US champion Kim Rhode shoots anywhere between 500 and 1000 practice shots daily. She used her Perazzi for practice and tournaments putting over a million shots through it. That is what I had in mind when I mentioned target use. In addition to the actual shooting add the constant open-close due to safety rules and the friction from hands and clothing and you get the idea. Simply lasting over time is not endurance.
UK Olympian Braithwaite in Mexico did no use an English shotgun. I am constantly looking to see even one UK shooter appear holding a local gun on the stands. So far I have not seen one.
To add something to this discussion that goes beyond style and mystique. What the British makers gave us, and is not often copied, is handling and balance. In the headlong rush to exploit British patents post 1900 most makers forgot these essentials and they made superficial copies but forgot the handling part.
As far as execution and workmanship my experience is that others can and have done it better, even if they miss the balance part.
Anyone into good quality shotguns should read Bruce Owen's article about CNC and high tech methods used in best guns, published in 2003 I think in Shooting Sportsman. It is one of the most candid articles on the subject, and his being the former production manager of Purdey gives it special relevance.
After you read it you will re-evaluate ideas about best materials being used in best guns, the comparative levels of engineering accuracy in the product itself then and now.
I had seen these new methods used by Sandro Lucchini in Armitalia a decade before the British employed them. I did not buy an Armitalia because back then I was under the spell of the hand work mystique. In psychology they call this introjection.
Last edited by Shotgunlover; 06/06/15 09:00 AM.
