Common Knowledge or Received Wisdom?

[Thunderbox]

That's very interesting Steve. That's almost exactly the opposite of what we've thought they used the cut off for until reading this.

I think there has always been a body of opinion that the cut-off is an example of a device that had an original design purpose (ie enabling the earliest rifles - Lee Metfords - to be used as single loaders), but which later became obsolete for that purpose and then proved very useful for another (as an efficient safety device that allows the bolt to be manipulated without chambering a round).