MK-85 First outing with New Sights

[Idaholewis]

My first outing with my new Peep sight Setup, I am VERY confident in this Sight system (I Have it on all of my Rifles) I have been anxious to get out and shoot this thing. I am very pleased with the Old .54 Cal MK-85, She’s definitely a shooter! I Sent my Cold Bore Fouler Shot at a Small white Rock up high on the Sand bank, I scared the DAYLIGHTS out of it, That shot gave me confidence that i would be on paper. I Swabbed and started my 5 Shot Group

Target was 70 Yards

Bullets i used, My Custom PP Design, BIG Wide Meplat. These bullets weigh right at 530 Grains with 1-40 Alloy. The bullets have 2 Wraps of 9# onion skin paper and then ran through my .539 “Finisher” Sizing die (Just slightly irons the Paper and makes for easier loading)

This Big Meplat fills the Bore

My first 3 Shots, 85 Grains by Weight of Swiss 2F powder, With 1/8” Oxyoke brand .54 Cal Wool Felt OP Wad

And my last 2 Shots Completing the 5 Shot Group. No complaints here :yeah:

 

[Idaholewis]

I went up and Dug my bullets out of the Sand Bank, i recovered 4 of the 5, These would be AWFUL on an Elk 3 of the 4 bullets i recovered Stil weighed 528 Grains, and the other was 522-523

 

[dbowling]

yeah those are definitely gonna a hurt when they hit a critter thru the vitals..love the MK-85`s(especially the walnut stocked ones) about my favorite Knight rifle even including the newer models.

 

[Idaholewis]

Cleaning was MUCH easier this go around (Thank you Sabotloader!) But i stil had a slight problem, I must not of gotten a perfect Seal with the Teflon Tape, The Breech plug was Tighter than i could Comfortably get out, I just hit the outer edge of the Barrel around the Breech plug with my Handheld Steam cleaner for about 1-2 minutes, Not blazing Hot, But Definitely Hot, I held the barrel with a Hand towel, put my wrench on and tried the Breech Plug, out it came :yeah:

In the Mail this Morning was my new Breech plug, It is M900032, For a .52 Cal Knight Bighorn. I was really looking forward to this new Hex head plug, But it is Shorter, To short, Can i get away with a Longer Nipple? Or is this simply not Gonna work in my Rifle?

These are Treso/Ampco nipples, Measurements from bottom of the Breech plugs to top of the nipples are as follows, 1.781 for my old Plug, and 1.697 for this New plug, I installed the new plug just to try it? As I suspected the Hammer is just short of hitting the nipple in the Fired position. What are my options here?

Old plug on the Right, and New M900032 on the Left

The Flah Hole/Powder chamber (Whatever it’s called here?) is sure Different on this new Plug Compared to my Old one

Before i tried the new Plug I did the Teflon tape Wrap on it to Practice it, It appears i got the Seal right on this one

 

[twild]

Nice shooting Lewis, I've never tried the Teflon tape shooting anything but BH209. I'll be watching this if it works good it sure would be a lot cleaner than antisease when I'm shooting 777.

 

[Idaholewis]

Nice shooting Lewis, I've never tried the Teflon tape shooting anything but BH209. I'll be watching this if it works good it sure would be a lot cleaner than antisease when I'm shooting 777.

Sabotloader has a good tutorial on Teflon tape with Pictures :yeah:

 

[dbowling]

you might try a drop or 2 of oil on the Teflon tape(per Bestill), it seems to help make them even easier to remove.
I would think a longer nipple would be ok as long as your plug fits up front like it should and seals good, all that matters in the back is the hammer hits the nipple hard enough to fire cap.
Did you try to contact Knight and ask them if this plug will work?

Nice shooting Lewis, I've never tried the Teflon tape shooting anything but BH209. I'll be watching this if it works good it sure would be a lot cleaner than antisease when I'm shooting 777.

Sabotloader has a good tutorial on Teflon tape with Pictures :yeah:

 

[twild]

Nice shooting Lewis, I've never tried the Teflon tape shooting anything but BH209. I'll be watching this if it works good it sure would be a lot cleaner than antisease when I'm shooting 777.

Sabotloader has a good tutorial on Teflon tape with Pictures :yeah:

Yep I've read it, that is what got me using tape. I guess I need to touch up my reading comprehension skills and look again, I didn't understand it could be done with powders besides BH.

 

[Harleysboss]

Very nice shooting! Look out Mr. Elk freight train a comin! How much for me to buy it back?? LOL kidding. Thanks for forwarding me the info on the breech plug/tape. I will be trying that on my LK93 54 and my White Bison for sure.

