One of the most coveted sidelock actions is the Lancaster 12/20, invented by William Baker. It has only 8 pins. Is it more or less worthy than a 9 pin sidelock?

Speaking of Baker, his other superbly simple sidelock has only three pins, but it makes up in robustness and simplicity what it lacks in pins.

In engineering it is considered an advance to develop a device that works with fewer parts. Perhaps we should keep this in mind.

The Dickson Round Action has no visible external pins anywhere. One reason people like it is because it bypasses these sort of dilemmas.