Acquired Knight. 50 Caliber M/L rifle

[wildcat westerner]

Hello,
Yesterday I traded for a Knight 50 caliber muzzleloading rifle. Barrel is stainless steel and 26 inches long. The stock is synthetic with a large recoil pad. It is finished in a carbon/fibre pattern, and STOCK is not Tupperware.. Disc extreme is stamped in the barrel. It has original information tags on the trigger guard and the barrel has a clear inner finish-Dyna Tek
I have not shot a muzzle loading rifle. My background is precision shooting at longer ranges. Three years ago when I got my Oryx permit for New Mexico this site was extremely helpful is providing me with useful information for that hunt.
I am reaching out now in search of knowledge and expertise. I have been told this recoil pad is good, but there are better. ones. I want to use large rifle primers for consistent ignition and if there is a conversion piece for this weapon, I would like to find out about it. I am told already that loose powder is better in terms of ballistics than more commonly used solid discs(?) that are commonly available. I have seen and read about the newer Hornady 50 ELDX bullets with excellent ballistic shape and a skirt for a better bore fit. Since there are special opportunities for hunting Antelope in New Mexico with a muzzleloader, finding a projectile with the best long range accuracy at my range could prove quite informative.
You cannot hunt with a scope here, but you can elsewhere. I shall be hunting in northwest MIssouri between Christmas and New Years and plan to have a 2x7 scope mounted for that hunt. What size scope-1" 30mm-34mm would you recommend and especially which reticle which is capable of being lit?
How do you bed this action that appears to be a part of the barrel?
I realize the members of this site have a tremendous amount of practical information on this rifle and subject and if you wish to share with me your thoughts and true facts, I would be happy to learn them.

Thanks in advance,

WW

 

[Shane Lindsey]

I picked up a Knight 50 cal original Disc (orange primer holders). Only used pellets with it. Wasn't a fan so converted it to the Disc Extreme (Red primer holders). Wasn't happy with ignition and Blackhorn powder so converted to a bare rifle primer. Conversion kits used to be available on the Knight website, but haven't looked in years. You will need to use Magnum Shotgun primers for your Disc Extreme. I am not sure it they make one that can use large rifle primers unless you go smokeless, but that is a whole different level.

For your current set up, you will need to use loose black powder, black powder substitute, or pellets. You may not get the velocity to require a scope as you would for long range with these set ups. Think 300 yards probably max. Sky is the limit with pills and sabots. I have used a few from the Hornady all copper, their .45 designed for the 45-70 with a sabot. I have settled on the Cutting Edge 250gr with a Harvester Green sabot and Blackhorn 209 (had to convert to do this as the BH209 would not ignite consistently with the Disc Extreme setup.

Definitely read the regs as ML differ quite a bit from state to state. Out east, you can use just about anything, out west varies.

Muzzleloaders are just like rifles, you have to load and shoot to find what works best. Most will shoot minute of deer relatively easy, but what is the fun in that. The easy button is to pick up some pellets and some loaded sabots and give it a go. If not happy, onto the loading...tweaking...loading...swapping...tweaking...just like tuning a long range rig.

Do you have the red discs to load primers into?

 

[wildcat westerner]

Hi Shane and thanks so much! Yes, I was given these discs and saboted slugs. I plan to use Blackhorn 209 and also by intuition feel that there sre some inserts available that fir into these red discs that allow usage of Large Rifle primers. My rifle is scoped already and illegal here for hunting in New Mexico. I will be using it first for a late season M/L hunt in northern Missouri on my friends' property after Christmas. The scope usage will be almost necessary due to big bucks nocturnal habits.
I know about Williams Western sights with the reticle front sight to meet New Mexico specs.
I am aware that there are extremely accurate custom made .40-45 caliber muzzleloaders available at a very high price. I will not be going there!
This disc setup and its conversion is all new to me.

Thanks so much!

Gene

 

[Shane Lindsey]

I had inconsistent ignition with the Blackhorn and the disc set up. I went with the bare rifle primer and now it is happy happy

Good luck. Keep us posted

 

[wildcat westerner]

Shane, could you explain all this exactly? bare rifle primer?

 

[SouthLoganCountyShooter]

That disc is rated for up to 84g by weight bh209. If your running the disc. You will need cci 209 magnum or fed 209a shot shell primers. Run either Parker ballistics extreme 275g or Barnes tez 290g with a harvester crush rib sabot. ( black sabot for a flat base bullet)
My brother has the same rifle. It shoots both those bullet very good.
idk if I'd mess with trying to bed it. May be a wast of time.

 

[Shane Lindsey]

Shane, could you explain all this exactly? bare rifle primer?

