Shack56

Hey all, a very good friend of mine past away and I was given a Knight Wolverine from his estate. It's blued, camo stock, brand new in the box never shot, all the stuff that comes with a new one is still there in unopened packages. It also has a QDMA medalion in the stock so he may have won it in a raffle I don't know.
I know nothing about this gun and Knight doesn't even list one on they're website. I just would like to know where it ranks with the rest (good, bad, indifferent). Is it something to be left in the box or take it out and shoot it?
I have a T/C Encore with a muzzleloader barrel I use but have never shot this type of inline, so if I do shoot it is there anything I should watch out for?
Thanks for any and all the help, Steve

WV Hunter

They are a great little lightweight gun, and great shooters. Probably not worth a ton of money - (though maybe a little more as a QDMA model than normal). If it was mine...I'd probably shoot it. Those style guns usually shoot VERY well with .240 - .260 sabots (xtp, speer, knight, etc) and anywhere from 90-100gr loose powder. I use RWS #11 caps, they seem to be the best. They also shoot conicals well, if you are interested in them.

Edit: I'm assuming it has the #11 setup in it. Some of the newer versions had 209's. They work well also, but I prefer #11 setup.

cayugad

The Wolverine is a sweet rifle. They are good shooters. Depending on its age it may have a 22 inch barrel but later models had a longer barrel. As ignition systems changed in them also from #11 cap to 209 primers.

They shoot sabots real well. Normally with 85-100 grains of powder. No new powder like BlackHorn since it is a plunger rifle. But Pyrodex RS works great in them. Be sure to grease the breech plug and ever few times out, take the trigger off, go outside, spray it out with brake cleaner, and re oil it. It will save you a lot of headaches down the road. As if they get too gummed up, your plunger can freeze up. Also be sure to grease under the rear safety, for the same reasons.. if you don't, over age they too can freeze up and its hard to get them to release.

Muley Hunter

I'm not sure it can't shoot BH 209 The manual says the gun can shoot 150gr of T7.

So, I would think 80-100gr of BH would be fine.


Shack...The gun has a Green Mountain barrel, and Timney trigger. It should be a great shooter.

The new model is called the Big Horn. It's basically a Wolverine with a longer 26" barrel. Yours probably has a 22".

I'm not expert on the gun, but I just got one, and am still learning about it.

Sabotloader knows the gun well.

sabotloader

That would be my bet... that is was a raffle rifle. Back at that time Knight was a very big contributor to organizations like that.

The Wolverine which was the last model of the LK series has been replaced but the Big Horn and the Little Horn rifles.

That whole series of rifles from the original MK series through the Big Horn have been excellent rifles. Well built, accurate, and extremely simple - yet, for the part, offer Green Mountain Barreld actions, fully adjustable triggers, and other quality points.

It is old technology, if you look at it that way, in that is often referred to as a 'plunger gun'. The hammer assembly is nothing more than a hammer that falls on the cap or primer to begin ignition. Simple but effective.

Unfired it has somewhat of a greater value, than just NIB. But yet time has sped on buy so it certainly is not as expensive as it was. The medallion, also might create some interest to a memember of the that group.


It is a great little rifle and you might really be surprised at its accuracy. If you have a use for it, I certainly would shoot it. I can not imagine that the value of the gun would increase substantually with time.

The plunger guns were basically designed as Percussion guns, using the #11 or Musket cap. Pressure to get modern induced Knight to offer it with 209 ignition, either with a plastic jacket (FPJ) or a bare primer (NFPJ). There is a bit of risk using 209 ignition with an open breech primer and that should be considered. Myself a few years ago would say the heck with the risk and bring on the 209's - Today I have moved back the other direction and have converted mine back to #11 caps (magnum caps) shooting T7-3f.

Yes, you can shoot BH from them, you must use the 209 ignition upping the risk a bit and then adding the fact that BH increases the risk a bit as it burns longer than other powders increasing the amount of blow back pressure on the nose of the primer, which could cause the primer to 'spit' off or out of the BP and possibly into the open air.

But all-in-all it is a great little gun. It should shoot anything that you might shoot in you Encore ML barrel with the same charges and probably produce the same results.

my 2 cents

Shack56

Thanks for the replys, did a closer look at the barrel and it says Knight Wolverine 209, has the Green Mountain Logo, and is 23" long 50cal. Good to know about the loose powder, I have lots of Triple 7 since I started using BH209 in my TC. Are the red discs a one time only deal?
Thanks again, Steve

sabotloader

No they are still availablefrom Knight - in fact Knight still sells a pot full of them every month.

Oh wait a minute.. think I know what you mean... I do re-use mine several time for range shooting and target practive but for hunting I do use a new one for each shot.

The necks that go on over the nipple will expand and stretch so they will leak and give you a little more bore back in the breech area...
If you put them on and they nearly fall off - they are done...

Muley Hunter

How much blowback does the #11 cap get?