a couple years ago, a certain individual of my acquaintance went skeet shooting with some co-workers. He had his first shotgun, a mossberg-500 from Wal-mart. The other guys, who owned the restaurant where he was a prep cook, all had Fancy Shotguns. They called his a "columbine special", and said it was a kid's gun, and so on. But he outshot all of them, even though he was pretty new to shotgunning.
I've heard the word "man jewelry" tossed around to describe guns people get for show. I think it's kind of like wearing Armani clothes, or the expensive designer bags rich women carry that sometimes cost thousands. They're good quality, but they're not that good. People carry them to show off their wealth.
ps. Today I wore Armani pants and a home-made buckskin shirt. The buckskin is a more comfortable and durable garment, by far.