Double Shotguns Price Justification???

A 100 bird round of sporting clays at my club costs $35. The four boxes of shells cost about $24. Total cost per round is $59. If I average just I round per week I've spent over $3,000 annually or about the price of a Beretta or Browning. In three years I've spent the price of a Perazzi. That money is gone but the gun whether a Beretta or Perazzi still retains a signficant value.

If I'm going to spend that much time and money shooting the targets why wouldn't I have the best gun I could?
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SPOT ON!
 
My dad shot the same Stevens 12 ga. double for 50 years, and it never failed him. Let me add that Pop was a meat hunter seeking out squirrels, rabbits, coons, possums, and an occasional dove if he could find one perched in a tree. My guess is that he fired fewer than 1000 shells. So in one sense his choice of brand was irrelevant

The expensive doubles are made by companies spending tons of money on research and development in design, metallurgy, and ballistics. Also they provide excellent customer service which in itself is a significant overhead.

Too, doubles are highly labor intensive and require skilled workers to fit and put one together. On the nicer ones the wood is usually high grade. It all adds up.
 
this browning BSS 20ga has been in heavy use since 1977,shooting every game animal legaly allowed and trap-skeet and a few rounds of sporting clays and has not caused one bit of trouble,even tho made in japan. i am the third owner.eastbank.
 
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My first shotgun was a J.C. Higgins/Ted Williams (that's Sears-Roebuck for the young folks amongst us) 12 ga. SXS. I bought it in 1955. It brought down countless pheasants and rabbits in Illinois. I used it regularly until a couple years ago then traded for an 870. It was still solid and locked up perfectly. I think it was made by Stevens/Fox. In 1955 it was under $100.00, probably under $50.00. Except for looks and bragging rights, I'm not sure what a $100,000.00 English shotgun would do it couldn't.
 
Except for looks and bragging rights, I'm not sure what a $100,000.00 English shotgun would do it couldn't.
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There is a substantial difference in the handling qualities of a fine double - it is something to be judged by each person, but it is noticeable
 
My friends are extremely generous, letting me shoot their fine shotguns. A dozen Purdeys, a Woodward O/U that may be the prettiest shotgun I've ever seen, a couple Churchill XXVs, Perazzis, Parkers,A H Foxes, etc.

They handle very well. I can't quantify how much better than the Savage/Stevens 311s and so on I've owned, but definitely better.

Still, my 870s and the two O/Us currently in my battery are far from cumbersome.
 
Except for looks and bragging rights, I'm not sure what a $100,000.00 English shotgun would do it couldn't.
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If your famous shooting skills ever get you invited up to Balmoral, for grouse with the Royals, good behavior and having one of those up-scale shotguns (or two) just might get you invited back. :rolleyes:
 
if invited i would not go, then again i would not invite them to my corn fields or the wild grape vine filled glades or green brier choked hollows either. i have killed grouse,rabbits,pheasents,turkey,deer and miss several bear and if you are even invited here,no funny looking duds,no tea breaks,no drivers(you must flush your own game), and if you say nice shot old chap you will have mud balls thrown at you. oh,you have to also dress your own game and carry it your self. no serfs here. he,he. eastbank.
 
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Value is relative.

I had a cheaper O/U Mossberg. Had repeated FTF due to several problems including broken firing pins etc. Finally sold it for 350$ and never looked back. With maybe 1200 rounds through it I figure I lost about 200$ (not to mention the time I lost fixing it 3-4 times). In the end gun cost me about .12 cents per round to shoot.

I replaced it with a Browning. I know have at least 10000 rounds through that gun with no FTF and no problems. The gun gun opens and closes just like the first day I tried it. Right now that gun is running me .25 cents a round +-. The difference is that if I sold the Browning today I could probably recoup most of my $. Maybe figuring a 500$ loss on the Browning leaves me with a .05 cents per shot final cost or less than 1/2 the cost of the Mossberg.

That does not include the greater enjoyment I get from shooting the Browning over the Mossberg including, better fit, balance, weight, fit and finish, improved shooting confidence (not because of name but but because I know that the both barrels will shoot when I need them to), improved trigger.

My point is that like others will attest, your buy in may be greater in the upfront costs, but your long term costs will be greatly less.
 
Zippy13 said:
If your famous shooting skills ever get you invited up to Balmoral, for grouse with the Royals, good behavior and having one of those up-scale shotguns (or two) just might get you invited back.
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Dear Zippo: If I ever do get that invite, I will humble myself to allowing you to fund the trip, new Purdey included. Oh, what the hey? I'll accept a used high grade English SXS of any make. :rolleyes:
 
My point is that like others will attest, your buy in may be greater in the upfront costs, but your long term costs will be greatly less.
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Exactly! - Buy quality once, instead of poor performance over and over. That's not saying that certain inexpensive guns, (or anything else for that matter) aren't of good quality, but when you get into certain arenas, whether fine guns, high-performance cars, etc., the best quality does come with a price for that handwork, manufacturing tolerances, etc.
 
if invited i would not go, then again i would not invite them to my corn fields or the wild grape vine filled glades or green brier choked hollows either. i have killed grouse,rabbits,pheasents,turkey,deer and miss several bear and if you are even invited here,no funny looking duds,no tea breaks,no drivers(you must flush your own game), and if you say nice shot old chap you will have mud balls thrown at you. oh,you have to also dress your own game and carry it your self. no serfs here. he,he. eastbank.
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You'd be missing a great opportunity very few folks get an opportunity or can afford these days - that's too bad

But not inviting them to your cornfield would be bad form and not very polite either - wouldn't it?

