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Figure 18: Several tilting barrel, short recoil semi-automatic pistols.
and unlock the chamber, the falling The Walther system utilizes a pivot-
locking block/inline action utilizes a ing locking block. A wedge-shaped
specialized locking block that moves locking block pivots on one end in a
(unlike the tilting barrel style, which lug under the barrel and is driven by
is fixed) up and down while the bar- a plunger that lives in a lug on the
rel moves parallel to the bore’s axis chamber end of the barrel. The wedge
(straight, back and forth). The lock- has lugs that protrude outward that
ing block moves up and down into correspond to lugs in the slide.
lugs and reliefs on the barrel, frame,
The barrel and slide will move back-
and slide. There are two basic styles
ward together a very short distance
of falling locking block/inline ac-
until the plunger bottoms out against
tions: The Walther system and the
the frame. Angled surfaces on the
Bergmann system.
plunger and the locking block will
During discharge, the pressure inside drive the block downward into a re-
the chamber will cause the locking cess in the frame, allowing the lugs
surfaces to hold it closed until the to clear the slide. The barrel will be
bullet has exited the bore and pressure stopped by the locking block while
has dropped. The barrel will begin to the slide continues rearward.
move backward, driving the slide with
The Bergmann-style action is much
it. This is where the various systems
simpler. The Bergmann system relies
begin to differ.
on a locking block with a Y-shaped
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