I originally posted this in the Double Rifle section, but it would be more appropriate to ask here:

I will be in Barcelona and Paris for family events in August. I have never been to Barcelona and I see that Holland and Holland don't have a shop in Paris any more. Any suggestions for interesting double rifle or other hunting/gun-related places to visit in those cities?

Thanks.

I'm no help for Barcelona, but for Paris these might be useful:

Not a gunshop, but well worth a visit is the Musee de la Chasse et de la Nature: http://www.chassenature.org/
Great museum on the history of hunting, old guns, trophies, hunting art, etc. Great place!

Gunshops:

Armes Bastille, 61 r Lyon, 75012, 01 43 43 46 90,
good for German/Austrian guns, double rifles, drillings, big bore Mausers, etc. Prices high

Laurent Gilbert of Centrale du Fusil d'Occasion, 69 r Grenelle 75007, number 01 45 4017 88.

Armurier Alex, 63 bd Courcelles, 75008, 01 42 27 66 39, great owner!

Armurier de la Tour Eiffel, 31 av la Bourdonnais, 75007, 01 45 51 97 90, I did not like the owner I met back in 2000-01, but maybe that was just me...

Outside of Paris:
Paris Nord Armes, 7 av Europe, 95500 Gonesse, 01 34 45 91 00. Really nice people, pretty good sporting clays range, running boar, etc. Nice place to hang out.

Chasseur,

Thanks very much for the detailed response!

MVR

I was in the Beretta Gallery in Paris a couple of weeks ago, some beautiful shotguns as well as double rifles on the racks.

http://www.berettagallery.com/index.aspx?m=53&did=357

I have never been but the list of gun and parts makers in St. Etienne has always made me want to make a stop there. If you are driving from Barcelona to Paris then I suggest you check Dorleac & Dorleac (in Perpignon, not far from Barcelona) any of the gun makers in St. Etienne or the region around St. Etienne.

http://geneal42.free.fr/Site/histoire/fabricants/armes.htm

http://www.dorleac-dorleac.com/pgs_eng/index_bis.htm

Wink,

Thanks for your suggestions. I will be sure to check out the Beretta Gallery; I have always enjoyed hanging out at the Manhattan Beretta gallery when I accompany my wife to New York to carry her shopping bags. Unfortunately, we will be flying back to Paris so I will miss St. Etienne this time.

Peter

Too bad Saint Etienne is out of the picture... I would otherwise second Wink's recomendation. You can stop by and see Demas, Chapuis, Bretton-Gaucher, etc. Great fun!

At the top of the Champs Elysees by the Arc De Triomphe to the right is Eduard Kettners,
well worth a visit..

regards
griff

quote:

Originally posted by griff:
At the top of the Champs Elysees by the Arc De Triomphe to the right is Eduard Kettners,
well worth a visit..

regards
griff

Griff, actually it's down on the Boulevard de Gouvion-St. Cyr, which is off the Avenue de la Grande Armee near Porte Maillot. Avenue de la Grande Armee is on the other side of the Arc de Triomphe and the Avenue des Champs Elysee. I was there a few weeks ago and there are some nice shotguns and a couple of nice rifles. I didn't see any nice double rifles though. Their gun inventory seems to decrease with each year, giving way to more clothes and shoes.

Wink,
thanks for that, when your shopping with the wife,I tend not to pay attention to where i'm heading,just tag along.I knew it was somewhere round the Bus Terminal at Port Malliot.

regards
griff

We returned from our trip several days ago, and I have been catching up at work, but I wanted to thank you all for your recommendations.

Before leaving for the trip I made a list of the places mentioned here as well as all the armuriers I could find in Paris on Google. I was pleasantly surprised how many gun shops there are in Paris: a far sight more that in New York!

In Paris we stayed in an apartment rented through Haven in Paris (highly recommended)in the Marais, which happened to be just a few blocks from the Musee de la Chasse et de la Nature. My boys loved the museum, and I need to figure out how to make my boar shoulder mount talk like the one in the trophy room there.

While the wife went shopping, the boys and I made the rounds of several of the gun shops, including the Centrale du Fusil d'Occasion, where I had a nice long chat with M. Laurent.

We were in Paris was for my sister-in-law's wedding. Luckily she married into a family who are all avid hunters. I have been invited to hunt with them next September on their property in the Sologne. I got the strong impression that it will not be an affair in which we hunker down camouflaged and unwashed for several days in the woods. Contrary to their "refined" image abroad these French are quite the outdoorsmen: even the Protestant pastor who married the couple (along with the priest) hunts on horseback!

When the time comes I will have to get your collective advice on taking my guns to France.

Thanks again for your help in making our trip that much more interesting.

Peter