I think it was Gene Hill who said when he commented to Purdey the gun he was looking at was stiff to close
and said the reply was "our customers don't close their own guns"
Did Gene Hill make guns? As for the quote, I think you are about 80 years off.
That quote was attributed to Tom Purdey in talking to W.W. Greener. A description of the conversation can be found on page 20 of Graham Greener's book, "The Greener Story."
Quote:
During one meeting of gunmakers in London, W.W. Greener was talking to Tom Purdey about the various merits of guns. Examining a Purdey sidelock W.W. commented, "Your sidelocks are very hard to reload," to which Tom Purdey replied, "Our Customers have someone to do this for them," implying of course that his customers always had "loaders" since they always shot in the best circles. Greener's response was, "Oh, so you have got a problem then."
