I have nowhere near the experience that many have here and mine is limited to old British shotguns that were still in India until the late 1970s. None of them were mine - I couldn;t afford to buy them on a radio journalist's pay and I can't now. I probably never will be able to buy one either.

Most probably, many of them have been exported since. But all of the guns that the Brits made back then seemed to be nice - the triggers on the Purdeys, though, seemed to be better though I have no idea whether it was because of their bar action sidelock design or because of the extreme care that they put into their guns, or, most importantly, because it was that the particular gun that I shot was in better shape than the Stephen Grant, Holland and Holland and other makes that I had very limited experience with. And again, this could be very subjective as it is personal experiencce and little more.