This was one of those cases where they used the parts they had on hand, and adapted parts to make functional rifles. This was about the time they came out with their first version of a hinged floorplate, that was a dismal failure. The latch was incorporated in the floorplate, not the trigger guard like in most other applications. When the rifle was fired, the recoil opened the latch and all the rounds fell out the bottom. Only a few of these actually made it out to customers, and to remedy the problem, the rest of the production got salvaged by converting to a blind magazine. The biggest dilemma was how to utilize all the stocks that had that big through hole for the magazine. The problem was solved by adding the steel cover plate. The deal with the complicated mag set up was a production screw up. Those receivers were originally machined for the detachable mag, using the magazine frame. To make it work as a blind magazine, the bottom cap was removed from the magazine so it would fit the stock, and even then it had to be modified.
Over the years, they have made many engineering blunders, and to salvage production they have always found a way to use the major parts to put together functional rifles.
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