"The Brits were in love with idea of changing to a flat shooting magnum with the P13"

I think they were in love with the idea of becoming a M 98 copy

"The Mauser success may have much to do with their willingness to sell them to anyone. The Brits may not have seen the point of selling their rifles to potential enemies - they spent a lot of time trying to stop people in their colonies being able to use even their obsolete rifles."

ok, if you dont like my argument that nobody was paying good money for a lee enfield ever how about the question who copy what after the mauser 98 hit the market.anyone ever copy the lee enfield?

"I'm amused to hear you thing the 'Smelly' lost the Poms the empire - never mind who won the wars. The awakening of nationalism in the colonies may have had something to do with losing the empire and, ironically, it was former British colonies armed with more than a couple of Enfields who pretty much won the war for them."

compare great britain of 1914 with the same country in 1970, is this how a winner looks?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbDqXr6LbXo&feature=related

the british sporting gun industry of 1970 was dead. it was the new interest from the american market that bringing the british rifle back to live. but iirc this start with the end of WW 1, the sale of double rifles never reach the pre war years again. and with the end of WW 2 britain lost all of his glory step by step