Statements by Mac

Doubleriflejack, I understand your position on the self openers. However that is not what I was responding to! The issue I was responding to is “COCK ON CLOSING” not on a self opening rifle but on a standard double rifle used for the hunting of dangerous game. In the case of the of the one rifle, and one shotgun offered in pictures by the good captain, the rifle not having ejectors, and being chambered for 303 Brit is further handicapped by being a Jones lever type latch, is not a dangerous game rifle anyway. However that is beside the point of the COCK ON CLOSING we are discussing. In this case the rifle IS cocked on CLOSING not opening. See the cams and cocking rods below:
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Mac,
Granted, as anyone can clearly see, Curl's .303 self-opener, with Jones screw grip underlever will be “handicapped,” in reloading/shooting speed, compared to same with a top lever, as we see with his self opening top lever shotgun, which also has ejectors, by the way. Though his self-opening shotgun is obviously not a dangerous game rifle, it nevertheless functions exactly the same as one with Beesley/Purdey system, and as Curl says “overall operation is smoother, they open like butter, and eject without effort, they reload like any other, and there's no noticeable extra effort to close them..” All of this is accurate, in my experience, and applicable on dangerous game rifle having same Beesley self-opening function. AGAIN, THEY ARE FASTER IN OVERALL OPERATION, COMPARED TO TRADITIONAL SYSTEMS you refer to. By the way, Self-openers cock the tumblers on opening; not on closing, due to the mainspring opening its width; that is why they are called “spring cockers;” This is done automatically every time the gun is opened, but the tumblers, though they are cocked, are not under spring tension yet. On closing, the cams and rods you refer to, transfer some mainspring tension to bottom of tumblers, for firing, and especially give greater tension to lifter cams for self-opening function. For clarification of superiority of self-openers over traditional systems, see statement by Curl below, of which I think he is 100% correct:
Statements by Curl
“I own and have owned numerous sidelock ejector guns and rifles built on the H&H locks. Given a choice I prefer the Beesley. Overall operation is smoother. They open like butter and eject without effort. They reload like any other, and there's no noticeable extra effort required to close them. Sure, at a table in a gunshow or at the maker's the Beesley will seem to close stiffer, but in the field or on the skeet range you will forget that. I first noticed my preference on the skeet field when shooting rounds with my Purdey and alternating rounds with two other best quality SLE's with H&H locks. The Purdey is better over-all in my hands.”
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