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Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 1 Location: nc

I have a French SXS. Very plain. Has MAC on the sides. 2 1/2 chambers. Light wear on receiver. No major dings. Marked choke/1/2 choke. Manufacture Armes de Chatlerault. Anyone have a ball park figure on the value?

Member Joined: 26 Apr 2005 Posts: 743

MAC is pretty much bottom of the line French stuff. Likely no more than $350-450 range.

Does MAC stand for Manurin Arms?

Joined: 21 Jan 2007 Posts: 23

Joined: 21 Jan 2007 Posts: 23

....these French guns are a wonderful buy whenever you can find one. They are super light, and as mentioned above, super hearty! They represent a tremendous value in my opinion.....well made, quick-handling, vastly underappreciated.....

I use mine 90% of the time on everything....from doves to geese!

britgun

Craig, your gun is marked pretty much the same as mine. The 2 EP in an oval on the barrels indicate a superior black powder proof at Paris at 16,500 psi, also known as double proof. The NA on the barrels indicate that the BP proof was done before assembly of the barrels. The Paris nitro proof is stamped on the barrel flats and is the PT with 2 stars on top, this indicates a superior definitive proof with "T" powder, pressure was 15,600 psi, the small stamp under the nitro mark is a supplementary mark for definitive proof in completely finished state. These are stoutly proofed guns and although they are 65mm chambers, which as you probably know are 2 9/16 not 2 1/2 as most people surmise. There is plenty of wall thickness (at least on the one I have) to re-chamber to 2 3/4, although I don't think it is necessary. One thing you should do is open the chokes to more realistic dimensions as most are way over-choked. As Duncan stated French guns are really under-appreciated and are the best bargain in a 16ga double gun. Wink

Jim A.

Joined: 21 Jan 2007 Posts: 23

James-

You are very kind to interpret the stamps for me, thank you. I have been calling the 65mm a 2 1/2" (repeating what I had read elsewhere). I agree with you on the chambers and I will probably not lengthen the chambers, particularly since this shotgun appears to be pretty strong and the lock up is very tight. I realize that recoil isn't always a good indicator of pressure, but my MAC seemed very comfortable with the 1 oz 2 3/4" Winchester I was feeding it and the primers were not showing any signs of pressure.

I will likely also leave the Mod/Full chokes alone because I bought this as a target practice shotgun and will be shooting mostly trap. I seemed to shoot the MAC much better than my 20ga SxS, and nearly as well as my Fox SW. What is amazing is that for me, the French MAC and the Fox SW have very similar handling characteristics. I hit slightly better with the Fox (it has more open chokes), but the targets hit with the MAC are broken with more authority (smoked). I wanted a 16ga SW, but that was out of my reach, and this MAC should be a good substitute for 1/5th of the money (well after the price of the repair of the broken firing pin...maybe 1/4th the money).

My gun is with Kirk Merrington, double gunsmith, at present, and in two more weeks (God willing) I will be buying 16ga shells by the case! By the way, my MAC was hard to open with the Federal shells, but fine with the Winchester. Anyone have a favorite budget friendly factory load? K-Mart has a bunch of Winchester 6 shot (I bought the last box of 8 shot), but it costs a bit over $5 a box.

Thanks-

Doug

This one is probably not worth a seperate post. I saw a nice little French boxlock at Griffin and Howe in Greenwich Ct. The brand was "Letalie". Rather light, around 6 lbs. 28" barrels. English grip. 2 triggers. Extractors. Cast "Off" for you righties. Good condition. I don't remember the price. But, I do remember thinking that it was higher than it should have been, based "only" on posts I've read about French guns on this site. Anyway, check their website. I don't have any contact info.

Good luck.

Joined: 21 Jan 2007 Posts: 23

I took a look, and apparently they are having trouble selling it as the price has been reduced. It is a very pretty shotgun, but pricey even when reduced from $1,800 to $1,500. Very light at 6#, but the Full/Full may be putting a lot of prospective buyers off.

http://www.griffinhowe.com/usedgun-sg.cfm

Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 8

Small world, I have a 16 Ga. MAC, also. Mine has 70 MM chambers, and I would'nt take money for it Cool

I have a 12 Ga. IDEAL No 6 - and wish I could find a 16 Ga, in that model.

If the French made a bad SxS, I have never seen it.

Member Joined: 26 Apr 2005 Posts: 743

G&H has had that Letalie for quite some time--I saw it in their store a couple years back. Not a bad gun, but very plain for that kind of money. I'd say they're still overpriced by maybe $600 or so, maybe a bit more. "No name" French guns, especially the plain Janes, don't bring that kind of money.

Whether 65MM is really 2 1/2" or 2 9/16" is pretty much academic. Other than maybe B&P shells, which I think are something like 67MM, everything American is going to be 2 3/4", which the Europeans call 70MM, and most Brit or Euro stuff is going to be 2 1/2", which they call 65MM. (65MM is precisely how the Brits currently mark their 2 1/2" chambered guns.) From an historical standpoint, the only importance of the 2 9/16" figure is that it was the American standard 16ga chamber length before everyone finally converted to 2 3/4". (12ga was 2 5/8", 20ga was 2 1/2", and believe it or not, at one time the 28ga was actually LONGER--at 2 7/8". American gun and ammo makers liked variety, I guess.)