Re the British being outgoing businessmen and thus their goods conquering the world etc.
Atually they slapped on punitive import duties on imported goods in the colonies, while British stuff was tarrif free. That kind of gave them an edge. Having been borne in a colony I experienced the situation first hand.
In shotguns this meant that walking hunters resorted to mid quality English guns, like Midlands et al, based on prototypes developed for static driven shooting.
But even favorable tarrifs could not save the day, when more suitable Berettas, Bernardellis and Saint Etienne shotguns finally made it to the market place. Same went for cars, Austins were good, but Citroen DS, Opels and Lancias were way superior and got market share even at higher prices.
Born in a colony as well. The use of tariffs or not doesn't change the original point; the British were outward looking especially when it came to trade, or perhaps just wildly better at it, in a way the French etc were not. Obviously the use of tariffs and other trade mechanisms as well as having things like say.....colonies, make the likelihood of trade success greater.
The British Empire was, to a great degree, a business proposition. Canada started as a company long before it was anything else.
edit to add: Don't get me wrong, I like French guns a lot. As well as Belgian German etc. Have many more of those than British. I am strictly speaking about what may be described as marketing and its long term impact on the gun trade and our attitudes.
