A cartridge engaging assembly (100) for translating a cartridge (106) is disclosed. The cartridge engaging assembly (100) comprises a laterally extending thumb member (110) adapted to abuttingly engage the cartridge (106). The assembly (100) further comprises a floating finger assembly (120) which is detached from the thumb member (110) and is also adapted to engage the cartridge (110). The finger assembly (120) comprises at least one floating finger member (122, 124) with a front portion (140), a rear portion (144), and a latch portion (126, 128) with a guide post (130, 132) attached thereto. The finger assembly (120) may comprise recovery devices (202, 204) for recovering a displaced floating finger member (122, 124, 200). The assembly (100) further comprises at least one guide sleeve (102, 104) with an elongate track (134) adapted to receive the guide post (130, 132), and a flexible gate assembly (150) positioned within the elongate track (134) at the forward end (136) thereof. The assembly (100) further comprises a get operating mode (170), a first retrieve operating mode (172), a first put operating mode (174), a second put operating mode (176), and a second retrieve operating mode (178). A method of translating a cartridge (106) with a cartridge engaging assembly (100) from a first cartridge receiving device (192) to a second cartridge receiving device (194) is also disclosed.