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I just acquired this John Dickson round action 12 ga. It has a set of American made barrels. They are a little on the heavy side for me, making the gun weigh 6 lb 12 oz. Of course it has a 1" recoil pad for 15-1/4" pull that weighs probably 8 oz. A thinner, lighter pad will help, but I'm thinking of a new set of barrels. Is there anyone in the US who could make a set? I've asked what a set costs from Dickson. I'd like to get the gun down to 6 pounds. I believe this gun is an antique, based on the patent use number of 228. Will that make it easier to ship back and forth to Scotland?

Link to photos: https://imgur.com/gallery/LQo9oHy

Why not have the barrels re-struck? Take some meat off the set you have.

The gun is nice, but I would agree with others here and advise to start over. You could find a really nice original example for the cost of the new barrels + sale price of this one. Someone else has already done what you plan to do and rebarrelled a thin barrelled RA. Profit from their mistake and find that gun. Patience is key.

It is true.

I do not know why anyone would buy a clunker today and expect to turn in to a silk purse by having new barrels built. Just look at this Dickson round action jewel at the current Holt's sale (27Nov2023) that has replacement chopper lump barrels with bores of .727"/ .728" and wall thickness of .032"/.031. Plus look at the stock--it could have a 3/4" leather covered recoil pad on it and make it more than 15 inches LOP. Dan Morgan is straight on about the price range of complete round bodies--even though guns by Scot makers are in high vogue today. Look at the estimated auction hammer price of this gun. Even if the gun brought £2,000.00 more and you added buyers premium and $1,500.00 to get it here the price for a complete gun with like new chopper lump barrels would only be $13,600.00 (£8,000.00 x 1.25 premium x 1.21 exchange rate + $1.500.00 = $13,600.00 ) One of my grouse shooting friends has purchased 4 spectacular guns( Hollands, A.A. Brown and others) from the UK in the last 2 years with Dan Morgan bringing them in for him and the cost was less than $1.500.00 per gun. Novices think it cost an arm and leg to import guns but they are wrong.

I decided today to ask my colleague friend gunmaker in the UK what a new set of chopper lump barrels cost to be made (he has 40 years in the trade as a gunmaker starting at Holland & Holland and later working for others such as Purdey, and Westley Richards, even building for Peter Nelson). What I learned is that Pudey's currently charge £29,000.00 for a set of barrels. Therefore he believes that a set of barrels from a UK barrel maker will cost $20,000.00 made and fitted. However there are only 2-3 barrel makers and you can count on the wait being years.

https://www.holtsauctioneers.com/as...++1400+&refno=++206599&saletype=

The only piece of advice my gunsmith ever gives on prospective purchases is, "buy the barrels, everything else can be fixed."

I bet they’d let it go for 13k
https://www.gunsinternational.com/g...ncluded-make-offer-.cfm?gun_id=102482866

What did your H&H barrel man find wrong with it, Steve?
I notice the CSMC ad doesn’t give very specific measurements, etc ( obviously if I was seriously interested in buying the gun I’d have all of the details confirmed before going into negotiations)

Out of curiosity I’d just like to know what’s hidden beneath the pretty finishes.

The barrels had numerous issues, when he told me to run I stopped asking questions.

Back to my Dickson. It was made in 1888 and weighed 6 lb 6 oz. They generously offered to make a new set of barrels for a mere 17,000 pounds. I think I'll pass.

I hope your gunsmith knows something about Dicksons - sadly that one is a bodgered up mess. There's all kinds of stuff in/on the action bar that shouldn't be there.
I have no idea what the screw stuck in the back left side of the action does.
I have fixed some messed up Dicksons in my time, but this one will take some saving.
The advice Steve was given to run from it was sound.

The sidelever guns I've worked on have the lever mounted in the trigger plate, why a conversion like this would be attempted is beyond me. If done at Dicksons, one would think it would have been easier to just make another gun. I don't know what the side locking bolt is, you can see the underbolt in the first picture.
The junk in and around the knuckle is the biggest problem I see. I'm pretty sure that got done by someone else, when they stuck the barrels on. They were probably adapted from another gun, hence the dog which needed to be fitted to work the extractors, rather than the toggle that Dickson non-ejectors use. It may have been a non-ejector first, then converted to the early pattern ejectors, then those have been removed and plugged. It's a mess.

It's all really hard to tell from pictures - having it your hands (or better still, taking it to pieces) would tell the story.