Seating the Lehigh Breech Plug in a Knight...

[sabotloader]

It occurs to me that one thing that might be causing a problem with the fit of the Lehigh Breech plug in a Knight rifle might be the carbon build up on the Breech Plug seat in the barrel of the rifle. I, for the lack of a better term, call it the barrel flange.

This shelf in the barrel is very suseptible to the build up of carbon debris. And it can be very difficult to clean. But in the case of the Lehigh it can be significant. The plug is designed with very close tolerances to fit the Extreme/Elite series of rifles. If the Breech plug does not or can not seat with the face of the Breech Plug squarely and flatly on the barrel flange it can cause a problem when you attempt to close the bolt as the stem will contact the rim in the primer adapter and will not allow the bolt to close.

This drawing shows how the face of the Breech Plug should seat on the face of the barrel flange. If there is a build up of gunk on the flange then the breech plug is pushed out a few thousands... with the tight tolerances of the Lehigh this can interfer with the closing of the bolt....

These pictures although are not very good illustrate the point in the importance of cleaning the flange in the barrel...

In some of the Knight's this build-up can make it difficult to close the bolt as the Breech plug stem contacts the primer shelf in the primer adapter.

Hope this makes some sense...

 

[cbvanb]

Excellent illustration, and a logical solution to the problem. Thanks.

 

[Widude]

Great info, great job with the pictures.

 

[GM54-120]

That is how i wrap my breach plug and clean the mating surfaces. Just that little bit of tape overlap on the front of the BP made a difference in keeping the threads cleaner too.

Just a fraction of a turn made a difference between go and no go with my GenI. The Gen II does fit and work better in the two of mine ive partially tested.

 

[Widude]

I received my 2 Gen II BP conversions today. They seem great & I tried one in the gun. It fits fine & the primers come right out after shooting, I shot 3 primers only for testing. That flash seems to go right down the channel. The bolt stays pretty clean and I can see will stay much cleaner than with the plastic discs.

My 3 primers fired fine but I see the indentation in the primer seems rather shallow after firing. I also never thought it was much better, if any, when shot with the plastic disc. I know the Knight firing pin head is rather wide. I only mention this because if you compare a shell fired from a shotgun the indentation is usually much deeper. I really doubt this is any issue, but any feed back on this wide/shallow indentation to fire the primer? Like I said I don't remember it much if any better with the discs.


Another thing; My buddy shooting some T/C M/L carries his primers in some holder/capper. I used to carry the primed discs in a small baggie. Now going to the bare primer will any of those primer carriers be of much benefit on the hunt?


Edit; I closely compared a fired & unfired primer. While there is not a deep dimple, the center of the primer itself is pushed in a good amount. Then there is the shallow, wider dimple. This is much the same as when the primer is fired with the plastic discs.

Also if you get this conversion, may as well hunt down the deep well 7/16" socket to go with it. I do think I may use this for hunting, even dealing with bare primers. I like the way the bolt stays clean & all the flash goes right down the channel. I also plan to go with less anterless tags next Fall, more hunting less gutting.

 

[sabotloader]

muskrat30

I have not found a capper that will work effectively with the knight or Lehigh bare primer...

I wish i could show you but I think I have developed a way to get the primers in smoothly 90% of the time... the more you shoot them the better you get. But if you stand the gun up almost vertically and set the primer on the edge of the barreled action inline with the primer adapter then tip the gun slightly it will slide and drop into place very easily...

You'll get it....

I do not think I would hunt with the bare primer but I am getting good enough now that I am sure I will...