Advice needed
#21
RE: Advice needed
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]
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]
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.
#23
Spike
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 16
RE: Advice needed
I am returning to ML hunting after 30 years of bow hunting, back injury put an end to my archery days. Since I am starting at the bottom of the learning curve again, I dont have any 1st hand knowledge about ML hunting elk here in New Mexico, but one of my best friends is an outfitter in units 15, the 16's and 23. He has seen just about every caliber and load in existence used on elk on the ML hunts. He said a .50 puts elk down no problem, with decent load you stuff in it. When he uses a ML on elk he shoots a CVA .50 with a 100 grns of pyrodex pellets and a 250 grn sabot (I'm not sure which one he prefers). He said the only time he has ever seen a .50 fail to do the job was a women hunter he was guiding who could only handle the recoil of a 50 grn charge and 240 grn sabot. She hit one in the boiler room at about 80 yards, but they never did find the elk. Even put a dog on the trail with no luck.