Knight's duel safety dohikey

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03mossy

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I just bought my first Knight. its a LK93 .54. I got it as a project to fix up for my father in law as a gift. Having never owned or even handled a Knight I am a bit perplexed on the purpose of that 2nd twist out safety on the back on the plunger. can someone explain how and when to use this. Also any other tricks like how to install the plunger system without removing the trigger?

Thanks
 
It can be used as a dry fire practice tool, just screw it forward and you can dry fire practice w/o out hitting the nipple, or use to test/adjust trigger... its also designed to be used with the primary saftey when raising/lowering gun in treestand as its impossible for gun to go off with both safetys engaged, even though I would recommend decapping gun before doing such... they can be a pain in the posterior if you happen to bump them while carry with just the primary saftey engaged as they can move forward and cause a misfire or no fire when that big buck walks by... alot of guys just screw them back and put a dab of nail polish on threads to keep them from moving and just use the normal saftey..
 
I agree with dbowling. I mostly use it when I am climbing into a tree stand, crossing a fence, or when I return to the house after hunting I'll uncap it and spin it forward just for added safety. I have a habit of intermittently checking to make sure it did not get rotated forward by vibration of brush. but I have forgot to remove it in the early hours and had it go "Click". :d'oh!:

As for the plunger, you can usually remove it by unscrewing and then pull the trigger and pull it out, sort of like a .22lr, You will have to remove the trigger when to remove the Breech plug for cleaning anyway.
 
The double safety is actually one of the things that I like about Knight's muzzleloaders. I can't tell you how many times I got to the treestand, up in the treestand, back to the truck and my safety had been bumped and was on fire with my Thompson Center, Austin Halleck or CVA. Just carrying it on my shoulder sometimes brushed it on. With the Knight, even if the thumb safety gets bumped on, it will not fire. To me, I want to be as safe as possible so this is a good system IMHO.

I will have both safetys engaged from the house to the treestand and then once I am settled in I will unscrew the secondary safety and just use the thumb safety. Before I let it down from the tree I screw the safety back down (I also remove the primer). I once saw a video where an employee from Knight took the thumb safety off and hit the 2nd safety, with it engaged, with a hammer and it would not fire.
 
What Hal said just reminded me of something. If your rifle has a #11 nipple, that secondary safety will prevent the hammer from falling on the empty nipple (when all the way forward) and damaging it if accidently dry fired. Like Hal I actually like that extra safety.
 
I also like the double safety and it is probably a good idea with adjustable triggers. If somebody adjusts their trigger pull too low and doesn't do the "drop" test, the plunger safety (if screwed in and engaged) will keep the gun from firing. With my LK's and MK's I use a dead primer and keep the plunger uncocked until I am set up (ground or stand), then same procedure when I leave.
 
Glad you got the rifle OK Mossy. I think you will enjoy it. The little "annoyances" of the Knight Plunger rifles become the things you like best about them. At least that is how it went for me.
 
Thanks guys that clears things up nicely. I think im going to like this gun! I am having email conversations with both bullshop and no excuses to get conicals for it soon.
 
You can easily put 1 drop of GREEN Loctite on the exposed thread and let it cure a day or two. Then turn the secondary safety in and out a couple times. The tiny bit of Loctite will add some resistance but still allow it to be engaged when you want it engaged. Other colors of Loctite may work but the green is design for fittings that are already assembled. Just dont let it get inside the assembled part before its cured.
 
My buddy missed a LARGE buck in IL a few years back due to the 'secondary safety'. During carry it got screwed in enough to prevent the primer from firing, easy 30 yrd shot didn't happen. I reminded him to check his equipment, which he does now.

I use it sometimes up & down the tree into a stand. I always double check it, and check it at times during the hunt. The dab of lock-tight is a good idea.
 
I know removing the trigger is a pain but I can usually remove the plunger and the breech plug by holding the trigger which allows for a tad more clearance.
 
I also like the dual safety setup. One of the best things about those guns, imo.

Like tpcollins said, you can get the hammer in/out w/o removing the trigger, but I always take mine off when I clean. Its one screw and I like to clean that up too. Good luck with your new gun, and let us know if you track down some big lead for it. I know last year when I was looking there was none available for .54's.
 
I also missed an opportunity at a 6x6 elk a few years ago. Crawled through some really thick stuff to get into position for a shot, and had a steady rest for a 100 yard shot. But the misfire my safety caused gave the bull just enough time to slip into the thick stuff again. The Loctite might be the ticket
 
That stuff only happens once. You will always be checking it every time from now on. Its a hard lesson learned, but one deeply ingrained and well remembered
 
You are right about that. Once I got to remembering the incident, I recalled that I initially thought I had a bad primer and popped that one out and put another one in and tried again, with the same result. Then as the bull bolted, it hit me! Definitely won't make that mistake again!
 

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