Latest News

Safari Club Success

John Dickson & Son recently returned from Nashville after attending the hunting extravaganza that is the Safari Club International Convention. The show was a huge success for Dicksons', with massive interest in our fine Scottish guns and rifles. Dickson's Managing Director, J-P Daeschler, attended the show and got the chance to meet customers old and new and put the spotlight on Scotland's oldest gunmaker.  For those that couldn't make it this time, the show will be back in Nashville next year, where it will likely be even bigger and better.

Vintage Gun Inventory Update

John Dickson & Son holds the largest collection of pre-owned Dickson Round-Action guns, including rare models from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Each piece in our collection has been sympathetically restored by our expert craftsmen, ensuring that these historic firearms perform as beautifully as the day they were first created. 

Whether you are looking to grow your collection or upgrade your current sporting gun, John Dickson & Son also has a superb range of pre-owned vintage guns from other Scottish gun and rifle makers.  All guns have been prepared through our workshop making them available for immediate sale and delivery, and working with our export partners we can facilitate sending your purchase to a nominated firearms dealer in your country. We have consignments leaving for the USA on a monthly basis.  

Recently added to our inventory:

• John Dickson & Son Round-Action Pair - Built 1902, 12 gauge, 29in damascus barrels, bold acanthus engraved
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• John Dickson & Son Round-Action - Built 1891, 12 gauge, 29in steel barrels, beautiful stock
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• John Dickson & Son Round-Action - Built 1904, 12 gauge, beautiful 29in Damascus barrels
  

We also have some distinguished Scottish guns currently going through the workshop being prepared for sale:

• John Dickson & Son Round-Action - Built 1895, 12 gauge, 27in sleeved barrels, dandelion carved detonators
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• John Dickson & Son Round-Action - Built 1896, 12 gauge, 29in damascus barrels, oak leaf carved detonators
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• John Dickson & Son Round-Action - Built 1923, 12 gauge, 28in sleeved steel barrels, 2 3/4in chambers
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• John Dickson & Son Boxlock - Built 1933, 12 gauge, 27in sleeved steel barrels, 2 3/4in chambers
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• John Dickson & Son Boxlock - Built 1975, 12 gauge, 27in steel barrels with 2 3/4" chambers
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• James MacNaughton Edinburgh gun - Built 1898, 12 gauge, 30in steel barrels, 2 3/4in chambers
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• James MacNaughton Edinburgh gun - Built 1923, 12 gauge, 29in steel barrels, beautiful late example
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For comprehensive information on our current inventory, including detailed specifications, provenance, and pricing, please get in touch using our contact form Here

The Southern 2026

We are heading to The Southern Classic Side by Side Championship and Exhibition, which takes place at Deep River Sporting Clays, Sanford, in North Carolina, April 23rd to 26th. If you are considering a new, re-manufactured or vintage gun from us, the team will be on hand to discuss your options and an appointment can be booked here

We will again be bringing some fine Scottish guns, which are available for purchase at the show:

J. Dickson & Son - 12 gauge Boxlock ejector shotgun - 28" steel barrels, cased, made in 1939

J. Dickson & Son - 12 gauge Round-Action - 28" sleeved barrels, cased, made in 1895

J. Dickson & Son - 12 gauge Boxlock ejector shotgun - 28" steel barrels with 2 3/4" chambers, cased, made in 1959

J. Dickson & Son - 12 gauge Round-Action - 28" steel barrels with 2 3/4" chambers, cased, remanufactured 2025

Alexander Henry - 12 gauge Boxlock ejector shotgun - 28" steel barrels, cased, made 1928

Charles Osbourne - 12 gauge Boxlock ejector shotgun - 30" bold damascus barrels, cased, made in 1895

J. D. Dougall -  12 gauge Boxlock ejector shotgun - 30" steel barrels, cased, made in 1896

Charles Ingram - 12 gauge Hammer gun - 30" damascus barrels with 2 3/4" chambers, cased, made in 1882

You can find out more about this great event here

Dickson Owners Club Gathering

Our friends at Delaney & Sons will kindly host the first Dickson Owners Club Gathering for 2026 at The Southern Classic Side by Side Championship and Exhibition. The gathering will take place at 11am on Friday 24th April in the Sponsors Tent. Bring your Dickson gun along for our 'show and tell', meet fellow Dickson enthusiasts and share a wee dram with J-P Daeschler, who will be bringing the whisky direct from Scotland.

