Another convoluted tid bit of information, "By 1815, it was the London gunmakers turn to bring a bill into the House of Commons that would have required every manufacturer to place his real name on his product but 'such was the power of the Birmingham gun trade that they were able to quash the bill, pointing out that they supplied most of the components for the London Makers'"

This may shed some light though, "Many wiseacres abuse all the heads of the trade, and swear that they can ALWAYS GET THE BEST OF GUNS, at a quarter the price, from Birmingham! This may be, provided a person has such good judgment, or interest there, as to get PICKED WORKMAN FOR THE WHOLE PROCESS of his order: but, in general, the immense business carried on at this place is for the WHOLESALE LINE, and only requires to be IN THE ROUGH; from, which circumstances the workmen are not much in the habit of FINISHING as those employed daily FOR THAT PURPOSE.
So, to answer the questions posed above, the trade was a DULL one and it was NOT unusual to buy guns wholesale from Birmingham and finish them to a high standard in London."
This argument was posed in 1814.