I though he must be wrong.
But he pulled out a stack of pictures about 1/2" thick. They were of a man and his 3 sons and the rifles that they made.
No, he was not wrong. The rifle I fired is one of them in the photos. The spook himself took the pictures and brought one of the rifles back.
We must remember that the work of Remington, Whitney, Colt, Sharps, Springfield Armory, Herpers Ferry, Smith and Wesson and Winchester, and several others up to 1895 were all without electricity. So were the weapons made in France and Germany as well as England until close to the same periods.
Cottage industry was all over western Europe in the 1800s and they were not all using water wheels and over head shafts either. No, a lot of that wonderful work was done in shops no bigger than an average 2 car garage today.
As a muzzleloading gunsmith, I have made flintlocks and rifled barrels in my past with very limited tools. In the case of the barrels I have done everything except the rough drilling, 100% by hand.
Reaming, polishing, rifling, lapping exterior shaping and so on.
I did have a few electric drills, but I have made many parts with no more than a forge, hammers and anvil and hand tools. I like to think I am pretty good at my trade, but when I think back to that SMLE copy, or handle the guns made by Monty Mandarino, Of I get humble in a hurry.
So it is not impossible and in fact there were times in the past where such work was normal.
The Tajma Hall, the Eiffel Tower, the cathedral at Notre Dame and all the wonderful things made by man, from about 6000 years ago up unto about 1880-1900 were made by hand and animal muscle, or made with tools that were made by hand. Even the big factories made in the 1800s with huge water powered machines had to be made by muscle power at first.
If you have ever seen the work of the best German French and English gun makers of the 1820 to 1880 era you will have no doubt that human hands can and have done such work. For many many many years too.
It is super rare these days, but it is still out there. I guess that level of skill was always rare, but I suspect it is rarer today then ever.