doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com A Charlin finds a home in my gun safe

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