At $50,200 this custom Blaser shotgun may be the most expensive F3 ever produced by the company.
When you consider the top F3 Imperial lists for nearly $29,000, this custom F3, which we call One-of-One because of its trigger-guard inscription, becomes worthy of recognition.
By Irwin Greenstein
Meet Tullio Fabbri, shotgun maker to the stars.
His clients include director Steven Spielberg, actor Tom Selleck, rocker Eric Clapton and writer-director John Milus.
“A lot of very, very wealthy people in the public eye are Fabbri owners,” noted Mike Burnett, manager of Dewings Fly & Gun Shop in West Palm, Florida, the only authorized Fabbri dealer in the world.
That’s because Fabbri shotguns are recognized as the pinnacle of shotgun achievement. Fabbris are technically perfect, and with their stunning Renaissance and fantasy-style engravings are truly “functional artwork,” said Mr. Burnett.
A Matched Pair for $395,000
Today you can purchase a matched pair of new 12-gauge Fabbris selling for a cool $395,000 on the Dewings web site (simply click on the “Add to Cart” button). The starting price for a new Fabbri is $100,000 — and the waiting list can be up to five, very long years for a bespoke shotgun.
You can of course sidestep the queue and find yourself a previously owned Fabbri. Even then, you can expect to pay $60,000 to $240,000.
Or you can talk with Mr. Burnett. He has reserved time with the engravers and has several Fabbris in the pipeline whose stocks he could custom fit during production. In that case, your wait would be approximately 15 months. If you can accommodate an off-the-rack Fabbri, Mr. Burnett had six in his store as of this writing — among the largest retail inventories of Fabbris anywhere.
The Fabbri Vision
The scarcity, quality and star-power of Fabbris elevates them into the same rarefied universe as the British legends: Purdy, Holland & Holland and Boss. Yet while these institutions have been making shotguns for hundreds of years, Mr. Fabbri’s father, Ivo, started the firm in 1965. The remarkable trajectory of Fabbri is a testament to the craftsmanship and vision that catapulted this tiny shotgun company straight to the top.
So what is the secret to a Fabbri shotgun?
Mr. Fabbri was kind enough to spend about 30 minutes on the phone with us from Italy, to explain the philosophy of the company.
“We have to use anything we can afford to do our job better,” he said. “The design and mechanics of our guns change according to new technology.”
The payoff, according to Mr. Burnett is “The details. A Fabbri gun is absolutely perfect. Not a flaw, not a burr, not anything that would cause that gun mechanical failure. They are mechanically perfect, and as close to perfection in an over-and-under shotgun there is.”
Only 30 Fabbris per Year
As a matter of course, Fabbri has been at the forefront of computerization and advanced manufacturing — an approach that some critics judge as extreme when you consider that the business employs only 16 people who make approximately 30 shotguns per year.
For example, he will use one of these $10-million machines to make a single screw from scratch, explained Mr. Burnett.
“A lot of people don’t appreciate the effort we put into our shotguns,” Mr. Fabbri said. “We keep working very hard to make improvements. The design of the gun is alive — it’s a laboratory for people who really want the best.”
Like a Silicon Valley Clean Room
In his quest, Mr. Fabbri broke ground in 2004 on a new facility that could rival the semiconductor clean rooms of Silicon Valley — a place he knows quite well from his frequent visits to test and try new equipment for his shop.
Fabbri’s 50,000-square-foot factory is climate controlled. It uses 3-D software for design and manufacturing — similar to what the big car makers employ to see renditions of parts and designs in 360º before committing them to production.
Laser-Welded Barrels
Mr. Fabbri has opted to laser-weld the barrels for enhanced precision. The sears in the locks are coated with a diamond dust finish for durability. Materials for making a Fabbri shotgun include titanium alloys and stainless steel for strength and agility. All 150 individual parts of a shotgun are manufactured in the Fabbri workshop — an entire shotgun completing a rigorous 1,500 production steps.
Unlike his pricy British counterparts, Mr. Fabbri is unapologetic that his exquisite over-under shotguns are machine-made. In fact, he believes it’s the best way to make the best possible shotguns.
