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First Shoot of 2017 & a New Rifle

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First Shoot of 2017 & a New Rifle

Old 01-20-2017, 03:01 PM
  #1  
Boone & Crockett
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Default First Shoot of 2017 & a New Rifle

Sorry for the length of this....
This was the first decent day of 2017 to be able to get to the farm and do some shooting. I even have a new-to-me rifle that I really wanted to shoot. I needed to find out if it would really shoot.


A friend of mine located a used Knight Super DISC (1-20 twist) in a location near him at a really decent price. He asked me about it and I was really interested if he did not want it for himself. He drove up and took a look it and brought it home - packed it up in a gold club box and sent out to the west.


The first pictures that I saw that he took - I have to say I was some what disappointed when I saw his pic of the breech plug. I was almost positive the bore was going to be pitted but I really wanted to inspect it myself. Pitting in the bore is not necessarily the death penalty of the rifle. The rifle could still shoot very well. It is just that a pitted bore can take more effort to clean up after shooting. Thank gosh! I am not shooting real BP or any of the Pyros.


When I received the rifle the first thing I did was inspect it top to bottom. The breech area and breech floor were in very good condition. When I first looked at the bore I was disappointed! From the outside condition of the rifle you could tell the rifle was well used - now it would have been really nice if it had been well taken care of!


When I first looked at the barrel I was really worried!





After seeing this my next decision was to see if I could clean up the bore. 200 strokes of JB's bare paste did make things look at lot better and feel a whole lot smoother. The bore was still pitted but it was definitely not as bad as I have seen and I was sure the rifle would shoot... After cleaning up the bore my next project was to remove the sights from the barrel - which then showed me I had another problem and along with a couple of minor scratches or marks on the surface of the barrel I broke out a tube "Flitz" and a polishing rag and polished the entire barreled action on the outside. It really did cleanup well.


Next - remove the 'C' tool bolt and replaced with a Lehigh/Knight FPJ bolt, tool less hammer assembly and a Original Lehigh primer adapter and 17-4 breech plug. I wanted to shoot Remington 209-4 primers so I ended up shimming the primer pocket to 0.170 to get the headspace I wanted. Next off came the standard Knight trigger and I installed a Knight 3 screw Target trigger. These triggers have a wider trigger show which I really enjoy.


Removed the Original DISC stock and added a DISC Walnut wood stock reducing the total weight of the rifle.





I may even swap this stock out for a thumbhole composite stock... time will tell


Today, I took the finish product to the farm to get some shooting and testing...


I set up a target at 25 yards. The rifle had been quickly bore sighted at the house. I was terribly unimpressed with the first three shots. Not only that after shooting I could see the possible problem right in the crown of the bore. The pitting showed very well with the powder residue putting it forward to the eye. The small pitting in the grooves and even up into the crown would/could really hurt accuracy.





I used this to explain the wide open group a 25 yards and the next couple of groups.


I then decided what the heck and continue to shoot. I adjusted the scope a couple of times then out of no-where I shot that last three shot group.





With that group I had turned the corner and gained a greater respect for this renegade rifle. It just might work after all.
Here are some random picture of the shooting event





Next just as a quick test I placed three clay pigeons out in the snow. First single bird was set a 60 yards and the second two at 70


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Old 01-20-2017, 05:52 PM
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Not bad looking, but I would have it recrowned for sure!
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Old 01-20-2017, 06:50 PM
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I'd shave a 1/4" off that barrel and crown it to an 11* myself. Looks pretty bad there on the final 1/4" is why. Id probably fire lap that barrel too. I don't know if you have ever fire lapped a ML barrel before Sabot, it's a time consuming pain in the butt, but it really works well for pitted bores. You could make a slug for your barrel using molten lead and a brass brush (fairly certain you know about this technique) but fire lapping has always seemed to work best for me with pitted ML barrels. If you cast your own lapping bullets, be sure to use older wheel weight lead or lead with a hardness of 11-12 or you will have problems.
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Old 01-21-2017, 06:35 AM
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great looking gun
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Old 01-21-2017, 06:46 AM
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yeah a recone/crown will probably help for sure would have to see grouping at longer range. i'm looking into a crowning tool set up now for my .58 trapper pistol when it got cut down for the build it lost the 60 degree crown rice puts on it's barrels.
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Old 01-21-2017, 07:55 AM
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Spent some time this morning turning in a new crown.


I really do not want to get to carried away with what I am doing until I can prove the rifle will not shoot accurately all the time.





I will get out early next and shoot this again.


Thanks for all the suggestions - just really wish it were not necessary.
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Old 01-21-2017, 07:57 AM
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Spent some time this morning turning in a new crown on the barrel





I will get out early next week to re-shoot the rifle at longer ranges.


Thanks for all the suggestions..
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Old 01-21-2017, 08:07 AM
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Looks a lot better for sure!!
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Old 01-21-2017, 02:36 PM
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You gonna lap it too? JB does a fairly good job for the most part, but if the damage at the crown was any indication of the rest of the bore, I'd lap that puppy in a heartbeat. Good job on the crown. Looks nice and even.
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Old 01-21-2017, 04:46 PM
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Originally Posted by super_hunt54
You gonna lap it too? JB does a fairly good job for the most part, but if the damage at the crown was any indication of the rest of the bore, I'd lap that puppy in a heartbeat. Good job on the crown. Looks nice and even.

Do not know about lapping yet - It really is not that bad down the bore but I do want to shoot it more and see what the results might be.


I have some brass sabotless bullets that I can add some lapping compound to and shoot. I think they will do a great job lapping the bore.


The other thing, actually two things about this bore that I really like is the a Sierra .4515 x 300 grain bullet will drop right down the bore... and the second important fact to me is the barrel really feels consistent size top to bottom.


This is the bullet I would use to fire lap





Even this a bullet a .452x265 gr. could possibly be pushed down. Have not tried it yet but when you set it in the crown either bottom first or top first it drops right the knurling line around the bullet. Wouldn't that be a heck of a bullet shot from a 45 fast twist.


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