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Consider the time frame under discussion. The 19th century was the greatest period of advancement in machines and technology ever seen. But even in 1800, gun making (especially in factories working for the military) was partially mass production but with final fitting being done by hand with files and grinding wheels. Machines were uncommon, run usually by water power. A backwoods gunsmith might have designed each part and cut it out by hand, but major makers had advanced well beyond that level.
By 1900, there were still traditionalists, making guns the old way, but most factories had become forests of machine tools and belting, run by a single power source (steam engine or water wheel). Tools were little different from those in use almost up to the present day. In fact, it has only been in the last 30 years that the old machines and tools have been replaced by CNC and other automated and semi-automated tools.
Jim
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