Word: berettas
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...Major Eric Murray of the 3rd Infantry Division crosses the border into Iraq, along with his M-16 rifle and 9-mm Beretta pistol he will be carrying another weapon of war: a briefcase full of cash. Just hours after the 3rd's M1A1 tanks blow through towns and villages on their way to Baghdad, Murray and his Civil Affairs Direct Support Teams will be looking to quickly spend tens of thousands of dollars to start rebuilding blown-up wells, bombed bridges and downed electricity grids. The idea, says Murray, is that instead of waiting for assistance from nongovernmental organizations...
...editor at the British Shooting Gazette. "They're seen as an investment, more along the lines of a piece of art. Many owners never take them out of the house." Others, though, are using their guns right now, during the fall hunting season across North America and Europe. Beretta sells the shotguns at a handful of specialized "galleries," including one on Madison Avenue in New York City and another in Dallas. A new one will open in March in Paris. Standard-size guns with traditional engraving are kept in stock. For custom dimensions or engraving, you can fax in your...
...anything could shake interest in what British collectors call "best guns," it's not costliness--it's the scene just down the road from the Beretta engraving studio, where the company is leading a push to partly automate the making of luxury firearms. Beretta has invested some $4 million over the past four years in computer-controlled machines to cut walnut stocks, cold-forge barrels, even fashion the upper curves of receivers (the guns' steel mid-bodies...
...makers still produce the most-prized custom guns, in very small numbers, and, yes, some of them are modernizing. Holland & Holland of London, founded in 1835, turns out perhaps 125 premium shotguns and rifles a year. "Because of our size, we can't make some of the investments that Beretta can," says Russell Wilkin, technical director. "But we use a lot of the same new technology," including automated initial machining...
...premium line is vital to Beretta's appeal, and artisanal engraving is part of the essence of the guns. Typically, 350 hours of work are needed to execute the postcard-size surface of a receiver. Luca Casari, 35, like only a few who are still working in the studio, learned the art as a boy. "Sure, we could be replaced by laser," he says, "but doing it by hand gives the gun its real value...