[Godwin Hampton]

Roger,

The rounds' base rest in the clip depressions, and are retained by a hook which enters a groove in the bottom of the cartridges and locks them in place. The 4 hooks each have a spring-loaded button to release them, much like the lock on a bayonet. These buttons protrude from the clip facing forward, and as the loaded clip is being fed into the autoloader by the feed pawls, the buttons encounter a ramp which forces them open, thus freeing the round. Further down another ramp directs the clip out through a slot, through which it falls at the feet of the loader.

The Bofors fires from an open breech position, as do most automatic weapons. It is dangerous to leave a hot gun loaded!

The rounds are fed down onto a loading tray, underneath the tray is a spring-loaded rammer. When the gun is fired, the rammer is released, projecting the round into the chamber. The cartridge rim pulls the two extractor arms forward, releasing the spring-loaded breech block. This rises and in turn releases the spring-loaded striker which fires the round.

On recoil, the breech block is cammed open, and the extractors throw the cartridge back. This passes over the loading tray on its way out trough the cartridge deflector at the back, eventually being disposed of towards the front of the gun. At the same time the rammer is re-cocked, as is the striker. The feed arm moves up moving the feed pawls over the rounds in the autoloader.

On run-out, the feed arm moves down again forcing a round onto the loading tray in preperation of a repetition of the cycle.

That's the principle, as the mechanism was much more refined with safety gadgets, indicators, etc. It was one hell of a gun!