Asking for WCH to accept our taking this off track.
Have had them all and in multiple examples of each. Beretta will usually win the long term durability race. Oil and grease them and they just keep working with little else.
Perazzi was originally designed for the rigors of high volume international trap and skeet and have proven themselves more than adequate. Beretta the same. I would disagree that either has any issues with metal hardness compared to Krieghoff. I won't get into which of the three have the strongest metal because I don't know. Will say, again, that all three have proven themselves more than adequate by hard use in competitions where weakness quickly shows itself. Those that don't hold up, don't hang around long. When it comes to International Olympic trap/skeet, Beretta and Perazzi are the ones whose users get the medals hung around their neck, and almost exclusively.
Krieghoffs are fine shotguns and I've owned three over the years. Extremely well made and extremely complicated in the German way of doing. In fact, if they were not so well made they just wouldn't work. Springs here, springs there, etc.Perhaps the best triggers of the three for let off and almost infinitely adjustable with springs. Provided you have a smith that knows what they are doing. Going inside a Krieghoff is only for those who know where they are going.
Changing firing pins or spings (leaf or coil) on a Perazzi or Beretta is fairly straight forward. Couple pins and punches and they come out. Change the firing pins on a Krieghoff and they are pretty much the last part to be removed. Then all the springs and such need to go back together in the right order. Fine shotgun, but overly complicated to the extreme. To their credit, they undoubtedly have the best customer service. Browning, Beretta and Perazzi are not even close.
Currently shooting a Perazzi. Perhaps 40 thousand thru it presently and just replaced the firing pins. The tips were getting burnt. Opening lever is still right of center. Krieghoff recently changed the hardness of their firing pins because the Spanish shells that are now so popular were for some reason burning the tips quickly.
Krieghoffs are infamous for opening up after the first firing if one is out in the rain and there is a drop of oil under the sliding cover. Usually not all the way, but you can feel it coming open and then closing.
Most of the older farts who can swing a Krieghoff, can't swing the extra weight all that well. However, the LW fixed choke Parcours have gone a long way towards addressing that.
If your friend is having that many problems with his Perazzi it is definitely an exception. They are workhorses.
All three are great shotguns but after multiple examples of each, I'll take a Perazzi.
If I wanted a 20Ga competition shotgun. It just may be a Krieghoff. They got that one right.
Last edited by battue; 04/06/17.
