dmurphy317

For those who are interested, NM unit 17 is west and southwest of Socorro. From this unit west to the AZ border there are some very good elk habitat and hunting. My hunt is in unit 15, about an hour or lesswest of 17 and I have always seen elk when hunting there. In fact several record book bulls have come from that area. Some areas also have black bear and cougars in the area. The deer hunting in that area is pretty good too. Sabots and scopes are legal in all ML hunts except a few restricted ML hunts.

Good luck on your son's hunt and enjoy the great scenic beauty of the land of enchantment. Do have lots of water on handas the area is high desert and dehydration is a very real possibility. I would suggest drinking plenty of water for a couple of weeks before heading out to NM to build up your hydration.

nchawkeye

Don...Let's back up here a minute...I have owned a Knight Disc for 7 years or so...If I was going Elk hunting, I'd load up with a 300 grain Barnes all copper bullet and 100 grains of Pyrodes R-S...Several years ago I called Knight and their tech told me if a Knight wouldn't group this bullet it wouldn't group any...I know mine groups this bullet very well...The second bullet I would try is the 300 grain SST Hornady/T-C Shockwave (same bullet)...Use the same powder charge...Now this is assuming that you can use saboted bullets in that area....

2nd...Make sure all scope and stock screws are tight...

3rd...I get best results cleaning the barrel between shots, many that aren't used to shooting bp don't realize that this needs to be done...I put rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle, dampen (not wet) 3 patches and run down (both sides) then a dry patch followed by a lightly oiled patch and another dry patch....This insures that the barrel is in the same condition with each shot...

Knight made a heck of a muzzleloader when they came out with the Disc...I have several buddies that own them as well as the Wolverine and American Knight and have always been able to get them to shoot better than most shooters....I'd have to work with this gun a bit before I spent the money for something else......

PS....Are you sure the scope is reliable????

PPS...As far as range, I'd hold it to 150 yards on elk, assuming he can keep his shots in a 4-5 inch circle at that range....

rem 700

Rifles from T/C are always the 1st I recommend. The Omega orEncore would be long lasting, accurate, and dependable.

blackheel

Hey man after all the good caribou advise I can hopefully give you some!

I would look very seriously at a T/C Encore. I love mine and it shoots well. The best part is the interchangeable barrels so you can change it to whatever later on. If you get tired or don't like a caliber, you can recover quite a bit of your investment on ebay and find plenty of other barrels there. Tome an Encore is a lifetime gun.

I bought my Encore (SS/black synthetic) at BPS for about 550.00 last year. Cabela's actually had them for less with a rifle barrel but I would have needed the M/L barrel and forend. For my caribou hunt I have worked up a 300 grain Hornady SST over 110 grains of FFG T7. Ballistics show it to still carry 1200 ft/lbs at either 250-300 yards even though I wouldn't shoot that far. My guess is a 200 yd poke would be fine with the combo above.

If you want a deal on any brand new Bushnell scope, PM me.

Don K

Thanks for the offers and advice so far. I will look at the Omega's and Encore's too. When I get some time inthe next week I will take my son to the local shop and try to shoulder some guns.

As far as my Knight its a Wolverine I believe. There where 3 of us at the range for a half day and we just could not get that gun to group. I shoudl look into that too and get that one sighted in.

Thanks again for the information and advice.


Don

cayugad

I have a Wolverine and have had excellent luck with the rifle.



I did learn that I get better accuracy when I shoot 80-90 grains of powder then when I shoot 100 grains of powder. I shoot the XTP's and the Shockwaves with excellent results. Also my rifle shoots the 300 grain Saber tooth conicals very well.

The thing when shooting sabots is you have to swab between shots for the best accuracy...

Don K

Wow, those are great groups.

I think we where using 100 grains come to think of it. I will have to see what we had going.



Don

Don K

Well we picked up a Omega from a gentleman that had shot it some on the range but never hunted with it. Its the 50 cal. realtree camo version, stainless barrel with a matching Nikon Omega 3x9x40 BDC scope. Got a real good deal on it and will be shooting it tommorow.

Thanks forthe insight on this great forum. Have been lurkinghere and reading threads every day now to learn.

Wont be long and we will be in NM

Don

cayugad

Good luck in NM Don. That Omega will be a great rifle. There are a lot of Omega shooters on this forum. I personally shoot a Black Diamond XR (among my rifles) and that is the same barrel as the Omega. It is a great shooting long distance rifle, as I am sure you will find out.

Hope you guys bag a nice elk...

Rebel Hog

I also have the same set up as Cayugad (wolverine) using same powder andXTP 240grand been taking deer and hogs since the Mid 90's.