If I really played my cards right and could afford it, I might have a minute chance to be able to at some point in the future get invited to a driven pheasant shoot in England, since I know some English folks who are going back next week for the season. If there was a way, I would do it just for the experience - typically 8 Guns, 250 birds per day, high-flying birds screaming overhead - it isn't as easy as you seem to think it is..............but then I have spent entire days chasing wild chukar - it always seems to be uphill - both ways; and I have hunted preserve quail over pointers......all have the merits, all are great experiences that should be shared, and no one should be looking down their noses - whether from an elitist standpoint or from one of reverse snobbery and poverty......

It's all good.......share the experience and open some eyes and minds....
 
well i might go if they cut the limit to 10 birds and one gun, then they could invite alot of commoners to share in the sport(privit hunt).thats what i like about my piece of heaven on earth,you can come hunt with out wearing thoese funny pants and hats or firearms that cost more than a house. you can belch,fart and scratch here,even chew and spit if you want to. and the dogs ride up front here(mud or not). and after wards we may have a bud,blue ribbon,lone star or coors and a big hoagie. no crumpits here. i went on one of thoses special hunts with the elite and here,s what i shot, it was a easy hunt,they chased it out of the barn and i shot it. eastbank.
 
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or firearms that cost more than a house.
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That would depend on the house now, wouldn't it?

I seriously doubt that someone able to afford a $220,000 titanium Fabbri lives in a $500 travel trailer, although, it COULD happen.

Gun prices are relative to quality and materials used, combined with the skill of the labor

As 1 of 8 and at 250 birds per day - only shooting 10 would not be living up to the expectations - besides you only get to keep 2 - the rest get sold
 
i guess i ain,t worthy to hunt with the elites of the world, hell i don,t know any one who owns a 220,000.00 shotgun or rifle. and to me they that do, are the biggist name droppers in the world. i would like to know how meny who would like to hunt in england can,compared to thoses who do. in my neck of the woods every one who wants to hunt can and it don,t cost a arm and a leg or a 220,00.00 firearm. so take the firearm you want and enjoy the hunt as we here in the USA can hunt more than most of the people in the whole world and you can also own more firearms(even machine guns if you want to) than most people in the world . i hear there are sheep and goats that cost over 50,000 to hunt, hell look me up and i,ll get you a whole herd of each to hunt and give you back 47-48 thousand back. eastbank.
 
I want to do the cheap hunts, the expensive hunts and the ones in the middle.

Champagne taste on a beer budget, that's me, a working stiff. But I can dream.

I also want to be able to carry a tune, but I'd need some sort of transplant.
 
Worth?

What is "worth" anyway? There's been discussion of durability and that idea in some more expensive firearms is pretty much a given - as was said, there are very good reasons that the top level competition shooters spend their money on more costly guns even though my old Ithaca pump and your old 870 do us fine service.
There is that other, very subjective, idea about worth. Yes, I might shoot my Savage 311 as well as a Purdey or a Holland Royal double but I would own one of those high end guns in a second; not because they are expensive but because they are quality at a different level; there is a fineness there that is ineffable and goes far beyond utility.
I have held a lot of new firearms. I own a lot of firearms. I enjoy unboxing and mounting a new shotgun - a Remington, a Benelli, a Mossberg - but none of them has ever given me the thrill that just holding a Holland has.
Your mileage may vary.
Pete
 
Y'know while not being a hunter it seems to me that many of the arguments in this thread are a bit irrelevant. (no insult meant) You are both approaching the hobby (hunting) from opposite sides of the same coin. Hunting is a hobby like any other and like any other you can spend a little or a LOT on it. If you think the European style of hunting is expensive check out aviation as a hobby!! There is no real reason to nitpick someone else for spending money on something they find fulfilling. Or to look down on someone for taking the old school American approach to things. Some people love the feel of something well made and purpose built (especially if it's custom!!) and some people are happy with of the shelf and see no reason to spend more. Sam Walton drove a beat up ford pick up for a good chunk of the later part of his life. I on the other hand (if I could afford it) would drive a European super car which I'm sure none of you have heard of. I would invest a great deal of time and effort trying to improve my driving skills to the point where I would be able to use the car to maybe 45% of it's potential (if I was lucky) and GOD would I have a good time doing it!!!
 
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