“We make a 12-gauge that weighs like a 20,” he said. “It’s perfectly balanced. You can’t do that with a file, anvil and drill.”
Fabbri is still blazing a path set in the 16th century of the Val Trompia region of Italy, where the company is located.
The Craftsmen of Val Trompia
Val Trompia is reknown for its Italian craftsmen who have been plying their weaponry skills since Bartolomeo Beretta started making barrels for the arquebus, a heavy matchlock gun favored by kings and popes.
The narrow valley of Val Trompia runs through the Columbine Mountains. The region is rich in high-grade iron ore and timber that fueled the furnaces and fire pits of the earliest artisans. The Mella River which flows through the valley supplied water and hydro power.
This rustic area has been at the leading edge of weapons development for centuries. It is home to Beretta, Franchi and an astonishing concentration of gun-making expertise.
The raw materials of the mountains enabled the Berettas to work the small fires that shaped rough plates heated and wrapped around steel mandrels. It marked the beginning of the fine art of welding the seam along the length of the barrel by hammering the overlapping edges together.
The Brescian Style
Over the centuries, magnificent guns and armor of Val Trompia were manufactured with intricate embellishments chiseled into their design. It came to be referred to as the Brescian style — in acknowledgement of the nearby industrial hub of Brescia.
Val Trompia was relied upon to keep Napoleon’s Grand Army in guns. Almost 40,000 muskets were produced annually until Napoleon was brought to his knees in 1815.
Today, the Val Trompia region is a Mecca for engravers. This ancient mountain region is now home of Sabbati, Pedretti, Torcoli and Pedersoli. How much are collectors willing to pay for Fabbris engraved by these masters? Well, that $395,000 matched pair on the Dewings web site was engraved by the legendary Mr. Pedersoli. An engraving by Mr. Perdersoli can easily add $50,000 or more to the price of a base, $100,000 Fabbri, Mr. Burnett told us.
That’s why it’s hard to believe that the Fabbri phenomenon could have happened anyplace else in Italy.
An Italian Feast of Shotgun Makers
The Brescia Consortium of Arms Manufacturers touts over 30 world-class shotgun manufacturers plus more than 40 subcontractors — the artisans who specialize in barrels, triggers, stocks, engraving and other components that are scrupulously manufactured.
Go down the list of shotgun makers in the consortium and you’ll see Italian legends such as Pedersoli, F.A.I.R., Famars, Piotti, Rizzini, Zoli and others. And it is very similar to the concentration of talent that you find in Silicon Valley where tradition, genius and proximity give rise to a hotbed of innovation.
When you visit Val Trompia, it seems like every Italian gun maker in the country is housed here.
Now, when you think of the specialization that marks so many craftsmen in the area, Mr. Fabbri has taken that 16th century craftsmanship into the space age.
As Mr. Burnett explains, “Basically when you buy a Fabbri you’re paying for the labor. Tullio makes every part in house.”
The Maestros
Mr. Fabbri deftly walks the high wire that spans digital manufacturing and old-world craftsmanship. Ask him who engraves his shotguns, and you’ll get a Who’s Who of Italian Maestros…Angelo Galeazzi, Gianfranco Pedersoli and Manrico Torcoli (the father of the fantasy style of engraving), among others.
Mr. Burnett said his customers buy Fabbris for different reasons, but mostly they see these shotgun masterpieces as investments. “They’re not going to lose money — they’re so sought after. You could probably make 10% year over year on a Fabbri.”
In this section we celebrate the great engravers, stock makers and craftsmen who combine their talents to produce beautiful shotguns.
Since the 16th century, guns have been adorned with depictions of great hunts and battles. Now in the 21st century you’ll come to understand that, with the right talent, a shotgun can actually become a piece of jewelry — something that distinguishes the owner and enhances the value of the shotgun.
Prepare to be amazed.
