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The BUILDING OF A CUSTOM SHOTGUN
BY JIM NIEMIEC/WON Staff Writer,Published: Mar 12, 2009
Western Outdoor news
HUNTING EQUIPMENT REPORT BY JIM NIEMIEC
RENO – The Hunters’ Convention, hosted by Safari Club International, was a venue that offered up the finest selection in high-quality custom shotguns and rifles that has ever been put on display in America. There were collections of many of Europe’s finest antique gun makers and state-of-the art firearms being manufactured for today’s avid wing shooter or sporting clays target enthusiast.
WON covered the show looking at and (when allowed) shouldering many of the beautiful guns that were displayed by importers, collectors and manufacturers. Much of the showroom space was allotted to exhibitors with huge gun racks filled with custom big game rifles, double rifles and a wide variety of wonderful highly engraved shotguns. It would have been impossible to handle every firearm on display, but just being able to see so many fine firearms made visiting this show for 4 days very rewarding for anyone with an appreciation of the craftsmanship of fine gun makers.
Cabela’s had gun racks full of elegant shotguns and other high quality guns; as did the showroom in the Gandermountain retail store, but it was perhaps the smaller booths that offered up the unique flavor of attending Safari Club International’s annual venue.
It was back in 1965 when Fabbri Gunmakers, based out of the small Italian town of Brescia located between Milan and Venice, started up its own gun making factory and today is rated as one of the top 10 shotgun manufacturing companies in the world by Fortune magazine. Looking back into history, Ivo Fabbri and Danielle Perazzi formed a partnership in 1960 and jointly owned the company until 1965 when they decided they had different goals. Fabbri wanted to make the best side by side and over-under shotguns in the world. Fabbri shotguns are now produced out of a modern factory and office complex located in the city of Nave. Customers are invited to visit the gun making facilities and have a shotgun built to their specifications.
This reporter stopped by the Fabbri booth and visited with Les Trilla, the importer of Fabbri into the United States, artistic engraver Fausti Giacomo and Orange County fine firearms dealer Jim Leeg of Villa Park.
“Fabbri makes only 25 shotguns each year, but they are all high-end shotguns that are custom ordered by a number of wing shooting executives, movie celebrities and the Monarchs of the world. Each gun is custom fitted to the shooter whose dimensions and personal preferences are built into each shotgun. The buyer can choose from a large library of wood from such distant lands as France and Turkey and the metal used is only of the highest quality,” says Trilla.
Trilla went on to state, “The formula of the steel material and the quality of steel used sets a Fabbri shotgun apart from other modern shotguns available on the market. A Fabbri just doesn’t break. Everything about the gun is custom made, from the screws to the hidden-hinged door that conceals the screws on the breech of the gun. Our guns also feature a pin-less side plate and Fabbri manufacturers only a side-lock model. Each screw is made from a single block to steel and each screw head has a star-head design. All of the internal working parts of the trigger mechanism and other integral moving parts are each machined from a separate piece of special metal. Tremendous detail is paid to the machining and quality assurance of each and every part of a Fabbri shotgun.”
This hunting editor was allowed to handle a Fabbri Classic model, 12 ga. with a basic retail price of $170,000. This shotgun opened smoothly, snapped closed tightly, shouldered amazingly well, had excellent balance and had the feeling that it would swing nicely on any upland game bird or dust a rising clay target at the sporting clays range.
One of the unique features about a Fabbri shotgun is the fact that the barrels and rib on an over/under are laser welded, thus no heat is applied directly to the barrels. Everything is fit by hand during the building of a shotgun, the owner has a choice of fixed chokes, and the basic shotgun is non-selective with stacked barrels.
The engraving scenes and gold inlays on the highly polished metal parts of a Fabbri shotgun, including the trigger guard, are left in the artistic hands of Fausti Giacomo, who with a staff of 4 or 5 master engravers change a piece of metal into a work of art. An engraver does not work on a completed gun, they just layout out the desired scene on the metal parts from a wide selection of designs depicted in an artist’s album and then begin the engraving process. Once the engraving is completed, and that would take a minimum of 3 months up to over a year, the finished metal pieces are sent back to the factory.
The metal parts are then hand fitted to the pre-selected wood fore-end and stock and finely polished to even further enhance the engraving. The high-grade wood of the stock and fore-end are hand checkered with up to 32 lines per inch, which is the standard for most shotguns.
Once the shotgun is completed to the specifications of the buyer, it is boxed in a fine Italian leather gun case and shipped to America. WON asked about the cost of shipping the shotgun back to Fabbri for any repair work.
“Given the fact that a Fabbri just doesn’t break we don’t worry too much about the gun not performing for many years. If a shotgun has to be sent back to Fabbri all the repair work is done at no charge, unless the gun has been abused. There are expenses incurred in shipping the shotgun out of the country and getting it back that usually amount to $1000 to $1200 for import-export fees, processing, air freight, bonding, etc., but very few are ever sent back to Italy,” noted Trilla.
Leeg added to Trilla’s comment about the number of Fabbris that have been sent back to Italy over the years with the following, “I don’t recall anyone ever saying that their Fabbri needed anything other than perhaps a refinishing of a gun that had been used extensively.”
In addition to the Fabbri Classic other popular shotguns ordered by competitive shooters and duck hunters include: the Classic Basic Class Model 6 that lists for $160,000 with no engraving, the stainless steel model that is ideally suited for hunting in different weather elements and there is the top of the line custom Fabbri that sells for $300,000 and takes at least one year to produce.
