Weird Slide Action Prototype Rifles
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These two slide action rifles came form the same collection, and are pretty clearly related - one is a toolroom type of early prototype and the other is a refined pre-production sort of example. However, we have no idea who made them, or when or where. They look well made enough to have been the product of a legitimate firearms factory, but could also have been the work of a dedicated hobbyist. Without markings or provenance, we will probably never know. But they certainly are interesting to take a look at!
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These are Samuel McClean designs! I recognize them from his patents. He was the core designer for the machine gun that would eventually evolve into the Lewis Gun!
Sources are patents US601842A and US723706A.
Oh sweet. I was looking at the patents someone else posted and thought that name sounded familiar but I couldn't think of where.
Wow, great job! Those patents match the rifles exactly.
I looked up those patents, and I'm very impressed and glad that you shared them.
Reading the patent, it looks like the unknown control on the earlier prototype may have been a magazine cut-off
Note to self. When designing a strange one off rifle make sure to add makers marks and write down the design process somewhere.
He did write it down, just not on the gun itself. Looks like he patented this in 1898. So not 30-06. 30 Krag maybe?
Alaric _ this has my dead
Or don't so historians will be like "what the fuck is this thing?"
Its apparently a sammuel maclean gun, see coment above
Dont forget put the blue prints into the stock!🤣
"it doesn't work. which is a minor issue."
ian "gun jesus" mccollum, 28 november 2018.
For a man of his power it truly is.
It’s a minor issue because it’s for the best
It's like if someone tried to create a solution to the 'problem' of "But what if I want to shoot a lever-action while prone?"
@@xXvenomslasherXx NO! I REFUSE TO TURN SLIGHTLY!
@Andrew Abbott LOL very witty! BUT, there goes your sight picture with that 90 degree turn.
@Andrew Abbot Very true but there weren't many semi-autos to choose from when this weapon was designed. patents.google.com/patent/US723706A/en
Plus I was really just being nit-picky to see what kind of comments I would get, the "range ninja" comment made it totally worth it. LOL!
just dig a very small trench below your firing position
Cinnamanster A supine shooting!
It's a Bullpump :D
POOR PIRANO Like you :O
Get out lol
*CARLOS!*
@Judge Dredd he didn't say being gay was bad, he said that term sounds like a euphemism for some kind of gay sex, which it totally kind of does. Go up to a gay friend and ask if they can give you a "bull pump", and see that sassy eyebrow raise
Bullpup, no M.
This is probably the first time I've seen that assortment of colors on a forgotten weapons thumbnail
Right?? Totally my initial thoughts
I think there was one other. Of another mystery gun. I think it was an unidentified Mauser.
Education :)
DenInDaWuds Take a look at the general Lieu Rifle video thumbnail...
@@154Kilroy It was the mystery European revolver.
“Finally done designing my pump action rifle”
“Shouldn’t the pump be on the front?”
“...”
"Why did you put the pump in the back?"
"Shut up! That's why!"
At a time Winchester held the patent on pump action fore ends, which is why I'd date this anywhere from 1890 to 1920
The burgess shotguns had a pump on the grip and were actually decent firearms
There's probably someone somewhere with a really weird trigger mechanism who's wondering what the rest of the gun looked like.
Lol
Looks like an attempt to make a military lever gun, that can shoot spitzer bullets and be cycled prone.
That actually makes a lot of sense. +1 to that.
I thought the same thing; but you lose the speed advantage of a lever action or a pump action, while adding complexity. That's probably why the design doesn't seem to have got past the prototype stage.
I think you are right. Good call mr larsen
This is a good theory. In that case, these were probably made around the civil war era and the creator was going to try and cash in.
@@-Griffin older model according to the patents was 1896 newer model was 1903
A true forgotten weapon !
And for good reason!
They were made by Samuel McClean. He's best known for designing a machine gun that would eventually evolve into the Lewis Gun.
umconwa5; Bingo!
Patent US601842A also for the "slide lever" rifle.
@@davidgreen40 ..the ultimate gun control weapon.......sigh
The rifle has a such a high degree of craftmanship in all the metal components that make up the action, it really is absolutely beautiful. Even in the first prototype you can see a metal workers love of that craft. Ian: these barrel bands and stock cap must have come from somewhere else.
I know. When he was pointing that out I was like man did you not just see those insane mechanisms?
