Knight Ultra-Lite BP/ Primer Q's?

I bought a new Knight Ultra-Lite this past winter and am just now getting around to shooting it. Took it out today and loaded it with 80gr. of BH209, a 460 gr. No Excuses conical and a Winchester W209 primer. After the first shot I went to work the bolt to take out the spent primer and it would not come out of the BP. I thought my range session was over after messing with it for several minutes with no luck. I finally smacked the bolt with the palm of my hand and got the primer to let go.

I switched to a Federal 209A primer just to see if that helped. It didn't... So I went back to the Winchester primer and after every shot I had to smack the bolt with my palm (and I mean hard!) to get the spent primer out. I thought it might be loosening up some but then my 11th and 12th shot it was as hard to remove as the first one.

My primers were pretty black so I guess I'm getting some blow back. I've never had any blow back issues with other muzzleloaders but I'm assuming I need to shim it? What I really don't understand is why the primer is getting so stuck in the breech plug? How will shimming help to alleviate this problem? Next time I'll be taking a dead blow to save my palm from the blunt force trauma it received today! Thanks...

Do you have to smack the bolt handle just to RAISE the handle or do you mean to get it to move backwards?

If you can raise and lower the bolt handle that will cock the hammer assembly again. Dry fire the spent primer if you can. The stuck primer might come out now.

If not you will either need to shim, send it back to Knight or get a Bestill bushing plug.

GM54-120 said:

Do you have to smack the bolt handle just to RAISE the handle or do you mean to get it to move backwards?

If you can raise and lower the bolt handle that will cock the hammer assembly again. Dry fire the spent primer if you can. The stuck primer might come out now.

If not you will either need to shim, send it back to Knight or get a Bestill bushing plug.

Click to expand...

No, I can raise the bolt just fine. It won't go backwards though because the primer is so stuck in there. I did try several times re-cocking and dry firing on the spent primer with no luck. Do you know how shimming it will help with the primer getting stuck? I have read a little about the Bestill plug and was gonna maybe get one after I've shot the current stock BP 100 times or so, after it wears out. I'd like to use the stock plug if possible until it wears out though. Funny how much you pay for these and the BP wears out so quick and for that matter doesn't seem to work right in the first place! Thanks...

Your primer pocket on the plug could be undersized slightly in which it would need to be opened up slightly. If your are getting blowback in the pocket area it could be building up the walls of the primer pocket. If it was me and i had a knight, i would be getting a plug from Bestill on the board. while knight makes good rifles, they breechplugs just flat out suck in my opinion. If the primer pockets are not undersized, or have headspace issues, you still have the problem of burning out the plug with bh209 and you cant switch the vent because it is brazened in.

You definitely have improper headspace.
When bolt is closed you are getting no primer crush so you have extra clearance between breech plug and boltface. So upon ignition primer is separating length wise filling void when this happens it swells sticking bolt.
Crazy stuff happens to a un supported primer cup.

Properly supported primer will fall rite out after firing rifle.

Im very confident my breech plug properly fitted will fix your problem and no ventliner issue is a bonus.

bestill said:

You definitely have improper headspace.
When bolt is closed you are getting no primer crush so you have extra clearance between breech plug and boltface. So upon ignition primer is separating length wise filling void when this happens it swells sticking bolt.
Crazy stuff happens to a un supported primer cup.

Properly supported primer will fall rite out after firing rifle.

Im very confident my breech plug properly fitted will fix your problem and no ventliner issue is a bonus.

Click to expand...

As mentioned it definitely sounds like a primer head space issue and the blow back is causing the primer to stick.

Do you have a Caliper? IF so try taking a new primer and measure its length, then put it in the rifle and cycle the bolt without firing it. Remove the primer and re-measure. If it is the same length then you need to shim it to make the current plug work right. I am not sure that the UL plugs primer pocket will accept the shims that the guys are using on the older disc rifles, but I suspect they would. If it does I have some of them around here somewhere you could try. Could be just a .005 shim would work.

I got lucky with my UL. I got it used and it was a very early serial number and already provides .005 crush but later ones were reported to have this same issue.

so you can keep shooting your gun take some fine sand paper and sand the primer pocket on the sides only. you can us a drill bit and rip some sand paper around it and turn in the primer pocket this will stop your primer sticking in the primer pocket only. had that do the same on mine as for blow back you have to shim to stop that.