Muzzleloading Questions

tcba1987 · 11-17-2009, 06:55 PM

have a chance to buy a Knight & Hale 12 ga muzzleloading shotgun............the questions i have is...............

Can you use these for deer hunting and if so what type of powder can i use........pyrodex pellets ?? regular black powder ??

also what type of bullet can be fired through them for deer ?? Sabots ?? Regular roundballs with patch ??

are they good shooting guns for deer hunting ??

I know they will shoot wads and shot pellets for turkey but wasnt sure about shooting one for deer ..........it has some sort of what looks like a choke assembly on the end of the barrel !!!

Its a nice looking gun and id like to buy it but would probably only use it for deer ..........what do you guys think ???

Semisane · 11-17-2009, 07:08 PM

If I was going to buy a gun that would be used only for deer hunting, it would be a rifle (unless, of course, you have a few rifles and are looking for a little variety).

As for your specific question about using a patched ball in that gun, I suspect it would be a bad idea. So far as I know it's designed for turkey hunting and has an extra tight choke. Ideally, you want a cylinder bore or very little choke when shooting balls from a shotgun. Hopefully one of the Knight TK owners on this forum can shed a little more light on this for you.

cayugad · 11-17-2009, 07:27 PM

If this is a shotgun... it is a smoothbore. That means if you have no choke at all, you can shoot a roundball, but the accuracy will not be long range by any means. Also if this is a double barrel I read it is not recommend because it can stress the center rib.

If you want to hunt deer get a rifle. Save the shotgun for turkey.

Gotbuck · 11-18-2009, 09:27 AM

Not sure what gun you have but I shoot the Knight TK2000 and I specifically asked Knight the same question as I saw a website that claimed you could shoot a 69 cal roundball out of their gun if you remove the choke. Knight's response was no way!! They eventually shut down that website and the false claims it made. You see the TK 2000 has an internal "jug-choke". This is an area inside the gun that the bore actually is wider than the rest and constricts before reaching the choke area. The idea is when you shoot a loaded shot cup with pellets, they expand in this area and are forced together before entry into the choke tube and result in long range bird hunting. Knight said there is a chance that a roundball could get stuck in that area. I can tell you if you want to hunt birds this is the greatest gun by far. I have a 62 yard kill with this one. So I would not load it up with roundball, sabots etc, it sounds like it is a bird gun if there is a choke.

tcba1987 · 11-18-2009, 02:46 PM

THANKS guys for the quick answers to my question.............i think im gonna just buy another muzzleloading rifle ..............probably a CVA Wolf............i have one now and love it !!

wabi · 11-18-2009, 03:51 PM

Don't know about that gun, but I have a T/C NewEnglander 12ga with choke tubes. I have tried several different round ball loads and all have been very disappointing for accuracy, and that's with a peep sight on the tang!
My old .62 smoothbore flintlock did much better with a round ball - out to about 30 - 35 yards, then accuracy is very erratic with a round ball and no spin on it.
The smoothbore is a lot of fun with shot for small game hunting, though!