ORIGINAL: Don K
Ok,
My son was lucky enough to draw a NR Unit 17 NM Either sex Elk tag. A handful of tags and hes one of the lucky ones.
Now the questions. Im mainly a bowhunter with 25+ years doing that. I have some gun experience and a little muzzleloader. I have a Knight that was given to me a couple years ago but I cant get this thing to group at all.
Im looking to purchase a Muzzleloader for my son for his hunt. I would like to go inline and set up a scope on it. Would like one that groups good and want him to start shooting here come July. Hes 13 years old but a big kid (5ft 8 and 145 pounds) I dont want to break the pocket book but would like something dependable and decent.
Any advice or suggestions would be great.
Don
[email protected]
As cayugad says, the Knights are good rifles. Your grouping problem MOST LIKELY is caused by theload thatyou tried, and it is likely that you can develop aload for that rifle that will shoot much better.
Contact Knoight, describe the problem, and get their recommendation for an accurate load for that model of rifle.
Then get the powder, bullets, sabots & caps you need to load it according to their recommendations.
You will probably find acuracy with a load within 10 grains of what they recommended, but since all guns are individuals, you WILL have to do some test shooting to find the particular combination of bullet and powder that is best in that specific gun.
I DON'T think your problem is going to be solved by buying another gun. If it turns out you can't get that Knight to shoot, see if they will replace it with one that will!
With a projectile of 300 or more grains, a powder charge of 90 to 120 grains will give sufficient power to cleanly kill an elk out to at least 150 yards, if placed well. Forget about those "magnum" loads of 150 grains/three pellets. Most such loads have less accuracy than lighter ones.