Even though the Krieghoff Essencia took the Silver Award at the 2003 "Gold Medal Concourse d'Elegance of Fine Guns" and won the Shooting Sportsman Award for a contemporary, custom-fitted gun that best typifies the upland hunting ideal, our Peer Review group approached the Krieghoff Essencia with a measure of skepticism.

Everyone seemed to be wondering the same thing…

When Chris Batha told me at the 2009 Safari Club Convention that Zoli made great guns, I knew I should spend quality time with Paolo Zoli and Steve Lamboy, the company’s general manager in the U.S. One thing led to another and a few weeks ago Steve sent me a new 20-bore Columbus from the Italian gunmaker.

At the Southern Side by Side Championship and Exhibition we set out to answer the question: Can you find a good hammer gun for $2,500 or less?

Tony Galazan is an intense man. Tony Galazan is an obsessive man. I visited Tony at the Connecticut Shotgun Manufacturing Company facility in New Britain, Connecticut in mid-February, a few weeks after marveling at his vast exhibit at this year's Safari Club International Convention in Reno, Nevada.

When is too much never enough?

When it comes to a stunning matched trio of McKay Brown 12-gauge upland shotguns.

The Safari Club International Convention, held this year in Reno, Nevada, is like the metaphoric pirate's treasure trove of the finest shooting and hunting equipment, guns, art and jewelry that the human spirit can generate. The cornucopia of shotguns dazzles the mind and spirit, for here are the most elegant, most elaborate and most technically advanced on the planet.

It was in late September 2008, at Griffin & Howe's Hudson Farm, that the idea of a "family tree" for a Boswell Shotgun first came about.

I pushed through chest-high sorghum and tall Jose wheat grass, thumbing the external hammers of my stunning 12 bore Watson & Hancock as if plucking banjo strings. Even in the chilled air the fragrance of the grasses was intoxicating. Rock-hard washboard ground tested my calf-high leather boots and kept me off balance. Eyes darting from dirt to sky, I tried to reconcile walking agility with being ready to get a quick shot at a pheasant.

In this first of a three-part series, we arrive at the Beretta headquarters in Italy, where Michael Sabbeth queues up his story about the exceptional SO 10 with a brief company history. See first hand why Franco Beretta told Michael “The SO 10 is the highest expression of the Beretta spirit.”