Thank you all, I am grateful for the input. It is hard to be a judge of your own design, so a third party angle is always useful.
Mentenegrin- the guys over at Nitroexpress are looking into the rifle ability. The solid bar and round bolt are strong enough for medium intensity cartridges at around 40 000 psi, a mod is needed to prevent bolt bounce and a solution is available.
Stan- the long hammer tails cover the hammer slots when uncocked. THe stock can be pulled in seconds and the action cleaned- airhosed but it is a concern, which is balanced by the simplicity of the manual cocking. If trash is a problem there is always the self cocking underlever option.
Billwolfe- yes the Ideal, alond with the Dickson and the Dominion were the inspiration for a round shape. It was hard to decide just how round so that it looks good but sits comfortably in the arm when carried.
tw- arthritis is my concern too. The stud needs no active pressing, letting the weight of the gun onto it is enough (in the prototype anyway) to open it. A shoe is in the plans.
bbman- a long tang would mean two screws added and harder to pull the stock. It is possible to add a separate long tang to keep the fast stock removal feature and have a long tang too.
Rockdoc- no problem going to a smaller caliber design wise. The worry is the non toxic shot regulations. If they impose a blanket non toxic shot rule in Europe then 20 gauge is about the smallest practical option.
gunman- it is not a commercial venture as stated in the write up. Baikal I assume you mean the IZ18, a lever cocker pressed to cock, there is not much in common there. The BSA Single XII design and its hammer tail dust cover was part of the inspiration, but that design cannot be adapted to a SXS, I know cause I tried. It uses a integral one piece trigger-sear that limits spacing the hammers (tumblers) at the right distance. This one has separate trigger blades and sears. Look more towards Winchester Model 21, and the Blanch Removable Trigger (Philips patent) and the French Jupiter for the source.
Any design is a compromise and a balance between often conflicting features. Here the two overriding values (after safety) were external elegance and mechanical simplicity. It is a poor mans Round Action if you like. It can be turned into a conventional layout barrel cocking ejector, but then the cost would skyrocket and the simplicity would be lost. It would be just another hammerless ejector, probably more commercially appealing but less unique.
Soon I will know about a barrel source, which would be the first step towards making the "real" one. Fingers crossed.