I’d bet a dollar that those parts are borrowed from a vintage Winchester 1895 and it’s intended to shoot .30-40 Krag.
The 1898 patent someone else found suggests that your idea could be spot on.
willlowery84 There’s only one set of locking lugs so it probably is a cartridge of that power level.
I love this community
Credited. .30-40 Krag would be a good guess. The patents are 1890s and appearance of these prototype guns looks very end of the 19th/turn of the 20th century ish. .30-40 Krag would be a good bet for that era.
Those barrel bands and front sight are extremely Krag-ish.
'what the heck are those rifles' is my favorite game
Indeed the mystery gun videos and the oddball oneoff prototypes are great.
Zach Coulter the pinned first commenter identified it right away and even provided damn patent info and pics! That guy above is on par with Ian with his knowledge no doubt
The first rifle had the original Monsterman grip for CA compliant repeating rifles....
no such thing as a "california or any other commie state compliant rifle" because their "laws" about this stuff are unconstitutional therefore null and void of power of law
@@gcart7675 As right you are, good luck with that
I so badly want to see this in Mark's hands over at C&Arsenal to see if he could get it working.
You know he could. He'd probably love it.
@@tomminton5512 ...while endlessly bitching & moaning about the level of overcomplexity
Let Mae test fire it...
I wonder if some of these ideas were not attempts to avoid infringing patents.
You're probably right since there's no point to this system if you could just use pump action.
I think you are right. I see no improvement over pump or leaver action.
@@FreeOfFantasy Or straight pull bolt action. You could use the same bolt and carrier with a much more sensible handle out the side or top.
@@FreeOfFantasy Might be better than either a pump or lever action for firing prone, which could be relevant if the designer had any ambition for military contracts. Other than that, it seems like the worst of all worlds: slower than either a pump action or a lever action, more complicated than a bolt action, more awkward than any of the above. No wonder only two prototypes seem to have been made before they gave up.
That's what I was wondering, as well. It feels like whoever made these rifles was trying to (albeit vaguely & unsuccessfully) replicate the slide action of the Burgess folding shotgun.
"Free floating magazine"
A firearm completely reinvented, I like this Idea :) I have always wondered what a rifle invented by a completely isolated civilization would look like
Apparently this was made by Samuel N. Mcclean. The patent numbers are US601842A and US723706A if you want to check it out
@Aaron Harris I heard of a tribe from Novaia Zemiya (far north Island where Tsar Bomba test took place) which uses this method. They are using powder from matches and lead balls made from old batteries.
I guess the best designs for any firearm from an isolated civ would be like the Japanese or Chinese matchlocks. When the west invented lever locks, they were still developing pretty crude matchlocks and cannons made from iron or sometimes bamboo.
One thing I’m surprised you didn’t mention on the earlier prototype rifle is just how far forward that trigger is. Looks like that would be even more awkward to hold than the later model.
So the top one is actually a bullpup?
rickardspaghetti exactly what I was about to ask, I'd guess yes just because of the "magazine behind trigger" design
Sorta the bullpup rifle has the action behind the trigger. all we have in this gun is a magazine behind the trigger so I’d say it’s a bastard bullpup it’s like a bullpup but its also not a bullpup
@@allencook6574 that's what I was thinking as well. The magazine is far back, but the barrel still starts ahead of the trigger. The whole point of a bull pup is to have a longer barrel, this does not.
It's a bullshit :P
@@David-kd4qr The barrel starts ahead of the trigger, but still closer to it than it could've been with a conventional design, because then there wouldn't be room to load a long rifle cartridge.
Item #1 for a "Gun Detective" series, in the mold of Mythbusters, where the cast try to figure out where and when a gun came from, how it's meant to work, and try to fix it.
If that's the kind of thing you like, try IV8888's video Determining Unknown Calibers With Cerrosafe, and the follow-up video.
@@jic1
Midway
@@bobkissinger4893 Huh?
Something about this just screams Winchester to me. The falling elevator, the reciprocating slide action, the design of the handle, the early toolroom prototype that looks a hell of a lot like a Winchester 94... this really feels like someone who really liked the Winchester 94 attempted to design a semiauto, and used a lot of the operating ideas from that gun in this gun.
Yeah I agree, I immediately thought it was a Winchester or Winchester inspired.
