not sur about the claw your talking about there is a claw on the end of the bolt that holds the end of the shell when pushing into chamber im off to the gun show in nashville,tn right now if you might know of anyone thats has a encore with barrels that might be interested please call me if i could get one with rifle muzzleloader and shot gun barrels im willing to trade my 7mm , my tradition laminated stainless muzzleloader and my mossberg 12 ga for a set up . thanks richard james 615-347-9973