I figured we were just going to talk about the gun we had photos and a description of. Sorry.
Drew, there are three French guns here in the safe, and I have the numbers from a gun I recently sold. The gun that was sold is interesting, because somebody who owned it, prior to me, had it backbored and the chokes opened. It still had .050 wall thickness everywhere from 9” to the end of the muzzles, except where it had .060, down near the chokes.Herve’ Bruchet remarked that their favorite guns to own had heavy wall barrels, and, in spite of the backbone (he was not a believer, by the way) there was plenty of wall left, good thing, as there were three pimple bulges, too, which, didn’t really seem to hurt anything, save putting the final nail in the coffin of it being out of proof. The other three guns here, all have barrel wall thickness of at least .050 at the 9” point from the breech. One has a minimum of .060 wall everywhere, and it is remarkable as a fairly heavy Darne Halifax 12 with 28” tubes. I believe the bore has been tampered with on a 20 gauge Darne I own, and the wall thickness on this one is also .050 at the same point.
After I get a measurement like that in a few spots on the gun, I quit measuring. I did own a very early MacNaughton boxlock that passed reproof with wall thickness of about .022, if memory serves, but, I usually like to see more if I am going to have to feed a gun American spec ammunition.
Best,
Ted