I wonder if this gun wasn't meant to fire a full size smokeless spitzer .30 round before the 95 came round. Seems to me somebody had a lightbulb moment and tried a slide system rather than the toggle link lever system.
noth606 Straight back and forth actions like a slide or a straight pull are VERY close to a semi auto, all you need is some sort of gas system or blowback system and a return spring at that point.
@@lunarpking Yes, but this particular rifle was clearly not a semi-auto.
my first thought when i saw them was a mod. 1895 win. one other thought could it be slam fire
I find these fascinating. Love this Channel
What if these rifles were intended for someone who was missing a thumb? That might explain the grip when Ian tried to grip the rifle.
If you think this is bad, whit until all the 3d printed projects start showing up at these auctions.
it's pretty difficult to sell plastic scrap as an antique.
@@jackvernian7779 Tell that to any collector of 19th century celluloid.
2199: I see you replaced the original rubber bands. That knocks the value down by half.
Jack Vernian not really
If this uses a full rimmed cartridge like the .30-40 Krag, it looks like the bottom locking lug might be responsible for pushing a cartridge in to the elevator on the earlier prototype. It could also be that the later design moved from that to .30-03
According to the patent someone found in another comment thread, it was patented in 1898 so 30-40 Krag would be a likely guess.
Oh that's actually really interesting and sounds like it could have worked
I think this is my favorite kind of Forgotten Weapons video, when Ian admits without shame that he doesn't understand wtf this gun is about. So then it feels like were kinda learning together
This design is so bizarre, and possibly non-functional, but that slide pull at 11:05 was like butter.
Gun Jesus brining us the Dead Sea Scrolls
I see what you're saying - "brining." Thought you could slip that one past us?
stop
Wise One @cmbunit01
I like that name
I imagine the OP to have many toy action figures still in the packaging lining the walls of his room.
I guess either at some point someone "deactivated" these by removing the trigger mech.
Or they never worked at all and were either just someone working off an idea, or someone made a toy gun for his kids.
Howard Black; it was probably proof of concept, and there could be provision to fit an equally “interesting” firing mechanism to a subsequent model that either might be a subject of another patent, or a mechanism that could possibly be subject to some kind of patent infringement?
BTW, I think on the fired rifle, I think the handle on the slide came from one of the turn-of the century slide action rifles.
Looking at the rifle kind of “cross-eyed”, I wonder if it could have made operational sense with a sort of thumb-hole stock?
those'd be some large kids
Evidently the trigger system depended on two tiny springs... Tiny weak springs don't usually last over a hundred years! 😅
The more advanced of the two rifles [with the rear magazine] makes me wonder how well the system would work with a pistol grip [instead of a pump grip] housing a normal style pistol / carbine calibre magazine. Holding a pistol grip and pumping it would be quite natural - as long as you didn't smash your trigger finger going forward... or maybe you could have a fancy sliding trigger guard and trigger setting action as part of the forward pump stroke, so you didn't have to change your grip at all.
Looks like the leg of the spring under the front handguard should impinge in the front curve machined into the arm that goes back. That will keep the rear of the arm engaged with the bolt carrier. I believe that is the cartridge pusher mechanism.
This was one of my favorite episodes in the last year. This is a true forgotten weapon. You do a fantastic job showing it..
It's a pump action with the pump at the location of a Lever-Action.
Put the magazine behind the trigger, put the pump action behind the trigger, fuck it, put the barrel behind the trigger
I’m honestly surprised no one did this before or after lever action
@@thepeoplesrepublicofdisney5058 Probably had something to do with the success of bolt action rifles and pump action shotguns
The Peoples Republic Of Disney someone made a prototype bullpup double barrel its on forgotten weapons thats pretty cool to me
Those are a couple of guns that would have worked with a pistol grip for the slide actuator, and give you something to hold onto when pulling the trigger.
This thing seems like it's one pistol grip away from being a great turn of the century rifle - rotate the slide grip 90 degrees and you fix your awkward grip problem.
"We'll be generous and call that 'free floating'"
Doesn't work, just a minor issue lol
@@LoneWolf-wp9dn Socialism works very well. It is basically communism with a lot of capitalist features (or I guess communism 2.0) Communism it the one that does not work, although technically there has never been a true communist state. True communism is a very direct governance by the people or a more regulated anarchy (technically no government but there is order). The USSR got stuck at stage two with a revolutionary government. The actual theory argues that the revolution government would then transfer power from the few, to the people and make itself obsolete in the process.
