once.

Do enjoy. My experience has been that real Darne shooters have a tendancy to forget about their other guns for the most part. The truly devout get rid of them.

I'm not even one of those. But, they are out there.
Best,
Ted

with the fresh paint job, she looks like she may still have a few miles left in her.....

It's true,

Now she can come with me in the truck and bounce around on the country roads to the grouse covert.

Thank you all for your kind support.

Now she can come with me in the truck and bounce around on the country roads to the grouse covert.


she look like she will enjoy that...........

Sliver, is it a R17 Darne or a Fransique Darne? You've done a great job. Congratulations.
npm

Nial,
A coupla' hints are there, if you look for them. The buttplate says "Darne" and is the usual one in place on post war guns. Not definitive, of course, but, the monobloc tubes and safety in the breechblock, as opposed to the rocker in watertable, kinda' seal it as a Darne, not an F. Darne.
A photo of the barrel flats might tell us R13 or R15-I'd not bet R17, but, hard to tell without seeing the code on the flats and a matching serial number to the rest of the gun.
There are sliding breech guns out there with barrel serial numbers that don't match.

Chicanery happens.
Best,
Ted

Thanks, Ted. The reason I'm puzzled it the way the action curves up in the manner of V models. I seem to remember that there was a R17 that did that. This particular one has only three stars on the barrel flats which would sugest an R13 but the engraving and carved breech balls, fences, detonaters or whatever they're called seem to be a higher quality. A photo of the key would be helpful. My own Darne has a similar buttplate, did the Bruchet guns still keep those?
npm

Quality happens, too, Nial. Depending on the era, or the skill of the engraver assigned to the gun, you could get R13s that looked like this, or R15s, like the 1970s import 20 I owned, that had cartoonish quality engraving, to give any Parker or LC Smith a run for it's flying turnips.
A board member has an R15, produced by the Bruchet's (I sold it to him) with the enigmatic upswept watertable. I know if you asked for it, on a Bruchet gun, you got it, regardless of grade, but, it tended to show up on pre-Bruchet guns for, well, no good or bad reason. I have observed an R17, engraved in magnificent "fond cruex" without the upsept watertable. Who knows?
They still have those plastic buttplates. They will put one on a gun for you, if you ask. I suspect they will quietly snicker to themseves while they fit it, as well. Ebony and horn, along with checkered rosewood, were the rage when I was doing it.
Less plastic, all other things being equal, is good on a gun. I would have tried to get you to put a better quality buttplate on the gun, if I was selling it. I never sold a gun with a plastic buttplate on it. When Steve Bodio ordered his R11, he thought about sling swivels, and I GAVE him the Bretelle Darne to keep those clanking little army rejects off of his slug gun.
Hey, it had my company name on the rib-I had to do it.
Best,
Ted

NPM,

It's a R13. The buttplate is the original horn. It showed lots of holes through as if there were bugs eating it. I have filled them up with epoxy and cleaned the rest away.
The serial number is the same on barrels, action and stock.
Ted, is this gun made inbetween the two world wars, you think?

Hard to tell. I don't see the serial number, and, sometimes, that doesn't tell much, anyway. By 1923, a lot of guns didn't make mention of "Canons Frettes" (monobloc constructed barrels, for non French speakers) on the flats or non brazed ribs, but, you never know.
It is a triple proofed gun, cleaned up nicely, and put back into service. When I see the endless arguments back and forth here, and on other boards, about restoration, I'll quietly think of this gun and how much improved it is, by any account. Bravo, by the way. I wouldn't have had the seeds to try it.
Best,
Ted

PS That "NON POUR LA BALLE stamping on the left tube is warning you that is a tight choke. Taking .002-.003 out of the tubes may make the gun pattern even tighter. With that wrist repair, and short chambers, do yourself a favor and go easy on the loads.