New Knight Vision 1st Shoot Review
 

Ok ordered it from SG. I ordered the camo 50 cal Vision w/scope. 3 days shipping, not bad. No scope, base, or rings came with it. I assume it will be a separate shipment. So I decided to shoot it anyway with open sites.

Out of the box is has a nice fit and finish. Easy to just figure out without the dreaded instructions. Sort of has a Savage 99 type lever to break it open. Then it opens up like a New England single shot shotgun except no external hammer. The action is Very stiff, I used a little 3in1 oil and problem solved. You do have to snap it firmly to securely close it.

It has a nice feel to it when you pull it up to your shoulder. The open sites are very good and very easy look down the barrel and see your sight picture. So I started out cleaning it very well. A flat tip screw driver and allen wrench were nere needed to take it apart. I heated the barrel up to near 200f and then moly coated the inside of the barrel then back in for a while. Pulled it out and let it completely cool down then cleaned it again. Then back together which is fairly straight forward.

I went out and set up some targets at 50yds (coke cans and 6X6 timber). All I had was t7 ffg so thats what I used. I had 3 different types of bullets (Hydroshock, Powerbelt, and XTP), all of which were 240gr. The primers were Winchester t7 209's that I snapped off 2 of them prior to loading it up. The trigger pull is fairly light for a ML with a crisp release. I ran a lube patch down it after snapping the primers off. Loading and seating the primers was easy but I did have to pry the fired primers out and could not get them out with just my fingers. Hopefully this will improve with use.

I fired a total of 6 shots, each using 100gr of loose powder tamped firmly down. I loaded and fired 1 bullet of each type I had as a familiarization to the gun prior to actually shooting for true accuracy. All 3 started with no problems with the XTP being the easiest to load. The Powerbelt bullet required the most force to seat against the charge. The ramrod is aluminum but you actually could use a T-handle rod to make it a much easier process. I ran a lightly oiled patch down the barrel after each shot. I shot empty coke cans as a familarization target and hits expect on the first shot that was 3 inches high and my fault

The recoil was not bad at all. I did have 1 misfire that failed to strike the primer. I just opened it up again and firmly closed it and it fired. Something to take note of here, could be an issue in the field.

In the pictures the top left bullet hole was the Hydroshock, the bottom left was the XTP, and the one on the right was the power belt bullet which I am sure I pulled it some on the trigger squeeze. The black paint dot on the 6x6 timber is 3 fingers wide.

On the back of the 6x6 timber the hydroshock passed through but as this shot was nearest the edge and did get some side blow out on the timber, I do not think it would pass through if it was center mass on the timber. The XTP I truly think had the least amount of penetration of the three based on the large hollow point design. The Power belt did not exit but it almost did on the as wood was being pushed out on the lower left in the photo. I will more than likely use the XTP to hunt with unless as I work the loads up to 130gr each and see something different. The reason being as the 6x6 timber piece was free standing and when hit with the XTP it snapped over backwards and the timber simply fell over backwards with the other two.

All in all clean up was easy, MUCH easier than my 54cal hawkins and I found the weapon accurate with open sites and will more than likely keep it open.......having trouble getting past muzzle loader hunting with a scope......but who knows. I think this is a really nice weapon and should have no trouble taking deer if used within its limitations. As you can see I get deer coming 30yds off my back deck on my land. The primer extraction issue I will work on. Not bad for $219.00 shipped.

it sounds like you had a lot of fun. And for the first time out, it looks like you did real well.

Good report!

That mis-fire bothers me. Sabotloader knows the fix for that. A few of the sportsman guide models had some issues with that. I will send hin an email to chime in on this.

BTW- Congratulations on your new ML. I really like the Vision.

davemhughes

I am not to concerned about your single misfire, as you found the method to clear the problem. By snapping the gun closed you are causing the locking bar to go farther up on the locking lug, this will allow the hammer to reach the firing pin and thus the primer. I also believe as you use the gun and the action loosens up the problem will alieviate itself.

If it becomes a consistent thing then you will need to deal with it mechanically... I would suggest you send it to Knight. But it really is and easy fix.

2nd Day of Open Sight Shooting
 

Well I received via UPS my BH209 and T7fffg powders as well as some of Cabelas very cheap QT 250gr sabots.

So to start it off I now have 4 types of bullets and 3 different powders. I fired all 4 bullet types with each type of powder @100gr each.

The Cabelas bullet was way off with all 3 powder types

The XTP did extremely well with the ffg T7 powder.

The Hydroshock did well with the fffg powder

The powerbelt did its best with BH209

At 130gr

None did what I would call great but the shock wave did its best with ffg.

To make a summary of a long day short I will get to the point of what I found in this weapon. After playing around most of the day the end result was:

At 115gr BH209 or ffg Cabelas QT was Very accurate.

I gave up on the fffg powder as it kept forming a hard fouling ring that was tough to get out quickly. I do not like this powder in this weapon. I felt there was no way you would be able to get a second shot off if needed with a cleaning the barrel first.