But seriously, true capitalism is horrific. Things like labor laws, minimum wage, public education and all the rest are actually socialist ideas that have been added on to the base capitalist system. If you want to see what true capitalism looks like, take a peek at china's labor conditions (I know, ironic that a communist state has a very capitalist industry). Or look up working conditions during the 19th century in the mines and factories.
Chris Collins can we just keep politics out of this and just in joy the guns.
@@paulhickie9148 Why you telling me, I didn't say shit about politics lol
Chris Collins not you the people who bought it up.
@@paulhickie9148 We can keep correct spelling out of this also. Enjoy.
A couple years ago I thought to myself "I really like lever actions, but using them prone is inconvenient." This looks like an answer to that.
Ian, when you find pieces like this do you spend time mulling them over afterward? For instance, will you lay awake at night after examining this gun and wonder why did he do this or what was the purpose of that? Or have you forgotten them the next day whilst moving on to the next thing?
Good Q&A question.
Of course he forgets them. They're
FORGOTTEN WEAPONS
I suspect that the tab on the pump handle on the first rifle may have been intended to act like a modern day pump shotgun. When the weapon is initially put into battery the handle would lock, only opening by depressing the tab manually. Then you fire and it is unlocked automatically by the action itself. Very cool and intriguing artifacts! Love all of your channels Ian, keep up the great work!
Would the unknown piece by the trigger of the second rifle act as a way to cycle the action without engaging the lifter thus allowing single bullet feeding?
The prototype looks so much more usable than the final design. Being able to hook your hand over that slide looks a lot easier than trying to death grip the checkered wood pump.
The gunsmith who made these was ahead of his time, homie made them California compliant with that grip lmao
I believe those rifles are the tool-room prototypes of the Mausefalle-Goldberg rifle. Designer was an ex-pat Volga German from Russia. The idea was to "improve" on the Winchester lever-action rifles that the Russian army had used in 7.62x54R. One complaint about the lever guns were their propensity to jam up with muck, when used prone. While the Mosin-Nagant 91 took care of that issue, they wanted the increased rate of fire that the lever guns gave them. The missing trigger mechanism consisted of a lever linked to a "thimble" that held a steel ball bearing. When pressed, the trigger actuated the lever, which tilted the "thimble", which released the ball bearing down an inclined channel, at the end of which, it struck the back of the firing pin. As you know, the design failed. The designer then became an illustrator for a newspaper syndicate.
When you want a pump action rifle thats reminiscent of a lever action
I believe the loose linkage that you pointed out that had a control is the loading ram. The shape appears to catch on the bolt when it moves back, with the control page acting as a manual disconnect
The first prototype looks very alien and ominously beautiful. HR Giger would love it I bet.
I've seen the inside of a lot of of different firearms designs, but don't think I've ever seen anything like that diamond shaped cam track that makes the lug take two different paths. M2 and M85 machine gun bolts have 2 tracks where you set them to feed from the left or right side, but the cam still only runs in one track or the other, not both like this. It's a clever idea.
Almost at 1 million subscribers!
The army is almost complete!
Tbh if these were finished I would love to have one, they just look cool
you charge it like a nerf gun
It better not chew the ammo in the chamber, like a nerf gun
It even sounds like a nerf gun
@@MKRocker2012
It triggered some serious "dart stuck in the middle of the barrel" flashbacks
Michael, you realise that he didn't want to damage the gun and that he showed how it worked right? The manly toughness arsehole mindset gets so many things wrong.
@@Isaac-ho8gh calm down, Michael was using the general you and referring to the manual of arms of the rifle.
I'm probably wrong, but at around 12:50, the long strip of metal protruding from the left appears that it could be pushed upward, engaging the square tab with the reciprocating portion of the bolt. Racking the action would pull that strip backward, stripping a cartridge and pulling it backwards into the elevator. The switch forward of the trigger disconnects the forward end of the strip from the magazine, so that the action can be racked w/o feeding a cartridge. Just a guess.
Great show Ian! Keep up the good work. And congrats on the book progress.
--Nels
Mystery weapons are best weapons.
That goofy bit on the older gun reminds me of a magazine cut off. And I would personally suspect that the bolt in some way would drag back a cartridge to be loaded putting it into the elevator. Then it pops up at the end of the stroke and viola it’s in the load path. Definitely an interesting design.
