Does anyone know how the action locks up? The parts/frame geometry don't make it immediately apparent to me, and I haven't found an animation of the mechanism
I think one of these is a modern pistol caliber (.38, .357, .44, .45LC, etc.) would kick butt if the action would be strong enough (the barrel's attachment and receiver screws look like a possible weak point), and the parts don't look
terribly difficult to replicate, either. It seems that if there was some way to crank the magazine "backward" it would address most of the shortcomings as far as loading/topping off are concerned. As it stands, I see why the Spencer with its quick-loadable straight tube was more successful. Still, it was an incredible amount of firepower for one guy to be carrying back then (+3X the capacity of most platforms)
TCB