I have an old MK85 plunger gun, which I will keep forever because of the sentimental value. But I'm looking to upgrade when I can afford to, because like Idaholewis mentioned, the MK85 is a pain to clean. I have to take the action off the stock, remove the trigger, and remove the bolt (hammer, actually), then the nipple and breech plug. I'm assuming the newer Bighorns are the same, so someone please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm kind of assuming (dangerous, I know) that with a bolt action ml, I can leave the barreled action in the stock, and just remove the bolt to access the nipple and breech plug. Since range time is very precious to me, I think it would be worth the extra money to get the Disc Extreme over the Bighorn. Also, I've never had a problem with western ignition in rain or snow.
The Bighorn is identical to the MK-85 in the Cleaning aspect, Me being a serious Gun guy, and a non stop tinkerer, I understand the MK-85 as well as anyone possibly could, Believe me I have studied every possible way to Clean it THOROUGHLY to my “Personal satisfaction” (Which I believe is VERY different than some) This thing is PIG CRAP Nasty to clean Plain n Simple! I was Forewarned by Forum member Harleysboss, and Idahoron about how much more there is to Cleaning them, They were DEAD ON.
That being said, If you don’t mind cleaning, The Bighorn, and MK-85 are great rifles!! I have handled and Shot both, i like the MK-85 MUCH better, The added Barrel length of the Bighorn makes it Balance odd for my Liking, I didn’t find it any problem when shooting it, But i did when i put it on my Shoulder with a Sling, I wasn’t a Big fan of it there at all! They both shoot 100 Yard MOA EASILY, They both have STELLAR Triggers in them, They are all around Awesome Rifles! EXCEPT for the Cleaning aspect of them, Again “To my Personal Satisfaction” and my opinion from hands on experience with Both Rifles.
My friend, and Sport Store Owner that bought the Knight Bighorn Shot his rifle for the 1st time By himself, He Cleaned the Gun to the best of his understanding of it, He did ok, EXCEPT he didn’t understand Taking The Bolt apart? So he Scrubbed the Exterior (Everything he could get to) REALLY Good. When he brought me the Rifle to Prepare it for our upcoming Cow Elk Hunt it looked fine from the exterior, But I decided to Strip it down and Check his Cleaning? This is what I found, See anything Wrong here? Now remember this was a Brand new Rifle that was Fired 1 time. In my humble opinion These Bolts/Hammer assemblies NEED to be COMPLETELY stripped down after each shooting session and every piece of them thoroughly cleaned. Just think what this would have looked like in a Year of sitting, waiting for the upcoming Hunting season like a LOT of folks do, Not everyone shoots as much as i, and Many others do.
Here is a Picture of my MK-85 Bolt stripped down after 6 Shots (Same as Bighorn) First off note how Black nasty it is from “Blow Back” Also if you look closely at the lower end of this Spring it is BADLY tarnished Black on the end that is “Hidden” inside the Collar, This is from the previous owner not knowing how to Take it apart to clean it, Luckily this entire bolt assembly is Stainless and the Collar shows no signs of Rust/damage, instead of Blued Parts like the bolt above. This Spring needs replacing
The Barreled action is what i find to be the biggest PAIN to get thoroughly clean, Again “To my Personal satisfaction” This is after the same 6 Shots as the Bolt/Hammer assembly above. Here you can see a Tooth Brush pushed up inside trying to get it Scrubbed clean, Note how NASTY the inside of the Action is? BLACK Nasty! This needs to be cleaned back to Shiny Stainless! I have since started using a Shotgun Brush on a Cleaning Rod (Thanks to Sabotloader) This DEFINITELY helps a Bunch, But is stil a PAIN in my Opinion