Knight Muzzleloader Hunting

Eleven States Still Discriminate Against The Muzzleloading Hunter

2011-12-29T07:59:00.000-08:00

My wife Christy poses with a plump doe for the freezer, taken at 125 yards with a Knight .50 caliber Long Range Hunter and deadly saboted 250-grain "Bloodline" all-brass bullet...thanks to state muzzleloader hunting regulations that permit the use of a riflescope for precise shot placement.

Following is an e-mail that went out yesterday (12-28-11) to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. Attached to that e-mail was a letter to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, filing a discrimination complaint against the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, for the manner in which that state wildlife agency forces the aged hunter with weakened eyesight, and those hunters with a natural sight impairment, to jump through hoops in order to "qualify" to use a riflescope during the muzzleloader season. Minnesota, Idaho and nine other states still enforce such discriminating regulations.

The battle to win fair and equal muzzleloader hunting opportunities for ALL muzzleloading hunters is far from being over.

The letter to Secretary Salazar can be read at the link in the following e-mail message.

Toby Bridges
NORTH AMERICAN
MUZZLELOADER HUNTING

December 28, 2011

Dear Idaho Department of Fish and Game;

It's time to get this ball rolling along again. Muzzleloader hunting has stalled some over the past couple of years, and that's partially due to backward muzzleloader hunting regulations, such as those enforced by IDFG, that tend to hold back interest.

The attached letter to Secretary Ken Salazar addresses one of the biggest problems plaguing the muzzleloader seasons.

Your agency is one of 11 state wildlife agencies that continue to discriminate against muzzleloader hunters who cannot see open sights well enough to use them. Since 2006, the DOI/USFWS forced IDFG and ten other state wildlife agencies to make special provisions for those hunters with aged or impaired sight to undergo medical examination, complete an application, sent with a letter from the physician/optometrist, and apply for a permit exemption from the restriction that prohibits muzzleloading hunters from using a riflescope.

The Department of the Interior's anti-discrimination policy specifically says that the agency cannot provide funding or financial assistance to any organization or agency which requires ANY U.S. CITIZEN to "qualify in a different manner" in order to participate in any opportunity.

The requirement you now have in place for those with older or impaired sight most definitely discriminates against these hunters. IDFG is in violation of that policy...and so is the DOI/USFWS when it continues to provide federal tax dollars to IDFG.

More on this issue published at: http://www.namlhunt.com/mllegislation2.html

Toby Bridges
NORTH AMERICAN
MUZZLELOADER HUNTING

10,000 Rounds With No Loss Of Accuracy!

2011-08-06T14:38:00.000-07:00

It would be safe to say that the typical muzzleloading hunter in the U.S. and Canada very likely fires fewer than 100 shots with his or her muzzle-loaded rifle each and every year. At North American Muzzleloader Hunting, I easily correspond with several thousand muzzleloader hunting fans every year, and would say at least half share with me that, at most, they'll put about 50 shots down range prior to the hunting seasons, and possibly shoot another dozen or so through the season, shooting at game and occasionally to check and make sure the rifle, scope and load are still hitting where they're supposed to hit.

It is indeed the rare muzzleloader that is shot so much that the bore becomes "shot out". In fact, most rifles are rarely shot 1,000 to 2,000 times in the lifetime of the typical muzzleloading hunter. Quite honestly, many rifles aren't even well broken in after ten years of use!

I guess it would also be safe to say, "I am not your typical muzzleloading hunter."

Even when I was a kid, I loved to shoot. Every time I managed to amass 40-cents in my nearly worn out jeans pocket, I'd jump on my bicycle and ride over to a small town gas station and buy a box of Winchester "Super-X" .22 Long Rifle ammo, race home and sling my old .22 Marlin lever-action Model 39A across my back and head out for an afternoon of plinking...serious target shooting...or perhaps to bust a few bushytails or groundhogs. Most weeks, I'd put at least a hundred rounds through that old rifle. And I continue to average more than a hundred rounds a week - only now, it's with a variety of muzzle-loaded rifles.

Since 2005, one rifle has stood out as my favorite - and that's a .50 caliber Knight "Long Range Hunter" model that has become my No. 1 rifle for testing modern muzzle-loaded powders, sabots and bullets. I acquired that rifle in July of that year, and during the past 6 years, I have averaged more than 1,600 rounds annually through that one rifle. While I have always feared the day I would wear out the bore on this rifle, I'm happy to say that it seems to have at least several more years of service to offer, even though in late July (2011) I surpassed the 10,000 shot mark with Long Range Hunter, Serial No. S000243.

Of all the testing I have done with this particular rifle, one of the more interesting was a 4 1/2 hour shooting session with the rifle back on a cool June morning in 2008. Keep in mind, this is the rifle out of which I shot my first loads of Blackhorn 209, during the fall of 2007 - before the powder even had a name. And, I took several deer with the rifle and pre-production run powder that fall, including one fine 8-pointer at 186 yards. By the time Western Powders brought Blackhorn to the market in mid spring 2008, I had already burnt more than 10 pounds of the stuff - mostly out of this Long Range Hunter.

