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- Mar 9, 2019
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Well, I finally got out to shoot my auction bought muzzle loader. It is a Knight Elite. I bought the breech plug and adapter so all I need is a bare primer. Today I just wanted to get out and get familiar with the gun. Hoping there wasn't a problem since the gun was bought on auction. All powder charges were weighed on my Lyman scale. All shooting at 80 yards. I forgot the windex but have wind shield wiper fluid in my blind. ( where I shoot) So I wet a patch with fluid, run it up and down the barrel, flipped the patch over and repeated. Then I used a dry patch and ran it up and down the barrel. First one side then the other. I did this between each shot.
This first pic is of my first three shots. The load was 62 grains by weight of T7. According to my scale about 80 grains by volume. The bullet is a GT bullet in .430 diameter and 305 grains. ( I got a ton of these bullets) My buddy has been using the .430 in 255 grains. Both bullets have performed very well for us with only one deer making it to 100 yards before tipping over. Many have been DRT. The Sabot is an MMP and the primer was a Win 209. I was a little disappointed with this group but thought maybe the two cups of coffee may have an influence. A nice note here is that there was no leakage around the plug or even into the front area of the plug. When pulled (very easily) all the grease went right to the front of the plug and no gasses had made it into the threads around the plug.
This is the same bullet, sabot, only with 75 grains by weight of T7. After the second shot I looked through the scope and was not happy. It looked like I missed the target. So I loaded up again to shoot and could see the original hole was a little larger to the right. I figured if the first and third shot were that close the second could not be so bad. So I took a walk to the target and after a littler study could see the first hole was ever so slightly elongated. That's a three shot group. Sweet.
I also wanted to know how this gun would shoot with conicals. I had some Ultimate 1 conicals from PR bullets. The Ultimate 1 Spitzer hollow point at 450 grains and a wool .54 cal wad. I used 45 grains by weight of powder, for lube I used White Label by LS Stuff. My first shot is the high one, second was the low one. I had another disappointing moment until I saw the wad laying on the bench. OOOPPPPss. I loaded another making sure to use all the components. The third shot landed about an inch from the first. I really dont have a lot of these PR bullets but am laying groundwork for some bullets by sdporter.
All in all Im very pleased. At no time did gases leak around the primer or plug. The gun seems to shoot anything reasonably well and with tweaking will probably shoot most anything excellent. I find the gun very easy to clean. With no leaks anywhere just pull the plug, scrub it out, oil it down and its done.
This first pic is of my first three shots. The load was 62 grains by weight of T7. According to my scale about 80 grains by volume. The bullet is a GT bullet in .430 diameter and 305 grains. ( I got a ton of these bullets) My buddy has been using the .430 in 255 grains. Both bullets have performed very well for us with only one deer making it to 100 yards before tipping over. Many have been DRT. The Sabot is an MMP and the primer was a Win 209. I was a little disappointed with this group but thought maybe the two cups of coffee may have an influence. A nice note here is that there was no leakage around the plug or even into the front area of the plug. When pulled (very easily) all the grease went right to the front of the plug and no gasses had made it into the threads around the plug.
This is the same bullet, sabot, only with 75 grains by weight of T7. After the second shot I looked through the scope and was not happy. It looked like I missed the target. So I loaded up again to shoot and could see the original hole was a little larger to the right. I figured if the first and third shot were that close the second could not be so bad. So I took a walk to the target and after a littler study could see the first hole was ever so slightly elongated. That's a three shot group. Sweet.
I also wanted to know how this gun would shoot with conicals. I had some Ultimate 1 conicals from PR bullets. The Ultimate 1 Spitzer hollow point at 450 grains and a wool .54 cal wad. I used 45 grains by weight of powder, for lube I used White Label by LS Stuff. My first shot is the high one, second was the low one. I had another disappointing moment until I saw the wad laying on the bench. OOOPPPPss. I loaded another making sure to use all the components. The third shot landed about an inch from the first. I really dont have a lot of these PR bullets but am laying groundwork for some bullets by sdporter.
All in all Im very pleased. At no time did gases leak around the primer or plug. The gun seems to shoot anything reasonably well and with tweaking will probably shoot most anything excellent. I find the gun very easy to clean. With no leaks anywhere just pull the plug, scrub it out, oil it down and its done.
