That might be it, I read some A.E. van Vogt in the 1970s, hmm, 1978, not sure if there was a short story anthology, I remember reading “The Weapons Shop of Isher” although I don’t remember a thing about it. I’d always liked the title.
Hmm... Pel Torro (a pen name of Lionel Fanthorpe, who apparently is still alive!) wrote a short story “The Last Astronaut”, has nothing to do with this subthread really, but the name came back to me all of a sudden. Fascinating wikipage on him.
Yes! It’s an old book I’ve been re-reading lately - “Destination Universe” - a collection of his short stories. I loved “Weapon Shops of Isher” as well.