Joe, I think you can find examples of every possible level of making in the trade. There seems to have been a few more or less common sources for action forgings and barrel blanks. From that point on, there were any number of routes from blank to finished gun. Parts and services seem to have been bought, sold, traded, bartered, and likely stolen. The companies and individuals did whatever they could in a constantly shifting fickle market to make a quid. For example, Jack Asbury seems to have confined himself to machining. Holloway & Naughton were makers - no doubt about it - as Thomas Naughton was known as a Master of formidable talent. My H&N BLE is clearly marked as an Asbury machining and it has Westley Richards ejectors and W. R. Lard patent single trigger. Was it built in-house? Yes, but H&N shopped-out as they needed to or got a good deal on. Other than some few factories that had most skill on-staff, I think the above fits a lot of guns.
There is no simple, sharply focused understanding of the Brit gun trade. Matter of fact, that is part of its glory.
