Out for 24 hrs, now back.
Small Bore said,
However, reading this thread you would think London gumaking has vanished and that the big firms are selling foriegn made junk as 'best' London output
Perhaps some wish it to be so - out of whateever devilment and petty jealousy that may drive them but there is NO evidence that this is so. In fact it is not so.
Sorry but I can´t see one paragraph implying what you say. Even more, using information provided by you and others is clear that the "the good old big ones" do produce most of their ware in-house. A second group do some outsourcing and a third group are doing some local and foreign outsoursing of an undeterminate degree. So, the current state of affairs, if anything, calls for more fact finding and less to feel unduly affronted.
There are three considerations I wish to put up front:
1.Outsourcing is not bad in itself, but contemporary standards of industrial transparency advise --for the good of the market-- to let the buyer know if any. I understand that there may be good motives for not disclosing outsourcing for competitive reasons, but this puts a moral dilemma that opens the door for
potential unethical practices. If history tells that this was the case for
some London gun makers in the past, I do not see why is not possible today. If this were true and in which degree and conditions, let the costumers decide whether it is acceptable or not (come on...., this is a working hyphotesis, don´t jump on my throat). Knowing the truth is better for everybody, and should the worst case arise, it won´t necessarily damage well earned reputations. Much bigger industries are shaken from time to time with minor and major scandals and they keep thriving.
2. It is understandable that people deeply involved in any given trade be proud of the industry they are associated with. The British best gun making trade is one case in point. But, pride is a bad adviser when it comes to recognise that others are also doing well. Belgian, French, Scottish and Italian gun makers mastered the so-called London style long ago, Spain may join the club sometime later (this is why I think is not anymore a monopoly. Suhl and Ferlach are spendid but in another league). Just to cite one recent publication, by Steven D. Hughes
Double Guns and Custom Gunsmithing, 2007, East Peoria, Ill. The chapter "Evolution of the Sidelock", pp.61-76, shows with detailed examples how some Italian makers "have taken up the developmental continuum of the sidelock where it stopped in England around 1900". Hughes is not my friend, he is not Italian and has a lot seriuos work behind him. Being myself a lifetime student of the rise and fall of Great Powers, it comes natural to me that decline is always around the corner, in particular for those tempted to contemplate in ecstasy their own navels. (Please don´t rise apoplectic). It is quite obvious that Britain (England & Scotland) is still leading the pack as high end gunmaking goes, but now they are just
primus inter pares.
3. Envy is a degrading human trait, difficult to adknowledge on oneself and easy to charge to others. For finding envy in somebody else is required a good knowledge of the other person and his/her close environment. I don´t see from where and how it is possible that my questions are such construed that were to be based on envy. If anything, I have been charged in my country for being an Anglofile. By the same token, knowlegde is always an incomplete neverending affair. Here we have been let asured that the London gun makers have told some privileged insiders about everything from their (good) production practices. As a consultant on Defence Policy and Arms Systems for almost twenty years, I know how far weapon makers can go in trying to make you feel as a "true insider" and how shrewd they are in using external experts as spokespersons of their own cases and purposes. Lets be aware that in every industry most owners will not share key practices --legitimate or not-- even with their own sleeping pillows. Even taking all this into consideration, replying a former statement of
Rocketman, with my limited knowledge and budget, if and when going for a British best gun I would either go for a Scottish one or one of the less known London-Birmingham makers, with a view of getting better value for money.
And finally, SmallBore said,
The latter is a risky strategy because the lazy minded or trouble-making bore will suggest that because a cheaper gun is offered, then all their 'best' output is tainted.
Well as you should know....there are bores and ....smallbores (just joking).
