Johnny Knight

So, here's the latest update on what I've learned so far as I indulge in a little home school gun smithing. It seems the action is similar to the BSS shown above with a couple of notable differences. First, there are no separate firing pins, rather the firing pin is incorporated into the hammer (part no. 32 above). Second, obviously the trigger group is different, since there are two triggers, but the firing action appears to be similar in that the locking up action is still occurring between the back edge of the hammer (no 32) and the front edge of the sears (parts no 45/47). It seems the

Hi Roger, Apologies on the delay on responding, I've been continuing my self taught gunsmithing program working on a Charles Daly SxS that isn't extracting shells very cleanly. The cartridge appears to follow the bolt back, it isn't 'popping' out of the tube. When I first made the second round of adjustments, it was working pretty smoothly, just the first round issue. I did trim about an inch off of the spring, once I confirmed that replacement parts are readily available. Hard to tell whether that will solve the problem, because as I have continued to cycle dummy rounds through i

Thanks Gentlemen. I have the 20" carbine length. Currently the spring extends about 3 1/4" out of the tube. Sedalia, shooting 45 Colt, col runs about 1.6 inches, so 4 cartridges would put that at 6.4" past the tube. The end of the spring sits in about 3/8" due to the spring retaining plug at the end. Since the spring load is function of spring rate and length, I'm guessing that the spring I have in there simply has a higher spring rate, since the length seems about right. In looking at a couple of spring suppliers, they recommend cutting to 3" past the barrel. So, I'll try adjusting spr

So, second round of adjustments has improved the action a bit more, but still having issues with the first round or two out of the tube. It appears that the magazine tube spring is too strong and is launching the rounds onto the feed ramp with such momentum that it is overcoming the increased tension on the feed ramp. After the first round or two are cycled, the remaining cartridges are cycling fine. While one option would be to cut down the spring, does anyone know of a replacement spring for a lightning that I could experiment with, rather than modifying my original spring? It appears on

Well, first round made progress, but still have more adjustments to go. The lifting arm on the AWA is similar to the Pedersoli in that it has a defined contact area. On the AWA it is rectangular vs the diamond shape of the Pedersoli as shown in Roger's post above. After mounting the ramp in a vice, I flexed out the arms a bit and reassembled the gun. Initially it held the 10oz weight without lowering. Problem appeared to be solved, and the dummy rounds cycled nicely, but as I continued to work the action it appears things broke in a bit more and it began having an occasional mis-feed. I

Thanks Roger, I appreciate the advice and will publicly recognize that I'm the only responsible for anything I do with my gun. All I'm going to do is say thanks for sharing your experience with the gun and its operational mechanics. I've done quite a bit of metal work over the years, so not worried about working on it. If I needed to, I could fabricate another part. Just wanted to make sure that there wasn't some interplay between the parts that I hadn't noticed. Guessing that the part is mild steel, but I'll have a better idea once I get out into the shop to adjust it. That will have to

So, it sounds like my understanding is correct on the mechanics of the operation. I cycled the rounds slowly and observed that the round is coming out of the tube cleanly and moves to the back of the ramp as it should, the ramp then cams up and contacts the cartridge guides as it should, but apparently their is insufficient tension being supplied by the ramp so that as soon as the bolt goes forward, the ramp drops allowing the cartridge to flop around on top of the ramp. When I cycle the gun quickly all you see is the cartridge flipping out. I finally realized I could use some old scales to

Thanks for the comments Roger. I had looked at the cartridge guides when I last had it apart. I was pretty sure I had the orientation correct. Here is a picture of the breech. It looks to me to be correct. I've also attached a video of cycling the round. It doesn't look like the rim of the case is contacting anything before the ramp comes up and flips the round out of the chamber. My understanding is that as the round comes out of the magazine and onto the feed ramp it is supposed to be 'caught' at the back rim to slow it down and hold it as the feed ramp pivots up to align it with the

Well, I can safely say the cartridge is not being held snugly. When I'm cycling the action, the round is basically launching out of the tube and popping completely out of the breech. So, it doesn't look like it is being trapped at all between the lifter and the ejection plates.

Might be right on the stovepipe issue, but the gun is an AWA model in 45 Colt.

Thanks Roger, While the action was apart, I was polishing the areas you've indicated in your Taurus guide to make sure they were smooth. I noticed the two screws that the lifter pivot on were quite loose, so I gave them an extra half turn or so. That seemed to stiffen up the lifter a bit so that it didn't go down as easily. I haven't yet put weights on it to get an exact amount. I'll do that so that I have a more accurate measure. If it needs adjusting, then I assume I would need to widen the piece so that it has more tension between the plates? After having tightened the screw

Well, had the lightning out again yesterday. Still fighting it. After chatting with Lassiter at EOT, I thought I had it buttoned up a bit after a thorough cleaning and adjusting the tension on the feed ramp screws. Cycled dummy rounds flawlessly (the dummy rounds are loaded exactly as my regular loads, sans powder and primer). But, when I went to shoot yesterday, it was feeding two shells, kicking one completely out of the breech. Lassiter mentioned the need to adjust the feed ramp to absorb the momentum of the rounds coming out of the magazine, so still figuring out how to accomplish tha

Thanks for the links. Assassin sent some pictures over also. Much appreciated. Still finalizing the design, will be based in part on the steel I've already got in the shop. Meanwhile, put together some pistol and rifle targets. Each are hinged at the top so they can swing back to absorb a bit of impact, while deflecting the shots down. Sam Black helped both with putting them together, as well as testing them out yesterday. Now I just need to get the shotgun targets together, then start on an actual building to have at least one 'real' stage.

Thanks! Shop day here welding up the pistol and rifle targets.

Hi all, Looking to set up a practice stage out on the ranch. I'm hoping someone might have a design they are willing to share for a basic re-settable knockdown shotgun target. While not overly complicated, I figure no reason to re-invent the wheel. I've got a pretty full metal working shop, so welding and fabrication are options for putting it together. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. Johnny