“They don’t work, a minor issue” a minor issue 😂
I'm guessing on the prototype rifle you slide the follower out of the way and drop the cartridges straight down. Then slide the follower back in place where it puts tension on the stack of cartridges so they will be picked up by the loading carriage. If the follower doesn't seem like it would push on the cartridges it probably because a spring and or some other piece of the mechanism is missing. Maybe was never even built before the design was abandoned for the next version.
Could the recess at the muzzle of the first rifle be for attaching a ring bayonet?
it might have held a kerosene lamp from a train engine, based on the freaky lines of the rest of the beast.
@@stoneblue1795 19th century Tacticool. I like it.
@@wingracer1614 No stripper clip guide, though.
I’m guessing rifle grenade 😂
@@Hebwastaken You mean an attachment for launching them?
Ian I watch your channel everyday day. I have learned so much from you thank you for all the content you posted.
Based on how big a person's hand would have to have been to operate this one, and how long your fingers would need to be, I have calculated that this gun was designed for someone 16 feet tall.
I love this channel. It’s amazing how innovative and creative so many gun smiths were back in the day and how big of leaps they made in gun creation after big changes and inventions like bullets and what not became a norm. It’s incredible how good these gun smiths were with metal and wood crafting back in the day which can be seen as a lost art nowadays as I hardly see people able to make things out of metal as well as they did back in the days of muzzle loading guns.
I can't be the only one who thought that was a folding pistol grip. :P
Ian, the only weapon expert who can say "it don't work but it's a minor detail" and still be credible.
Pretty sure the top one is a Borgen-Fuller ?1912? Mechani-Slide Rifle. My grandfather has one, I don't know where he got it though.
You may want to upload a video or something about it, seems like an extremely obscure gun
upload a video about it, nothing in google is showing up about it, could be something.
I didn't realize they were that rare! Next time I go down and visit my grandpa, I'll have to bring down my gopro and make my own little forgotten weapons video!!
For all we know, these fell through a portal from an alternate dimension where this is the standard rifle action
"Despite the fact that it doesn't work, which is a minor issue."
That does not sound like a minor issue.
As said in other places, it’s an American McClean Rifle, but I’m not sure if anyone has mentioned the C&Rsenal video on the Lewis Gun says this pattern of rifle (possibly one of these specific examples) was trialled by the US Ordnance Board in 1898, presumably in .30-40 or a developmental cartridge based on it. Also, Othias says it’s a bolt action, but the patent shown clearly matches these guns.
But what if these guns are from another dimension and we are not supposed to see them?
That's the impression that I was getting
"What the heck are those rifles" is a much more fun game than "Where the heck are my rifles".
There's no way this was intended to side-step patents. First of all, the slide action wasn't new, the patent would have already been expired for half a century or so by the time this rifle was likely made (though I'm guessing at the exact date of this design). Secondly and for the same reason any other types of repeating actions which this might have hoped to replace would also have been long expired. It's possible it was an attempt not to avoid an old patent but obtain a new one, but IMO even that is doubtful as it isn't conceptually novel enough to justify the development for a patent that would likely never have been granted.
More likely this exists because the designer really liked slide actions. Perhaps this was an attempt to design a rifle for cartridges like the .30-06 which had a faster, less clumsy action than the rotating bolt-actions which were prevalent at the time.
if it were to work I tihnk it would be on part with SMLE in the regards to target picture.
It was patented by an American in 1898.
@@wingracer1614 "It" huh? That's so very precise. Patent number, please.
@@marshaul US601842A and US723706A
@@lessthenoriginalcynical1493 Those do appear to be patents for this firearm, sure enough, though the first has to do with the magazine and I cannot find the second, though it does not appear to be for the slide action. So this gun is a few years earlier than I guessed, but at the same time it confirms my bet that the this design well postdates the expiry of any action patents against which this gun might have competed.
A bench rest friendly slide action! Very clever thinking, having the magazine under the slide on the more refined example.
when will these be available for preorder?
June of 1903
I have a slide action Remington in 30-06. A model 7600, it's a wonderful rifle and a shame that the product line isn't more popular.
Hey Ian, many of the parts on this rifle scream Mosin or at least a Russian origin even if the gun itself isn't Russian made. As for the cartridge puller on the tool-room pattern, it looks like there is a catch on the bottom of the front face of the bolt assembly which could grab a rimmed cartridge (like with a 54R) and pull it back into the riser. The little lever on the side has a square block on the rear which is in position to interface with a matching block on the bolt so it looks as if it was meant as a safety mechanism that would prevent the bolt from cycling...
