Great Day testing with the Mk-95's

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ShawnT

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Finally got the chance to do some testing today. After Mother Nature tried to wash us off the Map with 13.5" of rain in about 4 to 5 hours last Wednesday! :shock:

Anyway today was a nice day till about noon when the wind really got moving but still a great day out. I have been working on making and testing some new cases made from 38 spl brass that I had to shorten and also open up the primer pockets to accept the Large Rifle primer for the MK-95 (.50 & .54 cals). These rifles use a Speer 38spl Plastic Training case with LRMP in place of the "209 Disc". I made up some and went out to try them and see if they sealed up good and to also test some new bullets in the .54cal. Last Spring I had contacted Verel Smith of LBT and had a custom .500 smooth sided bullet mould made. I sent him 3 different bullets and had a couple phone calls to settle on the design I wanted. I picked up some Lead back in Ohio from a friend hoping it was close to Pure, but turned out to be a bit harder than I really want. Pure tests at 5BHN and these are right at 8.5BHN. I sent IdahoRon a couple of my old favorite Knight Lead bullets to test and they tested out at between 9 and 9.5BHN. Well I could not stand it anymore and cast some up last weekend and shot a few today. I really just wanted to see how the design of the bullet would shoot. I have to say I am pretty pleased with the results and really like the look of the bullet. I also shot the 5 rounds from my 50cal testing some of the new cases I made. Unfortunately there is enough difference in the actions that these cases have to be individually fit to the rifle. All shooting was done at 50 yards today. I plan to fine tune the sight in in the fall, but it's close enough while I am testing things, plus I am very low on powder.

Here are the MK-95 Brothers. The .54 has the camo stock.


Load was 69gn Weighted of BH209, 300gn Swift A-Frame with supplied sabot and CCI LRMP.


This was the first target for my new bullets from the .54 cal. I shot 5 rounds in the upper group and it was totally the shooters fault that shot 4 went to the right. I ain't perfect! :roll: The lower 3 shot group was shot just holding a bit low. I dropped one just a bit
Load was again 69gn Weighted of BH-209, CCI LRMP, MMP Purple 50x54 sabot and my new Lead bullet (326.5gn). First 3 shots tore a small (for .500 bullet) cloverleaf and I was really having trouble trying not to smile too big! :D Then Buggered up the 4th shot. :lol: Oh well.


After a Target change I shot 5 more with the same load. I had a little issue wiggling a bit so it looks like 2 groups. I confess it was all me but still got a pretty big smile at how these new Lead bullets shot for me.


Last but not least is a picture of My new bullets. Now to get me a good supply of Pure lead to try out.
 
Good shooting. I cant wait to see how those work on deer. Tony Knight sure appears to be correct about the 54x50 325gr that used to ship with the MKs
 
Thanks GM. I could not agree more. My Mk-85 and this Mk-95 both seem to shine with a bullet in that range. I was able to get about 5 boxes of the Speer's and a 500rnd box of the 335 Rainiers but after today I am really planning on trying my lead bullet on Deer this fall. :D
 
ShawnT

Nice job... and I have yet to see a 95 in real life... Guess makes me more solid on the fact that Tony Knight knew how to build...
 
That really is some good shooting!! And a pure lead bullet is normally an effective projectile.
 
Nice job there, I have often wondered about the Swift A-Fame bullets however they are expensive. I bet your home cast will do a number on anything that walks. How did your cases work out?
 
Thanks guys. I actually just got a call from a friend that is a plumber in NY City. He has been promising me some lead for the last few months, was starting to think it would not happen, but now I am meeting him at the club in the morning to finally get it. :partyman: Not sure how much yet though. He is shooting in an F-Class match that I don't shoot in.

Sabotloader,

My 50 cal was my first inline and it was recommended to me by one of the guys at Knight, I am not real sure what his name was but seems like it was Jeff Dunwiddy or something like that. I though if I am going for an inline I wanted one from the guy I thought started it all and have never been disappointed. I guess I am a bit Brand Loyal now and a big Fan of Tony's. Best Firearm Purchase I ever made. I would Never part with it and since it took me 10 years to locate the .54 it will never leave either. They just fit me so well and that is a BIG thing for a short armed guy like me.
 