The primer fits directly to the breech plug vice into a plastic jacket. This creates a tighter seal and all "fire" from the primer goes into the breech plug vice slightly offgassed.

Knight DISC Extreme 209 Bare Primer Conversion Kit | Knight Rifles

Knight DISC Extreme 209 Bare Primer Conversion Kit This kit converts Knight DISC Extreme and Long Range Hunter muzzleloaders.

www.muzzleloaders.com

 

[Shane Lindsey]

That disc is rated for up to 84g by weight bh209. If your running the disc. You will need cci 209 magnum or fed 209a shot shell primers. Run either Parker ballistics extreme 275g or Barnes tez 290g with a harvester crush rib sabot. ( black sabot for a flat base bullet)
My brother has the same rifle. It shoots both those bullet very good.
idk if I'd mess with trying to bed it. May be a wast of time.

Have you used it with success? I was getting bad misfires and hangfires. Not to mention a ton of gas in the face when it did go off.

 

[Catskills]

I have both the disc and disc extreme rifles. I feed them 3 50g Hogdon pellets and shoot Barnes 250g bullets. These will regularly shoot into an inch or so. I've not found the same accuracy with the EZ load slugs marketed by Barnes or a host of other bullets. To get optimal accuracy, the sabot/bore fit needs to be extremely tight….which-requires effort to load.

We've used the 300g Barnes bullets with 2 and 3 pellets and never found the same accuracy. I didn't find any advantage hunting wise either. We've killed deer and antelope to 300yds, but have noticed expansion stops after 240 or so.

Within the velocity window required for expansion, these bullets are quite effective. Ooutside of this window, you still get a substantial hole. I've used a 1x scope, factory open sights, peep sights and a 3x9 and 3.5x10 Scopes. Where legal, I prefer a scope or peep sights.

With loads these rifles like, I'm a real fan of knight rifles.

 

[wildcat westerner]

Shane and Catskills, I really appreciate your advice. I have received some negative outlook with regard to Knight rifles. I know about precision at long range with a high power rifle and spent Labor day weekend at NRA Whittington on the 1,000 yard range. If the projectiles you suggest do not expand at 300 yards why should I even bother with trying for 400? The idea of wounding an animal does not appeal to me at my older age.
My first hunt will e near Chrstmas in northern Missouri and will be with a scope. After that I must shoot iron sights only here in the Rockies in New Mexico.

Again, thanks so much,

WW

 

[wildcat westerner]

Things I found out today. I noted the Green Mountain stamp on the barrel of my rifle and called them. Green Mountain was very informative. They told me my rifle .000026 was made early in Knight manufacture (DUH!). Then they dropped a bomb- the rifle was made for round balls and the twist rate was 1-70! My God. I have communicated with Knight and informed them of what I was told and also was informed that Green Mountain has not supplied barrels to Knight for over ten years.
So, a new barrel is in the offing.
Since everything I have shot over a forty year period has been precision target, benchrest and long range target shooting or hunting, if I am going to fix this weapon, I would like to do it correctly with the best barrel and bullets commonly available. Today I learned that there are manufactured m/l rifles available for over $4,000.00, which is stunning to me. I traded a .22 bolt action and a Mossberg .410 pump for this Knight rifle.

WW

 

[ENCORE]

Things I found out today. I noted the Green Mountain stamp on the barrel of my rifle and called them. Green Mountain was very informative. They told me my rifle .000026 was made early in Knight manufacture (DUH!). Then they dropped a bomb- the rifle was made for round balls and the twist rate was 1-70! My God. I have communicated with Knight and informed them of what I was told and also was informed that Green Mountain has not supplied barrels to Knight for over ten years.
So, a new barrel is in the offing.
Since everything I have shot over a forty year period has been precision target, benchrest and long range target shooting or hunting, if I am going to fix this weapon, I would like to do it correctly with the best barrel and bullets commonly available. Today I learned that there are manufactured m/l rifles available for over $4,000.00, which is stunning to me. I traded a .22 bolt action and a Mossberg .410 pump for this Knight rifle.

WW

There's no bottom to the rabbit hole if you go custom.

 

[Catskills]

Some of the new custom or semi custom MLs are amazing. If I recall correctly, they were shooting 327g tipped bullets at 2,300+ FPS. I'm also certain they are very expensive to feed with teeth rattling recoil. I seem to recall a video or write up of a 300yd shot where there was no evidence of expansion. The same manufacturer bragged about 600yd kills with the aid of precision dialing scopes/ballistic programs. I contemplated this route and concluded the added range for where and how I hunt wasn't justified. I love ML hunting…and the excuse to tinker and experiment. This didn't seem worth the effort/cost. Just my 0.02.

 

[Shane Lindsey]

Did you push a cleaning rod down it to check the twist rate.