I will agree mostly with the above
BUT many of the american labs over British labs, from MY experience and know how(been working with labs for 30+s yrs)
Many american labs have longer legs, making getting in and out of boats a little easier as well as MUD, and able to walk in watre some shorter leg labs will swim in
I personally prefer the true British blood lines and looks, and found them to be less HIGH strung (some almost hyper)or excessively large(and NOT all are this, just find more are than British blood line one's)
and it sure seems a lot of american Labs are HUGE, 100+ lbs dogs, past the standards of a LAB
This doesn't mean any are bad or wrong, just what I found over a lot of yrs about them
so many times it comes down to what you WANT in a dog, do you want HIGH energy dogs, , do you have the skills and patience to train one and own one?
if so, search for breeders that are known to produce them
same goes for the other way, if you want a calmer dog, search out breeders that are known to produce them
but Labs are Labs more or less American or British!
look/size is typically the main difference, nothing really with how well they hunt or not , drive and ability comes from blood lines , and well training and how much you expand on there natural qualities!
NOW I will add this, if your planning to hunt in heavy water(larger waves and colder waters)
I would strongly suggest you look in to Chesapeake Bay Retriever 's over both American and British labs
they tend to be heartier in colder water ways and larger waves, and handle larger geese better
BUT again, they have a tendency to be a little more, a ONE owner dog, taking commands only from ONE owner and are a little more hard headed by breed!, they can be a little more protective of there owners
BUT IMO< all this can be corrected with proper up bringing/socialization and GOOD blood lines from GOOD breeders!
and this advice goes for ANY lab you want, stick to GOOD breeders that work hard to perfect the breed and care more about that, than selling puppys!
ALL lab's are LAB's at heart and have been a round enough GREAT one's to not say one is better than another,
the breeds all contain the requirements to be great, bloodiness again from good breeders can help get you a better dog, but a LOT will come down to HOW much time and effort and exposure you give to the dog at hand,
dogs are a LOT of work and require a LOT of time to make them great, but the rewards in the end are priceless
if you make the effort that is!