I was able to get out yesterday to do more shooting with my new Knight Ultra-lite. Last week I got it on paper with an 80 grain load of Black horn and 250 grain Hornady SST's, now I wanted to see what I could get those same bullets to do. I have some more work yet but am enjoying learning this rifle and it's characteristics. So far, I'm really thrilled with the gun.
I purchased the Knight Ultra-lite with the green stock, and bare primer breach plug. For a scope I chose a Leupold VX3 2.5 X 8 power scope, bases are Leupold weaver style steel bases, and the rings are 1"medium height matte finish Weigand Combat aluminum rings. The rifle with scope is shockingly light in weight, and I'm still not used to picking it up and feeling the lack of weight. It'll be a dream when carried in the woods and I have to say, recoil is very manageable for such a light rifle. The powder used was Blackhorn, measured by volume in a TC measure. The bullets are again 250 grain Hornady SST's with Hornady's supplied red plastic easy load sabot. Range was 100 yards.
I picked up where I left off and shot a fouler shot with 80 grains, and then moved to 90 grains and shot a 3 shot group. When I got to 100 grains I zero'd the scope on the bull at 100 yards and then began adjusting powder volume seeking the best group. I increased in 5 grain increments and did notice that group size seemed to shrink as I climbed in measured volume. I stopped at 110 grains and got the group below.
I think the rifle can do better, and I need to shoot that exact load a few more times to see if I caused that shot out of the bull. The first and second shots are the ones inside the bull, and I remember feeling a little bit of pressure on that third shot as I was getting ready to squeeze. That would have been sweet to drop the third in there but, that last shot of a really nice group often drops outside for some reason :lol: That was my last group of the afternoon, and as I walked back to the house I felt successful in that I have a good zero and a decent hunting load to use now. I look forward to trying other powder charges and different bullets to see what I can come up with for a nice, accurate load. I have some 240 grain XTP's to try, and a bag of green sabots for .429 bullets so I'm going to experiment quite a bit more with this rifle. I should note that I never swabbed the barrel between groups, but did give the barrel 5 mins or so to cool between shooting strings. I was in the shade, and the Ultra-lite's barrel seems to cool rapidly. The breach area of this gun stays remarkably clean, with the scope not having any residue on it afterwards. However, as I got past 100 grains in powder volume I noticed the primers came out a bit dirty, with the ends being black charred. The barrel was also much dirtier that my first outing when I used 80 grains of measured powder. Loading effort never seemed to increase so this could be a non-issue. A quick note to anyone thinking of this rifle, and mounting a scope on it. The supplied breach plug removal tool is far too short to use handily when there's a scope on the rifle. The plug accepts a 7/16 deep socket, so in my tool kit for this gun, I now keep a 1/4" 7/16 deep socket, a 12" 1/4 extension, and a 1/4" socket driver handle. It's much easier to remove and install the breach plug.
I purchased the Knight Ultra-lite with the green stock, and bare primer breach plug. For a scope I chose a Leupold VX3 2.5 X 8 power scope, bases are Leupold weaver style steel bases, and the rings are 1"medium height matte finish Weigand Combat aluminum rings. The rifle with scope is shockingly light in weight, and I'm still not used to picking it up and feeling the lack of weight. It'll be a dream when carried in the woods and I have to say, recoil is very manageable for such a light rifle. The powder used was Blackhorn, measured by volume in a TC measure. The bullets are again 250 grain Hornady SST's with Hornady's supplied red plastic easy load sabot. Range was 100 yards.
I picked up where I left off and shot a fouler shot with 80 grains, and then moved to 90 grains and shot a 3 shot group. When I got to 100 grains I zero'd the scope on the bull at 100 yards and then began adjusting powder volume seeking the best group. I increased in 5 grain increments and did notice that group size seemed to shrink as I climbed in measured volume. I stopped at 110 grains and got the group below.
I think the rifle can do better, and I need to shoot that exact load a few more times to see if I caused that shot out of the bull. The first and second shots are the ones inside the bull, and I remember feeling a little bit of pressure on that third shot as I was getting ready to squeeze. That would have been sweet to drop the third in there but, that last shot of a really nice group often drops outside for some reason :lol: That was my last group of the afternoon, and as I walked back to the house I felt successful in that I have a good zero and a decent hunting load to use now. I look forward to trying other powder charges and different bullets to see what I can come up with for a nice, accurate load. I have some 240 grain XTP's to try, and a bag of green sabots for .429 bullets so I'm going to experiment quite a bit more with this rifle. I should note that I never swabbed the barrel between groups, but did give the barrel 5 mins or so to cool between shooting strings. I was in the shade, and the Ultra-lite's barrel seems to cool rapidly. The breach area of this gun stays remarkably clean, with the scope not having any residue on it afterwards. However, as I got past 100 grains in powder volume I noticed the primers came out a bit dirty, with the ends being black charred. The barrel was also much dirtier that my first outing when I used 80 grains of measured powder. Loading effort never seemed to increase so this could be a non-issue. A quick note to anyone thinking of this rifle, and mounting a scope on it. The supplied breach plug removal tool is far too short to use handily when there's a scope on the rifle. The plug accepts a 7/16 deep socket, so in my tool kit for this gun, I now keep a 1/4" 7/16 deep socket, a 12" 1/4 extension, and a 1/4" socket driver handle. It's much easier to remove and install the breach plug.
I love that Green stock on those rifles and I really like the scope set up you chose. :yeah: For a first range report it is looking good. How did the red sabot load in the rifle?
