RE: Knight 52 cal M.L.
IMHO the 52 Knight is THE premier long range big game muzzleloader!!! Then why did I get a Savage this year to replace my 15 year old 50cal Knight? Cause I am tired of cleanin the thing. But I can tell you after shooting the .52 for 2 days at a dealer meeting with factory reps and guns, the 52 is AWESOME.
I cant remember the exact diameter but I want to say the bullets we were shooting were around .475s? They were 385gn Barnes and were pushed by 150grns of granula T7. The load hit like lightning. Was dead on at 100yds, 4.5" low @ 200 and 16" low @ 300. We absolutely wore the 8" and 10" steel silhouettes out @ 300yds with that load. The big slug retains alot of energy (can you say elk medicine?) resisted wind drift much better (which was good in the Wyoming wind) and shot noticably easier over 200yds than the assorted 50s also in the mix (discs, wolverines, revolutions etc). One rep even told me that he enjoyed shooting that gun and load so much he actually stopped and shot prarie poodles for 4 hours (with landowners blessings no doubt!).
If you could load 175-180grns of powder in a 54 and do it safely and accurately I'm sure it would be equally awesome over the 50 for "way out there" shootin,
RA