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There’s bobwhite quail, chukar, partridge and pheasant for the taking in Texas. But there’s more than great bird shooting in Texas. You can drive to Austin, the city that surprisingly has more live music venues per capita than even Nashville, Memphis, Los Angeles, Las Vegas or New York City
In Mexico you can go on trips to shoot ducks, quail goose, and perdiz. Then squeeze in a visit to the magnificent Inca ruins, stunning scuba diving in Cozumel or magnificent deep-sea fishing in Cancun.
Michigan is a pheasant-hunting paradise in the fall — especially if your lodgings are a rustic lakefront cabin with a wood-burning fireplace.
You could stay in gorgeous San Francisco and make day trips to the “other Napa Valley” for a weekend of great clays shooting and tastings at tiny wineries destined for greatness.
Or you could hop a train — one of the many rail safaris in Africa that take you to private bird-shooting preserves in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Tanzania. And of course, there is plenty of exotic wildlife — up close and personal.
Luxuriate away your time in the travel section of Shotgun Life. You can travel vicariously or book a reservation. This is a place to explore.
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A proper fitting shotgun is so important that some folks are willing to spend $90,000 and more to get it. For that $90,000, you can take possession of a bespoke Purdey side-by-side custom fit to you much as the company did to the British landed gentry in the 19th century.
But for shooters who don’t have the money or the time to wait 12 long months for their shotguns, you can fit an off-the-shelf shotgun to your frame in ways that will enable you to hit plenty of targets — consistently.
Ask the experts about purchasing a shotgun and the first thing they’ll advise is to make sure it fits. In this section you’ll find everything necessary to help you understand the dynamics of a well-fitting shotgun…
Do you really need to clean your shotgun?
You’d be surprised that the answer is: “It depends.”
One 50-year veteran shooter will hardly ever clean his over/under. He’ll go shoot birds in Argentina with a dirty shotgun, spend a few days shooting 4,000 rounds or so — and just keep on shooting without a drop of Hoppe’s ever touching it.
Then there are shotgun owners with semi-automatics that need to give it a good cleaning every 300 rounds or so.
And then of course there are shooters who clean their shotguns after a few rounds of skeet.
What’s right? What’s wrong? Well, it depends.
In this section you learn the ins and outs of proper shotgun care…
The components of a shotgun shell include the rim, primer, brass, shell case, powder, wad and shot — with the exception of shotgun slugs, which are like blunt bullets encased in a shotgun shell and used on larger game.
by Hellen Lee-Keller, PhD.
I got up early on a frosty winter morning to prepare for my first duck hunt ever. Sacramento can get pretty chilly in the morning. I packed my new camouflage bag with snacks, camera, money, ID, and all sorts of other goodies that Holly told me that I’d need for our day out. After getting all geared up, I kissed my hubby goodbye and headed out the door.
Derek wore a bemused smile on his face as he watched his Los Angeles-bred wife march out the door carrying a camouflage bag and wearing a Ducks Unlimited camouflage cap on her way to help and watch someone shoot ducks out of the sky. In fact, that bemused expression has been rather constant on his face since before Christmas when I found out Holly is a hunter and that I wanted to become one, too.
Bugs and More Bugs
You see, Derek grew up in Georgia where lots of folks hunt. So the thought of his short, Asian, loudly articulate, and very prissy wife going out into the bugs (I hate bugs!), wearing camouflage (not elegant), and sitting-in-wait in the tall grass (more bugs, disgusting water, and God only know what else is lurking in there) just brings on too much cognitive dissonance.
But he is extremely supportive of all the hobbies that I pick up. Just the day before, he drove me around town, even though he was hung over, as I was searching for the perfect cap, bag, and hooded poncho (must be in shadow-grass pattern) to wear out on my first ducking hunting foray.
Would the Duck Scream Out in Pain?
As I was driving over to Holly’s lots of questions ran through my mind. How would I feel when Holly shot a duck? (While Holly, apparently was a bit worried that she’d drag my butt out into the wild and not shoot anything, I blithely had supreme confidence that she would. She’s determined that way.) Would it scream out in pain? Would it freak me out? How would I feel about eating snacks without being able to wash my hands first? Would I be cold? Would the repair on her spare set of waders keep the water out? (I hate cold, wet feet!) Would I get tired and bored?
