We were on holiday in Europe towards the end of last year and headed over to Brescia from Milan to visit the Perazzi factory. I believe it was Mauro Perazzi that gave my wife and I a tour of the gun assembly area, wood area and pattern room. He was a very nice guy and the whole operation seemed efficient and well run.
If any Perazzi fans can make the trip to the factory in Italy it certainly adds an extra element to the appreciation of the great guns that Perazzi make and would be even better if you were making the trip to be personally fitted to a new gun !!
I have ordered two Perazzi's and a third additional stock. The only thing on either gun or any of the 3 stocks that was in any way different from my orders was the spare stock had 36 and 50mm drop at comb and heel rather than the 34 and 46mm that I ordered, as it works out that was probably a good thing. Every other aspect of the two guns was spot on and on the second one I specified every little dimension that they can customize, length of pull, pitch, pad type and thickness, drop at comb, drop at heel, cast at comb, cast at heel, cast at toe, length to comb, grip length, grip diameter, grip height, forend type, no wood finish as well as barrel weight, choking, length, rib style, trigger type and of course engraving pattern.
I decided what I wanted, ordered the gun with stock dimensions clearly marked on a copy of Perazzi's own dimension sheet from the owners manual, clearly listed the barrel specs etc. placed the order and sat back and waited ........ gun turned up just like the paperwork asked for.
How many people change their mind on something and ask the dealer to change the details with maker during the order/manufacturing process ? I have been around people directly involved in the industry for years and it is amazing how many people will order something and then change their minds on some aspect of the order and change the order details several times within the say 6 month waiting time. The changes invariably get messed up with the communication between client, dealer and manufacturer and the client is then surprised when the gun arrives with some aspect of it not changed to match their third or forth revision of the order details !!
Not saying that this applies to anybody here but it certainly happens. I bet that Perazzi or any other custom maker puts out many times more guns that are accurate to the order than the ones that have some sort of variation to the clients request.
Bryce