I have recently purchased an old Darne. I bought it because the price was right and the quality seemed high. But once the gun was in my hands, I couldn't figure out what I had. Her are the facts; It has a rocker safety, not the slide safety or the small 9:00 to 6:00 lever. This rocker swings from 10:00 to 2:00, and is built into the receiver, so it was original to the gun. It has F. Darne on the barrel flats, along with a lot of other information as well as a date of 1914. The receiver has well executed game scenes on both sides. The whole gun is engraved. The fences are not rounded at the corners, but rather squarish, and nicely carved. There are no stampings to indicate the grade and, the general style of the receiver is, in my opinion, old style.
Not unusual, but neat...it has a working retractable sling that fits into the stock. I sent a note with pictures to Geoffrey Gournet, and he sent me back a picture of a gun he had seen, and it appears to be the gun I now own. Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? I could send pictures but I'm not sure how to do it.
