In defense of the QLA

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Confederate rifleman

Confederate rifleman

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Been doing some serious comparisons between my T/C Black Diamond XR and my new Knight MK85. Some results are quite surprising, but one of the most striking is the extremely positive benefits of T/C's QLA. It eliminates the need for a short starter ( in my rifle) and gives excellent protection to the true crown. Not so the Knight. I use bore guides in both but it is a necessity for the Knight with its traditional muzzle/crown. The advantage of the QLA in a hunting rifle can not be overstated. Yes there have been poorly bored QLA's , but there have been some horrendous crowns too.. Both rifles are roughly comparable in accuracy, but the addition protection afforded by the QLA gives it a significant leg up on the Knight in terms of preserving accuracy. More to follow on the comparison, but regarding muzzles, I wish the MK85 had a QLA.
 
Confederate rifleman said:
Been doing some serious comparisons between my T/C Black Diamond XR and my new Knight MK85. Some results are quite surprising, but one of the most striking is the extremely positive benefits of T/C's QLA. It eliminates the need for a short starter ( in my rifle) and gives excellent protection to the true crown. Not so the Knight. I use bore guides in both but it is a necessity for the Knight with its traditional muzzle/crown. The advantage of the QLA in a hunting rifle can not be overstated. Yes there have been poorly bored QLA's , but there have been some horrendous crowns too.. Both rifles are roughly comparable in accuracy, but the addition protection afforded by the QLA gives it a significant leg up on the Knight in terms of preserving accuracy. More to follow on the comparison, but regarding muzzles, I wish the MK85 had a QLA.
Click to expand...

But it is so easy to repair a crown on a non-QLA if the need arises. Also I load conicals in my Knights and Whites without a short starter. But then again I buy conicals that are sized for the bore I am shooting.

But more importantly I can shoot conicals and sabots with equal accuracy.

I have had several TC's with the QLA's but really do prefer no QLA. The only reason the QLA exists is that when TC started building their own barrels they chose to use a bore boring process that does not always insure that the drill comes out on the middle of the muzzle. This really does not effect accuracy if the off-set is minor but it does not look good - hence the centered QLA to hide the mis-alignment.
 
I have one T/C rifle that has the QLA. It is a Black Diamond XR. I have never had a problem with the Black Diamond QLA. Besides the fact the rifle is an outstanding sabot shooter, mine also shoots the No Excuses Conical bullets in .503 diameter with excellent results. In fact I like hunting with No Excuses Conical bullets out of it.

Now in comparison a person I know hunts with a Triumph. It is an amazing sabot shooter but does not shoot conical bullets.
 
There is no doubt that if the QLA is off and there were some that they won't shoot conicals, but my Triumph does shoot quite a number of them, but my 45 encore which has a Bergara barrel will not shoot them, but the 50 cal Endeavor will shoot a half a dozen. I will only shoot those rainbow trajectory conicals when I am where the law requires it and hope the states I hunt in get over that silliness.
I don't have it any more because it was an old plunger type but it was a knight and it did not group conical either none of them I tried any way. I do not believe that the QLA is the only reason that some guns won't shoot conicals if it was all the guns that did not have a QLA would do well with them.
 
I've only used my tc bonecollector which is QLA and I can't complain, I know the day will come but as of yet haven't missed a deer. So definitely doin th job! P


I prefer meat in its original packaging

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
JPHunting said:
I've only used my tc bonecollector which is QLA and I can't complain, I know the day will come but as of yet haven't missed a deer. So definitely doin th job
Click to expand...

What kind of conicals are you shooting with it?
 
JPHunting said:
I've only used my tc bonecollector which is QLA and I can't complain, I know the day will come but as of yet haven't missed a deer. So definitely doin th job! P


I prefer meat in its original packaging

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Again, I think it is important to know that not all TC-QLA's are effected as bad as others. Some work very well especially the older ones and others are really hit and miss...
 
StewTCB said:
Help out us stupid people trying to learn... What is a QLA?
Click to expand...


Quick Load Accurizor On the muzzle end if the barrel, the bore is increased in size so the sabot you load, fits inside the rifle, under the crown of the muzzle. Same with a conical bullet for instance. It assists in loading. The problem is when the QLA is off center of the true bore. It can make conical bullets inaccurate. But if your QLA is done right, you have little to no problem. Many find that by cutting that small section of the barrel off, they can make their rifles shoot conical bullets more accurate.
 
This is an example of a QLA cut off the end of a TC barrel. You can see the off-set - it is slight but it is there.... I think these are txhunter's cut QLA



This is a picture that I made to help explain the problem...



Once again not all TC's have this problem...

Several people have followed an experiment that I think I suggested to allow them to shoot flat based lead conicals... Using a MMP Sub-base between the projectile and powder...

 
I have a Savage Muzzleloader that has the QLA. I have heard they had to stop later as it was some type of infringement with the TC design. My QLA shoots quite well and I like it but I have heard some complain about the same. It does ease loading and I thought that was the intent, a bit like a false muzzle.
 
I get decent accuracy from my BD with full calibers if I use a wad or cut off sabot base under the slug. Not as good as the sabots, but certainly useable. My Knight MK85, much to my surprise, doesn't like any of the full bores I've tried with or without wads. This is curiously disappointing as the main reason i bought the MK85 other than its historical interest( where would modern muzzleloading be without the MK85?), was to shoot full calibers. Oh well. Rifles are like women, FICKLE!
 
Great post! I now know all about the QLA. I had read previously about the QLA but never really understood what the issues were.

I bought my TC Pro Hunter several years ago and tuned it up to shoot sub MOA. Really glad my rifle was bored correctly as I never had a clue the QLA could cause issues. My rifle and its QLA work incredibly well with sabots and I no longer shoot conical or have any desire too.

Of course, should I have issues with my TC Pro Hunter that I do not understand: my go to person is Mike Bellum. Glad I never had to discuss QLA'a with him.
 

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