The Bommarito rifle was submitted to the US Ordnance Department for consideration when they were searching for a self-loading rifle to adopt. The Bommarito used a long-recoil toggle action like the Luger or Pedersen, and its only virtue was that when closed, it left no gaps for dirt to get into the workings of the gun. It had several disadvantages, including often suffering stuck cartridges (and being very difficult to operate manually when that happened), being overly heavy, and posing a real hazard to the shooter’s fingers (if you think Garand thumb is painful, try slamming a finger in the joint of a toggle lock).
The design was tinkered with by Major Elder (who also worked with the Rychiger rifle), but without any ultimate success.
Are any of these still around anywhere? For sale anywhere? I would love to own one, looks like a nice rifle, and it bears my last name!
I’ve not seen one in person anywhere, much less for sale – sorry.