It is very capital-intensive to set up a manufacturing plant with the most modern CNC, ion-discharge, ultra-precise computer controlled machining capability. But these tools can work to micron dimensions and, if you don't count the amortization costs of the machinery, produce remarkable guns that may be the equivalent of the traditional "bests"
The next time I'm in Britain I'm going to look at the Longthorne-Hesketh O/U.
http://www.longthorneguns.com/This gun is made by the most modern machinery available - the barrels are machined out of a single forging that begins at over 22 kg. The gun is made in Lancashire and I really don't want to travel up there so we're trying to set something up in or close to London.
Apparently the maker is a large manufacturer of precision parts and the machinery was already owned so he began making guns.
I don't want to start a fight with the traditionilists (I am one of them, by the way) but in principle there is no reason why a fine gun can't be mostly machine-made. I love Spanish SxSs which still have a lot of hand work in them, much like the Purdy and H&H method but both the latter makers are using more CNC and outsourcing altho they don't like to talk about it.
Has anyone on this forum actually seen or handled/shot a Longthorne?