Curious to see if the final production run of this new black powder substitute was as consistent as the earlier powder I'd shot, I decided to fire 50 consecutive shots on the same target. And to check the clean burning properties of Blackhorn 209, I decided to shoot the entire string without wiping the bore once. Before firing the first shot on the test target, I put three shots on a separate target, to insure that the rifle and load was still on - then, giving the rifle about 5 minutes of cool down between shots, I proceeded to punch 50-shots into a 1.6" group at 100 yards. (See group in top photo.)

The load shot consisted of 110-grains of Blackhorn 209 behind a saboted 300-grain Harvester Muzzleloading .451" diameter polymer tipped "Scorpion PT Gold" bullet, using CCI 209M primers for ignition. The load averages 1,968 f.p.s. at the muzzle, with 2,580 f.p.e.

The rifle had just over 5,000 rounds through it at that time, so when I topped the 10,000 round mark this summer, I decided to repeat the test to see if the muzzleloader had lost anything in the accuracy department. When I conducted the first 50-shot test in 2008, I had loaded with the standard black .50x.45 Crush Rib Sabot that comes packaged with the Harvester Muzzleloading bullet. However, over the past couple of years, I had come to prefer the slightly tighter fitting red version of that sabot, and chose to load with it. Likewise, for ignition, I decided to use the Federal 209A primer for ignition - if for no other reason, it's what I had on hand.

A cool and drizzly 50-degree morning the first week of August offered the perfect opportunity to conduct the shooting test. To keep the rifle out of the damp weather, I set up my portable shooting bench inside an open sided hay barn, and pulled my pickup inside so I could use the tailgate as a loading bench. First, I put 6 clicks of elevation on the Leatherwood/Hi-Lux Optics TB-ML muzzleloader scope, to prevent from obliterating my aiming point in the center of the self-adhesive bullseye, and three shots confirmed that the rifle would group 1 1/2 inches above point of aim. Then, I went to the test target...and 4 hours later, fired the last shot of the 50-round string. As during the previous 50-shot test, the barrel was not wiped between shots, and the rifle was allowed to cool 4 to 5 minutes before being reloaded and fired again. The temperature had only risen into the low 60s, and the barrel cooled fairly quickly.

Center-to-center, the two outside holes were exactly 1.5" across. (See group in bottom photo above.)

The rifle was then given a full 20 minutes to completely cool down, and a new target was stapled to the target board. The next three shots punched a great .615" center-to-center hundred yard group. Looks like ol' No. 000243 has a lot of life left in it.

The only other rifle I have ever shot past 8,000 rounds has been the Knight .50 caliber "Grand American" presentation MK-85 rifle that Tony Knight awarded me back in 1992. That rifle was the first of the "Master Hunter Award" rifles, and while many felt I should hang it on the wall and never shoot it...I don't own rifles I don't shoot. The rifle is somewhat in semi-retirement now, used only when needed to check out loading components in an older No. 11 percussion cap plunger hammer model. It now has almost 8,500 rounds fired through it...and when shot last fall, the muzzleloader produced several sub 1-inch groups.

Today's modern saboted bullets, clean burning black powder substitutes, and non corrosive No. 209 primers are a heck of a lot easier on rifles than most of the loading and shooting components of 10 to 20 years ago. If there's any secret to taking a rifle past 10,000 rounds, it's to keep it clean. Also, when loading at the range, and when cleaning the bore, use one of the heavy duty range rods with a bore guide/protector. This will keep the rod from rubbing against the rifling, especially right at the muzzle. While it may take some doing to actually "shoot out" a barrel, many a good rifle has lost its accuracy due to ramrod or loading rod wear on the rifling. - Toby Bridges, North American Muzzleloader Hunting

Cheap & Easy Way To Get Optimum Sabot-Bullet Fit With Your Bore!

2011-07-06T09:19:00.000-07:00

It's not uncommon for the bores of modern in-line muzzleloaders to vary as much as .002" to .003" from rifle to rifle. Most .50 caliber bores today will run .500" to .501". However, a lot of production run barrels will go .502" to .504" - and finding the optimum combination of bullet-sabot fit with those bores can be difficult. Here is a look at how inexpensive and easy to use Teflon plumber/thread tape can be the solution.

http://namlhunt.blogspot.com/2011/07/tighten-up-sabot-bullet-fit-for-tighter.html

Pellet Powder Charges VS. Loose Grain Powder Charges...

2011-06-01T12:40:00.000-07:00

Every year, I now answer between 10,000 and 15,000 e-mails pertaining to muzzleloading, most specifically looking for advice on how to get a modern muzzle-loaded big game rifle to consistently punch hundred yard groups like that seen above.

A very high percentage of today's muzzleloading hunters have gotten a whole lot more into seeking the absolute best accuracy a rifle can produce -and they don't mind experimenting with powders... charges...sabots... bullets...or primers to get it. One thing is for certain, and that is that today's modern primer ignition in-line muzzleloaders are the best shooting muzzleloaders of all time. I personally believe that when the time is taken to find that optimum combination of loading components, any modern in-line rifle produced today is capable of shooting inside of an inch at 100 yards. Still, the majority of those who hunt the muzzleloader seasons are quite content with 2 to 3 inch groups at that distance - since most deer shot during the muzzleloader big game seasons are shot well inside of 100 yards.

