doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Steel inserts for an old Darne

This, to me, is heartbreaking.

We are looking at a beautifully decorated P17 grade 12 gauge Darne.The bores were 18.2mm when the gun left the proof house, a snug, but, typical measurement for French 12 gauge bore at the point 9” from the breech. There is a lot to like on this gun.

But, just looking at those pits is stomach churning. My Father, career Marine, used to say if you wouldn’t drink the water in a foreign country, you shouldn’t load their ammunition either, and I would guess this gun has seen some corrosive ammunition in its time. A damn shame, really. It is hard to guess, but, those areas of missing metal would seem to easily be .020-.040” deep, and they are in a bad, no, the worst spot they could possibly be.

The Darne game is one I have played for a while, and, I have considered, on several occasions, orphaned barrel sets. They turn up infrequently enough to catch my interest when they do. If this gun were mine (it is not) I might try that avenue first, with the hope the barrels could be removed from the monobloc, and used in the existing monobloc. Because the OP is a Mexican citizen, I doubt that option is one he can pursue. Due to the severe rules he faces on repair or replacement parts, for not just this gun, but, any gun, I’m thinking the advice of removing the strikers, storing them under the butt plate, and hanging it on a wall, that I gave much earlier in this discussion, might be the best plan.

Good luck, Jose’.

Best,
Ted