It started about a Purdey, what 9 pages ago?

True enough, welding is used today, by some. But, the last page seems to have centered around Kirk's work, and guns not stamped with sleeved nomenclature on them. Kirk doesn't weld tubes into the cut off breech.

The very great majority of sleeved guns in the world today are going to have been sleeved the old fashioned way, and it will be that way for a long time to come.
Best,
Ted