Here it is with the load port closed to show that this is how thick that piece needs to be to get the cylinder up in line with the barrel.
But again it would obviously never be able to swing open or closed like this.
So I’m trying to figure out an alternative format and I came up with this
Here the loading port is just a thin trap door, and above it a kind of socket swings down and slides out as the door opens. A load is plugged into the socket, then pulls the magazine into the port and rotates up to align with the barrel of the gun as the door closes.
Also I got rid of the charging handle. It’s been bothering me for a while now, the operator should have to cycle a charging handle every time they load. Even on contemporary firearms the charging handle is just for initially loading the weapon, after it fires through a magazine the bolt is locked to the rear by the blow back from the last round fired, the operator reloads a magazine and just pushes a button to release the bolt lock allowing it to cycle forward to the firing position.
I was trying to figure out how to do something like that with this weapon but it doesn’t have the advantage of being explosive powered. Originally I thought that the loading port should be spring loaded to open and released when the magazine runs dry. But that would require the charging handle. And I was thinking that somehow the heat generated would be used to blast the old magazine out automatically without the operator having to push an eject button.
Now that I tried the charging handle and it doesn’t work logically, it occurs to me that if this thing can blow out it’s empty magazine with heat energy (or something) why can’t that also be blowing the load port open? So that’s what I’m going to do. That way the loading port can be spring loaded to close and that spring load can be released with a simple button push. Which would be the red button pictured at the front above the trigger guard.
I moved the reloads back to the top because I thought I was going to put the release button on that bottom rail to be operated by the non-firing hand. But changed my mind and put it in the same place as the mag release on an M16 instead. I think I’ll move the reloads back down to the bottom rail and put the charging handle back (for opening the reload port for initial loading when no mag is being ejected and blowing open the port automatically).
But now I’m realizing that there’s a problem with the port closing button being operated by the firing hand. On contemporary weapons the mag release is operated by the firing hand, so that the non-firing hand can be grabbing a new mag already at the same time the old one is being ejected. Then the bolt lock release is operated by the non-firing hand after it has locked in the new mag, this is an important detail because this ensures that a mag is loaded when that release is hit.
In this case where the firing hand hits the release, it would be possible for the operator to get the timing wrong and hit that release before the non-firing hand has the new mag in. In which case the operator would pretty much be dead because they’d have to start the loading process all over again using the slower charging handle in the middle of a firefight.
So that can’t be. The release has to be moved to the back for the non-firing hand to operate so that it can’t be done until after than hand has the mag in.