Mosin? You're kidding, right? What parts?
Connor Williams I wouldn’t say a Mosin, but this definitely bears a strong resemblance to a Winchester 1895 Russian. I’m being inclined to believe this may be a prototype iteration of that rifle, designed to negate the disadvantages of a lever action (firing while prone) like the 1895.
It's fun watching Ian explore a new candy store.
So technically this is a bullpup rifle?
Technically neither ar because there is no trigger group for the action to be behind but if you want to get really into it depending on the source bullpup is defined as either both the action and magazine are behind the trigger in which neither of these are a bullpup because the elevator is still above the trigger instead of behind. Another source ive found defines bullpup as the action and magazine being part of or housed in the stock which would also mean thses are not bullpups.
Looking at these handmade prototypes makes me wonder what their tools and machining processes were like 100+ yrs ago.
So does this count as a bullpup?
Nope. Bull pup has it's action behind the trigger.
It works like a wrist-pump action. I would bet that the feeding mechanisn on the early gun pulled the cartridge back on the opening stroke, then elevated it at the end, similar to a tube-magazine follower but actuated by the handle instead of a spring
If gun Jesus doesn't know what it is then all hope is lost
Ian, the rod your finger is on at 12:42 looks like it should be attached to the bolt, at either the face or just to the rear in the area of the 'window' on the lower front of the bolt. That rod is likely the feed mechanism.
Mud testttttttt
This is the most beautiful rifle I have ever seen, like the sks but even more beauty
UwU
I always like seeing guns made by people who are obviously very clever and ingenious, with a good understanding of machines and absolutely no idea what it's like to actually handle and operate the fuckin' thing.
The nicely finished rifle looks gorgeous, but i positively love the sliding handle on the prototype... combine those two and it would be one of the most beautiful guns in existence...
People who make things like this are probably the most terrifying people who make guns just by the fact of how they think.
I love treasures like those. It is really neat to see examples of innovation, especially when it leads to other firearms.
The thing on the left of the prototype rifle on the magazine could possibly be a device that when you pull it back and cycle the action it would keep the cartridge elevator down if the operator wanted to single shot the rifle or had to remove a stuck case
Hey this can't be a forgotten weapon if it was never remembered in the first place
to load you have to pull the follower forward to load rounds then pull down and slide back to cover and add spring to the rounds you put in. There is an actual feed arm that when the side is off you can see, it is not attached to anything under the cover but it goes forward into the magazine well and in theory would pull a round back much like in a lever action spring would.
I suspect that these may be one of the patent proving prototypes that Winchester made to prove in court that Francis Bannerman's case for patent infringement by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company with their 1890/1893 slide/pump action shotguns was invalid. As there were patents that pre dated those owned by Bannerman. The Bannerman patent being the 1882 one for the Spencer and Roper whose rights Bannerman bought and made as the Bannerman 1890 repeating shotgun. Winchester dug up patents by Bails, Krutsczh, Curtis and Magot. Winchester made tool room examples of each patent and demonstrated them in court and the court ruled against Bannerman. It would explain why they are not complete, use a Winchesterish elevator and are made with odd spare bits. I have seen the Curtis, Magot and the Krutschz so possibly this is the Bains? The flaw in my theory is that the issue may have centred upon the forearm slide which would eliminate these mystery rifles.
The switches on the slide handles are for unlocking the action if the rifle is loaded, allowing you to safe the weapon/decock.
The second rifle looks like it might have been fitted with a tube magazine under the barrel but that's just a guess. Certainly interesting and a great illustration of the enormous variety of actions that can be dreamed up to make a weapon unique and patentable.
Guns like this are what really makes forgotten weapons truly 'forgotten"
Litteraly no marks and 2 weird patents someone had to really look for...
A tiny little pin light or bore light would make it much easier to see those little bits deep inside the action
An odd rifle. Can't imagine how awkward it would be to fire, especially a full power rifle round.
The switch on the side is a magazine/single feed and lifts that odd piece high enough to engage the bolt.
The sound the action makes is incredible
The ingenuity that went into these rifles is absolutely amazing :O
Two prototype McClean rifles. Someone in the comments actually got the patents, and it seems these are the only ones in existence.
The only other weapon I saw with a slide action was a Burgess shotgun, and that is it. Very rare mechanism.