I have read James Edmiston's books and agree with his conclusions about the government wanting to get rid of independent arms makers. It's easy to forget that the 1980s government seemed to want everything to become part of BAe (incongruously including Leyland Cars).

It also must have been embarrassing for the government to end up issuing SA80s with great fanfare when they were really a shoddily bullpupped AR18.

His stories about shortsightedness of the gun trade also rings true.

He was told by someone prominent in the guntrade that "There is no future in underlever air rifles" in about 1981. Weihrauch disagreed...

There's also a great story about a dispute over firearm rifle barrels with a well-known maker.

Sterling HRs are interesting but a compromised design: the bolt action, crackle finish parts, dated internals and plain stock indicate intention to make a military trainer. But if so, why give the action and barrel a high-quality blacking instead of a crackle or parkerised barrel and action?