Here are some pictures of a lightweight,(2 1/2 inch), 16 ga. Nimrod shotgun by Thieme & Schlegelmilch that I own and use for Turkeys. It weighs 5 pounds 10 oz. unloaded, and has the stepped water table that is a feature of the Nimrod which is supposed to take recoil pressures off the hingepin and the Greener crossbolt. I think it does do that to some extent, but I am going to show you guys why it is one of my favorites, both in design, and to use and carry for hunting.
Nimrod is the model name and refers to the "stepped" type of action table that the Germans call a Verschlosh action, or something along that line. Nimrod, by the way, was a great bowhunter in ancient times that is mentioned in the Bible.
The first picture shows the gun assembled, the next ones show it taken down step by step. This is accomplished with just a screwdriver to remove the lockplate cross bolt. The piece I am pointing at with the pencil is a mainspring clamp which is inletted into the recess under the lockplate. The lockplate screw screws into a threaded hole in the hammers for cocking it past the normal full cocked position so that the mainspring clamp can be installed onto the mainspring. After getting it in place, the bolt can then be used to relieve the pressure on the sear, while the trigger is pulled and the hammer is gently let down with hand pressure on the screw and all the spring tension is held by the mainspring clamp.
Next the mainspring can be removed and then the hammer can be pulled out. Finally the sear is removed from its recess. The whole thing is done with just finger pressure and is reversed to put it all back together. Because of the shape and design of the sears, this gun has very nice trigger pulls. Also, we are looking at all the internal mechanisms except for the spring loaded cocking indicators that drop down from the top and interact with the hammers as they are cocked and fired.
The whole setup is lightweight,strong and simple, and because the parts are partly held and supported by the action, it is easy to access and clean it out in the field with just one small screwdriver. I wish that some company would build a lightweight double on this principal today because it is light and efficient with a minimum of parts and would surely sell very well. I hope these pictures will tell the story better than I have. I hope you enjoy them.