Dixie Gun Works Inc.

[smoothshooter]

Have been getting their catalogs since about 1970 when I was just a kid, and order from them every once in a great while.
Would order more but they usually charge full retail price on nearly everything, and can be beaten on that elsewhere. Also, their website really needs work. It's not that hard to find professionals that could take care of that for them. Cheap.

As I mentioned in a previous post, it seems all their old hands that had first hand knowledge and experience using their products or were gun experts have died off or retired. The ones left are almost all women that just take the orders and pack the widgets.
That being said, we owe them a lot for their major part in getting the modern muzzleloading sport started.

Still okay people to deal with, but I miss the old DGW.

 

[crockett]

I try to buy from them and support them whenever do-able. They would be well advised to follow TOW practice of full size images of parts- even if it was on the net. They have a lot of parts no other source has, plus a lot of books.
On the "good people" aspect. I was building a plains rifle from scratch and needed a steel trigger guard. When I knocked off the scab there was an air pocket on the outside bend. I called and they sent another- no questions asked. BUT...same problem, another air pocket. I called again and spoke to James/Jimmy in the shop and he took a steel trigger guard and ground off the scab in their shop until he found one without an air pocket and sent that. That's two replacements, no shipping charges, no questions asked. That's the kind of people they are, top rate and dependable. I am a dedicated customer.
Also, the internet site isn't that great. Get the catalog, a lot more merchandise and I like just looking through it. A muzzle loading classic.

 

[Zonie]

For those needing some reading material for their morning constitutional, a Dixie Gun Works Catalog can't be beat.

It is the modern equivalent of the Sears Catalog of the late 1890's and early 1900's.

In some ways, it is even better.

The Admiral of the family doesn't feel a need to tear out all of the "interesting" pages from a Dixie catalog. :rotf:

 

[Cowboy]

+ A-1 Zonie :thumbsup: Respectfully, cowboys

 

[akapennypincher]

Dixie has been around as long as I can remember. Other have come, others have gone under, and Dixie is still there. Their business model is customer service, and I have heard few complaints about Dixie Gunworks.

They still have a catalogue when other companies say look on the web-site, and then you have to hope the web-site is working.

 

[rfisher]

I have bought quite a bit of stuff from dixie over the years , no problems with shooting supplies and such but I will NEVER by a knife or axe from them again!!! I bought their fort meigs axe and it was tempered so hard the first time I used it to cut a small sapling it took a big chunk out of the blade. Of course they said they would replace it but I had to pay shipping. Dont feel I should have to pay shipping twice , so I just wrote that one of as a loss.

 

[Billnpatti]

When we lived in Indiana and our kids lived in Texas, we often made the trip from Indiana to Texas and back. Our route took us through Union City, Tenn. and I had to stop at Dixie Gun Works every time we went through there and every time, I found things that I didn't know I couldn't live without....I had to buy them. Now that I live in Texas, I no longer get to give Dixie my hard earned cash over the counter. Sad but true. Now, If I want something from Dixie, I have to try to find it on their crappy web site. Man, if you misspell anything, you won't find it. You have to call it exactly what they call it and spell it exactly as they spell it or you won't find it....at least not easily. But, they still manage to get a bit of my money from time to time. If I end up having to call because I can't find an item in their online catalog, that I know they have, I have found them to be friendly and helpful and if they weren't sure if they had something, they were always willing to go look in their stock. Good people but sometimes, not always, a bit more expensive than some other places. I like them and buy from them. :thumbsup:

 

[Cowboy]

I do love their catalog though! Between taking my wife and mother inlaw to their appointments and me having to go to the V.A. all the time, I have a lot of waiting time spent in waiting rooms. DGW catalog is the perfect waiting companion. Respectfully, Cowboy

 

[Gene L]

I like Dixie! Have done some business with them back a pretty long time ago and have a fairly new catalog. They seem to add things to their catalog at random, or that's my impression.