ShawnT said:
Thanks guys. I actually just got a call from a friend that is a plumber in NY City. He has been promising me some lead for the last few months, was starting to think it would not happen, but now I am meeting him at the club in the morning to finally get it. :partyman: Not sure how much yet though. He is shooting in an F-Class match that I don't shoot in.

Sabotloader,

My 50 cal was my first inline and it was recommended to me by one of the guys at Knight, I am not real sure what his name was but seems like it was Jeff Dunwiddy or something like that. I though if I am going for an inline I wanted one from the guy I thought started it all and have never been disappointed. I guess I am a bit Brand Loyal now and a big Fan of Tony's. Best Firearm Purchase I ever made. I would Never part with it and since it took me 10 years to locate the .54 it will never leave either. They just fit me so well and that is a BIG thing for a short armed guy like me.

Me too, short armed, so I know exactly what you mean...

mike
 
Got to love those Knights, so far I have owned four of them and all four have their loads that will print MOA with ease. I'm still working on my MK-95 54 cal load but I believe the 325 Uni-Core is the bullet to do it with. I tried some Seirra 400's and also have some Hornady 350's. I would like to find out when either No-Excuses or Bull Shops is casting and get some big lead for the 54. I ordered some this past Feb from No-Excuses but the 54 stuff was out of stock.
 
Hornet22savage said:
Nice job there, I have often wondered about the Swift A-Fame bullets however they are expensive. I bet your home cast will do a number on anything that walks. How did your cases work out?
They are a real good bullet that is close in design to the Partition. Knight used to prepackage them with sabots like the Barnes Redhots. I got a few packs and they shot real well so that was what I used on the Bear in my Avatar. I don't remember what they originally cost but I bought several packs when Gander Mountain closed them out for something like $3 a pack. I only have about 3 more packs. I forgot to put a box of Speer's in my bag this morning :oops: but had these in my box so shot a few of them. You are right though they are pretty steep in price if you buy them in the Swift boxes.

The cases worked real well. They sealed up real well and had no issues with them setting off the charge. They just take some time to make.
 
Just got back from meeting my friend. Ran a test on it as soon as I got home and weighted it on my bathroom scale. Tested at 5bhn so it is Pure and he gave me 99lb. :partyman: That should hold me a little while. Plus the price was right. FREE!!!! Now got to figure out how best to cut these bars into smaller bars that will fit into my pot. :lol:
 
ronlaughlin said:
Wow, that is wonderful! Wonder if a sawzall would work good.
I don't have one but maybe with a course blade. I tried my dads hand held bandsaw when I got the lead used in the bullets above. It plugged up the metal blade real quick. :huh?:
 
I have found that the easyist way for me to cut up the lead ingots (25) lbs I get is with a hatchet and a big ball peen hammer. I just go out to the wood pile and put the ingot on the splitting block, set the axe on the lead, and pound the axe through, lead is really pretty easy to cut this way. Foo
 
Thanks Guys.

I am pretty tickled with the new bullet so far. I am hoping to get some cast from the Pure Lead I just got and shoot them real soon. The only real change in the bullet that Veral Smith (LBT) recommended was to change the Ojive style from a straight one (like the Knight) to the rounded style, but otherwise he made exactly what I wanted. He had not made a smooth sided like this in .500 dia (but said it was no problem to do it) so he cast one after making the mould to take pictures for his web site. He sent the bullet with a note to let me know why one cavity was smoked. When I looked at his bullet I was real happy to see what it looked like. I plan on using it this fall. I can definitely say I would recommend Veral Smith to make a mould, plus he was fast. I am seriously thinking of having him make me a similar one for a .452 300grain for my 50 cals. :wink:

I got a new Winter project now, making lots of bullets! :lol:
 
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