Frankly I would have expected his rifle to pass the tests that he put it through: the real killer would have been firing it with an obstructed barrel. And nor were his tests particularly onerous: dropping it onto concrete, exposing it to a salt-water mist, or the very fine airborne dust that gets everywhere in Africa, would have been more thorough. As it is, I don't suppose that he has reduced the value of his rifle much at all. Coming soon: nearly new Rizzini double rifle for sale, one careful owner, like new!
On this subject, Poulins have a
.500/ .450 NE Holland & Holland double coming up for sale from - I'm guessing - the 1890s. It's been somewhere between badly and not particularly well tarted-up, and it comes with what they politely call a 'bolted safety' and what I've heard called a 'wog safety'. Bidding starts at $5,000, with a low estimate of $10,000 - the same as Bubba spent on his new Rizzini!
Maybe it's just me, but I know which rifle I would prefer for (roughly) the same money. I wouldn't really give a toss if a modern Italian rifle was blown up, but it would break my heart to see even a cheap Holland like this one treated in the same, vulgar, way.
