Oleg Volk
Moderator Emeritus
from http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Blowback_(arms)The Savage system theorized that the rifling in the barrel caused a rotational force that would hold the gun locked until the projectile left the barrel. It was later discovered that the bullet had left the barrel long before any locking could occur and that Savage pistols merely operated on a pure blowback basis; the rotation of the barrel might play a minor role by slowing the rearward motion of the slide as the slide cycled.
Is that accurate? I always wondered why this apparently neat design did not survive past the 1920s.