The Ultimate Fabbri

    This gun is definitely on the short list of candidates for “The Ultimate.” You know that list of material-world fantasies we all harbor: The Ultimate Car, The Ultimate Boat, The Ultimate Watch, Sound System or Gas Grill . . . . It helps if the subject is beautiful beyond dispute and filled with the sublime grace of art in design, while thoroughly imbued with purposeful engineering and craftsmanship. The Ultimate ought to look fast sitting still (yes, that can apply to a grill), must perform as no mere bauble, and probably should be made by hand in very limited numbers. It should be the pinnacle of achievement in its field.
    This all comes to mind because in 2006 Ivo Fabbri created a 20-gauge over/under that could be considered one of the best “best” guns ever made—and now it’s for sale by the original owner through Connecticut Shotgun Manufacturing Co. With an asking price of $220,000, you and a friend could pick up your new gun, go have a mad toot of a hunting trip and still come home under a quarter-million . . . .
    This was the Italian gunmaker’s first creation in titanium alloy and stainless steel when the firm built the gun for the Safari Club International Convention’s 2007 fundraising auction. The pinless detachable sidelock action and body are made entirely of a titanium alloy that is considerably harder than conventional steel. The window for the lock release is practically invisible amid the ornamental scroll engraving by Creative Arts. The titanium has been anodized in a process that reportedly involves the use of Coca-Cola (the Ultimate Soft Drink?) to emulate color case hardening. The 29-inch barrels are stainless steel, finished in a vacuum-arc process that improves upon the luster of rust bluing—which, of course, would not work on stainless anyway. The fixed chokes are Modified & Full.
    The appeals of Space Age metallurgy in a fine gun are many: strong, hard, durable, with far less expansion and contraction with temperature change. The titanium and stainless combine in a fine gun that is essentially impervious to wear, representing a permanence that will see a long line of human owners to their graves. The exhibition-grade Circassian walnut stock is subject to all the vicissitudes nature may bear upon organic beauty, but one would not really imagine hunting this gun in the rain or casually dropping it behind the bench seat of a pickup.
    Permanence has its price, and in this case it is the cost in man-hours and tools to sculpt the metals. The craftsmen at Connecticut Shotgun—a company with experience building a Model 21 and an A. Galazan Over/Under in titanium—would not estimate the extra hours, although a company spokesman said, “When working on [titanium], they never feel like they are making progress. It is so hard and strong that they can barely shave it down.
    “Aside from the obvious tooling expense, the manual labor for our gunsmiths to make the Titanium Model 21 is enormous.”
It’s true that this particular $220,000 will not buy the purchaser a custom gun built to his specifications. The gun weighs 5 pounds 10 ounces and has a 14H" LOP. (Have a nice pad fitted if the latter doesn’t suit you.)
    We note the gun here not only because it tops the price list of Connecticut Shotgun’s amazing gun inventory, but also because its presence “on the market” is much like a brief public viewing of some rare gem or national treasure; the nature of such things is that—once purchased—it likely will disappear from public view and consciousness for a long time, to be enthroned in the vault of one seriously Ultimate Gun Collection.  —Ed Carroll