Register Log In doublegunshop. Key: Admin , Global Mod , Mod. Most Online 1, Apr 29th, Go to page Dating early 20th Century French Shotguns. Joined: Feb McLean, Virginia. Argo44 OP. Ted in a separate line asked how I could date a Saint-Etienne 16 gauge accurately. I've chosen to start a new line to keep from "jumping the shark" on that one. French guns are very difficult to date we all agree. Using the usual markers prizes won, models, catalogs, patents, etc might get us into the ball park.
But there are two items that will definitely narrow down an earl 20th century period piece I wonder if there are more examples of dated Stephanois guns? For background and it's been discussed before here are a few dated Didier-Drevet barrels from the internet reorganized chronologically : -- images back thanks to jpgbox 1. I told him it had to have been rechambered. Re: Dating early 20th Century French Shotguns.
Joined: Jan Ted Schefelbein. Argo, To begin with, it is Ted, not Tim. While it is easy to say a Didier barreled gun has a date stamp, it is a much different thing to document that. Further, even if it is a date stamp, what would it represent? It could be the date the barrels were provisionally proofed, the date the barrels were assembled, or the date the gun was final proofed.
We really have no way of knowing for sure. There could be YEARS between any of those events, and when the gun reached inventory, and years between when that happened, and when it was sold. Picture number 6 is a gun I am very familiar with, as it lives in my neighborhood, and I posted a bit about this gun here on the board. It is the wreakage of a high grade Darne that doesn't fit the description of R, V, or P model. The picture you posted is missing the proof stamp, which, was for powder J.
Hence, we can't even state with authority when a gun was built based on the powder it was proofed with, save the fact that anything proofed with powder T would be post Further confusing what and when with this gun, is the fact that Regis Darne's offerings were pretty well sorted by , and this gun doesn't appear to be a cataloged model, or, marked with a stamp in reference to grade.
