This is a nice little link with some "tiers" explained:
http://www.csun.edu/~rb395095/hc/shotguns.htm
That list is a little old. Perazzi’s and Krieghoff’s start at about $13,000 to $15,000 new and go to six figures. Unfortunately, I don’t have either. But I’ve beaten shooters that shoot $40,000 guns.
I shot on a budget. The top shots had no budget and no job. Hard to compete with that.
As a Final Note, there are some fine shotguns which are fine collectibles...
Holland and Holland, Abiattico and Salvinelli, LC Smith, AH fox, Purdy, and several others.
Yeah as was pointed out earlier in the thread, some suggested a "greater than A-tier" that includes the truly bananas shotguns. That article has them at the very bottom, described as being above "World Class":
That list is a little old. Perazzi’s and Krieghoff’s start at about $13,000 to $15,000 new and go to six figures. Unfortunately, I don’t have either. But I’ve beaten shooters that shoot $40,000 guns.
I shot on a budget. The top shots had no budget and no job. Hard to compete with that.
Any chance you knew a skeet shooter named Carl Radtka? He was shooting seriously in competitions about 15 to 20 years ago. Think he ran a skeet field in Queen Anne County too.