Knight Disc .52 Caliber Recommended Loads

[CRD1993]

Thanks guys for the help with loading for the .50 caliber Knight Disc. I talked with some of you on other threads over the past couple days about Knight's .52 caliber muzzleloader. I just bought a Knight Disc .52 caliber muzzleloader (it has not arrived yet!). I am going to mount a Leupold VX-Freedom Ultimate Slam 3x9-40 muzzleloader scope on it and use high quality Leupold bases and rings. It has the 26" Green Mountain barrel. I am wondering what loads have worked for those that have used any of Knight Rifles' .52 caliber. I am going to start by using the Hornady FTX .458 caliber 325 grain bullets. I will just buy the 50 round boxes from the reload section at Bass Pro Shops or Academy Sports and buy the sabots from Knight's website. I will also be using Triple 7 FFG powder and Knight's 209 Full Plastic Jacket ignition system. I am open to change powder or ignition system if someone shows me that Blackhorn 209 powder is better for this rifle or if a 209 bare primer ignition is better.
I considered buying the Bloodline .52 caliber 300 or 350 grain bullets and also Red Hot 350 and 375 grain bullets. I hesitate to buy anything under 300 grains because I have never had luck making a bullet under 300 grains accurate. Are the more expensive Bloodline and Red Hot bullets capable of achieving better accuracy than the Hornady .45-70 .458 caliber reload bullets? What powder, powder weight, and bullet/bullet weight is everyone using to achieve the most accurate load for whitetail and elk? I am hoping the Hornady FTX is the best due to its lower cost and readily available at any store selling reloading materials.

 

[dbowling]

110 gr BH209 and 325 gr FTX w/Silver sabot, shoots great out of mine. Has worked great on couple of deer.

 

[GM54-120]

When i had mine i shot a load a tad over max. 130gr by volume and either a 325gr FTX or the Barnes 458SOCOM 300gr. IMO the 1-26 is a little on the slow side for the old 375gr Red Hot. Knight should have made the 52 a 1-24. The 325gr FTX works just fine. Lehigh offers a couple 458s. The 275gr they made was a great bullet for the 52cal. Pretty sure the 275gr is/was only available through Knight as a Bloodline.

 

[ohiostate]

found a few loads that shot good in my 52 cal 63 gr of blackhorn 209 and a 325 gr hornady FTX .. 56 gr of BH 209 and a 300 gr remington HP .. same bullet rem loads in the 4570.. 66.5 gr BH209 and a 325 gr hornady XTP 475 dia hope this helps

 

[WV Hunter]

I've never shot a .52, but man do I love the bloodlines in my .50's. Pretty awesome bullet

 

[CRD1993]

I've never shot a .52, but man do I love the bloodlines in my .50's. Pretty awesome bullet

My .52 came with some Bloodline 275 grain bullets. I’m going to try them out this weekend, but with them being less than 300 grains I doubt that I will get sub-MOA groups. I have a feeling the 300 and 350 grain Bloodline bullets are tackdrivers.

 

[sabotloader]

My .52 came with some Bloodline 275 grain bullets. I’m going to try them out this weekend, but with them being less than 300 grains I doubt that I will get sub-MOA groups. I have a feeling the 300 and 350 grain Bloodline bullets are tackdrivers.

You might really be surprise how well the 275 bullets shoot form your 52. I shot them with a 120 grains of T7 or BH. The 275 is extremely versatile bullet. Excellent all around bullet!

 

[CRD1993]

You might really be surprise how well the 275 bullets shoot form your 52. I shot them with a 120 grains of T7 or BH. The 275 is extremely versatile bullet. Excellent all around bullet!

Thanks for telling me that! I was planning to use 120 grains of 777 like my .50 Disc, or maybe up to 130. I’m excited to see how the 275 grain bullets perform now.

 

[CRD1993]

You might really be surprise how well the 275 bullets shoot form your 52. I shot them with a 120 grains of T7 or BH. The 275 is extremely versatile bullet. Excellent all around bullet!

Hey how did those Winchester 209 primers work for you? I tried Federal 209 (blue box) and I was getting .75” groups with my .50 Disc. Two days ago I went and shot the same gun and load but this time with the Winchester 777 muzzleloader primers and I was hitting all over the paper. I was getting big 3” groups with Winchester primers, but when I was using Federal 209 I was getting Sub-MOA. Do primers really make that much difference?

 

[sabotloader]

Hey how did those Winchester 209 primers work for you? I tried Federal 209 (blue box) and I was getting .75” groups with my .50 Disc. Two days ago I went and shot the same gun and load but this time with the Winchester 777 muzzleloader primers and I was hitting all over the paper. I was getting big 3” groups with Winchester primers, but when I was using Federal 209 I was getting Sub-MOA. Do primers really make that much difference?

Winchester work awesome for me both with T7 and BH! But you might have a problem. I would assume that the rifle has the original Knight Breech plug in it. With that one you may need to use a mag primer to get ignition with BH. Really depends on which BP you have. When you get pull the BP out of the rifle and see if it has vent liner in the powder or just a small flash hole.

