zippy, your description matches what I observed (and try to describe in the original post) by staring at the bolt cutout shape and playing with the assembly. So, if I am not mistaken, the two phases are:
1. Locking bolts move up riding the curved cutout on the bolt, moving it forward until it reaches the locked position. This phase, closing up the bolt, stops when locking bolts are about 1cm from their full travel position. If you can imagine a non-straight pull bolt action rifle, this is the part when you shove the bolt all the way forward.
M92_26-sm.jpg
M92_28-sm.jpg
2. Locking bolts keep on sliding up, now in the bolt straight channel. I take this is when you lock the bolt in place; using my bolt action analogy, you now rotate the bolt to its locked position.
To the others who replied to the thread, which I appreciate, let's assume for the sake of argument nothing is broken. Instead I am trying to understand how the lever action in, well, a lever action firearm works.
nvbirdman, since you talked about headspacing, and my headspacing thread (
http://rossi-rifleman.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=4869) remains unloved, we will hijack this one. How are these rifles headspaced at factory? I know people here have headspaced using the barrel, but I wonder if at the factory it would be easier to either have a pile of locking bolts of different thickness or an oversized one and then grind it to fit. Since I am in an analogy mood today, that is how the SKS, the FN49, the G43, the MAS49, the SVT-40, and the FN FAL are headspaced. And it is quick to do if you have the locking lugs on hand and you do not need to have to worry about front sight alignment.
If what I said above is true, if the rifle would only fully close in an empty chamber -- I am using here your example -- it would mean either the bolt would need to travel forward, which might be hard if the front surface of the locking bolt cutout is flush with that of the receiver. You would need some kind of locking bolt with a stepped front surface that would be ground to fit. Or, play with the barrel.
Of course all of the above are ASSumptions of mine which might have no bearing with reality.