I have a Sabatti in .470 NE and have none of the problems spoken of above. Like DRJack I am pleased with the quality and aesthetics overall, particularly the figuring in the wood which is among the best of the gunstocks I own. I haven't hunted with the Sabatti, but it does shoot good groups at the range from a bench.

Maybe I am just a wimp, but my biggest gripe is that I find the gun to be a bit of a handfull to shoot off-hand. I have added a KICK_EEZ slip-on recoil pad over the factory hard rubber one, and that has helped some. I just think it would help a lot if Sabatti built the rifle about a pound heavier. Apparently Sabatti uses the same actions/barrel blanks for all calibers and as the bore increases the guns get lighter. You guys with the .500s must have it even worse. I can only imagine what .577s or .600s would have been like to shoot. For comparison I have a Winchester 1885 in .50-140 in which I shoot .510 NE loads (570 gr at 2100 FPS). Weighing in at 12 plus pounds with a bull barrel, even with a crescent buttplate, it'a a relative pussycat.

I guess I would agree that although far from perfect, if carefully inspected and modified where necessary, these are good, functional double rifles for the money. There were a lot of complaints a year or so ago that Cabelas was the only importer. Maybe the upside now is that the folks in Sidney will stand behind the product and have the necessary throw weight with Sabatti to get the Italian factory to properly correct any serious problems customers are experiencing.