When I think of gentlemen hunting, I can't help remembering the scene from the film
The Magic Christian. Sir Guy Grand (Peter Sellers) is filthy rich and his hobby is tearing down established traditions -- remember this was made in 1969.
Click here for my Youtube the scene, enjoy.
efgf, your "What sort of shotgun would you take, assuming you could only have one but it didn't matter how much it costs?" is inappropriate, because you'll need several guns to go shooting with the gents. What kind of answers do you think you'd get if you said: "I've just been invited to play golf with Tiger Woods! What one golf club should it take, no matter what it costs?" Shooting everything with your Mossberg 500 (or any one gun), is like playing golf with one club.
Forum members have voiced their preferences for many fine, unlimited budget, shotguns; however, I doubt any of these guns is versatile. When you spend big bucks for a gun, you won't abide any compromises. The more you spend, the more specialized the gun tends to become. Your Mossberg 500 is the exact opposite, all of the decisions have been made to make the gun as average as possible to appeal to as many folks as possible. Many Mossbergs (and other entry level guns) are impulse purchases. When you order a big dollar gun there many decisions to be made, and unless you're a very experienced shooter, it's real easy to make a wrong selection. This is why there are shops that specialize in high grade guns to assist with luxury purchases. You might order an extra set of Skeet barrels for your upland gun, but you'd not take that gun after ducks.
Just for fun, here's a Purdey order form. Each time you check a box, or fill in a blank, you're making a decision that specializes the gun's function or aesthetics. This form gives Purdey enough info to put a preliminary price tag on your gun. I wonder how much an option like
gilded internal mechanisms adds to the price.
