Switching the KP1's firing pin from centerfire to rimfire is accomplished by removing the trigger group, wiggling out the extractor, using the end of the extractor as a screwdriver to loosen the firing-pin screw, rotating the floating firing pin 180 degrees to align with the second firing-pin hole, retightening the screw, inserting the extractor, and replacing the trigger group.

Like those of most other break-action, switch-barrel rifles, the KP1's barrels are easily swapped by removing the fore-end and tapping out a pivot pin. The fore-ends of most others are held in place with a screw that threads into a block welded or brazed to the barrel. The pressure exerted on the fore-end can vary greatly and adversely affect accuracy. The point of impact can shift vertically by simply tightening or loosening the fore-end attachment screw in some cases. Ruger No. 1 aficionados figured this out a long time ago and found ways to bed or hang the fore-end so that it did not exert pressure on the barrel.

Knight's approach is simple. The KP1 fore-end hangs off a tang on the barrel lug. An aluminum insert in the fore-end matches a shoulder on the tang. The fore-end release operates a double hook that latches over the end of the tang to hold the fore-end in place. This free floats the barrel along two-thirds of the fore-end's length and all but eliminates any fore-end pressure on the barrel. It is a small improvement on convention, but it's an improvement nonetheless. The only downside is a fore-end that flexes slightly under pressure.

Over the years, gun makers specializing in switch-barrel guns have come up with ingenious solutions to move the firing pin's strike from the center of the bore to the edge of a rimfire cartridge. Knight's is no less ingenious. First, drop the trigger group and break open the action. The extractor, held in place by a detent pin, wiggles out of its slot under the barrel. A small flat-head screwdriver is machined into the extractor and is used to loosen the firing-pin screw a couple of turns. The screw is up inside the receiver, on the bridge across the two receiver halves, just above and behind the locking lug.

The floating firing pin is slotted on the hammer end, and the extractor tool is used to rotate the firing pin 180 degrees so the firing pin aligns with a second firing-pin hole on the breechface. The firing-pin screw is then retightened, and the trigger group is dropped back into place. It takes longer to write about it than to actually do it. The only catch is not dropping the floating firing pin and having it roll under the shooting bench, where it can hide for hours.

"The gun has a spring-assisted mechanical extractor," Simms said. "The spring does most of the work, but if the cases are a little sticky, the mechanical action will pull the case out. The extractor is cammed into place against the breechface when the gun is closed."

The button-rifled barrel blanks are produced by Green Mountain Rifle Barrel Company, an arrangement that dates back to Knight's first guns. The barrels are contoured, and a flat is milled on the bottom at Knight's Decatur, Alabama, manufacturing facility to accept the barrel lug. A robotic TIG welder joins both sides of the barrel to barrel-lug joint at once to prevent drawing them out of square.

"We put the most critical barrel features--the main pivot hole, the breech lock interface, and the overall length of the barrel--in during one operation," Simms said. "That allows us to hold very tight tolerances for this critical operation."

The way a rifle feels is so subjective, I hesitate to write about it, but the KP1 feels great to me. Absent is the severe up-and-down angle between the stock's pistol grip and the receiver, something I have always found somewhat unnatural on other designs. The stock design attenuates felt recoil, which is pronounced on other switch-barrel guns loaded with heavy 150-grain blackpowder loads, 3-inch magnum shotshells, or magnum rifle cartridges. The KP1 handles much like a rifle and almost like a shotgun, with little price to pay for its tremendous flexibility. Accessing the primer pocket and loading or unloading the rifle is easy, due to a generous barrel-receiver angle when open.