I took an extended tour of the Purdey factory about three years ago and I was repeated told, and shown by examples, how Purdey guns today are better manufactured to higher quality standards than in years past. The forgings for the barrels and receivers use better steels today and the forged grain is more uniform where it is needed for added strength. These forgings are huge for the end product produced, such as for the barrels. Each barrel forging initially weighs about 15 pounds which ends up as a single barrel tube of a pound or so. This extensive metal removal process gives immense strength to each tube and no person could ever remove that much hardened forged steel by hand in a months time.
The several machine tools at the back of the factory were all humming along with no gunsmiths present, automatically loading and unloading parts. These tools are calibrated to produce parts within 30 millionths tolerances - something few, if any, craftsman could ever do.
I am not qualified to say how current Purdey's match up to pre war guns, of which I have examples of both, and having a machine tool background myself, I was impressed by their processes and attention to quality practices.
