Well, they were right when they said the mag wasn't very user friendly! Loading it at first was very hit and miss. Using the method in the book can leave rounds in on their ends and stuck if you don't keep your wits about you. It is very easy to cause a rim-over jam too.
Once carefully loaded and installed, the magazine creates a fair amount of upward pressure under the bolt. During cycling this peaks at the point where the chamfer under the bolt head has to push the mag insert down against the spring and ride over it to close on the chambered round. A lot of pressure is required to close the bolt, much more than any Lee Enfield I have used. When fired, the case is extracted clean and flicked off the bolt face by the mag insert coming back up as the bolt is drawn rearward.
Once I got the hang of loading and the feel closing the bolt, I put several mags full through it without problem.
All up, I can see why they scrapped it... but what a great piece of history and fun to play with!
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