doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Dickson Expert

I can tell you there is more than one 16 bore wood covered action Dickson out there.

My understanding is that Dickson made between Thirty and forty 20 bore Round actions, yes quite rare.

Donald Dallas’s book says there were approximately 40 20 bore round action guns made. However, I have an email from JP at Dickson’s saying there were 30 made between 1881 and 1961.

Ken

A Mia Culpa. I misrepresented my 16 ga. Dickson as a Bar-In-Wood. It's really an Island Lock. The term Bar-In-Wood is a little fluid, and seems to refer to any extension of the stock wood to cover some of the the action metal. So in a sense the Island Lock could be considered a variant of a Bar-In-Wood action, although it does have its own firm designation. No matter what, I think that the McNaughton style of Bar-In-Wood is the prettiest of all. Douglas Tate discusses the variants.
https://shootingsportsman.com/skeletals-in-the-closet/

Bar in wood means that the action bar is in the wood. I’ve never heard the term in reference to anything but that. Least of all an island lock.
Interesting.

About 2 weeks ago, Graham listed a beautiful 20ga round action (Not a Bar-in-wood) Dickson for 34,000 Sterling which sold immediately. Don't know what the buyer paid, but it was, by Graham's own admission, a very rare gun (he had seen 2 others, I think he stated). The round action Scottish gun is one of the world's greatest achievements in firearm design, IMHO. Due to manufacturing costs, it is not commercially feasible to produce in great numbers, but but that in no way diminishes the beautiful contribution of the Scots.

Owen I think Grahm’s 20 was also Kell engraved and probably added to the price. Not many Dickson’s were Kell engraved.

Ken

Well, there are at least two bar-in-wood, or skeleton action, true round action 16 bore guns out there.
When the one JP had came up for auction, I had my hands on another one quite like it.
Unfortunately, it does not belong to me.

A lot of early Dickson's were Sumner engraved (AKA - Boss & Co.). They also utilized the Boss single trigger. Dickson did develop a single trigger but was a failure. So avoid a Dickson made around 1905 - 1910 I would say.
I absolutely adore mine. Made 1943.

Mike, just to be clear do you mean to avoid all Dicksons between 1905 and 1910 or just the single triggers? JP told me between 1900 and 1910 were the golden years, kind of similar to between the wars London guns.