xausa
.400 member
Reged: 07/03/07
Posts: 2037
Loc: Tennessee, USA
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"To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, to throw a perfume on the violet, to smooth the ice, or add another hue unto the rainbow, or with taper-light to seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish, is wasteful and ridiculous excess." William Shakespeare
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NitroX
.700 member
Reged: 25/12/02
Posts: 40723
Loc: Barossa Valley, South Australi...
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xausa
Everyone has different opinions.
Some guns are usable and nice to look at.
Some are usable but look like crap - eg not to be offensive but sort of like some of these ugly under and over rifles chambered with cartridges with magnum belts!
Others are intended as interesting works of art.
Look at this beautiful Purdey shotgun. Of extreme beauty but just as impractical to actual use in the field.

"To gild refined gold, to paint the lily"
Of course whether some Austrian or British or whatever in between, money is no issue and these firearms may actually get used.
-------------------- John aka NitroX
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Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"
Edited by NitroX (20/04/14 01:12 AM)
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NitroX
.700 member
Reged: 25/12/02
Posts: 40723
Loc: Barossa Valley, South Australi...
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BTW I shoot an ugly Under and Over rifle too. 
Lots of rifles put on NE people ooh and aah over, even though they are butt ugly, but just because they are "old" and "vintage". I could provide links but am too polite and well mannered. 
Take ANY rifle with a butterknife style bolt, terribly impractical.
But it does look "right" on an M-S.
-------------------- John aka NitroX
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Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"
Edited by NitroX (19/04/14 07:50 PM)
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Huvius
.416 member
Reged: 04/11/07
Posts: 3618
Loc: Colorado
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Looks like 416Rigby shells laying by the gun. There are things I really like about this gun. The elephant hide texture on the action and barrel is very interesting, similar idea to some shotguns engraved with feathers which I like too. The hide texture on the action is a little heavy in some areas and looks a bit like croc belly in some places so maybe a smaller scale would give a better impression overall. The ivory forend tip looks just like a worn tusk of an old bull. I like that too, much better than white ivory.
Seems to me that this rifle is very much an exercise in putting new artistic ideas to metal. A similar idea to "concept cars" in the auto industry. Probably never intended to be used in the field.
-------------------- He who lives in the past is doomed to enjoy it.
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poprivit
.333 member
Reged: 09/04/07
Posts: 398
Loc: Las Vegas, NV
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I met Johann Fanzoj a few years ago when I was working on an article about his hunting rifles. He considers them gun first, but art in itself. He builds everything from O/U shotgun rifles to four-barrel guns - two shotgun tubes and two small caliber rifle barrels which can be of different caliber. He handed me a side hammer single shot full stock Hahn-Kipplaufbuchse, octagon barrel luxury model to try for fit. Ever seen a grown man cry when he had to hand back a gun? If only I didn't need a house ..
His guns do tend towards the garish side, but if you have a desire for an O/U shotgun rifle with a lateral small bore barrel made out of Bohler Rasant ordnance steel, and housed in a leather case built to owner's specifications, Fanzoj will build it.
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