Why when a discussion arises about the british gun trade do people automatically talk about the big three eg. Purdey , holland and boss ? In the trades hay day in late victorian and edwardian times there were dozens of provincial and london/birmingham gunmakers who's products might not have been quite up to the standard of the big three but were very good never the less. Stephen grant, rigby's , charles hellis, philip webley, lancaster, edwinson green etc etc.
Maybe B&E had the sense to do a bit of market research and realise there is no room for a young upstart in the high-end of the market, seeing this as a road to ruin (symes and wright springs to mind) , but there might be a niche for a largely machine made but hand finished gun. Purdey themselves have gone down this path with some of their guns now made in italy.