One question that comes up regularly is... "I hunt with pellet powder charges. Why don't you do more shooting with Triple Seven Pellets or Pyrodex Pellets?" Or, something to that effect.

The answer is simple...I don't care much for them. Oh, I think they may have their place. They are probably ideal for the shooter/hunter who puts fewer than 40 or 50 rounds a year through his or her rifle. You know, just enough to insure the scope is still sighted correctly...to make sure the rifle is still grouping well (enough)...and maybe to take a deer or two with the muzzleloader. Then the rifle is thoroughly cleaned and put away until next year's hunting season.

However, if you're one of those shooters who enjoy shooting a modern in-line muzzleloading rifle as much as shooting any other type of rifle, and who may put 200...300...400...or more rounds a year through one, and who strives for sub "minute-of-angle" accuracy, pellet powder charges are more than likely not for you. I know for the vast majority of the test shooting I do, they are definitely not for me. Through a typical year, I put around 4,000 to 4,500 muzzle-loaded shots down range. And to test sabots...bullets...and the rifles themselves to determine what kind of accuracy they are capable of producing, the pellet powder charges simply are not precise enough. Getting "minute-of-whitetail" accuracy with them may be easy enough, but to consistently get a rifle and load to print right at that magical 1-inch mark at hundred yards can be close to impossible when loading with pelletized powder charges.

Several years ago, I was curious to see just how much variation there was in the weight of Triple Seven Pellets. So, I took a brand new box of 100 so-called "50-Grain Equivalent" pellets, opened it and set down and ran each and every pellet across my RCBS electronic powder scale. First, I examined each pellet, and found that about 10-percent had small chips out of the edges around each end. And, typically these pellets weighed in at about 31 to 31.5 grains...those without any chips along the edges weighed in at 32 to 32.5 grains. Overall average was right at 32 grains. The extreme spread of the 100 pellets ran from 30.8 to 33.1 grains - a 2.3 grain variation from high to low. That means with the popular three-pellet "150-Grain Equivalent" charges, loads could easily vary from 3 to almost 7 grains. Consistent 1-inch group accuracy with such variation from shot to shot is impossible.

Hodgdon Powder Company, who markets Triple Seven, also brought the new IMR White Hots pellets to market a couple of seasons back. While test shooting these, I also took 10 randomly pulled pellets and weighed them. The average was right at 32.5 grains - ranging from 31.9 to 33.2 grains each. They were more consistent than the "50-grain" Triple Seven Pellets, but in my mind still showed enough variation to affect accuracy.

Cost is another very big factor in loading and shooting with these pellet charges. Typical retail for a 100-count box of the "50-grain" Triple Seven Pellets runs about $30. In other words, to get a saboted 250- or 260-grain bullet out of the muzzle of a .50 caliber primer-ignition muzzleloader at around 2,000 f.p.s., the three-pellet charge needed will set you back 90-cents. A 72-count package of IMR White Hots typically retails for around $27. That's about 37.5-cents each. And despite the claims of "2,300 f.p.s." with two of the pellets...it still takes three to get a saboted 250-grain bullet out of the muzzle at more than 2,000 f.p.s. - for a cost of $1.12 per charge. (Actually, $1.12.5.) New Triple Seven Magnums pellets cost right at 50-cents each, meaning a two-pellet 2,000 f.p.s. load runs $1 per shot.

Proponents of Triple Seven Pellets...Pyrodex Pellets...and now IMR White Hots pellets will argue that they are so much more convenient to use. However, to carry them in the field still means slipping two or three of the Triple Seven Pellets or Pyrodex Pellets into a plastic tube of some sort. (IMR White Hots come packaged in tubes.)

I've found the compressed pellets to be fairly fragile, and carrying them around inside those tubes a few days tends to break them up some...and when the pellets are loaded in varying sized pieces, it affects their burning rate...which in turn again affects accuracy. In the same light, just a tad too much pressure when seating the bullet over pellet charges can fracture one or more of the pellets...again creating an inconsistent burn from shot to shot.

Consistently tight groups down range are produced by consistently precise powder charges. Not many of you reading this would continue to buy bullets that varied 2 to 3 grains in weight, and if you are looking for the best accuracy possible from a muzzle-loaded rifle and quality scope, which could have easily set you back $500 to $1,000 for the rig, you're not going to get it with powder charges that vary that much in weight as well.

Loose grain high energy powders like FFFg Triple Seven...Black Mag XP...and Blackhorn 209 will not only produce those 2,000 f.p.s. velocities with charges that cost 20 to 40 percent less than pellet charges, but will also dramatically improve the overall accuracy of any modern in-line rifle. And that is due to loading and shooting charges that are much more precise from one shot to the next. When care is taken to set an adjustable powder measure precisely to the same mark every time you go to the range or measure out hunting loads, it is very easy to keep powder charges within two- or three-tenths of a grain. And these are the charges that come closer to putting shots through the same hole at a hundred yards.

Also, some shooters have found that it takes tweaking their loads to a "5-grain increment" to find the optimum powder charge for a particular rifle. And you can't do that with pellet charges.

