Hi,
I had to look to realize who's making the gun for Savage. Connecticut Firearms seems to enjoy a good reputation for such work, and I seriously doubt the guy interested in one of the Fox repros is gonna flinch at the price. In fact, where most of us would put such a gun in the safe, he's likely to have it out in the field several weekends every Fall...
It's been a long time since I did any serious trapshooting, but still drop in to a shoot once or twice a year to see if I recognize any old faces and make some noise trying to break those little clay birds. One of the biggest differences in the game from when I played it seriously and seeing it today is that it's become a "fashion show" for high dollar guns (even if they don't shoot any better than an off the shelf Remington 870.) There are fewer and fewer ranges and opportunities to shoot in this part of the world, so the social aspect is taking over from the simple shooting part.
As hunting access succumbs to urban sprawl thru more and more of the country, I can see a similar growing market in the not so distant future for "look at this" guns even in the field as our bird hunting migrates toward being a sport more for the well heeled than Joe the Working Stiff. Especially for the guys who can drop $1000s into a South Dakota pheasant hunt one week followed by a similarly priced duck hunt down in LA the next, and not think any more of the prices than if they were taking the kids to a movie on Saturday afternoon!
Hope this gun catches on! Mean time, my 1930 L.C. Smith will go on a couple more dove trips here in CA before we get stuck shooting "non-toxic" loads at them and its value has to be forever ruined by installing steel friendly choke tubes, or it's retired to a target field. Maybe by then I'll have enough saved up for a new Fox...
Rick C