Help a frustrated Knight Ultra-lite owner?

Shooting standard sabot loads you will probably never wear out a Bestill bushing plug. Ive seen bushing lasting over 1000 shots from much hotter sabotless loads. If you ever manage to wear out the bushing its about $30 to replace it and its simple to do. The plug itself is made from 17-4 SS which is better than any aftermarket 416SS plug currently on the market.

After reading up some I think I'm sold on the Bestill plug! I just want to hear from others about how well their measurements would up with their plug fit. Sounds easy enough...and the price isnt bad if it really last long and stops the blowback mess. I'm very interested in hearing what others have experienced, and if their measurements resulted in a properly fitted plug. At this time I don't wish to shop the gun out.

If you have any doubt that you can measure it yourself just send the barreled action to him. Bestill is VERY familiar with customizing Knight rifles. You can rest assured it will be done right the first time.

I have 3 Knights, one Disc Elite and 2 Disc extremes with Lehigh Bare Primer breech plugs. I use BH 209 and weigh all my loads for consistency and I have my triggers set at 2 lbs. I've tried a lot of different load combinations over the last 3 years and all 3 seem to shoot best with 105 to 110 grs of BH 209( by volume.) My best groups, sub MOA, have been shot with Harvester's Black Crush Rib sabot, their 300 gr PT Gold bullet and Winchester regular 209 primers. This load takes firm pressure to load and I try to be consistent with pressure on the Ramrod. I also used Western Powder's bore past on CVS Safety Cotton Swabs to polish the primer pockets which solved my sticking primer issue. I also had good luck with Hornady's 300 gr SST and their EZ load sabot, I just like the terminal performance of the PT Gold over the Hornady bullets. Good luck.

My Bestill bushing plug arrived today and the numbers are............

Drum roll please!!!

DISC Original 45 with Extreme bolt and Lehigh bolt adapter (no tape on the plug threads but i usually do tape my plug)
Win209
Before cycling .3025
After cycling .2975
Total crush including spring back .005 (Perfect) I was at about .0025-.003 which is barely enough to keep them from sticking

Fed209A
Before cycling .298-.2985
After cycling .296
Total crush including spring back .002+ (I was getting no crush with the Feds with my Lehigh plug. A bit loose for this rifle but this is my loosest Knight so the Feds should be just fine in my 54-120.) A little Teflon tape might give me another .001 crush.

So the question is, can Bestill make you a plug that should eliminate blowby IF you can make an accurate measurement.....I strongly believe the answer is YES.

Looking at the Bestill plug along side the true Lehigh is like looking at a mirror image. Same gorgeous machine quality and polished finish.

Consider this though. Pick the primer you really want to use the most. Measure at least 3 and use them for your measurements. Try to pick 3 primers that are within .0005 of each other. My Win209s range anywhere from .301-.304 so be aware of that. After a .005 crush things get tight when closing the bolt. I was able to close mine with a Win209 that measured .3045 and it ended up at .298 after cycling but i would use caution when crushing that much.

Gmb54-120

Thanks for great report and i believe you will find a minimal crush of .002 will work great because of bushing length and optimised flame channel volume reduces pressure on primer.
I recommend.002-.006 crush .ideally.003-.004

Over.006 chance of battery cup leak and very hard to close bolt for sure

I test fired just 2 primers. 1 Fed and 1 Win. Both came out spotless. I will dig out my Rem STS primers and some CCIs. Those were pretty dirty in this rifle with the Lehigh plug. Need to try it in my 54-120 also. I know for sure its tighter.

bestill said:

Once ventliner gets over.036 imo accuracy is effected and typically creates over pressure on primer creating a leak.

Click to expand...

I got your message,thanks. I'll be in touch for one of your breech plugs soon. Sounds like it's definitely the way to go. Mike

Test fired a couple of CCI primers, 1 mag and 1 regular. Both are very clean and had a .003 crush before firing. Rem STS primers are very short so i dont expect them to even get a crush at all. I don't really use them though.

I have been using the Rem STS in my KRB7. I plan to use only Win 209 in my Ultra Lite but plan to test the STS. The OEM Knight plug currently in my Ultra Lite will crush the Win 209 from .004 to .005 and the STS .001 to .002. Win 209s are all but impossible to find here on long Island for some reason, I had to really scrounge all over long Island to get 5 packs of 100. I can get some Fed209 but mostly CCI and Rem STS are available here. On the upside I got a brick (1000) Win 209s at Cabela's in Hamburg Pa for $30. I though that was a pretty good deal on them.