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I can relate to your comment regards the recoil from a Darne. Super light for the French walked up style of shooting, but at the detriment of excessive recoil. Also, due to their construction (Screw going back from the action into the stock) virtually impossible to put cast on or off to the stock. I`ve shot my pal`s Darne and along with the recoil, found the reloading an absolute pain. Just my opinion, but he loves it. OB

I know that one or two on here own a Darne gun and wonder if they have experienced the same as my pal Stour Boy on here has. The last couple of times out he has been using some of my cartridges in his 16 bore Darne and 16 bore ZF (Darne lookalike). The cartridges are 16 bore RC16 28g fibre wad 6s and 16 bore Eley VIP game 28g fibre wad 6s. In both of his guns the spent cartridges have shown powder residue around the primers. It is apparent that the firing pins are penetrating the primers and causing this, as evident by the fact that on testing afterwards with water, there was a definite hole through the primer. Now I know that sliding breech guns by design take the breech hard up against the barrels preventing little or no headspace between cartridge and breech face. This is supposed to decrease the felt recoil and appears to be a good design. However, he has been using both guns now for many years and it is only with new cartridges that the problem has arisen. The Darne has obturator discs on the breech, the ZF hasn`t. Previously used cartridges have been Lyalvale and Hull I believe, with no adverse affect whatsoever. We therefore suspect the newer cartridges are made with thinner primer metal than older ones. A solution would be to file down the tip of the firing pins a tad, but wondered if anyone has had similar problems. Whether it is a problem or not, as it doesn`t seem to affect the operation of the cartridge. He (and I) can miss with both old and new cartridges I will attempt to upload some photos later showing the cartridges and also both gun`s breech faces. Any comments would be most gratefully received. Thanks in advance. OB

That looks like a high quantity Darne. All the Darnes that I’ve seen (and shot a couple) have had sunken ribs. Brilliant engineering but slow to reload. Built, I think, for the French walked up shooting and being light were ideal for that. OB

In over 60 years of shooting I have never seen much less handled a Darne gun. I know Gough Thomas rated them highly.

A chap I have done work for, his Darne which is a 16 bore Chris, he has more money than sense and arms like a gorilla, had it re- stocked so it would fit him. It handles really well now, needless to say I did the case for it

Try shooting a Darne - then you will know! To be honest, you mainly notice it IF the gun is a poor fit.

Thank you, qs said, the owner is taking the colection to a local valuation day - He's just found a sliding breech (as per Darne) pin fire shotgun with two boxes of pinfire cartridges ready for reoading!

The Darne is another example of this. It is light (my 12 weights around 6 lbs, but 16's are also common and are lighter) - but the weight is also very centralised. This has been done by; Short(ish) barrels, typically 27" and only a single rib (no lower rib) No separate forend (like a muzzle loader) Most weight is in the central sliding breech assembly The stock tends to be on the slim side compared to most s/s guns When picked up 'in the shop', the Darne feels lightning fast compared to most s/s guns. It is lovely to carry on the arm. The downside is that (and mine fits me reasonably well) it does kick, but also has noticeable barrel 'upward flip'. I bought mine more out of interest (it was used and slightly 'abused' and was not expensive at all at the time) about 40 years ago and had it tidied up and 'fitted' in as much as is possible with a Darne (the way the stock is fitted means that once 'made', the 'hand' area cannot be bent). My personal preference for weight (on a s/s) is around 6lbs 8 oz to 6 lbs 12 oz. This is based on having owned several s/s and that just seems to feel 'right' for me. Interestingly, one English gun I have at 6 lb 12oz feels as light or lighter than another (Spanish) gun that is 4 oz lighter. Both are nice to use.

I don't really know anything about him, but the book - whilst enjoyable and in many ways excellent (well illustrated, comprehensive and with a wealth of data) is not easy to use as a reference resource. Unfortunately, very few books on guns are. I am fortunate to have a reasonable 'library' of shooting books, biased towards shotguns and gunmakers and mostly British, though I do have a few books on the Continental makers whose products I have (Beretta, Darne and Merkel). Most of the 'serious' gun books are expensive as they are printed in small numbers, and unless they are reprinted, can become hard (and consequently expensive) to obtain.

Darne used a monoblock (called I believe "canon frettes") from their early days - which would have been pre WW1 I think? It has certainly been around a long time.

Ah yes, the Darne. To me it became more of a Darn gun ! Had a few problems with it and struggled to find a gunsmith to even look at it, when one did, I faced a bill of over £300 ? I saw my previous FEO shooting locally, just after his retirement. He was using a Darne !

One of my previous FEOs was the similar - in that he used to attend local shooting events etc. He came to check my cabinet and was unsure how to operate my Darne - and asked me to show him. He will be retired now I expect (the event was maybe 30 years ago), but I doubt he came across another Darne!

Watched a video of a Darne shotgun and was impressed by the slimness of the build and the "efficient" method of loading and ejecting. In my 60 odd years of shooting I have never seen one in the field or a gun shop. Any of the PW brigade actually own or use one? Thanks

Saw one of these this morning at Rishton GC. When the action was closed, it wasn't easy to see the joint, so good was the engineering. Very impressive.

Most guns use a rod between the opening lever and safety. As the lever is operated the safety is pushed back (to safe). To disable the auto safe, remove the rod. Personally I have had all my guns that weren't auto safe (apart from a Darne for which auto safety is difficult - if not impossible?) converted to auto safe. My hammer guns don't have a safety catch, but that is a different issue as they were never originally fitted to hammer guns. It is there for a purpose: not to be used to enable the gun to be pointed anywhere safely, but as a measure to stop the trigger being accidentally pulled. I simply slide the safety forward as I mount the gun. Nothing could be simpler. The reason I have had it added (to two guns) is that sliding the safety forward becomes an instinctive part of the gun mount and I miss it if it isn't there.