Still mulling over these questions, I came up to Holly and Hank’s house. A cute ‘50s ranch-style sitting on a quarter acre. Holly took me into the back room where she had laid out several items for me to try on: her camo jacket, a face mask, cap and hood. She also brought along another sweatshirt, just in case I got cold.
Then she inspected my gear and was absolutely delighted with my bag. Just perfect, she said. I felt quite pleased.
Now the Waders
Then we headed out to the garage to try on the waders. Now I’m not sure if I mentioned that Holly is about a foot taller than I am. But the waders, being flexible, fit rather nicely and with the top of the waders snugly fitting under my arms; I felt reassured that if I fell into the water that I would be covered unless the water was very deep. She had already loaded up her car with the wheelbarrow, lots of decoys, and a bunch of other paraphernalia. Mountains of stuff. She tossed in the last of her items, and we headed off.
On the way there, we mostly talked about grading (both miserably procrastinating until the last minute–love teaching, hate grading), our jobs, our former jobs, and the other usual stuff when two academic women get together.
I also got to find out a little bit more about where she grew up. That was by accident. We were talking about the scenery of the Central Valley. It’s low and flat, surrounded by buttes and mountain ranges. It’s stunningly beautiful. And it’s always amazing to me to think that I’m living on the bottom of a sea bed that had dried out. Anyway, she was telling me how much she loves it and thinks it’s beautiful, in a way that I’ve come to recognize over the past year and a half.
Since Derek and I moved to Sacramento, we’ve come across many locals who extol the virtues of the Central Valley in a slightly over-earnest, too enthusiastic way when they find out that we’re from San Diego, and that I grew up in Los Angeles. At first it was a bit annoying because we are very happy here and couldn’t figure out why people assumed that we weren’t.
Then, we figured it out. People had a hard time believing that we actually like it here: their hometown, their home region. Yes, it’s an odd bit of chauvinism, but aside from the few exceptional cases, it’s also a sweet kind of chauvinism. They love it and they want others to love it, too, not in an obnoxious my-town-go-home sort of way but in the way that Holly was expressing it. Their love of the region. It’s nice to be living in a place where people take pride in it, but not to the point where they are overly protective.
Into the Refuge
All this to say that Holly lived for a part of her life, up and down the Central Valley region. This was before she became the urbane and sophisticated political journalist. So as we were both commenting on how much we loved the beauty of California, it struck me that I wanted to take a picture of the road up to Delevan National Wildlife Refuge. When I turned to the backseat to look for my camera, I couldn’t see my bag! To be fair, there was so much camo back there, it was kinda hard to sort through the various items to see it. But after much digging, it slowly and horrifyingly dawned on me that I might have left my bag at Holly’s. So, Holly pulled over at a rest stop and we searched. Sure enough, I left the damn thing at her house. When I told Derek about this later, he was amused and simply replied, “I guess the camouflage worked so well that you couldn’t see it to bring it.” I, on the other hand, was disheartened. My camera! My ID and money! My snacks!
Holly was unfazed and said that there was a convenience store where we could pick up some snacks and so we did. I had to also get a new cap. I had to trade my perfect cap that matched my perfect camo bag for a cap that was all-wrong and didn’t match anything. I’m sure you ladies will understand my sorrow. But, I have to admit that it was serviceable.
When we arrived, Diane, who runs the place, kidded Holly about being a “Bird Watcher” because apparently Holly had not shot many ducks at Delevan. So, she assigned us to Blind 2 because it had an average of 3 ducks shot per day. She was rooting for us.
When Your Back End Falls Asleep
Throughout the day I mostly I sat in on a camp stool, just an inch or two above the waterline with my feet dangling in or floating on the water, but toasty and dry. Now in case this sounds uncomfortable and miserable, it’s not. In fact, I fell asleep for a bit, sitting on the stool with the sun gently shining on me. When I was awake, I tried to be very still, but after several hours the back end starts to fall asleep. So, I would shift a little and try to be subtle about it.