The XTP was the most consistant at all gr loads of ffg but did its best at 115gr.

The shockwaves did very well with BH209 in the 120-125gr areas with 120gr being really good.

The Powerbelt did its best at 110gr BH209.

At the end of the day my shoulder is sore and I now know I do not like fffg powder and any of these bullets will perform well somewhere in the 115gr range. I was very pleased with the real cheapo QT sabots. I liked the BH209 buts it not all that the bottle says it is.

I think the ffg with the XTP might be my favorite for use as a hunting load. I personally feel ballistic tips while look good and hunters buy them work best moving at high fps over long distance and a XTP or Gold Dot might be a better knock down load for deer sized animals. I will know more when I cut those timbers open and look at the bullets.

I might next week play with a percentage blend of BH209/ffg just to see what the results are. Not really looking for the type results I do when working rounds up for my heavy barrel weapons, just curious.

Of course like all things in life your mileage may vary this is just how my day went.

I too have a Knight Vision and love it. The BH209 does do a great job and is very accurate. My most accurate load was shooting 100 grs under a Hornaday FPB bullet. I know this bullet is very heavy at 350 grs for a deer sized animal, but it is very accurate.

I had three bullets all touching at 50 yds with a point of impact at 2" high. I went over to the 100 yd range and got a nice three shot group inside an inch and a half with a POI at 1" high. I really love the idea of only loosing an inch between 50 and 100 yds. I only wish I could shoot my gun out to 200 and 300 yds to further the test of this powder.

At first I was very against this powder due to the price. I think it is highway robbery, but for what it does I guess I can afford the extra cash for now. :confused0024:

Did you swab between shots with the BH209? And what is it you are using to swab the bore??

Lightly polish the inside of that primer cup next time you clean the breech plug.

If you where asking me, no. I have shot as much as 26 consecutive shots without any swabbing. It really is amazing that you can do this with this powder.

No, I meant to be asking the OP. But you confirmed what I was going to suggest to him regarding the swabbing with BH209.

But I still want to know what he was using to swab with...

I have several old boxes of .45cal handgun bullets I have accumulated over the years from hand loading my Para-Ord P-12, one box I think is 300gr HP I am going to play with. Even though I think mass matters when talking killing power, nothing beats a well placed shot. I use to routinely take Caribou in AK with my 25-06 using hand loaded 120gr Noslers Partitions when I lived there.

I am ordering some 45cal Nosler handgun bullets tonight I like them so much.

I know the cost of BH209 is a draw back but it has its place I think and if I had to go into the bush I would take it as I think its the most chemically stable and resistant to climatic conditions....but then again what do I know.....:confused2: The more I use it the more I might like it.

I was swabbing between shots with "usually" a lightly oiled patch. The fffg powder had to have the barrel cleaned well to get a follow up shot.

This is just me but the BH209 powder I thought should have been weighed vs just measured by volume.

I shot my 54cal hawkins with BH209 also and thought it was way to hot a load for it at volume measurements. Of course this is a much older weapon using balls.

I currently am bidding on a BP 12ga shotgun on Gunbroker for turkey season.

I would suggest a different swabbing solution... something with a substantial percentage of alcohol. The oily swab might well be counter-productive.

BH209 meters very well in volumetric measures. Weighing on scales might get the last tiny bit of consistency to be had, but it is one powder that I can't make a serious argument FOR weighing.

I will give the alcohol a "shot", sorry for the really poor pun.

I don't know why you would call the Knight Vision a poor gun. I have had the pleasure of shooting mine now for a while and love it. It is by far the most accurate ML in my safe! And that was with a variety of powders and bullets.

Maybe you just got your hands on a Monday mornin' gun or just a plain lemon.

Boy, talk about getting old!!!! :bash:

How the heck did you get a Hawken to ignite with BH?

Semi

They do make an aftermarket 209 nipple that will go into a TC or could he not duplex a load. See and that does not make any sense to me either but....

You are correct.....

The funny thing is as we get older we are supposed to get smarter. In our youth we did things not too bright at times because we simply did not know any better. Well when we get older we do those same things simply because now we know better but because we are now smarter (theoretically smarter), we can now pull it off. Never mind the fact that the a bad idea then is still a bad idea now.

Ok the sort of whole story goes something like this... Lets see what it does in my old 54 hawkins, just because. So "snap", nothing, clean the nipple, "snap", nothing. SO I say to myself this sucks.......go down stairs read up in the forum about problems just like this......this would be where I should have read first.........so in the end after "ball fishing" and adding a little bit of something I know burns and stacking 209 on top of it and then igniting it. This is the part that is not a good idea. Never mind that this is a huge PITA to do with absolutely no benefit to an old hawkins that does its best work hanging above the fireplace. So instead of relating this whole series of events as it relates to a bad idea, I simply came to the conclusion it just is too hot for it and my hawkins now loves me again.

I really do think 209 powder is not the best thing for this weapon even if I did have a 209 nipple for it.