As for "convenience", it takes ten minutes or less to pre-measure and make up more than enough speed loads for even the longest hunt. The past couple of seasons I have been using the very handy loading tubes that Western Powders has developed for their Blackhorn 209 powder. The tubes even feature a graduated scale on the side, from 20 to 120 grains, which allows a shooter/hunter to carefully pour the powder into the tube until it fills to the desired charge. A snug fitting stopper insures that the powder stays in the tube and moisture stays out.

I still rely on an adjustable brass powder measure, carefully leveling off the charge, then pouring it into the Blackhorn 209 tubes. Even so, the charge scale on the tube continues to serve a very useful purpose. Out of several rifles, I load and shoot 110-grains of the powder, out of another rifle a 120-grain charge. At a glance, I can determine which loads are for which rifle. The 110-grain charge of Blackhorn 209 I load to get a Harvester Muzzleloading saboted 260-grain Scorpion PT Gold out of a .50 caliber Knight DISC Extreme rifle at around 2,030 f.p.s., at a typical retail cost of $35 per 10-ounce container, runs 88-cents per shot. And even when carried in the tubes for months, the charges will still produce superb accuracy. - Toby Bridges

Knight Muzzleloader
Hunting
www.knightmlhunt.com

North American
Muzzleloader Huntng
www.hpmuzzleloading.com

Knight Markets An All New All-Brass Muzzleloader Hunting Bullet...

2011-05-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

Late last year, Millennium Manufacturing, of Quakertown, PA sent me a supply of their unique all-brass muzzleloader hunting bullets to wring out. I've been extremely impressed with how these bullets shoot, and the wound channels they produce in ballistics gel certainly are impressive. I teamed them up with Harvester Muzzleloading "Crush Rib Sabots" for some consistently tight hundred yard groups. And I'm pleased to see that Knight Rifles will now be offering these bullets as their "BLOODLINE" Series.

For a look at the testing so far, go to the following link...

http://namlhunt.homestead.com/ProductReport4.html

Toby Bridges

State Wildlife Agencies In Colorado, Oregon, Idaho and Montana Need To Brush Up On Muzzleloader Performance

2011-03-31T10:46:00.000-07:00

Here's A Look At How Little The Wildlife Agencies In These States Know About Muzzleloader Performance!

Blackhorn 209 Hunter Blog

Would You Be Happy With This Kind Of 100-Yard Accuracy?

2011-03-30T09:27:00.000-07:00

Who wouldn't be? I'm fortunate to be able to spend far more time on the range than easily 95+ percent of all muzzleloading shooters. Testing new muzzleloader products is what I do. And I've found that to achieve this degree of accuracy takes a precision rifle barrel...spontaneous ignition...the right powder...a precision bullet...and the right sabot. Since you are here on the Knight Muzzleloader Hunting blog, my guess is that you have the precision rifle barrel covered - as all Knight Rifles are built with a premium Green Mountian barrel. The above group was shot with a prototype of the new Knight "Mountaineer"...120-grains of Blackhorn 209...and the 300-grain "Scorpion PT Gold"/red .50x.45 "Crush Rib" saboted bullet (both from Harvester Muzzleloading).

For A Look At Putting Together The Optimum Sabot & Bullet Combination For Your Rifle, Go To This Post On The Harvester Muzzleloading Hunter Blog...

"Choosing The Right Sabot And Bullet Combo For Best Accuracy"
At Harvester Muzzleloading Hunter

Toby Bridges

The NEW KNIGHT RIFLES Shipping First Guns!

2011-03-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

Those Boxes Above Contain The First Guns To Be Produced By The New Owners Of Knight Rifles - TK2000 Shotguns Just In Time For The 2011 Spring Turkey Seasons.

The Knight Rifles Facebook page shares the following...

"Knight's TK2000's are now shipping!!! These Black Powder Shotguns are designed for shots 40 yards and beyond, the extra full choke allows for 85% shot density in a 30" circle at 40 yards...so those Turkeys better start hiding!"

I know I'll be out there with my TK2000 the weekend of April 9th...chasing Merrriam-Rio Grande crosses in the mountains and valleys of western Montana!

Let's Make This Blog Where Knight Rifle Owners Come To Communicate!

2011-03-29T10:53:00.000-07:00

Recently, I have spent way too much time away from muzzleloading, to do my part in an extremely important battle that must be won if we are to enjoy quality hunting on into the future. And that battle is to win the state wildlife agencies in every state the right to manage wolves. Here in western Montana where I now live, the non-native and non-endangered Canadian wolves that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service dumped here, under the auspices of the Endangered Species Act, have literally wiped out 80-percent of the elk in many areas...moose have been totally lost in others...and deer numbers are now taking a beating as well.

And there are some very misdirected environmental groups that want wolves roaming this country from coast to coast. And that's what I have been fighting hard for nearly two years. And thanks to a whole lot of wonderful allies, we're now making a difference. And with all of that help, I can now get back to my first love - muzzleloading and muzzleloader hunting.

On this blog and on the Knight Muzzleloader Hunting website, I want to concentrate on just that - hunting with Knight muzzleloaders and getting top performance from Knight muzzleloaders.

And from this time forward, I will insure a new post at least every two weeks. Most times, those posts will not be full-length feature articles. You can find those on the Knight Muzzleloader Hunting website and on the North American Muzzleloader Hunting website. I will address muzzleloader issues, performance tips, loading techniques, hunting opportunities, take a brief look at new products, and of course continue to go after muzzleloader hunting regulations that serve absolutely no one.

