This class envy thing does get old. As others have said, it is true that shooting a Perazzi will not make me shoot like George Digweed, or Wendall Cherry, and yes, either of them will outshoot me with any SG they pick up. But that isn't the point.
I know plenty of folks that are serious about their shooting, travel to skeet or sporty shoots and take it seriously. While a Kolar, Krieghoff, et al won't make them shoot like the aforementioned champions, if it gets them an additional bird or two, it is worth it to them. And if you're serious about competing, a $10K shotgun (where most of them start at) is certainly not an overwhelming cost. You have the tens of thousands of rounds you shoot per year (do the math), travel expenses in-state or to surrounding states for shoots, etc. It's also nice to have a gun that after 20k rounds, has the same trigger pull (which is also a better trigger to begin with than an 870 has), shoots to the same POI, etc. Also, it can be overhauled every 20-30k rounds and like a previous poster said will last hundreds of thousands, if not a million rounds - that my friend is value.
Also, different strokes as they say. There are people that buy $18,000 Harley Davidsons that could ride just a well on a $3,000 used Yamaha, but that negates the point. And isn't life to some extent about having some of the things you want, not just the things you need. I shoot an O/U Browning Citori, Supernova and 870, but would certainly would not kick out of my gun safe a Kolar, nor disparage someone that owns one. It's not going to turn me into a champion, but I can certainly appreciate what goes into making a fine shotgun (better steel, beautiful walnut, hands of a craftsman, expensive Haas 5 axis vertical CNC machining centers, properly regulation of POI, a crisp trigger, etc., etc.). I hope one day to own a Kolar or Krieghoff.