For additional information on Fabbri contact J.K. Leeg’s Fine Firearms at jkleegs@earthlinks.net or email Fabbri direct at info@fabbri.it.
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Western Outdoor news HUNTING EQUIPMENT REPORT BY JIM NIEMIEC RENO – The Hunters’ Convention, hosted by Safari Club International, was a venue that offered up the finest selection in high-quality custom shotguns and rifles that has ever been put on display in America. There were collections of many of Europe’s finest antique gun makers and state-of-the art firearms being manufactured for today’s avid wing shooter or sporting clays target enthusiast. WON covered the show looking at and (when allowed) shouldering many of the beautiful guns that were displayed by importers, collectors and manufacturers. Much of the showroom space was allotted to exhibitors with huge gun racks filled with custom big game rifles, double rifles and a wide variety of wonderful highly engraved shotguns. It would have been impossible to handle every firearm on display, but just being able to see so many fine firearms made visiting this show for 4 days very rewarding for anyone with an appreciation of the craftsmanship of fine gun makers. Cabela’s had gun racks full of elegant shotguns and other high quality guns; as did the showroom in the Gandermountain retail store, but it was perhaps the smaller booths that offered up the unique flavor of attending Safari Club International’s annual venue. It was back in 1965 when Fabbri Gunmakers, based out of the small Italian town of Brescia located between Milan and Venice, started up its own gun making factory and today is rated as one of the top 10 shotgun manufacturing companies in the world by Fortune magazine. Looking back into history, Ivo Fabbri and Danielle Perazzi formed a partnership in 1960 and jointly owned the company until 1965 when they decided they had different goals. Fabbri wanted to make the best side by side and over-under shotguns in the world. Fabbri shotguns are now produced out of a modern factory and office complex located in the city of Nave. Customers are invited to visit the gun making facilities and have a shotgun built to their specifications. This reporter stopped by the Fabbri booth and visited with Les Trilla, the importer of Fabbri into the United States, artistic engraver Fausti Giacomo and Orange County fine firearms dealer Jim Leeg of Villa Park. “Fabbri makes only 25 shotguns each year, but they are all high-end shotguns that are custom ordered by a number of wing shooting executives, movie celebrities and the Monarchs of the world. Each gun is custom fitted to the shooter whose dimensions and personal preferences are built into each shotgun. The buyer can choose from a large library of wood from such distant lands as France and Turkey and the metal used is only of the highest quality,” says Trilla. Trilla went on to state, “The formula of the steel material and the quality of steel used sets a Fabbri shotgun apart from other modern shotguns available on the market. A Fabbri just doesn’t break. Everything about the gun is custom made, from the screws to the hidden-hinged door that conceals the screws on the breech of the gun. Our guns also feature a pin-less side plate and Fabbri manufacturers only a side-lock model. Each screw is made from a single block to steel and each screw head has a star-head design. All of the internal working parts of the trigger mechanism and other integral moving parts are each machined from a separate piece of special metal. Tremendous detail is paid to the machining and quality assurance of each and every part of a Fabbri shotgun.” This hunting editor was allowed to handle a Fabbri Classic model, 12 ga. with a basic retail price of $170,000. This shotgun opened smoothly, snapped closed tightly, shouldered amazingly well, had excellent balance and had the feeling that it would swing nicely on any upland game bird or dust a rising clay target at the sporting clays range. One of the unique features about a Fabbri shotgun is the fact that the barrels and rib on an over/under are laser welded, thus no heat is applied directly to the barrels. Everything is fit by hand during the building of a shotgun, the owner has a choice of fixed chokes, and the basic shotgun is non-selective with stacked barrels. The engraving scenes and gold inlays on the highly polished metal parts of a Fabbri shotgun, including the trigger guard, are left in the artistic hands of Fausti Giacomo, who with a staff of 4 or 5 master engravers change a piece of metal into a work of art. An engraver does not work on a completed gun, they just layout out the desired scene on the metal parts from a wide selection of designs depicted in an artist’s album and then begin the engraving process. Once the engraving is completed, and that would take a minimum of 3 months up to over a year, the finished metal pieces are sent back to the factory. The metal parts are then hand fitted to the pre-selected wood fore-end and stock and finely polished to even further enhance the engraving. The high-grade wood of the stock and fore-end are hand checkered with up to 32 lines per inch, which is the standard for most shotguns. Once the shotgun is completed to the specifications of the buyer, it is boxed in a fine Italian leather gun case and shipped to America. WON asked about the cost of shipping the shotgun back to Fabbri for any repair work. “Given the fact that a Fabbri just doesn’t break we don’t worry too much about the gun not performing for many years. If a shotgun has to be sent back to Fabbri all the repair work is done at no charge, unless the gun has been abused. There are expenses incurred in shipping the shotgun out of the country and getting it back that usually amount to $1000 to $1200 for import-export fees, processing, air freight, bonding, etc., but very few are ever sent back to Italy,” noted Trilla. Leeg added to Trilla’s comment about the number of Fabbris that have been sent back to Italy over the years with the following, “I don’t recall anyone ever saying that their Fabbri needed anything other than perhaps a refinishing of a gun that had been used extensively.” In addition to the Fabbri Classic other popular shotguns ordered by competitive shooters and duck hunters include: the Classic Basic Class Model 6 that lists for $160,000 with no engraving, the stainless steel model that is ideally suited for hunting in different weather elements and there is the top of the line custom Fabbri that sells for $300,000 and takes at least one year to produce. For additional information on Fabbri contact J.K. Leeg’s Fine Firearms at jkleegs@earthlinks.net or email Fabbri direct at info@fabbri.it. |
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