I believe you've summed the situation up quite well there Brother, and not just for the UK but for most nationalities.
As we know, most countries do not immediately dispose of the replaced weapon, but place them in storage in case they need to rapidly expand their military for some reason or other - exactly the case in T2K.
Sure there's bound to be a percentage of those weapons which have reached the end of their useful life, but it's a relatively small percentage and can be generally discounted as a contributing factor on large scale weapon choice.
Also, as stated, weapons can be repaired and parts replaced. Given a decent metal shop, most working parts of a rifle can be fabricated as needed (it's no production line, but if you only need half a dozen new breech blocks or a couple of gas pistons for example...).
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If it moves, shoot it, if not push it, if it still doesn't move, use explosives.
Nothing happens in isolation - it's called "the butterfly effect"
Mors ante pudorem
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