O/U 12 gauge with simply gorgeous wood and semi nude custom engraving on the receiver etc. It was simply drop dead gorgeous, never saw a 50,000.00 dollar shotgun before. Guy said no to a picture which I was fine with..

when I was young, I helped out at tri county gun club in sherwood oregon. I helped with their sporting clays, trap, continental, skeet, 5 stand shoots. tuesdays and thursdays. Used to buy a case of 7.5 or 9's remington sts for 35 bucks.

Many, many of the guys there were sporting perazzi, krieghoff, merkul guns. I was always jealous.

I at one time I had THE Holland and Holland 470NE that Robert Redford carried in the movie "Out of Africa" if my own hands. Quite the feeling. ;-)

What did he bring it in for?

quote:

Originally posted by FrankMoses:
What did he bring it in for?

To have the Perazzi technician install 2 new 12-ga shells. Like a Ferrari - shell changes run about $100 per event...

quote:

Originally posted by feersum dreadnaught:

quote:

Originally posted by FrankMoses:
What did he bring it in for?

To have the Perazzi technician install 2 new 12-ga shells. Like a Ferrari - shell changes run about $100 per event...

Your saying it requires a technician and a 100 bucks to load 2 shotgun shells? For 50k it ought to load itself!!!!!

I got to check out several Beretta custom shotguns at their gallery, ranging from $10k to $225K. A bit nuts but these are more art pieces than shooters I guess.

If I won the lottery a collection of of shotguns like this would be one of my first priorities. I may even hire a full time technician to carefully install new shells when needed.

When living in London, I visited the Purdy and the Holland/Holland showrooms. Unfrickin believable. Beautiful everywhere!!! They had huge 6 and 8 ft slabs of Russian burled walnut on display. I was informed that each slab would produce only 2 or 3 complete stocks of "adequate quality".

The "Pre-Owned" section still looked brand new. Most guns were priced more than a car and a few were more than a small house.

The showroom rep that I was speaking with showed me a 20g side/side that was brought in for fitting. It had a Royal Crest on it. He wouldn't confirm which royal it was. But said it belonged to a "young Royal with red hair".

Never forgot the visits to those places.

Andrew

quote:

Originally posted by DSgrouse:
when I was young, I helped out at tri county gun club in sherwood oregon. I helped with their sporting clays, trap, continental, skeet, 5 stand shoots. tuesdays and thursdays. Used to buy a case of 7.5 or 9's remington sts for 35 bucks.

Many, many of the guys there were sporting perazzi, krieghoff, merkul guns. I was always jealous.

I'm a member at TCGC now. A number of years ago, a few of us used to go out there and shoot skeet with our riot guns. We got some strange (and very condescending) looks from the guys with their expensive over/unders.

quote:

Originally posted by DSgrouse:
when I was young, I helped out at tri county gun club in sherwood oregon. I helped with their sporting clays, trap, continental, skeet, 5 stand shoots. tuesdays and thursdays. Used to buy a case of 7.5 or 9's remington sts for 35 bucks.

Many, many of the guys there were sporting perazzi, krieghoff, merkul guns. I was always jealous.

I bought a collection from a local guy that was downsizing,

he had a Kreighof that he would not sell,
he had over 55K invested in it, and had put well over 500K rounds thru it,

he kept it cased, in his trunk, next to the golf clubs,
only took it out of the car to shoot,

said it was easier that way, cause you just never know if it will be a golf day, trap day or both

The Perazzi O/Us I've shot are some of the nicest feeling shotguns out there. Their balance is amazing, great triggers, stunning wood, built like a tank. Kim Rhode -- America's greatest skeet/trap shooter -- has a Perazzi that she finally retired from competition after 1,000,000 rounds. Yep, that's one million rounds.

Krieghoffs are great, too, but with a little different feel. A little heavier gun, with more weight towards the buttstock.

SO series Berettas are uber nice, and they feel quite a bit like a Perazzi. Gamba feels somewhere between Perazzi and Krieghoff.

From a competition, pure shooting function, most premium shotguns top out around $15k in price. Maybe $20k. After that, price increases come from cosmetics -- engraving, wood, gold inlays.

These premium shotguns are beyond my means, but I fondly recall being allowed to play with them.

When I lived in NJ I was friendly with the Griffin and Howe location in Bernardsville. What a treat to go there and see amazing guns.

I met some interesting folk there, one was a doctor picking up a $14,000 Perazzi, his third or fourth one. I was showing a custom knife to someone, he saw it and asked how much? I gave him a price he pulled out cash, when he left I handed some cash to the store manager, I was his friend as long he was there.

The guy brought the Perazzi in because some of the lines of the engravings were slightly discolored, wanted them cleaned up. When they left I asked Tim the LGS owner how he was going to do it and he simply was going to use Flitz........very carefully.

When I was in Scotland last year, I had a once in a lifetime experience. At an event I struck up a conversation with the owner of Holt Auctions of London. He had me handle a pair of Purdy shotguns that he had coming up for auction. They were an unbelievably beautiful matched pair that had been custom made for Eric Clapton. He estimated they would go for $250-300,000. I was too stunned to take a pic of me with the gun.

Pictures from the auction catalog in the link: https://auctions.holtsauctione...1350+&refno=++127195

Here's my SC3 Grade Perazzi skeet gun. Its not valued at $50k, but it is probably in the range of $15-17k. I too love a well built firearm, not just for function but as a reliable shooter. I shoot clays at least once or twice a week and appreciate the balance and other characteristics of these fine tools.

I shot a Perazzi TM-1 then a TMX back in the 80's for trap. Bought both on time from Jaquas. Always felt like an ass for buying a gun I coouldn't afford ON TIME. But...LOVED both guns. Shot them well, never any reliability issues either.

And sold both for basically what I paid ,after a few years.

Have a Ljutic for trap now, though I shoot infrequently.

When I retired I had a good excuse, my "retirement gift" so bought a K-80 skeet set. Use it for skeet, but mostly for sporting clays. EVERY time I take it out of the case and assemble it....I fall in love with it a little more!

I can rationalize a fine shotgun in a minute. Buy them wisely, keep them well maintained and pristine and you wont lose much, maybe even come out ahead.

I worked at a gun club when I was 16 after a big trapshooting match a guy drives off in his Mercedes leaving a Perazzi in a case laying on the ground, I yelled at him and chased after his car and he never looked back. I picked it up and took it into the club house. A few days later he called the gun club and had it shipped to him Like it was no big deal, I wish now I would shot a few rounds of trap with it then returned it.

Seen a K-80 left sitting in a rack at Ben Avery. Range guy took in inside for safe keeping.
I imagine the owner called to see if it was turned in.

Another lucky fellow left his *very* early production 870 Trap sitting in the rack.
Ya know, gabbing and getting distracted is supposed to FOLLOW putting the guns away.

ETA: pulicords, that is a very pretty shotgun!

I once shot a round of skeet with a 14" cylinder bore 870. I, uh, did'nt do so well.....