Thanks Hoppdoc. Yes, Lazzeroni are almost there.

For the hell of it, another thing I'd like to see would be a provision where, once the bolt has been pulled back a certain distance, it could not be reclosed without first reaching the bolt stop. The idea is to prevent African shortstroke. I have looked at ways to do this but patenting stuff is a pain unless you own the means of production, so someone else can have this one. Hopefully, the human reaction would be to realise what had happened and make the effort to get the new cartridge.

Even better would be a spring-loaded kicker to make sure the bolt goes back the last half inch - and pity help the shooter who doesn't raise his head. Extra effort would be needed to close the bolt, of course, but this shouldn't worry someone facing a charging animal. In any case, the pressure required would be nothing compared with closing an Enfield.

Too hard and complicated? Yeah, looks like its back to the reliable simplicity of a self-opening SLE.