This picture shows a couple of Vent Liners. If you have a Knight BP with Vent Liner you will not be able to unscrew the Vent Liner.

No matter which one you have you will need clean the Flash Channel with a hand turned bit to fit the channel either a 1/8" bit or a 5/32" dependent on which BP you have

I just make a tool for the job.

IF you have a 1/8" Flash Channel it can plug quickly shooting Mag primers.

Which powder were you shooting on the shooting trip. Primers should not effect accuracy unless it were BH and in that case ML primer will/could have a hard igniting it correctly.

Hope some of this might help!

 

[CRD1993]

Winchester work awesome for me both with T7 and BH! But you might have a problem. I would assume that the rifle has the original Knight Breech plug in it. With that one you may need to use a mag primer to get ignition with BH. Really depends on which BP you have. When you get pull the BP out of the rifle and see if it has vent liner in the powder or just a small flash hole.

This picture shows a couple of Vent Liners. If you have a Knight BP with Vent Liner you will not be able to unscrew the Vent Liner.

No matter which one you have you will need clean the Flash Channel with a hand turned bit to fit the channel either a 1/8" bit or a 5/32" dependent on which BP you have

I just make a tool for the job.

IF you have a 1/8" Flash Channel it can plug quickly shooting Mag primers.

Which powder were you shooting on the shooting trip. Primers should not effect accuracy unless it were BH and in that case ML primer will/could have a hard igniting it correctly.

Hope some of this might help!

 

[CRD1993]

Winchester work awesome for me both with T7 and BH! But you might have a problem. I would assume that the rifle has the original Knight Breech plug in it. With that one you may need to use a mag primer to get ignition with BH. Really depends on which BP you have. When you get pull the BP out of the rifle and see if it has vent liner in the powder or just a small flash hole.

This picture shows a couple of Vent Liners. If you have a Knight BP with Vent Liner you will not be able to unscrew the Vent Liner.

No matter which one you have you will need clean the Flash Channel with a hand turned bit to fit the channel either a 1/8" bit or a 5/32" dependent on which BP you have

I just make a tool for the job.

IF you have a 1/8" Flash Channel it can plug quickly shooting Mag primers.

Which powder were you shooting on the shooting trip. Primers should not effect accuracy unless it were BH and in that case ML primer will/could have a hard igniting it correctly.

Hope some of this might help!

The pictures are showing the breech plug. This is my .52 caliber breech plug. The .50 caliber breech plug is the same. It’s the 209 Full Plastic Jacket breech plug.

 

[sabotloader]

The pictures are showing the breech plug. This is my .52 caliber breech plug. The .50 caliber breech plug is the same. It’s the 209 Full Plastic Jacket breech plug.

Correct Knight FPJ plug. You will probably need to use a Mag primer with that plug to reliably ignite BH - T7 regular primer no problem.

Personally I would change it out for Lehigh bare prime Breech plug and a primer adapter.

 

[WV Hunter]

Alot of folks, myself included are a big fan of the bare primer setup in the Knights. What SL said, Lehigh makes the breechplug w adapter. At some point if you shoot enough, you'll need to replace that RPJ breechplug anyhow, because your flash hole will wear out and accuracy will go away (I couldn't tell you how many shots). With the Lehigh setup you can change the ventliner. The bare primer setup can be totally blowback free also, often just on install. I use Winchester W209 primers in all my bolt knights with no issues.

 

[CRD1993]

I’m going To look into that. Is that the same 209 bare primer that Knight offers on their website? Yeah that’s one thing about the Full Plastic Jacket system I don’t like. There is so much blowback. The Plastic Jacket primers are solid black after shooting and there’s powder residue all over the bolt and inside the bolt. I should have taken pictures of the jackets and primers and posted them. It’s just about like using the older plunger guns like the BigHorn and Wolverine. I’m only using 120 grains of 777 so I know I’m not overloading the muzzleloader.

 

[CRD1993]

Correct Knight FPJ plug. You will probably need to use a Mag primer with that plug to reliably ignite BH - T7 regular primer no problem.

Personally I would change it out for Lehigh bare prime Breech plug and a primer adapter.

When you say mag primer, you mean something like CCI primer?

 

[WV Hunter]

No, not Knight. Lehigh. Yep the RPJ works great, just dirty. Bare primer setup usually spotless. You need a breech plug, bolt adapter and vent liner(s).

Lehigh

 

[Browndogz]

I shoot the 375 red hots over 100gr/v ignited by a 1085 cap. It has been accurate and reliable.

 

[Browndogz]

This was from this years bull.

 

[CRD1993]

No, not Knight. Lehigh. Yep the RPJ works great, just dirty. Bare primer setup usually spotless. You need a breech plug, bolt adapter and vent liner(s).

Lehigh

Thanks ! I’m buying all of that soon for my .50 and .52 very soon. It’s also much cheaper than Knight’s bare primer conversion kit!