The Greener experiment and Field magazine trials are echoed by Gough Thomas, who also did the dot of plasteline on the action flats experiment.

What would be useful is an experiment that would exclude the Poisson effect as the cause of the phenomena observed.

The plastic limits and recovery of the action during bending imply a forceful process. I am wondering if the recovery of the action body delivers a hammer blow to the barrels, pounding them onto the cross pin.

I also wonder if cheap folding guns, where the barrel lumps are trapped in place via a through cross pin, avoid this pounding. Folding guns seem to be less prone to shaking loose. But that might be a false conclusion drawn from the ones I examined.

The practical reason for my preoccupation with these things is that a clarification would allow more robust design and safer repairs. It is not just theory.

Where is a slo-mo guy when you need him!