What I would like for you to do is to participate by sharing your knowledge and experience in the "Comment" section that follows each topic. Among the many hundreds of thousands of Knight Rifle owners and shooters, there is not a problem we cannot solve...and we might even be able to pass along a few new product ideas to the folks now building our favorite in-line muzzleloading big game rifles.

Be sure to get the word out that ths blog is now truly open for business!

Toby Bridges
KNIGHT MUZZLELOADER
HUNTING

TK2000 Turkey Hunt To Air On Pursuit Channel

2011-03-10T11:20:00.000-08:00

Knight Muzzleloader Hunting host Toby Bridges takes a good Montana gobbler with the Knight TK2000 shotgun on Taxidermy Trails tv show. This program premiers on the Pursuit Channel on March 14th. The show Bridges shot with show host Dan Bantley airs the week of March 21st - on Dish Network (Channel 240) and Direct TV (Channel 608). The episode airs three times that week - see local scheduling for times.

Check Out The Harvester Muzzleloading Hunter Blog...

2011-02-27T08:40:00.000-08:00

Here Is A Look At Today's Best Brush Busting Muzzleloader Hunting Bullets!

http://harvestermlhunter.blogspot.com

Do Multi-Reticle Muzzleloader Hunting Scopes Really Work?

2011-02-22T10:00:00.000-08:00

The set up for the evening hunt was a deer hunter's dream. The series of crop fields stretched out for nearly a mile, and were almost a half-mile in width. One end of the huge open area was surrounded by extremely thick cedar and oak growth, with a few narrow grassy strips offering brush free pathways for the deer to follow out to the various alfalfa, green winter wheat and corn stubble fields that offered a variety of feed for both whitetails and mule deer.

Late the evening before, while watching over a wide strip of winter wheat, I had enjoyed a constant parade of deer coming into the field area. Most seemed to enter at the very end of the field, to feed on the last growth of alfalfa that had been left in the hundred or so acre band that crossed from one side to the other. Had I been sitting along the fence line there, at one time nearly a hundred deer were concentrated within easy range of the scoped .50 caliber Knight in-line muzzleloader I carried for the hunt - including at least four bucks which would score between 150 and 160 B&C points.

And that's exactly where I sat up for the second evening of my mid December muzzleloader hunt in northern Nebraska.

I had put off the hunt for several weeks, due to warm 50 to 60 degree temperatures. But that was about to change. A strong cold front was pushing in from Canada, and before nightfall, temperatures were supposed to drop into the teens. So, I settled down early, comfortably nestled in one of the heavily insulated camouflage body suits - with a stiff, chilled 15 m.p.h. wind blowing in my face.

As I had hoped, deer began showing up early. The first into the field were three young 8-point bucks, then about 30 does filtered in, most passing within 40 yards of where I sat back against the trunk of a large cedar. A dandy tall-horned 140-class 8-pointer stood for the longest time at the corner of the fence, before jumping the top strand of barbed wire to join the others chomping away on the alfalfa. I eased up my laser rangefinder and took a reading...162 yards. It would be an easy shot for the rifle, hot charge of Blackhorn 209 and saboted 300-grain Harvester Muzzleloading polymer-tipped spire-point. But, this wasn't the buck I was looking to take. At least three of the bucks I had glassed feeding in the same area the evening before had been heavy-horned 10-pointers.

A light snow had started to blow in the wind. And deer really began pouring in to feed. Using my binoculars, I glassed as far as the snow would allow, and counted nearly 200 deer scattered here and there - most within 200 to 250 yards of where I waited. Two good bucks jumped the fence to my left and slowly walked out into the field - both were shooters. The deer walked to where the hay field bordered the adjacent winter wheat field, and began feeding. I ranged the larger of the two at 204 yards.

I slowly eased into a kneeling position, and rested the .50 caliber bolt-action Knight muzzleloader on one of the adjustable Bog Pod rests. The muzzleloader had been sighted to print the 300-grain Scorpion PT Gold 1 1/2 inches high at a hundred yards. And from 100 to 200 yards, that bullet with a 2,000 f.p.s. muzzle velocity will drop about 11 inches. However, instead of holding high with the crosshair of the scope, I simply relied on one of three lower crossbar reticles, steadying that reticle exactly where the sleek modern saboted spire-point bullet needed to go. And when I eased back on the trigger, that 200-pound plus whitetail went down on the spot. Examination of the hit revealed that the bullet had caught the buck only about two inches above where I had held along the back edge of the shoulder. The copper-plated projectile pretty much centered both lungs, and broke the opposite shoulder - with around 1,500 foot-pounds of retained energy at that distance.

The Leatherwood/Hi-Lux Optics HPML muzzleloader scope used for this hunt is one of several multi-reticle muzzleloader hunting scopes now being offered. Nikon, Leupold, Bushnell and a few others also now have similar scope models in their line ups. And to answer the question raised in the title of this article, yes they really do work. And when the shooter closely duplicates the load used to determine the location of the additional lower longer-range reticles, these modern muzzleloader scopes work exceptionally well.

