Dewey - thanks for the lock explanation. Beretta is offering a similar lock design on their Sparviere model ($100k+). Are your locks detachable a la Westley Richards "drop locks"?
I've also always believed that the sidelever is ergonomically superior to every other method of opening a break-action gun.
I couldn't agree more - it seems a much smoother motion to depress a side lever than to pull a top lever across. Plus the lines on a sidelever are much sleeker and sexier. Add a bar-in-wood action and that will be an eye-catcher.
In the Sparviere, the lockwork is mounted on the outer plates and travels with the plates when they open. In the Bertuzzi, the outer plates are simply covers that open to expose the inboard-mounted sidelock mechanism.
The Westley Richards hand-detachable is a boxlock gun with the left and right locks mounted on removable sub-plates. Its design is incompatible with a sidelock.
FAMARS built what they referred to as "hand-detachable, central sidelocks", which was a detachable trigger group with all of the lockwork mounted on it. It was very little different in concept or execution from what Perazzi uses in their O/U guns.
