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I had some correspondence with the French gunwriter Raymond Caranta through the offices of Gun Digest, the only American magazine that he writes for. Claude Bouchet is a recluse who lives on a huge property in France and makes guns to his own designs. At the time I corresponded with him through Mr Caranta (Bouchet did not talk to anyone directly unless he knew them very well) he was working on building double rifles that did not break down after firing the 500 A Square and similar chamberings. The rifles that have appeared for sale are not his original rifles which were featured in Gun Digest some years some years ago - those were U/O designs but still very sleek and conventional in appearance. That is why I have no idea whether the present guns are early experiments or later "strengthened" versions of his designs?

Claude Bouchet was planning on retiring from his business - one of the largest agricultural machinery manufacturing businesses in the world as well as from hobby gunmaking at the time and he was also clear that he would not sell his guns to anyone. He must have changed his plans for reasons that only he knows... In all my correspondence with Mr Caranta, both men were clearly perfect gentlemen and brilliant though eccentric in their own way. Bouchet was proud of the fact that he did not and never had owned a car...

As my good friend here MacNaughton would say, gunmaking is a field where brilliant eccentrics were responsible for many innovations. Considering that Bouchet's uglier creations are on sale now, hopefully, his "better looking" designs would also come on sale. Just check out old issues of Gun Digest - I cannot immediately recall which annual the article was in, but it featured two more brilliant French eccentrics - Christian Ducros and Alan Vaussenat.

Best wishes, everyone!

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The Ark was made by amateurs. Experts built the Titanic.

Mehul Kamdar

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