Problem with Dickinson Estate model side-by-side

Oblio13 · Sep 16, 2018

Bought a Dickinson Estate 12 gauge a few months ago and finally got around to shooting it today.

On the seventh round of light (1 oz) loads, the right barrel just went "click". I looked and saw that the wrist of the stock had opened up around the tangs about 1/8 inch. No cracks are visible externally, it just spread open.

The safety will engage and the top lever moves, but the action will not open.

I squeezed the wrist of the stock back together against the tangs and fired the left barrel with the rear trigger.

Still can't get the action open.

The safety clicks on and off, the top lever moves normally, but the action simply will not open. And there's still a live round in the right barrel.

Any ideas?

oyeme · Sep 17, 2018

Not a good scenario for sure. Engage safety and remove the forend to see if you can then open the gun. Somebody smarter than me will hopefully come along and provide some better help. Good luck and be safe.

Oblio13 · Sep 17, 2018

oyeme said:
Not a good scenario for sure. Engage safety and remove the forend to see if you can then open the gun. Somebody smarter than me will hopefully come along and provide some better help. Good luck and be safe.

Tried that. No luck.

oyeme · Sep 17, 2018

PM sent on other possible options.

Oblio13 · Sep 25, 2018

**UPDATE**

I obviously couldn't ship the gun back with a live round in a chamber and no idea where the hammer was, so I gingerly pulled the buttstock.

A chip of walnut had broken off of the inside of the head of the stock, and become wedged between the right hammer and the frame. Once I removed the chip, I was able to lower the hammer and open the action.

So a Box-O-Parts is now heading back to Dickinson to see how good their warranty is.

A week before grouse season.

oyeme · Sep 25, 2018

Back up gun ready? Maybe you will get your package back in record time. Priority Mail only takes 2 days so maybe you will. Good luck and glad you figured it out.

GrizG · Sep 28, 2018

Oblio13 said:
**UPDATE**

A week before grouse season.

Ugh... a similar experience to my Gold Elite problem...

I have a Dickinson .410 with about 4,300 rounds through it that has been good to date. The Gold Elite is 8 years old and has spent a lot of time afield hunting and breaking clays. I didn't keep track of the rounds though it like I have with the .410 but I have no doubt the number is at least 7-8,000 rounds. I like these guns and would buy more of them... though at the moment I'm refraining from buying more until I thin this place out!

Oblio13 · Oct 26, 2018

**UPDATE**

Got the gun back. The gunsmith says he drilled into the head of the stock, glued in a pin, and built up the broken ear around it, then bedded the whole head of the stock so that it now has 100% contact.

So I figure I've got a better-than-new gun now.

I paid the shipping to them, but otherwise there was no cost.

It will take me a while to regain confidence in the gun, though.

Also, I noticed while I had it apart that the internals seemed to be of high quality, and the design of the action is quite simple. Wish I'd taken picks, because there don't seem to be any already on the internet.

oyeme · Oct 27, 2018

All is well that ends well! Thanks for the update and now you can enjoy your "new" toy. Will probably run fine forever now.

Old No7 · Nov 19, 2018

Oblio13 said:
Got the gun back. The gunsmith says he drilled into the head of the stock, glued in a pin, and built up the broken ear around it, then bedded the whole head of the stock so that it now has 100% contact.

So I figure I've got a better-than-new gun now.

I paid the shipping to them, but otherwise there was no cost.

It will take me a while to regain confidence in the gun, though.

That is understandable, but I'm glad to hear you got it fixed and they seemed to do a thorough job for you. Wishing you good luck from here out with it!

Oblio13 said:
Also, I noticed while I had it apart that the internals seemed to be of high quality, and the design of the action is quite simple. Wish I'd taken picks, because there don't seem to be any already on the internet.

Yes, those would be good to see, as I haven't "been inside mine" either -- but now you have me curious...

Mine is a 20 ga Estate, but it should be very similar. If I ever "get in" to it, I'll be sure to post some pictures here. But as I'm typing a voice in my head is saying "If it aint' broken..." -- but I will admit, I AM curious now.

Old No7

Problem with Dickinson Estate model side-by-side

Oblio13

oyeme

Oblio13

oyeme

Oblio13

oyeme

GrizG

Oblio13

oyeme

Old No7

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