I went to a gun show this weekend and saw the most beautiful shotgun in my life. It was a Browing Presentation Grade III. All hand engraved w/gold inlaid ducks. They wanted $5500.00. Oh well i can dream cant I?
If memory serves, Jeff Cooper once wrote that pistol shooters were more sociable, rifle shooters more solitary and shotgunners always broke. There's a good reason for that. Once you get bit by the fine gun bug there is no turning back.
Don't worry shortround there are far more shotgunners who dream and the more you learn the more expensive your dreams get.
The engraved Brownings cost so much due to the engraving, which is a form of art that some people appreciate (People with the bucks to buy them). The gun is no better functionally than a regular Browning.
Personally I do not care for the gold inlays, they are too chintzy for my tastes. I prefer the Italian Bulino style of engraving, which is basically the same type of engraving done for banknotes. True Bulino is absolutely gorgeous and the best examples belong in a museum. (Not to mention they are very expensive).
Oh well, I can drool like everyone else can't I.
(Purdey tastes on a mossberg budget, like everyone else)
Drool away, Geoff. A question, have you noticed just how beautiful a plain, unengraved top quality double can be? The elegance of line and proportion found on Shaker furniture comes to mind.
Went in to B&N yesterday to pick up a present for wife, and saw the Double Gun Jourrrnal and Shooting Sportsman side by side amongst the periodicals. Manfully resisted even picking them up(G)....
Perazzi shotguns range from 17,000 to 44,000 for some and 60,000 to 80,000. I think the girl that one gold medal it trap shooting at the Olympics was shooting a Perazzi.