I have helped several other shooters install and sight in the multi-reticle muzzleloader scopes from several of the companies just mentioned. However, the one model that I have had extensive experience with is the scope offered by Leatherwood/Hi-Lux Optics. In fact, that company contracted me to do all of the shooting for them to determine the location of the lower long-range reticles. And over the course of six months, I easily put 1,000+ rounds down range.

All of this shooting was done with a variety of modern primer ignition in-line .50 caliber rifles, shooting a fairly wide range of equally modern saboted spire-point and spitzer style bullets of 240- to 300-grains. Most of these have a ballistic coefficient of between .210 t0 .225, a few as high as .250 to .260. Shot at velocities ranging from 1,950 to 2,050 f.p.s., I've found that with the primary crosshair sighted "dead on" at 100 yards, shots at 200...225...and 250 yards, using the proper lower crossbar reticle for shots at those distances, will put the bullet within "+" or "-" 2 inches of point of aim. And that is a lot more precise than most of us can estimate hold over at those ranges.

One saboted bullet I've shot more than any other the past three years has been the 260-grain Scorpion PT Gold, from Harvester Muzzleloading. Propelled by either 110-grains of Blackhorn 209 or FFFg Triple Seven (or three of the compressed 50-grain Triple Seven Pellets), this .225 b.c. bullet exits the muzzle of a 26 to 28 inch barrel at 2,020 to 2,050 f.p.s. - and at 200 yards, one Knight .50 caliber "Long Range Hunter" I do much of my testing with, will often keep groups at that distance right at 2 to 2 1/4 inches across. And using the 200-yard reticle of the Leatherwood/Hi-Lux scope, I've taken several very nice bucks at that range...using a "dead on" hold with the 200-yard reticle. Likewise, one large coyote at 254 yards once made the mistake of standing too long, allowing me to steady the 250-yard crossbar reticle center of its chest cavity. The hit was about 2 inches low - but nothing can live on the difference.

Two seasons back, I began doing much of my hunting with the slightly heavier 300-grain version of the Scorpion PT Gold, mostly to enjoy greater retained energy out past 200 yards. With the same 110-grain charge of Blackhorn 209, the bullet leaves the muzzle at 1,968 f.p.s., but being heavier the load is good for 200 foot pounds of additional energy than the lighter and faster 260-grain bullet shot with the same amount of powder. However, the longer and heavier version of the same bullet has a higher .250-.255 b.c., and it tends to shoot flatter than the lighter bullet once past 200 yards. Using the lowest and longest range reticle of the Leatherwood/Hi-Lux muzzleloader scope, the 260-grain polymer-tipped Harvester Muzzleloading bullet that leaves the muzzle nearly 50 f.p.s. faster tends to impact a 250 yard target about 2 inches below point of aim, while the high b.c. and slightly slower 300-grain bullet of the same design tends to hit the target about 2-inches above point of aim.

With a center hold on a whitetail at 250 yards, a hit that is from 2 to 3 inches high or low is still well within the "kill zone".

When shooting to determine the locations of the lower longer range reticles of this scope, I also relied on a number of other very popular saboted bullets, including the 250- and 300-grain Hornady SST bullets, the 245- and 285-grain Barnes "Spit-Fire" and that company's 250- and 300-grain "Spit-Fire TMZ" bullets, as well as the 250- and 275-grain polymer-tipped "Ballistic Extreme" spire-points by Parker Productions. All of these bullets have a b.c. ranging between .210 and .260. With a scope sighted "dead on" at 100 yards, and with the bullets leaving the muzzle at 1,950 to 2,050 f.p.s., all of these bullets will drop between 9 to 12 inches at 200 yards - and between 35 and 40 inches at 250 yards.

Most of that drop is out past 200 yards, where the bullets begin to slow quickly. Knowing the exact distance of the target at the longer ranges is critical, whether shooting with one of the multi-reticle muzzleloader scopes or simply trying to determine the amount of hold over when shooting with a standard single crosshair scope. When hunting open country, where shots out to and past 200 yards are possible, I always pack along a laser rangefinder, like the Bushnell Sport 600. At 250 yards, under or over estimating range by just 10 or 15 yards can result in a hit that's 5 or 6 inches high or low.

A couple of years back, one of my regular hunting buddies installed one of the multi-reticle Nikon 3-9x "Omega" muzzleloader hunting scopes on his .50 caliber Thompson/Center "Omega" in-line ignition muzzleloader. He was shooting 110-grains of FFFg Triple Seven behind the 250-grain Hornady SST saboted bullet and sighted the rifle and load to print at point of aim at 100 yards. He shot the rifle through most of early fall, and found that at 100 yards he could generally punch 1 1/2 to 2-inch groups, using the standard crosshair. Then, just before deer season, he decided to do some shooting with the lower circular Nikon BDC reticles at 200 and 250 yards - only to find that when he centered the round 6" diameter targets in the circular reticle, at 200 yards the bullet impacted about 4" to the right, and at 250 yards shots were easily 8 to 9 inches to the right.

The problem proved to be that the scope had not been mounted perfectly level with the bore. During a follow up range session, when I centered a 200 yard target in the circular BDC reticle, it was very evident that the crosshair was above and to the right of the target. I loosened the rings just enough to turn the scope ever so slightly back to the left, while he sighted through the scope until the crosshair was directly above the target. Then, with the rings tightened back in place, and with a few shots to tweak the sighting, my friend found he could keep hits on that 6" target at 250 yards.

