Dickinson T1000 Synthetic

[bladeracer]

I picked up some new toys this morning, one being a straight-pull 12ga. shotgun.
I have to say, my first impression is great, it looks and feels like a very nice gun. 28", 3" chamber, five chokes, 4+1 capacity, 3.18kg empty, virtually the same weight as my 30" Stoeger Condor.

I think I'll struggle running the bolt from the shoulder but I may be able to train the muscles to lift my arm up, and push forward enough to reach the bolt handle, it's a few inches forward of most bolt-actions.

Now I need to work out the choke threads and find a muzzle brake for it.

[Wombat]

That looks as though it should be useful , though I dont see any great advantage over a lever action.

On another note I thought the T1000 used a 10ga 1887.
Makes you wonder if people research their product names before using them. I had a mate show me the new audio setup on a device his work was developing, they had named the feature as "Atmos", which in Dr Who is a tech device that was used to kill most of the population.

[Cooper]

Interested to see how it goes! You going to shoot slugs out of it?

[Urastus]

If I was after a shotty for hunting I'd get this because I'm guessing you've done your homework. It sounds light for such a long barrel. Could you tell me what you want to use it for?

[bladeracer]

Interested to see how it goes! You going to shoot slugs out of it?

I'll shoot anything in it, I like to experiment

[bladeracer]

If I was after a shotty for hunting I'd get this because I'm guessing you've done your homework. It sounds light for such a long barrel. Could you tell me what you want to use it for?

No research whatsoever
My dealer offered it to me at a ridiculous price, so I said yes. It occurred to me to find out something about them yesterday so I looked elsewhere...and realised my dealer's price is even stupider than I originally thought - he must _really_ like me! I figured it must be a secondhand one he'd traded, but nope, still boxed. I was already buying the Ruger Precision Rimfire in .22LR, and an air-rifle, and he said he'd throw the Dickinson into the deal for bugger all.

I mainly just want a single-barrel so I can see how well muzzle brakes work on shotguns because of my shoulder damage. If it's effective then I'll make one for the double-gun.

BTW, he has a few other pieces to sell still, some shotguns (I didn't take much notice as I don't like shotguns, but I could ask him), and a couple of very pretty Marlins, the 336 Texan Deluxe in .30-30, and the 1895 Gold Elk in .45-70. I do still want a .30-30 and a .45-70 myself, but both of these are far too pretty to take bush, for me.

[bladeracer]

Could you tell me what you want to use it for?

Nothing specific, I don't like shotguns much, they just don't make sense to me. With slugs and heavy buck, they're great on larger game, but lack the range and precision of a rifle, with ammunition several times heavier, more expensive, and more bulky. And I don't like shooting animals with the smaller shot sizes. If you can't hit your rabbit or fox with a 40gn .22 bullet, why would swapping to 150 3gn pellets be a better choice? You're giving up killing ability and range in exchange for being able to at least hit the target? If you manage to put 10% of the shot charge into the target (unlikely), you're delivering similar mass, but spherical pellets hemorrhage velocity so quickly, you have less penetration and energy anyway. I'm sure most birds drown rather than die from pellet injuries. For smaller birds, like Quail, starlings, and such, shotguns work very well, but it still seems like an extraordinary level of overkill to me To me, if your target is running, then you've already screwed up the hunt. Go home and do a better job next time.

Don't get me wrong though, I have shot many hundreds of birds with shotguns as they were the most efficient way of dropping large numbers quickly, then finishing them off with the .22LR. To hunt on many properties when I was a kid, I basically had a list of all the problems the landowner wanted controlled, so if I was going out for foxes or rabbits, I also took a gun to deal with starlings and galahs. I'm sure I took an occasional crow with a gun, but I always preferred taking crows with a rifle, it's just a cleaner kill.

I bought the Stoeger primarily to have a go at Simulated Game, and maybe some clays, but my shoulder just has no chance of coping with dozens of rounds of 12ga. I enjoyed clays when I was a kid in Army Cadets. If I can reduce the amount of pain and injury from the shotgun, then at least I can realistically consider trying both of those sports.

[Urastus]

From what I've read - 45-70 is a big thump in the shoulder. I always try things left handed. I still haven't got my rifle ready, but I've been shooting left and right with handguns. I thought I'd do the same with the rifle - at the least it will be more elegant if I can only use the left side of something for support while trying to remain mostly hidden It's nice to have that option. I started left side in whitewater so that I could always roll up on the downstream side, and then continued with manual labour (axe, shovel etc). It also keeps your muscles balanced (now I'm laughing). Mostly it comes in handy because I often have some sort of injury and have to swap around anyway.

[Urastus]

Left shoulder for big bangs, right shoulder for little ones And I was curious if you had a hunting reason for getting that gun. I get that you're an enthusiast and don't necessarily need a hunting reason to own any firearm - you might as well enjoy life if you can

[bladeracer]

From what I've read - 45-70 is a big thump in the shoulder. I always try things left handed. I still haven't got my rifle ready, but I've been shooting left and right with handguns. I thought I'd do the same with the rifle - at the least it will be more elegant if I can only use the left side of something for support while trying to remain mostly hidden It's nice to have that option. I started left side in whitewater so that I could always roll up on the downstream side, and then continued with manual labour (axe, shovel etc). It also keeps your muscles balanced (now I'm laughing). Mostly it comes in handy because I often have some sort of injury and have to swap around anyway.

I would like to be ambidextrous with longarms, but other than just playing around, I just can't make it work. Handguns are not too big a problem, but I just have no left-handed dexterity. I gave up writing in 1990 due to damaging my hand, and although I can make a scrawl with my left hand, it's in no way useful - even I can't read it. I can't even use a hammer, screwdriver or spanners left-handed

[bladeracer]

Left shoulder for big bangs, right shoulder for little ones And I was curious if you had a hunting reason for getting that gun. I get that you're an enthusiast and don't necessarily need a hunting reason to own any firearm - you might as well enjoy life if you can

Left shoulder would be nice, but I find the shotgun is more of a "hand eye co-ordination" deal than the rifles, which just makes it even more difficult
You make a very good point though, so I will endeavour to put in some serious left-shoulder practice.

[Ed9362]

That looks as though it should be useful , though I dont see any great advantage over a lever action.

On another note I thought the T1000 used a 10ga 1887.
Makes you wonder if people research their product names before using them. I had a mate show me the new audio setup on a device his work was developing, they had named the feature as "Atmos", which in Dr Who is a tech device that was used to kill most of the population.

im no expert but im pretty sure the T1000 was the molten metal guy, arnie and his 10G 1887 was T800

[bladeracer]

That looks as though it should be useful , though I dont see any great advantage over a lever action.

On another note I thought the T1000 used a 10ga 1887.
Makes you wonder if people research their product names before using them. I had a mate show me the new audio setup on a device his work was developing, they had named the feature as "Atmos", which in Dr Who is a tech device that was used to kill most of the population.

No, I don't see any advantage to either of the designs over a double myself
But lever-actions are a fair bit of work to simply extract a case and feed a fresh round into an action, and with complicated mechanics to do it, I prefer a bolt-action myself.

I'm thinking you're a bit of a sci-fi watcher, which I'm not , so I'm missing the reference I love Doctor Who, but only up until Peter Davison. I did see an episode a few years ago, with a female prime minister who was an alien? I read Matt Lucas's book a few weeks ago and have been meaning to download the episodes he did, but the interest has not been strong enough to make it happen yet I did watch The Hand of Fear a couple weeks ago though.

I was in the post office yesterday and noticed their scale was an "AS-30" model, all I could think of was ADI shotgun powder

[bladeracer]

On another note I thought the T1000 used a 10ga 1887.

im no expert but im pretty sure the T1000 was the molten metal guy, arnie and his 10G 1887 was T800

Now I get the reference! Predator

[Ed9362]

lol swing and a miss,

terminator

[TassieTiger]

Predator? Right!!!! It was thecrobot from Paul...geeez.

Have you thought about reduced loads for clays? My kids use lowest recoil and love it.

[Wombat]

That looks as though it should be useful , though I dont see any great advantage over a lever action.

On another note I thought the T1000 used a 10ga 1887.
Makes you wonder if people research their product names before using them. I had a mate show me the new audio setup on a device his work was developing, they had named the feature as "Atmos", which in Dr Who is a tech device that was used to kill most of the population.

im no expert but im pretty sure the T1000 was the molten metal guy, arnie and his 10G 1887 was T800

You are correct

[Goose#24]

Nice work mate! I have one also and I love mine! Easy to work the bolt with speed and what I would say low recoil, Can shoot it all day no problems! Hope you enjoy and happy shooting!

[bladeracer]

Predator? Right!!!! It was thecrobot from Paul...geeez.

Have you thought about reduced loads for clays? My kids use lowest recoil and love it.

What the hell is Paul

I have certainly thought about it, I even bought a Lee Load-All

But I have no idea about loading shotshells, so I need to do some learnin'

There was a thread on Facebook today about loading shotshells, loaded with the old "You have to follow the recipes exactly!" comments galore. Have these people not seen Taofledermaus or Demolition Ranch? It seems to me you can stick whatever you like in a shotshell, batteries, torches, lighters, other shotshells, nails, anything that'll fit down the tube

I normally shoot one-ounce, 1300fps field loads of 7-1/2's, or I swap in a 7/8-ounce slug, or 50 BB's. These loads are definitely more than my shoulder can handle for more than a handful of shots

I should try something like 3/4-ounce loads around 1000fps and see how they feel. I know that different powders, and even different bullet designs can have noticeable recoil effects, and I've read that wads play an even bigger role in shotshells. Is there a specific wad that I should buy perhaps, made for the elderly and decrepit?

I've also got some .45-cal wads en-route to experiment with .44 Mag shotshells for a giggle.

I got a message yesterday from a guy selling some milsurps locally, so I need to investigate that before I can do much with the shotgun I think.

[bladeracer]

Nice work mate! I have one also and I love mine! Easy to work the bolt with speed and what I would say low recoil, Can shoot it all day no problems! Hope you enjoy and happy shooting!

Low recoil you say? That is interesting.
As for speed, damage to my right hand/arm/shoulder makes it difficult to raise my hand much above eye level, and the higher I lift it the weaker it is. Reaching forward increases the load on my shoulder, making that difficult as well, and tends to force my arm downwards to compensate. It also makes left-handed shooting a bit difficult. My hand is supported if I'm holding the fore end and lift the gun to my shoulder, but when I then cycle the bolt it's a stretch getting my hand back out to the fore end. If I can get the hang of shooting it left-handed I should be able to adapt the bolt handle to the left side pretty easily. I've had a bit of practice with it (even left-handed as suggested!), and I think I'll be able to make it work, but a very easy assist might just be a lanyard from my wrist to the bolt handle.

I noticed that practicing left-handed I seem to have a tendency to flex both index fingers when pulling the trigger left-handed, very odd. Maybe they're connected

[Goose#24]

Nice work mate! I have one also and I love mine! Easy to work the bolt with speed and what I would say low recoil, Can shoot it all day no problems! Hope you enjoy and happy shooting!

Low recoil you say? That is interesting.
As for speed, damage to my right hand/arm/shoulder makes it difficult to raise my hand much above eye level, and the higher I lift it the weaker it is. Reaching forward increases the load on my shoulder, making that difficult as well, and tends to force my arm downwards to compensate. It also makes left-handed shooting a bit difficult. My hand is supported if I'm holding the fore end and lift the gun to my shoulder, but when I then cycle the bolt it's a stretch getting my hand back out to the fore end. If I ca et the hang of shooting it left-handed I should be able to adapt the bolt handle to the left side pretty easily. I've had a bit of practice with it (even left-handed as suggested!), and I think I'll be able to make it work, but a very easy assist might just be a lanyard from my wrist to the bolt handle.

I noticed that practicing left-handed I seem to have a tendency to flex both index fingers when pulling the trigger left-handed, very odd. Maybe they're connected

Ahh I see, sorry to hear mate! Look honestly i find the recoil to be low, I use Winchester super X ammo in a shot size of either 2 or bb which I think from memory are a 36gm and 1315fps and I dont think they kick hard at all. Could shoot all day no problem, but if you have a bad shoulder then you may feel it a bit more! But honestly I'm very happy with mine and seem to enjoy shooting it more than a double.

[bladeracer]

Ahh I see, sorry to hear mate! Look honestly i find the recoil to be low, I use Winchester super X ammo in a shot size of either 2 or bb which I think from memory are a 36gm and 1315fps and I dont think they kick hard at all. Could shoot all day no problem, but if you have a bad shoulder then you may feel it a bit more! But honestly I'm very happy with mine and seem to enjoy shooting it more than a double.

No worries
I'm not finding any bad stuff about them so it sounds like I got a nice gun.
Giving it a clean now.

[bigpete]

44 mag shotshells are easy. 2.1cc scoop of trailboss, card,top up with shot,card.

Even better is using 303 cases ....

[TassieTiger]

Stuff the 1300 FPS - check out the Olympic 1180’s in 7 1/2.
I’d categorise them similar in recoil to a 243 but that still might be a lot depending on your accident damage.

[Bent Arrow]

Stuff the 1300 FPS - check out the Olympic 1180’s in 7 1/2.
I’d categorise them similar in recoil to a 243 but that still might be a lot depending on your accident damage.

If you want low recoil factory, the winchester 980's are the softest I have found in the search for low recoil loads.

[bladeracer]

44 mag shotshells are easy. 2.1cc scoop of trailboss, card,top up with shot,card.

Even better is using 303 cases ....

I was thinking of using .303 brass actually

[bladeracer]

Stuff the 1300 FPS - check out the Olympic 1180’s in 7 1/2.
I’d categorise them similar in recoil to a 243 but that still might be a lot depending on your accident damage.

Does 120fps really make a significant difference in felt recoil? Or is this a "low recoil" load?

.243, 6.5mm's, 7mm-08, .303 are all fine, .30-06 and 8x57mm are heavier but tolerable, 7.62x54R is a mongrel though
12ga. is definitely the hardest on my shoulder by a good margin.

I picked up an air-rifle yesterday, bit concerned about my shoulder coping with the heavier .177" pellets at almost 1000fps!

[bladeracer]

Stuff the 1300 FPS - check out the Olympic 1180’s in 7 1/2.
I’d categorise them similar in recoil to a 243 but that still might be a lot depending on your accident damage.

If you want low recoil factory, the winchester 980's are the softest I have found in the search for low recoil loads.

I'll try to get a box of those and try them myself.

[bigpete]

44 mag shotshells are easy. 2.1cc scoop of trailboss, card,top up with shot,card.

Even better is using 303 cases ....

I was thinking of using .303 brass actually

Just cut em off at the shoulder,gives you extra case capacity.

[bladeracer]

44 mag shotshells are easy. 2.1cc scoop of trailboss, card,top up with shot,card.

Even better is using 303 cases ....

I was thinking of using .303 brass actually

Just cut em off at the shoulder,gives you extra case capacity.

They'd be very long, do they still chamber in .44 Mag okay? I could possibly single-load them but they'd have to be cut down to run through the tube.