We must have spoken to the same guy. The man at Purdey's that I spoke to about it said that when the lump swings down into the action floor It was a sign of best craftsmanship that you could fit the lug so tightly there was almost an airtight surrounding of the barrel lump On closing.
If you think about the technology that was being used to produce the early best guns making that square box in the bottom of the action was quite a feat, and a real sign of craftsmanship.
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Interesting you should say that. This past weekend a friend's Boucher dumped some powder from a shotshell somehow into the lug mortices when a roll-crimped case came apart. Just a few flakes of powder were enough to prevent the gun from closing and it wasn't a sorta maybe thing. If flat would not go at all and the locking bolt wouldn't even think of swinging shut.
Beware of getting a little grass seed or cattail duff in there.
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/qclHjMQ.jpg)
