Good thread.
Vic, I'm a fan of your writing and welcome the opportunity to suggest it's time to admit that the idea of "hand made" probably does not really apply to shotguns. "Hand fitted" has meaning we can all understand; perhaps the modifiers necessary are to distinguish high, medium, and low levels of hand fitting, or indeed to describe the general range of hours necessary to finish a given gun.
We can all concede that the top British and Italian makers use high levels of hand fitting, the Spanish and second level Italians are probably more medium level because of their business models, and then there are others who offer guns all over the range (Beretta, Galazan, et al).
I concede that there may be a use for the term "hand made" but needs to be reserved for those rare guns that truly start out as raw material that is shaped, fitted, and finished under the eye and guidance of humans without cnc machines. They exist, but are rare and priced accordingly.
Best regards,
RobC
