I'll hazard a guess that way back when England's gun laws started to become draconian in nature, a fair number of rifles were 'evacuated' back to this side of the Atlantic- Canada being a logical destination. Any gun imported into the UK had to be proofed at the gov't proof house before it could be sold, as well as any gun freshly built there.
"You can lead a man to logic, but you cannot make him think." Joe Harz "Always certain, often right." Keith McCafferty
