New Scottish "Rounded- Action" From An Ancient Name

What we like about a Scottish round-action is its discretion and restraint, the lack of unnecessary projections, the sober styling and, ultimately, the look and feel of the organic, near-cylindrical gun. But at nearly £40,000 for a new Dickson or MacNaughton, an Edinburgh gun is not everyone's cup of Earl Grey. Now Dickson & MacNaughton is offering a boxlock with the same sinuous shaping at about half the price of the firm's more expensive guns. By miniaturizing and re-configuring the cocking limbs and tumblers, workers at Dickson's Dunkeld workshop have squeezed Anson & Deeley mechanics into a round-action body.

The result, introduced at a recent Vintage Cup, is virtually indistinguishable from a Scottish triggerplate-action gun. The new "rounded action" will start at £21,500 and will be sold under the Thomas Mortimer brand. Thomas Elsworth Mortimer descended from a famous family of gifted gunmakers whose London premises produced guns for "mad" King George and his son, The Prince Regent. Mortimer moved from London to Edinburgh in 1835, and Dickson's acquired the name in 1938. Just how good are the new Mortimers? They're so like a Dickson round-action that they can be separated only by close scrutiny. One enthusiast who recently bought a pair of round-bodied boxlocks from another maker was heard to mutter, "I wish I'd waited and bought a pair of these."