Got the new Knight Western Kit bolt in the mail the other day and I was excited to get out and try it. This new bolt is a modification that Knight has been working on; it should improve the safety factor to the shooter vs. the older style Western Bolt.
I did send pictures to Game officials in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Washington and Oregon both responded that the gun met the existing rules for muzzleloading hunting. In the “cocked and ready to fire position” the both the nipple and the cap are sufficiently exposed to the weather to meet the ‘open breech rule’. The official in Oregon did also agree that from the appearance in the pictures I sent it seems to meet Oregon’s rule also. He reserved final opinion until he or another Oregon game official could see and work the action. I am taking the rifle with me on my next trip to Kennewick, WA and I will run it down to Umatilla or Hermiston to get a State official to check the gun.
I did get some pictures hope you do not mind me sharing them…
I chose to install the Western Kit in one of my DISC Elites to run this test, I really did not want take down one of the Extremes at this time.
At the farm I did set a target out, but after two shots into it, I got bored and started shooting clay pigeons at various ranges.
I was shooting with a CCI #11 Mag cap, (which I personally much prefer over a Musket cap) - 110 grains T7-3f, with a HPH-24 sabot and a Speer Uni-Core 250 grain bullet. I shot 31 times without any problems at all. I did run a moist Windex patch every 10 shots, but from what I felt in the bore it was not necessary.
On shot 32 I got my first hint of a problem… a very slight hang fire, shot 33-34 went just fine, shot 35 was more than a slight hang fire. I ran a nipple pick and it seemed to help for about 5 shots, then back to hang fires. At this point I pulled the nipple and checked it – it was clear… So, out came the breech plug… the flash channel was nearly plugged with blowback material. Not hard carbon but a soft material. Blew that out re-installed every and shot another 10 shots. During all of these shots – not once did I have a problem with the ignition of the cap. The Kit Works… and it is Pacific Northwest Legal!!!