 

[ShawnT]

Yup shoots like a good old MK! :yeah: Good shooting Lewis! Elk definitely will not like that bullet! :lol: 8)

I switched to Teflon years ago in all my rifles. I shoot Swiss, Pyrodex, 777 and BH. The only thing I use grease on now is the nipple threads as it is just a bit easier than taping for me. So far for me when shooting black, Pyro or 777 the plug only slightly sticks and just needs a quick sharp twist to pop it loose.

When you went to remove the plug did you take it out of the stock or try it while still in the stock? Just curious.

 

[ShawnT]

Have no idea why this double posted.

 

[Idaholewis]

Yup shoots like a good old MK! :yeah: Good shooting Lewis! Elk definitely will not like that bullet! :lol: 8)

I switched to Teflon years ago in all my rifles. I shoot Swiss, Pyrodex, 777 and BH. The only thing I use grease on now is the nipple threads as it is just a bit easier than taping for me. So far for me when shooting black, Pyro or 777 the plug only slightly sticks and just needs a quick sharp twist to pop it loose.

When you went to remove the plug did you take it out of the stock or try it while still in the stock? Just curious.

The Barrel was out the Stock when i tried pulling the Breech plug, My next outing i will try 3 wraps Around the Nose of the plug, I’ll keep playing around with it til i get it figured out

I sure there is a Fix for this new Breech plug, This Hex head is REALLY nice! I tested it, and i can use my 3/8” Ratchet in this Rifle No problem, it’s a perfect Fit. I have read where guy’s talk about having to use a 1/4 Drive, That the 3/8 is a tiny bit big. Not the case with this Rifle, Maybe it’s the fact that this Gun takes the Little Larger 11/16 Breech Plug?

 

[Idaholewis]

When Teflon Taping the Breech Plug i have a Tiny, Yet very bright little Pen style light that came from O’Reilly Auto parts that i can shine down the barrel and easily see if the Tape is stil in place or not? I got the Pen light idea from an Old Cayugad Post :yeah: Dave ran across them, Liked them very well, Therefore he owned a few of them

 

[edmehlig]

Be careful Lew those In-Lines can be contagious! :lol:

 

[Idaholewis]

Be careful Lew those In-Lines can be contagious! :lol:

Yea it’s got me nervous :lol: I would LOVE a .45 Cal! Oh Lordy here we go :lol:

 

[edmehlig]

I can feel the bug is working its way into you. GRIN

 

[52Bore]

Looks great. I don't think you even need to adjust your sights!
Not so sure about the relatively small hole thru the new plug? With Black it probably will not matter.
Many of us still know simple still works, Black, Lead and a #11, even in a modern ML - congrats.

 

[Idaholewis]

I’ve come up with a way to make this new Plug work, I’m probably not the only 1 to do this I just need to come up with a more permanent Way than Thread Taping, So it stays Consistent

Just Back The Nut off on the End of the Bolt 0.084 which is the Exact difference in length of my Old plug, and this New 1, By backing this Nut up It lengthens the Hammer Throw :yeah: I gobbed up a bunch of Thread tape on the Nut threads so it will Hold for now, i will get a more permanent fix shortly, But this works

 

[Busta]

Very nice! Love a big meplat. That should be good elk medicine for sure.

And some think they need a hollow point? Nope!

 

[Idaholewis]

you might try a drop or 2 of oil on the Teflon tape(per Bestill), it seems to help make them even easier to remove.
I would think a longer nipple would be ok as long as your plug fits up front like it should and seals good, all that matters in the back is the hammer hits the nipple hard enough to fire cap.
Did you try to contact Knight and ask them if this plug will work?

Dean, I missed this somehow? Mike (Sabotloader) Sent me his tutorial on wrapping the Breech plug with Teflon tape, I sat here and practiced it a few times trying to perfect it (I have plenty of thread tape ) I felt good about it :yeah: I remembered reading Where Bestill recommends Gun oil on the Teflon tape, I liked the idea of having some oil in there So i figured i would Make that my last Tape job and Then shoot. I use a Red Gun oil by Lucas (AWESOME Stuff!) I added a few Drops of my Gun oil to the Tape And Gently wiped it around the Taped Plug, When i seated the Plug in the rifle i used my little Pen Bore Light to look down at it, It was a Failure? I could see it didn’t look right? I pulled the plug and the Tape was a mess. I cleaned and dried the Plug and Breech threads, Then re taped the Plug, No oil this time, It went perfectly. Maybe this Red Lucas gun oil is Rough on Teflon tape? Or i messed up that particular time? So far i have practice Wrapped 5-6 times, and the only failure i have had is when i tried the Gun oil on the Tape.

I Did Contact Knight By Phone, I explained to them that i had an MK-85 with the 11/16 BP, And was wondering if the Hex head Plug for the .52 Cal Bighorn would work in my Rifle? They told me Yes it would :yeah: