Quote:

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I would be surprised if Hemingway ever owned a double rifle. His experience shooting a rented .470 on his first safari did not bode well.

"Instead of the sweet clean pull of the Springfield with the smooth, unhesitant release at the end, this trigger came to what, in a squeeze, seemed metal stuck against metal. I was like when you shoot in a nightmare...."

"'The hell with that four-seventy,' I said. 'I can't shoot it. The trigger's like the last turn of the key opening a sardine can.'"

The Green Hills of Africa

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thanks xausa,
Yes, I remember and often plagiarise the last-turn-of-the-sardine-can quote. I can't be sure EH owned this rifle, since he only ever speaks of 'the .577', but he wrote of using one several times in 'True at First Light' as well. Maybe he didn't want to emphasise his wealth and maybe it was just the rotten trigger of the .470 he hated. A hair trigger, as preferred by his PH Philip Percival, might be more pleasant when sighting in but a little light when a lion charges.

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