Well, let me tell you, it did not deter the ducks. Because both times I was stirring on my damp seat, I saw Holly rise up, then BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! followed by a shout, “I hit it!” Next thing I would see was Holly wading out into the water to retrieve her kill.
Holly Gets a Widgeon
The first time this happened, I stood up in amazement. I hadn’t seen a thing! Once she reached the duck, she gently picked it up by the neck, gave it a few quick twirls to break the neck and watched to make sure it was dead. The first one had jerky nerve twitches, so she gave it a couple more twirls before she proudly held it up for me to see. It was a lovely, lovely duck. A widgeon, I believe. Beautiful coloring and good size. I was impressed. The same procedure happened the second time, but I was quicker to look up at the first BLAM! so I saw the second duck fall out of the sky.
Ducks, when they fall and if they aren’t killed instantly, fall to the water and float with their heads ducking into the water. No quacking, no sound. I wonder if it’s shock, I think it might be a way to cope with the pain of the injury. Our cat Lucy did that at the end of her life when she was in pain. She’d hide her head, quietly. So, I’m guessing that they are coping with the shock and pain. So, it’s kinda nice to think that hunters quickly retrieve their prey to finish the job immediately. It’s not like fishing where people toss the fish into a bucket after taking the hook out of them to keep them “fresher.” It always seemed like it must hurt and that they must be pissed off swimming in a cramped bucket with a giant wound in their mouth or throat.
When the sun set, we headed home. Once we got back to Holly’s we could take a closer look at the birds as we plucked and prepared them for the freezer.
The next part of hunting is plucking, cleaning, and gutting. It’s not that difficult and quite what I expected.
After we plucked all their feathers, I was simply amazed at how downy they are underneath. They were both grey underneath and reminded me so much of our little kittens. All soft and downy.
Hank had figured out that a good way to pull off the down is to wax them. Yes, ladies, just like your own legs. So, Holly dipped them both into a vat of hot water and paraffin and the ducks came out with a nice crust of wax. The wax grips onto the down so, as you pull away, it all comes off rather neatly. There are parts that you need to go over and pull with your fingers, but on the whole it comes of in strips.
I didn’t take pictures of the gutting, which is expectedly gory. But it’s pretty much what you’d expect, entrails and organs and blood.
So, after my first duck-hunting trip, I am looking forward to next season so that I can start hunting ducks. It’s too late in this season for me to get licensed, learn to shoot, buy a shotgun, and get all the gear. Holly and Hank are so enthusiastic that they think that, if I hurry, I’ll be ready to get in one shoot this season, but I’m methodical and I like to make sure I know what I’m doing. So, knowing myself, I’ll be ready for next season. In the meanwhile, if Holly is willing to bring along the noisy fidgeter, I’m ready to head out again.
Hellen Lee-Keller joined the faculty of California State University, Sacramento in 2006 as an Assistant Professor of Multi-Ethnic Literatures in the English Department. She holds a doctorate in Literature with a concentration on Cultural Studies from University of California, San Diego. She earned an M.A. in Humanities from California State University, Dominguez Hills. And she has two B.A. degrees in Fine Art and Women’s Art Practice and in French Studies from University of California, Santa Cruz and University of California, Irvine, respectively. She teaches courses that emphasize the intersections between race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, and class formations in cultural production in the United States. Since she is currently searching for the perfect shotgun, light enough for a small woman to carry but powerful enough to get the job done, she will entertain all recommendations and advice. She can be contacted at leekeller@csus.edu.
Caution ladies: If your husband or boyfriend hands you one of his old shotguns for a round of clays shooting, say “Thanks but no thanks.”
Anecdotal evidence points to the above situation as a sure-fire way for a woman to never pick up a shotgun for the rest of her life. Why?
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Shotgun Life is the first online magazine devoted to the great people who participate in the shotgun sports.
Our goal is to provide you with the best coverage in wing and clays shooting. That includes places to shoot, ways to improve your shooting and the latest new products. Everything you need to know about the shotgun sports is a mouse-click away.
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