Permit me to pose some points to ponder.
Regarding your comment, Apparently the standards in Spain through the years have been all over the board depending on a given maker., that has the cart before the horse. Up until into the 1980s just about all the Spanish gun makers would make a gun to every price point at which there was a market. Across the board price points produces all over the board guns, from low price point working mens guns to highly embellished guns priced at a level only the landed gentry could afford.
Concerning UA and Grulla, the sign of the crane (a grulla) was the trademark of UA and people referred to a UA gun as Grulla. So UA changed the name of the company to Grulla. This was during the 1980s, when the Spanish gun makers were under severe economic pressure, with Victor Sarasqueta actually failing. The surviving shotgun makers did what they usually did during hard times; they dropped the bottom price point guns and raised the prices on the models they continued to make. The name change from UA to Grulla happened at the same time and some folks see a connection between the name change and the dropping of low end guns at Grulla. Maybe so, but the name change happened overnight but the reduction in models offered by (the newly renamed Grulla) happened slowly over the next decade.
This sentence, Grulla Armas of today is focused on Best Gun builds only. Is incorrect. Grulla still builds guns across a range of price points. Id also suggest abandoning the term best gun. This is a marketing term with no generally, much less universally, accepted quantifiable definition.
All of the makers build a well-made, reliable, and durable gun at the base price point. More money wont get you a more reliable or durable gun. What more money (i.e. higher price points) will get you is more decoration. Initially that may just be removal of tool marks from internal parts, or an engine turned water table. More money means more and better engraving, a wider choice in the kind of ribs (or locks) available, one or more spare barrels, H&H assisted openers, and/or a fitted case. And so on until we hit the top price point.
Not too long ago a gentleman shared a very high price point Pedro Gorosabel here:
http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=390179&page=1 100% engraving coverage, engraving is medium to deep relief, has an assisted opener, and is just exquisite. Thats what more money buys :-)
