Jimmy,
I've a pair of Dickson 12 gauge round action guns. They are not consecutively numbered, but were ordered by the same client about one year apart and I have the paper from the period that confirms it. The guns, one made in 1899 s/n 51XX and the other, made in 1900, s/n 52XX had damascus barrels with 25 thou wall thickness that I had rebrowned at Dickson in 1986 after buying them. They are rivelled and show the polishing that my South African gunsmith did, but are still in proof.
Three years ago I decided to get more use out of the guns, looked around the UK and sought to have two sets of modern barrels with 2-3/4" (70mm) chambers made. I called Dickson which quoted 6,500 pounds sterling per barrel. A British gunsmith friend produced a quote less than half that for two sets of barrels. I now have modern steel barrels for each of my Dicksons, proofed at 850 bar. The barrels, "made by another" as the Brits say, are numbered to the gun, but do not have a Dickson oval, nor address. Let me quickly add that I use light loads such as Winchester AA with one ounce of shot, or even RSTs made for the 2-1/2 inch 12 gauge. Took half a dozen hungarian partride with the older of the pair on Monday.
The guns are surely worth more now than just with their original barrels and there is no issue of deception, even from ignorance when my non-shooting heirs eventually dispose of them. Just to recall an anecdote that might have originally appeared on this board: Some time ago, a fellow took his Purdey into the shop there on South Audley street, noting he had bought it some years ago and wondered about having it serviced. The gunroom manager took the gun into the back and shortly returned it with the barrels sawn in two. The barrels, he noted, carried the Purdey name but Purdey did not make them. The unhappy owner reeled out of the shop...
Regards, Tim
