Quote Originally Posted by Vincent View Post
The cartridge can be fixed, as in a blowback SMG, or moving, as in a Oerlikon cannon. All that matters is the bolt is still in forward motion. The bolt is the mass that has to be stopped before it is sent back. The energy expended in stopping the mass (bolt) leaves less energy to send the bolt back. With less energy available to send the bolt back, the bolt can be lighter.
I understand all that. What I said is bunk is the actual firing of the cartridge without it being chambered, as in the bolt and cartridge are still moving(both)when the cartridge magically fires. That's an impossibility with a fixed firing pin. I'm not speaking of the Oerlikon. It's a different animal. Just things like Sten, Sterling, M1A1icon Thompson... The rest of it I understand... Even the part about the chamber depth. The closed bolt weapons don't have any way for the pressures to drop like the open bolt does. That's why the new 1927A1s have such a different recoil and pressure marks on the case. Yes we too taught not to chamber a single round in the SMG C1 unless emergency (battle). The designer could have left the name of the action at blowback...because it's correct... Then there's retarded blowback as in the Thompsons with the Blish lock...which again didn't do much.
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