Knight bare primer woes

[BigGoonTuna]

I finally pulled the trigger on a knight ultralight after going back and forth for what seemed like forever.  I picked up the FPJ version at bob's in longview, since they seem to be about the only store that carries them any more in this state, and they didn't have the bare primer model that i wanted.  No big deal, ordered a lehigh adapter and breech plug with replaceable vent liners(and got them 3 days later).

Everything seemed to go together well until i tried to seat a primer.  The primers(when inserted into the adapter) seem to drive in crooked, requiring me to slam the palm of my hand on the bolt a couple times before i can rotate it down to firing position, and are very difficult to extract(non-fired).  The primers seem to be catching on one edge of the breech plug and getting jammed.  Even trying to gently push them home with the bolt, or jiggling the rifle while closing it doesn't seem to help.  Removing the adapter and inserting a primer with tweezers, they drop right in and have a bit of wiggle room(even falling out after crushing them a bit with the bolt locked down).

I'm beginning to thing that either the receiver isn't machined true, or the bolt handle may have been welded on crooked. I may end up buying a factory bare primer bolt for this thing, but really like how the adapter setup loads.  Still a bit disappointed that i'm having to troubleshoot a $900 rifle.

[Jonathan_S]

@Sabotloader

[Sabotloader]

I finally pulled the trigger on a knight ultralight after going back and forth for what seemed like forever.  I picked up the FPJ version at bob's in longview, since they seem to be about the only store that carries them any more in this state, and they didn't have the bare primer model that i wanted.  No big deal, ordered a lehigh adapter and breech plug with replaceable vent liners(and got them 3 days later).

Everything seemed to go together well until i tried to seat a primer.  The primers(when inserted into the adapter) seem to drive in crooked, requiring me to slam the palm of my hand on the bolt a couple times before i can rotate it down to firing position, and are very difficult to extract(non-fired).  The primers seem to be catching on one edge of the breech plug and getting jammed.  Even trying to gently push them home with the bolt, or jiggling the rifle while closing it doesn't seem to help.  Removing the adapter and inserting a primer with tweezers, they drop right in and have a bit of wiggle room(even falling out after crushing them a bit with the bolt locked down).

Do me a favor... pull the breech plug - o wait first off what primer are using (European primers are to larger in diameter than American primers and often will not fit) The second thought - pull the breech plug out of the rifle. Set it on the table top and insert a primer in the primer stack.  Does the primer drop right in and stop on the primer shelf in the primer stack? Then with your thumb push the primer the primer in as far as you can.  Then pick up the BP and turn it upside down the primer should fall right out.

There is a possibilty... that during the heat treating process the diameter of the primer pocket could have shrank-tightened under specs.

Let me know what you find...

If you have any problems like that Lehigh will jump all over them selves to get you what you need.  Just give them a call.

I'm beginning to thing that either the receiver isn't machined true, or the bolt handle may have been welded on crooked. I may end up buying a factory bare primer bolt for this thing, but really like how the adapter setup loads.  Still a bit disappointed that i'm having to troubleshoot a $900 rifle.

I would suggest that you stay with the FPJ bolt you have - it is much easier system to operate than a Knight bare prime bolt.  With out a primer inserted in the primer adapter will the bolt cycle as it should?

One more thought - when you got the bare primer breech plug and vent liners - did you order primer adapter for the nose of the bolt?





mike

[BigGoonTuna]

Think I solved the problem. First, I picked up some win 209 primers. With the breech plug removed, all 3 types I had on hand(win, federal 209a, cc’ing 209m) drop in and bottom out, and come out with no resistance. The win 209 primers are easy to seat, and I’m measuring around 0.003” of crush...perfect. The federals are 50/50, and the cci primers are a royal PITA.

Part of my problem was that the front of the primer adapter was bottoming out on the breech plug(yes, the bp was all the way bottomed out in the barrel). This was causing some binding, making it difficult to turn the bolt handle all the way down. I sanded the adapter a bit until things would just drop into place easily without a primer.

I’m still a bit curious as to why primers seem to want to bind on the edge of the cup in the breech plug, but the Winchester primers seem to work well as-is so I’ll leave things alone for now and focus on dialing in a load. I may try polishing it at a later date.

As a side note, I did pick up a factory are primer conversion and it’s a hassle. Primers are sort of tricky to load, and they don’t drop out like they do with the Lehigh adapter. Got some serious blowby with every primer brand, too. I’ll probably return it to the store if they’ll let me.

Thank you for the help!