Many makers made occasional Best guns, a few makers made nothing but and a fair few never bothered, it just wasn't their market.
Most makers were capable if pushed.
The only sure way of telling a Best gun is to look at it through the eyes of someone who has minutely examined, externally and internally, a multitude of guns raging from the fabulous to the ghastly.
People are always tempted to offer particular points of style and design that make a gun Best or otherwise but there are always exceptions.
I have worked on guns that had interceptor sears, non through lumps and were stocked to the fences and they were without a shadow of doubt NOT a Best gun.
I have also worked on many guns that had no interceptor sears, through lumps and 'flat-back' actions that definitely were a Best gun.
I have seen guns by Boss and Purdey were the execution of the engraving was pretty appalling but internally they are every bit a Best gun.
I have seen border engraved H&H's that were finished to the full extent of a Best gun.
I have also see beautifully engraved guns, giving the impression of fabulous quality that were a mass of poorly fitted parts and filing marks inside.
Generally only experience will tell you the difference between a Best and second grade (or worse).
A good post and I agree, given my own lack of experience I was hoping to get a working definition from those who DO have the experience.