More recently, I loosened the rings that held one of the 3-9x40mm Leatherwood/Hi-Lux muzzleloader scopes on a .50 caliber Traditions VORTEK rifle, and turned the scope barely 1/32" to 1/16" to the left. I retightened the screws, tweaked the sighting to be "dead on" at 100 yards...then shot at 200 yards, using the 200 yard reticle. The rifle printed almost 5 inches to the left at 200 yards. So, I sighted the 200-yard crossbar reticle to print the load pretty much "on" at that distance - then shot at 100 yards. At the shorter range, the bullet impacted barely 1 1/2-inch away from point of aim.

When installing a multi-reticle scope, it is extremely important that ALL reticles are in line with the bore. If the scope is turned just the slightest amount one way or the other, the farther the lower reticles will print shots to one side or the other at the longer ranges. One way to insure that the scope is perfectly level with the bore is to have a gunsmith mount the scope - using a solid vise to hold the rifle level, and a grid on which to align the reticles. If that's not an option, do it on a set of solid sand bags at the range, sighting through the scope while someone else twists the scope back and forth to get all reticles aligned with the center of a target. And when the ring screws are tightened, be sure to check the reticle alignment once more. Often tightening these screws can torque the scope slightly one way or the other.

When shooting at the longer ranges, in order for these scopes to put one of the modern saboted spire-point or spitzer bullets into the "kill zone" at 200...225...250 yards, the scope must be set at its highest magnification. I've purposely shot with the 3-9x Leatherwood/Hi-Lux HPML scope at various ranges using various powers. And to make a long story short - it doesn't work. When shooting at 200 yards with the scope set at 3x, on the target there's actually three times the amount of space between the different reticles for shooting at the longer ranges than when the scope is set on 9x. When shooting at any power other than 9x, at the longer ranges, the impact of the shot will be higher. In fact, at 4x or 5x, using the 200 yard reticle, the rifle and load will put the bullet over the back of whitetail at that distance.

While these modern multi-reticle muzzleloader scopes have been designed around shooting modern saboted spire-point bullets at around 2,000 f.p.s., they can still be used when shooting blunt faced, lower b.c. hollow points, or loads with significantly slower muzzle velocities. One just has to accept that the longer range reticles were not regulated for such loads, and the rifle and load will not have the flatter trajectory of hotter modern loads and bullets, and the reticles won't be "on" at 200, 225 or 250 yards.
I've done some shooting with the saboted 250- and 300-grain Hornady .452" XTP jacketed hollow-point bullets at around 1,800 f.p.s. These are significantly lower b.c. projectiles. The 250-grain bullet has a b.c. of .147, and the 300-grain bullet has a b.c. of .181. At the slower velocity, from 100 to 200 yards, these bullets drop right at 2 feet. With some practice, the muzzleloading deer hunter will find that even with such a load, the lower crossbar reticles of today's muzzleloader specific scopes will put shots where they need to go at around 150, 175 and 200 yards.

Before ever shooting at game beyond 100 yards with any muzzleloader and multi-reticle scope, today's hunter owes it to the game being hunted to first practice with the rifle, load and scope being used to know exactly where all scope aiming marks will print shots. With some tweaking of loads and how the rifle is sighted at the range, the multi-reticles found in these scopes definitely take a lot of the guess work out of making those longer shots during the muzzleloader deer seasons.

Knight Rifles To Make A Come Back!

2011-02-13T15:01:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since a new post was published on this blog - and for good reason. When Knight closed its doors in June 2009, none of us were sure that the company would make a come back.

Well, last month (February 2011), the folks who purchased the company and have been working for the past 8 or 9 months to get things up and running again, announced the rifle models they will be offering once more. For a look at the basic line up, go to

www.hpmuzzleloading.com/Announcements.html .

On model that I was extremely pleased to see in the re-start offering was a model the company will introduce as the "Mountaineer". For those of you who followed my early testing of the "Extreme Ultimate Slam" prototype on the NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING website back in early 2009, before Knight closed its doors - this is the same rifle. What differentiates it from the DISC Extreme is that the bolt of this rifle is machined for use with a bare primer - no red Full Plastic Jacket or NON FPJ Conversion required. That prototype has remained one of my favorite test rifles.

And for you DISC Extreme fans, the company will continue on with this favorite model...as well as the Long Range Hunter. To see the entire new line up, go to the above link...or visit the Knight Rifles website at http://www.knightrifles.com.

Now that Knight is back, let's get this blog rolling. If you can add to any topic, please do. I will be publishing a new post at least once a month.

Toby Bridges
Knight Muzzleloader
Hunting

Positive Ignition With Blackhorn 209

2009-10-14T12:01:00.000-07:00

The hot new muzzleloader propellant on the market right now is Blackhorn 209. This cellulose-based powder is very likely "The Powder" most of us have been waiting for...for a long, long time. Outside of the shooters at Western Powders (of Miles City, MT), who markets Blackhorn 209, I was the first U.S. shooter to test the powder. And, to be quite frank, I've been hooked on it ever since.

