I traded a bunch of dog training with a pro trainer nearby. In return I restocked his perazzi mx12 sporting clays gun. At the time I was into sporting clays but was on a much lower budget. He was 6’7” or some such NBA-like stature and needed a much bigger stock.
That gun is probably as close to a grail as I’ve come. It had 34” thin-walled barrels with fixed chokes. Weighed about 9.5lb. Even with the super long tubes and weight you’d pick it up and swear it was 7.5lb, but it handled like a race car—fast but mega-stable. I’ve never felt that combination of handling speed and stability before, it was really quite amazing. I shot it some while we were fitting him for the stock, and it felt impossible to miss. Our deal was dog taining and a right of first refusal on the gun in return for the re-stock. I fitted him and made a 16+” stock with a massive palm swell for him with a really nice piece of turkish walnut. Inside, the gun was no less impressive. There’s a spring in perazzis that sometimes needs replaced but overall its engineered from the ground up to be durable through literally hundreds of thousands of rounds and has some really well thought out ways to address problems Ive seen in some other shotguns.
Several years later he asked if I wanted to buy it. By this time I wasnt really shooting clays much any more so I passed. But I still sometimes dream about that gun.
Only pics I have are just the new stock right after checkering.
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I never considered it even worthy to fantasize as a grail rifle; just unobtainium. OutKast Arms could probably cook me up something similar if I sourced an action.