I can't recall ever having had that problem with my Darne (12 bore). In fact the Darne has been very reliable (though it is very lightly used). I have had that problem with certain cartridges (one was Impax but a long time ago with a Powell gun) and some guns (a Beretta needed attention for doing that on the lower barrel only and an AyA Yeoman I once had did it). I would never file metal away except as a very last resort. It cannot be put back and Darne spares will not be easy. If it is only one make of cartridge - you may have a batch with soft primers. Be aware that the 'soot' may be slightly corrosive. Primers do vary - and one make of cartridge I bought misfired (about 5% of shots) in 3 guns I have (all the same make) and yet work 100% fine in all other makes tried! Gunsmith reckoned the primers were set very low on those cartridges (there was a significant gap between straight edge laid across the head and the primer).

Darne £1,250 16 gauge Shotgun Private Seller Used - Average Condition Herne Bay, Kent Other, 1/4 Choke, 1/2 Choke, 28" barrels Description I am advertising this on behalf of another PW member `Stourboy`(07905052098), who`s a complete technophobe like me, but It`s just that I`ve had a little bit more practice at posting guns for sale. Generally in good condition for year with good Bores. Lop 14 3/8 inches Weight 6 lbs 4 oz. For someone who likes something a bit different, this is the gun for you. Lovely lightweight gun to carry and shoot, with very little felt recoil. This gun is being sold by Pigeon Watch member Old Boggy. Message them here View all the gun sale details on Gun Watch

My pal Steve (Stour-Boy) has a penchant for Darne type shotguns (sliding breech jobbies) and has a 16g Darne, but also another Darne lookalike `ZF` I believe. As owners of these guns probably know, the design is such that casting `on` or `off` of the stock is impossible due to a long stock `screw` going from the breech back into the stock. Any cast to the stock has to be done at the manufacturing stage. As a consequence with Steve being left-handed, he decided to make himself another stock cut to have `cast on`. He is pretty handy and has made an excellent job and the gun appears to fit him well. In a mad moment, I said that I would like to have a go at checkering the stock for him. This is something that I have limited knowledge of but have always wanted to have a go at, having practised on spare bits of wood in the past. I watched a video by Larry something or other of Midway USA and together Steve and I devised a jig to hold the stock such that it could be moved about to aid the job in hand. I soon found out that checkering a flat piece of wood was far easier than trying to obtain straight lines on curved surfaces. As a consequence, the jig needed further adjustment to enable the stock to be moved into different planes, both horizontal and vertical. I finally made the jig that held the stock such that it could be moved in all directions to enable slightly easier use of the checkering tool. Note that I only had one particular checkering tool, whereas I now understand that one should have left and right tools etc for differing directions of cut. The setting out was quite tricky as it had, after all, to look in keeping with the lines of the stock. This particular gun, unlike the Darne, had a one piece stock and forend, but the checkering was divided into two separate sections, one bit on the forend and the other on the stock. The forend section went relatively well and was completed in a reasonable time. However, when I got to the stock section, setting out needed careful consideration to make it look half decent. This took me far longer than I anticipated as much concentration was needed and I found that I could only do about twenty minutes at a time, after which my eyes started playing up. A sign of old age and inexperience of the task no doubt. Fortunately the checkering had to be more functional than aesthetically pleasing which was just as well as my very amateurish attempt clearly shows. I therefore admire greatly those that carry this work out on a regular basis, particularly the likes of Demonwolf444 on here who does some amazing work. The stock seemed to take forever and whilst I was keen to do as best a job as I could for my pal, I was disappointed that it was far from perfect and must confess that in future I will perhaps leave this type of work to the experts. I can now fully understand why the checkering on modern guns are cut by laser. However, Steve was pleased with it, it was functional and providing one didn`t look too closely, was reasonably acceptable...............just ! OB

21g in a 7 lb gun should not kick badly. My best guess is as I use everything from 21g to 30g, occasionally 32g in s/s under 7 lbs and only ever have a problem in one gun (a very light Darne that doesn't fit well and does kick), and I'm a relative scrawny lightweight myself! I have regularly used 32g in an AyA at 6 3/4 lbs, no recoil pad (don't like them) with no troubles even in a light summer shirt.

It is true that there will be very little headspace, however; is also I believe true. The main reason (in my opinion) that the Darne does have (a reputation for) high recoil is that they are typically very light, but capable of shooting high loads (French triple proof) and the very light barrels do tend to cause an upward 'flip' movement, which I think may increase the perceived recoil.

With regard to the Darne kicking excessively, could it be that the sliding breech gives no, or very little, head space between it and the cartridge and therefore recoil is felt more. Just a thought. OB

Apparently in France driven shooting is now on the increase whereas previously walked up was the more popular and accounts for the light weight of their guns - Darne and Chapuis for example.

The Darne is probably best left with the French ! 🤣

Hello all, Strange one for everyone, besides krieghoff, valmet, tikka, marocchi and a darne damon-petrick Can anyone think of any other manufacturers and or models that utilise the sliding top latch locking system ? Many thanks

Much depends on how the weight is distributed. `For example, my Henry Atkin feels as light or lighter than the AyA, but the scales have it as an ounce heavier. The Darne feels VERY light as the barrels have no lower rib. There was an interesting article by Bill Harriman) on the Thomas Turner featherweight 12's that weighed 5 lbs 9 oz, but the ultralights of the period were apparently made right down to under 4 lbs (William Ford Eclipse model). Article is in the Nov/Dec 2022 BASC magazine.