Bruce,
Your story of the Fortuna 16 X 757R reminds me of a friend who's crazy about good side-by-side shotguns. Don't know how many he's owned but it must be in the hundreds, from just about every country.
He always wanted a good British gun and found a great one he could shoot well, and he admits he’s far from a great wingshot. But it wasn’t a “name” British gun, so even though the gun was in great original condition, it eventually disappeared, one of a number of gun trades/sales that eventually resulted in a NAME British side-by-side, a cobble-job that ended up being a money-pit he never did shoot nearly as well.
Another friend always claimed he could turn a matched pair of Purdeys into a Mossberg pump in less than six trades.
But hey, that’s how we are….
