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Yes, that was me! I made the comment because I thought a snap action was something a bit different than what it turned out to be; merely a means to return the locking mechanism to it's locked position upon closing the breech.

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That's right. The Piotti illustrated above locks with conventional Purdey bolts. Nothing whatsoever unusual about it's lockup.

And my Woodward - the same. Conventional Purdey bolts and a doll's head third fastener.



The only thing "odd" and elegant about the Woodward is the use of a roller bearing on the front of the Purdey bolting bar to ride against the rear barrel lump as the barrels pivot down! I don't know anybody else who did that detail.

Now back to the subject of strength. The Woodward cocks by action of the lever. That eliminates the need for any cuts through the action bars for cocking levers to work against the forend iron. Thus, the bars are solid, with the exception of cuts for the Purdey bolting slide. Now that does enhance action strength!



In some ways it harkens back to the amazing strength of the Jones underlever action which also has no cuts through the bars.



Again, I don't know whether the Jeffery .600NE used a similar underlever cocking design. If they did, that would explain the claim of enhanced action strength. It would be a valid claim. Hopefully someone can shed light on this question.

Curl

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