Hee hee hee! Yes, I read about him having to chop one off!
Engineering excellence at its best, eh? And this is often touted as one of BSA's better guns! This one of mine looks like it hasn't had much use and also exhibits some signs of Pete's other love.....cocking lever galling! The metal slipper plate that lives under the cocking link retainer / forend screw bracket is showing definite signs. And also a bit on the cylinder just ahead of the start of the cocking slot. None of it a problem and easily sorted, though.
Battering it to death could come to mine if it doesn't want to play nice. Or I could just put it back together, pop a new breech seal in, hope it works okay and go and trade it in for a nice, trusty HW.