gallipliphile, Within this thread, 4seventy wrote: "The action is of the assisted opening type."
Rockdoc wrote: "The self opening action is, like Purdey's, a bit of a knack to close."
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Rockdoc is correct, while 4seventy is not. It is, indeed, a self opener; not an assisted opener. Many guys consider the self opener the same as an assisted opener, but they are not the same. Many more guys don't know the difference between the two, though they should learn, and stop spreading wrong information on websites.
Many people, including some who should know better, get self openers and easy openers confused; some don't know the difference between the two. A self opener springs open just as smartly after firing, as it does when locks are cocked; easy openers do not. Only four true self openers have ever been developed and made in numbers: 1. the first and most significant by Frederick Beesley (his first design used, of course, by Purdey right up to the present day); his second concept, a modification of his original design, used by Charles Lancaster (Lancaster modified it again later, so at that time it became strictly a spring cocker with no cocking levers, 2. Holland & Holland design that was adaptable to boxlock or sidelock, 3. The Charles Rossen design, almost as adaptable as the H & H design. 4. the rarest design of all, by Gough Thomas. Naturally, other gunmakers made self openers, but most are variations of the Rossen concept. The Beesley design stands alone in being completely integral with the mechanics of the action and lockwork. It is unique in the way he integrated the functions of opening and cocking---all other systems use separate mechanisms that have no other function. It was a brilliantly integrated system, three separate and different functions, cocking, firing, and opening, ALL ACTIVATED BY A SINGLE SPRING, THE MAINSPRING within the action! References to the original Beesley/Purdey concept in many standard reference books are not accurate: J.H. Walsh, The Modern Sportsman Gun and Rifle, W.W. Greener in The Gun and its Development, Sir Gerald Burrard in The Modern Shotgun ALL GOT IT WRONG. Gough Thomas got it right, in his Second Gun Book of 1972.