Posted on 05/20/2011 10:05:29 AM PDT by LibWhacker
Love waterfowl hunting with classic side-by-sides but sometimes really wish you had that third shot? Shoulda been at this auction, where a one-of-a-kind triple-barreled Dickson side-by-side-by-side shotgun just sold at auction for a cool $66,000.
From this story in the Scotsman:
A unique triple-barrelled shotgun made for a Scots aristocrat has been sold at auction for £43,000. The shotgun - dubbed the "Holy Grail" - was made in April 1891 for John Adrian Louis Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow and the seventh Earl of Hopetoun. The three-barrelled ejector, 16-bore gun, with three triggers, was designed by renowned Edinburgh gun makers John Dickson & Son and is the only one of its kind. Its origins were identified after the gun was taken to a valuing event at Hopetoun House, South Queensferry, and it has now been sold at Holt's auction in London, to a private collector, after fierce bidding from around the world.
Holt's founder, Nicholas Holt, said: "This is completely unique - the holy grail for any shotgun collector. "The gun maker, which still exists in Edinburgh, looked back in their records and found this was the only single 16-bore, round action side by side by side ejector ever made. The mechanism was too complex to make more, but it still works fantastically well today and is capable of shooting three gamebirds with its three barrels."
Dickson shotguns were some of the finest ever built. I’d venture a guess and say that this triple barrel gun had probably 800 to 1000 hours of hand labor put into it. A lot of these guns are still being used in the field, even after 100+ years.
That is fabulous. I’ll never get to fire it, but i’m hoping there’s duck hunting in heaven.
I use a 12ga sidexside for upland gamebird hunting. I doubt the 3rd barrel would help me much as the birds are usually too long gone before I’d get off a 3rd shot. I would however, like to own a drilling (2 shotgun barrels over a rifle barrel).
Not as technically difficult as making a triple barrelled rifle, but still a fantastic piece of craftsmanship and history!
Awesome!
Many years ago, a friend showed me an old Damascus-barreled Dickson. I think it was a side-by-side hammer gun.
Would also be fun to meet a home intruder in the hallway looking down three barrels.
That’s why I like side-by-sides so much: They’re so damned intimidating! Freeze most sensible burglars in their tracks. Doubt they’d notice this one was only 16-gauge... it’d be like staring down three lonely roads that take you straight to Hell, lol.
Zombie Apocalypse?
Me too.
The standard buckshot shell in 16 gauge is 12 pellets of #1 buck (.30 caliber). A 12 gauge 9 pellet load of #00 buck (.33 caliber) actually weighs less due to how the larger shot stacks in the shell.
I'm quite partial to 16's, I've got 8 at last count, including a CSMC RBL that I had built.
You owe me a new keyboard. This one was just ruined with drool.
I think for the Zombie Apocalypse, you want a 4-barrel model...
Interesting. I didn't know that. I've never fired a 16-gauge that I can remember (maybe as a kid, but if so, that memory is lost in the mists of time), only 12s and 20s. 20s always seemed a little lightweight for my tastes. 12s are just right. So I thought 16s wouldn't pack the punch I like. Now I want to try one!
Might think it's a fake.
It’s a cult thing, much like the .41 Mag. Ammo is more difficult to find, so if you shoot them alot reloading is the way to go.
They usually pack 1 to 1 1/8th ounce of shot. The guns themselves are usually lighter than 12 gauges, sxs’s in the 6 to 6.5 pound range, making them nice to carry. They handle like a 20, and hit like a 12 on upland birds.
In repeaters, the Winchester Model 12 in 16 gauge is on the 20 gauge sized receiver. The Browning A-5 “Sweet 16”, is a light version of the heavier standard.
Other than high end guns, there production models available new. Browning occasionally makes a run of BPS, or a Citori. Remington occasionally makes some 1100’s or 870’s, both of which are on the 12 gauge frame, so why bother.
Now that IS a ‘door knocker’!
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