Need help: Knight rifle

[JohnDeere]

There is a reasonably priced MK86 offered in the classified section. I might be interested in buying this rifle for a young son as an inexpensive way to start the boy on black powder. It's a .50 cal and I can start Matt on low 60gr charges. He's age 7 and big for his age. Maybe I ought to season him another year or two, but he sure loves to accompany me on Washington late elk muzzleloader hunts. Hunting the canyon behind our house for blacktails sounds like a good way to start the boy.

I have three concerns:

I'll have to chop the butt stock quite a lot. I'd probably prefer to take it to an 11.5" LOP because later I can add a limbsaver pull-on kick pad to move it out to 12.5" LOP. Is the butt stock of an MK86 hollow? Can that much be sawed off? I'm guessing the factory LOP is about 14.25", so we're talking about a lot of cutting.

My second concern is whether the MK86 has the same slender fore end as the MK85--the better for little hands.

My last concern is to ask whether anybody know whether the MK86 was "cheapened" versus the MK85--like a worse trigger, etc?

The rest of my questions the seller can easily answer.

Thanks much for the help, guys.

John

 

[Doohan]

John.

You may be better served to to with the Knight Youth Wolverine... some places have them NIB for under $100.00

No need to alter.

 

[JohnDeere]

That's a mighty fine picture. Is your boy using a Wolverine? How old is he? Guess I had the impression that the Wolverine had a long "magnum" length barrel and a man's-sized fore end. Your picture dispels most of my impression.

 

[JohnDeere]

By the way, the states I hunt require No. 11 caps. No 209's. Does this knock the Wolverine out?

 

[cayuga]

I shoot a Knight LK-II (Wolverine) it has a #11 ignition and a 22 inch barrel. Load that thing with 80 grains of powder and it is good to go with a lot of different bullet. One that might work for your boy, it shoots a 270 grain Buffalo Ball-et real well with 80 grains of Pyrodex RS. And I never considered it a hard kicking rifle. Also with the loose powder that thing will shoot rain or shine.

 

[Doohan]

That is Travis... He is Venisoneatrs boy.. He was with us on our last hog hunt and he harvested that monster on his own with his youth wolverine, 60gr of BH209 and a 250 XTP..

I believe he was 8 in that pic.

 

[cayuga]

That is a monster hog... I sometimes think we push these bullets way to hard. Look at the DWB's and what they shoot. My little Wolverine shoots 80 grains perfect, and I would trust that out to 100 yards in a blink of an eye. I mounted a cheap Simmons 2.5x20mm on that rifle and is that a sweet rifle to carry and get into a tree with.

 

[n8dawg6]

that youth wolverine is a good choice because it has a shorter LOP. standard knights have a 14 1/2" lop, which is about an inch longer than any of my centerfire rifles.

 

[greatbasin]

I want a youth Wolverine too, but the Ye Old Archery Shoppe dosen't seem to have any more...at least on their website. I knew I shouldn't have waited to buy :x

BTW, man that's a brute of a hog and a great photo, too.

 

[vabowhntr]

http://www.yeoldearcheryshoppe.com/knig ... -7166.html

Try this, still in their bargin bin.

 

[greatbasin]

Ya thanks. I called them this am and they have yet to call me back.