Lots of good reading there. One thing you can say about Turner Kirkland is he would go for something that put a ball downrange. He started when there weren't many sources for his passion and pursued it however he could. Many of his earlier attempts were less traditional and more practical.

The first Dixie catalog I got, I remember he advised to buy Trapdoors, which then were about $125 or so. While I didn't have $125 then, it was excellent advice.

 

[ohio ramrod]

I have delt with Dixie and Log Cabin since the middle sixties. Both are good family businesses that had a lot to do with getting our sport growing in the late sixties and 70's. I remember going to Dixie and buying locks by the pound out of boxes along the wall. :idunno:

 

[nhmoose]

Dixie has always been a favorite their catalog is a most.

Sure wish I had bought one of their Elephant guns back 30-40 years ago.

My latest purchase was an original 1866 conversion FP.

 

[steinauge32]

I have been dealing with Dixie since the late 60s.I went up there to the store in I believe 1980,I was going through Tenn anyway.I bought one of their then new Tennessee rifles,I think they were 195 dollars then!I remember they had a big wood barrel filled with the remaining dixie belgian made rifles that the Tenn rifle replaced. I still have the rifle.Sorry excuse for a lock but otherwise just fine.I have never used the website,just the catalog.

 

[Gun Tramp]

Hooray for Dixie's shipping department! I was pleased to find they still handcraft their boxes; cardboard cut to size, ends folded over, stapled, then taped with old fashioned glue backed paper tape. My order was packed like it was that person's own, with pride. The same as my first order with them about 1974.

 

[vintovka]

I bought big lots of the odd parts they used to sell cheap like .50 RB Parts barrels, Enfield bands and odd sights no-one had ever heard of. Also bought many dealer sale items like trapdoors, Tenn Mtns and H Ferrys for dirt cheap. All turned to gold - literally. Spoke to the Kirkland "kids" at the shot show and had to stand in line while everyone reminisced about Turner and DGW. Funny as many said the catalogs were a bathroom "fixture".

 

[Kansas Jake]

They haven't stayed in business for all these years without doing a lot of things right.

 

[vintovka]

They haven't stayed in business for all these years without doing a lot of things right.

They have made a few mistakes but not bad after all. Most of the vendors we did business with over last 50 years are long gone.

 

[waarp8nt]

Love the DGW catalog! I typically order by phone as the web site leaves a lot to be desired...my bet is a user friendly website would increase sales substantially.

If your near the store it is well worth detour to go see it. A lot of muzzleloaders are out on display so you can get a feel for it before you buy it. I had a list of items I wanted, the clerk gathered them while I browsed the showroom. I scored a nice 58 cal T/C drop in barrel, in the scratch and dent isle for less than 1/2 online retail prices.

I've never been disappointed ordering by phone or standing in the show room, DGW customer service has been always been good.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

My latest Dixie catalog is probably 8 or 10 years old but it has the same gals wearing the same coon skin hats that were there in the '70's.

 

[gharrod]

I've been buying stuff from DGW since 1969, and have never been disappointed with anything I've gotten from them, nor their service either. They are the absolute best at what they do.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I've been buying stuff from DGW since 1969, and have never been disappointed with anything I've gotten from them, nor their service either. They are the absolute best at what they do

I've been buying from them since 1979..., and their service is..., how should I phrase this?...."Flip a Coin".
Sometimes I get exactly what I ordered, and sometimes I get sorta what I ordered. When ordering a replacement Bess ramrod, I got a ramrod for a Charleville musket. So right time period, and all metal, but wrong ramrod. I double checked the stock number on my order and on the invoice, and the numbers matched but not on the item. Exchanging the item took a while and was a bit "drawn out". (HA Get it? )
OR when I was stocking-up on Bess lock replacement parts for Pedersoli locks..., again some were correct, and some not.

I figure they are pretty busy, and get in a hurry.

LD