I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Weatherby side by sides and O/U were both made by Fausti. Fausti has the Dea which I assume is the base design of the Weatherbys. One of my gun dealers told me that Fausti is their best selling brand in O/U or side by side and that his customers seem to be satisfied.

 

i did some more looking and I found this,
Weatherby Athena Side-by-Side
Notes: This classic-style double-barreled shotgun was introduced in 2002. They are actually manufactured by the Spanish firm of Zabala, and sold by Weatherby. The Athena Side-by-Side features a slender English-style stock with a straight wrist made of excellent quality Turkish walnut, oil finished and polished by hand. Locking is of the Anson & Deeley type, with actual side locks and plates. The breech is tempered steel and the firing pins are fitted with coiled springs. The weapon has a single trigger, though twin triggers are available upon demand. The breech has automatic ejectors, and these are selective so that only spent spells are ejected. The side plates engraved with rosettes. The Athena Side-by-Side has a Briley IMC interchangeable choke system, with a full set comprising Extra Full, Full I, Full II, Improved Modified, Modified, Improved Cylinder, Skeet, and Cylinder. The standard gauges are 12 and 20, though 16 gauge is also available through the Weatherby Custom Shop. All use 3-inch shells. The standard barrels are 28 inches. The stock has a rubber recoil pad.
A variant of the Athena Side-by-Side is the Athena D'Italia; this gun was introduced in 2005. The D'Italia has an action and breech milled from a single block of alloy steel and chromed with a finish known as "Silver Slade." The parts are hand-fitted, and the side plates are hand-engraved. The gun comes in 12, 20, and 28 gauge models, with a 28-inch barrel for the 12 gauge model and a 26-inch barrel for the others. The 12 gauge and 20 gauge guns come in 2.75-inch and 3-inch chamber versions, and the 28 gauge comes in 2.75-inch chambers only. The D'Italia has no recoil pad for the butt.

 

Well I do know some of the older Weatherbys were made by Skb and the more recent ones were made by Fausti. I think the SxS was the only model made in Spain and all Athena models were made in japan or italy. The Athena D'Italia is a Fausti made model. What is your budget? My dealer has a new D'Italia for $1800. I'm not sure how much they normally go for since they aren't made anymore.

 

Weatherby O/Us were made by SKB for a long time. They were great, and SKB was long the choice for shotgunners who knew about guns and wanted the best value in an O/U.

Side-by-sides were a recent, and short-lived, venture for the company.

Is this an Athena d'Italia? The Athena was first made by Zabala Hermanos, but quickly switched to the Athena d'Italia from Fausti Stefano. There were two models of mechanically-similar d'Italia side-by-sides. The Athena was the upscale version, with false sideplates. It's still an Italian boxlock. http://archives.gunsandammo.com/content ... rby?page=2

Here they are at Bud's: http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/prod ... s_id/14077

What do you care what the average weight of the model was? Weigh the gun you want to buy!

IIRC these guns were a tad on the hefty side for what they were, but I've felt Fausti side-by-sides that were really nice. Fausti can make world-class guns, but they haven't always done so. They had to make payroll, so when they got big orders for guns at a price point, they provided them. Hence, the Traditions guns that sullied Fausti's name to a degree. Fausti has since opened up their own US division, and now they're importing their own guns under their own name -- nice guns.

Weatherby is a good company, and these guns were intended to sell at a much higher price, so they're probably good Faustis. But I'm not sure what one would be worth, to me, compared to other guns in the marketplace, which include new AKUS round bodies (Dickinson), used Beretta Silver Hawks, various Basque beauties, etc.

The Athena d'Italia is a bit of a "sleeper". Fit and finish are nice, but they didn't sell like hotcakes. Neither did a few other guns at the time, like the S&W Elite Gold. Market positioning a bit off? Both the Weatherby and S&W entries were upwards of 2 grand for unproven guns in a marketplace that values either known quality at a high price, or "what the hell" at a low price. At the time both Fausti Stefano and anything made in Turkey were "red flags" to the quality buyer, due to a history of problems, so introducing these guns north of $2000 was not a recipe for success. The crash and recession didn't help, either.

I wouldn't mind having the gun you're looking at, with 28" barrels, but at what price? Well that's a different question.

Do YOU like it?