For all our Dickson Owners Club members

please drop by our booth to collect 

your 2026 DOC members badge

The Scottish Round-Action Challenge

Will you be taking this trophy home?

As one of the sponsors of the show, and in conjunction with MacNab Fine Firearms, we are very pleased to offer the MacNab / John Dickson & Son Scottish Round-Action Challenge, where participants can shoot the course at Deep River but must use a Scottish made Round-Action. We have acquired this beautiful trophy that has been handcrafted in Scotland to award to the high gun of the Round-Action Challenge. Prominently featuring the wild native Scottish game bird that the Round-Action was designed to shoot, the Red Grouse, the trophy will be on display during the show and awarded on the Sunday afternoon once the results are in.

A Royal Piano Makers Gun

Every year we receive many enquiries from around the world regarding Dickson guns and the current custodians looking to find out more about their gun - when was it made? who was it made for?  We are very fortunate that the Dickson order and delivery records are fairly comprehensive and often there is quite a story associated with the gun. We were contacted in February this year by the owner of a 12 gauge Dickson hammer gun which they had recently acquired in the USA. 

An unusual gun in having 32 inch barrels and a heavy frame, most likely for shooting wildfowl, and being one of a pair. Delivered in November 1884 to W. S. Broadwood.

Walter Stewart Broadwood was born in 1819 in London and into the John Broadwood & Sons dynasty of piano makers. After early education he joined the family business and rose to the position of Managing Director.

John Broadwood & Sons is the oldest and one of the most prestigious piano companies in the world. The instruments have been enjoyed by such famous people as Mozart, Haydn, Chopin, Beethoven and Liszt. The founder of the Broadwood dynasty of piano makers was John (Johannes) Broadwood who was born in Cockburnspath, Scotland. John Broadwood began to work for the harpsichord maker Burkat Shudi in London in 1761. In 1771 he opened his own shop in Great Pulteney Street and inherited Shudi's business on the latter's retirement. At this time Broadwood was associated with Americus Backers and was probably involved in the invention of the English grand action. The earliest known Broadwood, a square, dates from 1774 and it was not until 1782 did he begin to build grands. The first uprights - upright grands - were sold from 1805 until 1813 and were made for Broadwoods by James Black in Percy Street.  Broadwoods began their own production in 1812, the earliest with no serial number, and continued until 1836. The cabinet piano, or cabinet upright, exhibited strings extending to the floor and a cloth-covered panel obscuring the strings of the upper case.  Instead of using his original given name John as part of his inscription, Broadwood continued to use the German form, Johannes, until he added his own son, James Shudi Broadwood, to the firm in the year 1795. From that year until 1808 the company was called John Broadwood & Son and became John Broadwood & Sons after Thomas also joined in partnership with his brother and his father. The grandsons of John were: Henry Fowler Broadwood, Walter Stewart Broadwood, and Thomas Broadwood Jr, all of whom were active throughout the 19th century.

John Broadwood is noted to have supplied harpsichords to the painters Reynolds and Gainsborough, and Josef Haydn in Vienna ordered one. 

Thomas Jefferson, later to become third President of the United States, visited the Broadwood factory in Great Pulteney Street, Soho, London to discuss musical instruments. 

Thomas Broadwood, touring Europe after the Napoleonic Wars, visited Beethoven in Vienna, and in 1818 sent him a six octave grand piano.

Queen Victoria bought a Broadwood square piano for Buckingham Palace, and enjoyed making music with Mendelssohn.

Chopin was provided with three Broadwood grands for his British tour

During the First World War the Broadwood factory was turned over to aircraft manufacture. It is said that the early biplanes were held together with piano-wire: they were.

The Royal Yacht Britannia is equipped with numerous Broadwood pianos.    

A 'silvered frame' Broadwood grand piano was accepted by HM the Queen for Balmoral to mark the Silver Jubilee in 1977.

A Broadwood grand piano was accepted as a wedding present by the Prince and Princess of Wales for Kensington Palace in 1981.

In 2024 the company's Royal Warrant was renewed by King Charles III. Broadwoods are believed to be the oldest of the Royal Warrant holders, with appointments dating as far back as the year 1742. Currently, the company regularly tunes and maintains a total of eight pianos in the various royal palaces.

If you would like to find out more about your Dickson, Alexander Henry, James MacNaughton, Alex Martin, William Garden or Mortimer & Son gun or rifle, please fill in this form and we will see what we can find.