Bruce Owen, the then Purdey production manager, wrote an article in Shooting Sportman back in 2002 if memory serves. It is an eye opener, more so than any other piece of writing on the non definiton of best.
Does anyone know the month that article was printed? I would like to get a copy of it.
On the subject of CNC machining by best quality makers, there were some very interesting comments on the Westley Richards Explora blog about that. Westley Richards uses them but refuses to run batches of guns even though it would be more cost effective in some ways. To keep that stock on hand is actually more expensive so they will use CNC machines but one gun at a time...no batches of actions. They probably make batches of springs, pins, etc for fitting later. I thought that was interesting and transparent of them to say so. If you haven't read the Explora blog, you are really missing some fantastic photography, fascinating behind the scenes info and beautiful guns.
