I certainly can't reconcile that with what I've seen in recent years. I get requests from friends to help them find nice British double rifles, so am constantly shopping, both here and in the UK. I have a friend, a former London gunmaker very well connected in the British trade, who now is in the business of buying guns at the UK auctions and selling them in the US, and I watch the UK auctions myself. His complaints to me mirror my own observations these days. I never would have believed it possible that nice, working grade British DRs in good condition could ever become so difficult to find.

A while back, a friend wanted help finding a nice boxlock .450/.400. Fifteen years ago I could have found a rifle like that in a matter of weeks. Even with my other friend also looking in the UK, it took a year this time. Not so much a problem of finding guns to look at, but it was a bear to find any worth a second look. It's amazing how many are buggered. He ended up with a nice rifle, but it was the only one we saw good enough not to be rejected out of hand.

A lot of folks these days aren't willing to invest the time, money, and due diligence to do it right so that they don't get burned on a pre-war British gun, and a new gun is probably best for them. Still, a nice British gun is a wonderful thing, and prices just keep going up.