My first range session, in September 2007, with Blackhorn 209 and a .50 caliber Knight "Long Range Hunter" quickly told me that the powder requires a hot primer for 100-percent spontaneous ignition. That day, I had standard Winchester No. 209 primers...Federal 209A primers...CCI 209M primers...and Winchester Triple Seven primers in my shooting box. And to make this part of this story short - I found that the absolute best ignition and accuracy was with the hotter CCI 209M and Federal 209A primers - and with the Triple Seven primers, the rifle wouldn't even fire 3/4ths of the time.

To date, I have now burnt more than 30 pounds of (not canisters, but pounds) Blackhorn 209 - and I still have not found better primers for super fast and reliable ignition than CCI 209M or Federal 209A primers.

I have heard from many Knight rifle owners who have experienced extremely poor ignition of the powder in their rifles. And after spending some time discussing this problem with the folks at Western Powders/Blackhorn 209, we tend to agree that most of the Knight No. 209 breech plugs are not that well suited for use with this powder. Even so, by recommending the two "magnum" strength primers, close to half of these shooters found the ignition they were looking for.

One major problem I have found with some Knight breech plugs has been the .027 to .030" flash holes into the powder charge. A constriction this tight prevents a great deal of fire from finding its way into the powder charge, and forces much of the fire rearward and into the action. On one KRB7 Rolling Block model I have shot and played around with, I experienced more hang- and misfires than rounds that ignited when shooting with Blackhorn 209. I had always noticed that the rifle tended to put a great deal of primer fouling back into the action. And when I actually pulled the breech plug and measured the diameter of the flash hole at the face of the convex fronted breech plug, I found it to be right at .029".

The FPJ breech plug of my "Long Range Hunter" had a .035" flash hole (some of that probably due to the 2,300+ rounds that had been fired through it). And the larger diameter flash channel opening proved sure-fire with the new powder. So, I had a machinist friend open up the constriction of the KRB7 breech plug to .035" - and with the hotter No. 209 primers, the rifle produced 100-percent spontaneous ignition.
A lot of fouling still was getting into the action, but the larger hole allowed enough fire through to insure ignition.

One problem I realized with the KRB7 is that even with the breech block up in the "locked" position, it can still be easily wiggled backwards close to 1/16" - meaning that when the primer fires, there is enough rearward force to allow the breech block to move rearward and primer fire to be lost.

Early last summer (2008), I switched my "Long Range Hunter" over to the bare-primer system, using the conversion offered by Knight. I had doubts about the convex faced breech plug, which featured a .030" flash hole - but experienced absolutely no ignition problems. And after some examination, I realized why. When the handle of the DISC Extreme bolt is pushed downward, it makes just enough contact with the slot cut into the receiver to sort of "cam" the bolt forward a few thousandths of an inch. This in turn forces the face of the primer against a shoulder at the front of the primer chamber or pocket in the breech plug. And since that primer cannot move rearward at all - the fire from the primer is forced on through the plug and into the powder charge.

Knight apparently had quite a few different breech plug variations out there over the last 4 or 5 years. If you are experiencing great ignition with Blackhorn 209, we'd love to hear from you - to learn which breech plug your rifle has, and the primer you are using. Likewise, if you experienced poor ignition with Blackhorn 209, and changed something to remedy the problem, those using this blog would surely like to know what was changed or modified.

More on shooting Blackhorn 209 out of Knight bolt-action models can be found on the KNIGHT MUZZLELOADER HUNTING website.

The buck in the photo at the top of this post was taken during a December 2007 muzzleloader season hunt, and was one of 9 deer harvested with charges of pre-production Blackhorn 209. And when I head out on my first muzzleloader hunt here in Montana in about two weeks, I'll be hunting with Blackhorn 209 once again.

Toby Bridges
KNIGHT MUZZLELOADER
HUNTING

www.knightmlhunt.com

How Many Knight Muzzleloading Hunters Are There?

2009-10-13T19:51:00.000-07:00

This is an all new blog for all of you Knight muzzleloader owners out there. Now that Knight Rifles manufacturing has shut its doors, here will be the place where all of you can share information on whatever it takes to keep these rifles in top operating condition and shooting like the day they were made.

That's me in the above photo, way back in 1986, with the first in-line ignition muzzleloader buck I ever shot - taken with an early Knight MK-85 rifle. And I have taken a whole lot more deer since, right along with a variety of other big game. On this blog, and on the Knight Muzzleloader Hunting website, I will share all that I know about loading...shooting...and hunting with these rifles - and I hope you will too.

If you note the date of this post, you'll know that the 2009 fall hunting seasons are upon us. Between now and the first of the year, I will share a few other posts here. And once we get into 2010, we'll get this blog really cranking. So bear with me for the next couple of months. The 5-week long Montana deer and elk season opens in less than two weeks - and I plan to be conspicuously absent most of that time. However, at the bottom of this post, you will find an e-mail address where you can drop me a line, and when I'm not in the woods, I'll do my darndest to answer any questions you may have.

Also, be sure to e-mail any photos you can of game you've taken with your Knight muzzleloader, along with details of the load and hunt. From this kind of sharing, all Knight rifle owners can benefit.

Thanks,
Toby Bridges
KNIGHT MUZZLELOADER
HUNTING

OB1Toby1@knightmlhunt.com