Those guns stood up to the challenge because (1) they were very well made, but (2) because their owners, that thin upper crust as you put it, sent their guns back to the original makers at the end of the gunning seasons with instructions to go completely through them and make them like new again. If it weren't for that I really do not believe they would have held up under the strain of many thousands of rounds nearly as well as Purdeys, Kreighoffs, etc, and still be around today. Who knows how many times many of those old "still tight" S x Ss had hinge pins replaced and were put back on face.
No way do I believe their locking systems were as bulletproof as the top target guns of today. To begin with, IMO the steels available to them at the turn of the century were not the equal of what is being used in best target guns today.
SRH
