The UK sporting goods business is similar in function to that in the U.S. They have to stock what sells.
You may stumble upon some trinkets in a shop that you like, but every shop knows where the good stuff needs to go to get a turn.
There’s a fishing/shooting shop in Edinburgh that has been there for ever, ….sorry, name eludes me.
Vintage book stores with all sorts of old titles.
You can find piles of Spanish boxlocks in many gun shops, low grade hammer guns, and some SLNE’s.
Half the fun is just looking at your itinerary and calling the little sporting goods shops in the town you are visiting.
In Edinburgh, (I confess I mostly confine my time to relaxing at “Number 11”, and eating haggis at “The World’s End”) I always touch the statue of Adam Smith, like a gladiator returning to the Colosseum.
It’s a good town to explore but finding vintage firearms will be a challenge.
Note: if you travel through Dunblane, the church has magnificent wood carvings ( best I’ve seen in the western world) All done by two brothers before the Great War.
