Darne

Happy Firearm Friday!!

This 12 Gauge side by side shotgun was one of the many designs by Regis Darne in 1892. It was one of the thousand designs intended to bypass the Ansen& Deeley Patent which was held by Westley Richards. At that time the London (UK) gunmakers dominated the side by side shotgun market with Patents in all major countries, and innovative Darne Company had to use radicaly different designs and high quality to compete with them. This 1892 was an improvement and successor of the 1881 hammer gun which had the same rotating action. This firearm was proofed at the Saint Etienne house in 1897. The operation of this firearm is unique, the ammunition is loaded into the receiver by pushing the side lever up, then rotating the breech block 90 degrees to the right. After firing this is repeated and the last inth of movement ejects the empty cartrige case. The engraving on the gun still shows the remains of the gold inlay that would have inletted into the engraving recesses.