More Tinkering with Knight Disc Elite 45

It wasn't the greatest day to shoot with gusty winds and thunderstorms brewing, but overall, another good range session.

New items to try:
1. NFPJ Lehigh breech plug with removable Lehigh vent liner
2. Harvester smooth blue sabot
3. Knurling bullets for better sabot grip
4. 120gr Blackhorn 209

I wanted try each item separately but the sky was beginning to fill fast with cumulus clouds so I decided just to throw everything together and shoot.

I lightly knurled a Barnes 195gr expander, placed it in a Harvester smooth blue sabot, and seated it on top of 120gr of BH209. Primers were Winchester 209s. Recoil was stout but the Elite soaks it up fairly well. 3 shot group at 100yds measuring 1.5"


From what I have found researching the net, muzzle velocity is around 2200-2250 fps. Accuracy didn't seem to suffer from the 10gr increase in powder from my previous session. Someday, I may shoot from a lead sled just to see what kind of group this combo will produce. I do all my shooting holding the forend on top of a rest.

I saw a rainbow in the distance and thunder was starting to rumble but I had to shoot a group of 200gr knurled SSTs with the Harvester sabots before I left for the day. This group measured 3/4", not to shabby


My NFPJ Lehigh breech plug performed flawlessly with no blowback. Primers were spotless. The bolt was a little tight when extracting the spent primers but a gentle rap with my hand released the primer from the breech plug. I'll give it a few more times before I polish the primer pocket to see if a little more break-in is required.

The Harvester smooth blue sabots loaded easier than the MMP sabots that were supplied with the bullets. I thought accuracy might suffer from the looser fit but it appears to be better than with the MMPs, more range time is needed, especially at colder temps to see which sabot I want to hunt with.

I'll keep knurling all my bullets for now, more range time is needed but I know it didn't hurt anything.

How do you knurl your bullets? I use Hornady XTP and they are very smooth ... thought of knurling to hold in the sabot.

BDH,

Nice shooting. I'm curious as to why you're up to 120 grains of powder? Just want more speed?

My 45 Elite is very accurate at 90. I hunt with 100 or 110. I don't think I've ever shot at 120. Never saw the need.

Dennis G said:

How do you knurl your bullets? I use Hornady XTP and they are very smooth ... thought of knurling to hold in the sabot.

Click to expand...

I had a couple of files in my tool chest that I grabbed and brought with me to the range. I laid one down on the bench, placed the bullet on it, and rolled the other file on top of the bullet. It took about 6 back and fourths with moderate pressure to give the bullets a light knurl.

This post has good photos and info:
viewtopic.php?t=24862&p=188313

LarryBud said:

BDH,

Nice shooting. I'm curious as to why you're up to 120 grains of powder? Just want more speed?

My 45 Elite is very accurate at 90. I hunt with 100 or 110. I don't think I've ever shot at 120. Never saw the need.

Click to expand...

I have read several posts where 120gr produced good accuracy. I wanted to try it and see how it felt, what my groups did, and how the rifle reacted to the max load. I threw in too many variables to make good conclusions, but overall, I was happy. I like long range shooting and those shots are possible where I hunt but mainly, I like to experiment.

I'm wondering if the knurling made the difference, or if it was the fact the the un-knurled bullets were shots 1, 2 & 3 and the knurled bullets were shots 4, 5 & 6.

I don't have much experience with Blackhorn, but have read reports that accuracy improves with Blackhorn as the barrel fouls. I assume you started shooting with a clean bore. So the un-knurled bullets were shot with the cleanest bore. It would be interesting to repeat the shoot with the first three shots knurled and the second three un-knurled.

All 6 shots were with knurled bullets. My range session last week and this one gave similar results with this time giving slightly better groups. The SSTs were more accurate and the Expanders hit about an inch lower.

This rifle so far doesn't seem to have a preference on the bore condition, clean or fouled, all shots seem to hit in the same place. I pop 3 primers, load a round, and then swab the bore to distribute the primer fouling. I swab after loading because the primer fouling helps to make the barrel more slippery when I load my tight fitting Barnes TMZs in the 50 cals. I just started to distribute the fouling after reading a few posts about the subject and it does seem to help with that first shot on a clean bore, but more range time is needed with my other rifles to make a definite conclusion.

Hopefully the weather cooperates more next week so I can try shooting a few rounds with just one new item at a time.


Question :huh?:

Has anyone ever captured or recovered a 200gr SST? Does this bullet suffer from jacket seperation like the heavier 250s?

Ah-ha. My mistake. I misread your original post. Either way, that's darn good shooting and great groups.

BuckDoeHunter said:

All 6 shots were with knurled bullets. My range session last week and this one gave similar results with this time giving slightly better groups. The SSTs were more accurate and the Expanders hit about an inch lower.

This rifle so far doesn't seem to have a preference on the bore condition, clean or fouled, all shots seem to hit in the same place. I pop 3 primers, load a round, and then swab the bore to distribute the primer fouling. I swab after loading because the primer fouling helps to make the barrel more slippery when I load my tight fitting Barnes TMZs in the 50 cals. I just started to distribute the fouling after reading a few posts about the subject and it does seem to help with that first shot on a clean bore, but more range time is needed with my other rifles to make a definite conclusion.

Hopefully the weather cooperates more next week so I can try shooting a few rounds with just one new item at a time.


Question :huh?:

Has anyone ever captured or recovered a 200gr SST? Does this bullet suffer from jacket seperation like the heavier 250s?

Click to expand...

I've captured a couple 200 SST's in these big KS Whitetails with shots that weren't necessarily broadside punch throughs. ( take em when I can get em. )

My last two deer where shot with a Knight 45 and a 200 SST.

Two years ago:



it functioned perfectly.


Last year it separated.



The swabbing the primer fouling has me intrigued. Do you just swab with a dry patch?

Thanks for the bullet photos and results. Initially, I was going with the Barnes Expanders for hunting but the SSTs shoot so well and your experience along with other reports, has me rethinking my bullet choice. Once again, more range time which is fine because I'm really enjoying the Elite.

Yes, just a dry patch. I think it was on this site where I first read about distributing the primer fouling. The first time I tried it was before loading and on a squeaky clean barrel, the Barnes TMZs were a bear to load, so now I swab after loading, the primer fouling acts like a lubricant for me when loading. I need to take the Apex and Triumph out again for more testing, they both seem to have the most deviation on the first shot or two

Thanks for the info on knurling. I tried it today and had my first 100 yd. ballantine in the 6 months I've owned the gun, really made a difference.

This is really a great site to learn about muzzleloading

Last year I hunted with my Elite 45, loaded with the 185 gr. Lehigh in a MMP Tan on top of 115 gr BH 209. Never did get a chance to drop one on a deer but they shoot good. I did try the 200 Lehigh's in a Harvester smooth blue over 120 gr. BH at the recommendation of a member on here and they shot good too. I just did not have enough of them to hunt with.

Hornet22savage said:

Last year I hunted with my Elite 45, loaded with the 185 gr. Lehigh in a MMP Tan on top of 115 gr BH 209. Never did get a chance to drop one on a deer but they shoot good. I did try the 200 Lehigh's in a Harvester smooth blue over 120 gr. BH at the recommendation of a member on here and they shot good too. I just did not have enough of them to hunt with.

Click to expand...

I can confirm that the 200's work extremely well from my Knights... for some they are not as accurate because of the slower 1-30 twist - but I have not found that problem at all... they are point and shoot for me..