MK-85 Hunter
 

I was unable to ethically take numerous shot opportunities this season with my open sight Hawkin due to darkness and distance, including a 140 class 8 point @125 yds, on two separate occasions. The second time he had an unusable front leg. As well as a doe @75 yds and again @125 which also had an unusable front leg. As a result, I have my first scoped inline on the way. This gun uses bare 209 primers. I have lots of loose powder and will be working up loads, now that I've joined a local skeet club with a 100yd range which members use at no extra charge. Any recommendations for a starting load combination? Any preference in 209's? I will want my hunting round to be effective to 200 by next Fall. Guess I'll have to go to the old range and pay $20 to do that a few times. Here's a photo of the deer I settled on in the last 1/2 hr of the last day of firearms. I did not think he had a point on the left beam or I would have opted for one of the does he was with. Oh we'll.

Man welcome to the MK85 world.

Sorta hard to mess up working up a load for the MK85. Tony Knight use to boast that you could pop any ole conventional sabot down a MK-85 and go hunting with it that afternoon with zero load development and kill a deer with it. I saw it done on more than one occasion.

Every MK85 I ever ran across had a preference for heavier bullets. 300 grain .452 bullets are like magic in them. I would stray away from sub .452 diameter bullets if it was me.

Suggested loads would be the 300 grain .452 XTP with a starting base of 80 Grains of FFG Pyrodex or 777 and work your way up. Win 209 are the way to go. The two sabots to try with that load are the MMP short black Sabot and the Harvester Black Crush Ribbed.

No longer Produced are the 375 Gr Buffalo Bullet SSB sabots. Those were just amazingly accurate in the MK85. If you can track down some of those. DO!

If you can't get that load to shoot you would be the first one.

Another welcome to the MK 85 fan club. I use Paper Patched Lee 500 S&W bullets in mine. They are super accurate and powerful. Ron

Another huge MK fan. :D

Ditto what they have said. Most mk's shoot very well with 90-100gr loose powder (Pyrodex, 777). I too have had great luck with .452's, but my current hunting load is a .429gr/44cal 240gr Speer Deep curl. This bullet is very accurate out of my gun with 100gr pyrodex, and the performance on game is pretty awesome.

Personally I like the #11 setup over the 209. To me, their #11 system is about as good and reliable as any ever made. I prefer RWS caps.

Make sure you cover your scope between the rings so it doesn't get burned from the blowback (bra, tape, etc). Enjoy your rifle, they are great guns for sure. :)

Ed, I have some of each of the combinations you suggest. I will need to get some Win 209's. I saw where Buffalo bullets have gone by the wayside. Probably best if I don't find them anywhere. Hate to fall in love with them and not be able to get them! Thanks

Idahorn - no doubt that Lee slug packs a wallop. What charge are you using to push it?

WVHunter - why do you prefer the #11 caps? I've thought about getting a #11 plug cause I have a copious supply of magnum caps.

Also, does anyone know who the barrel maker for this gun was? It's the "Hunter" model, discontinued in 2001 I think.

I have found that 90 grains of RS pistol and a 300 grain XTP is a super load. I would start with 80 and work up, good luck

Yeoman, I tried 209's (fpj) and personally did not see any advantage in using them in this style gun, and #11's work perfectly. Never had a misfire or delay fire, and they are cheaper, and easier to use for me. I know 209's will give a crud ring with some powders, #11's don't.
Maybe Sabotloader will chime in, I know he's done quite a bit of shooting with the different ignition systems in MK's.

Your barrel is most likely a green mountain. Only the very early models had barrels from other manufacturers. I believe they went to GM exclusively in 1989. Gm's have 8 lands, I believe some of the others had 6.

I hope it is a GM. I have a GM drop-in in my Hawken and it's a tack driver. Thanks.

You have just purchased one of the best plunger style inline muzzle loading rifles made!!!! That was really easy for me t say not that I carry any kind of credentials that make it 100% true - but I believe it.

The MK is hunter accurate with just about anything you want to shoot from it and I would bet that would apply to all the different powders that are available. The one exception, and not in accuracy but in safe operation, is BH-209 which must be ignited with a 209 primer or duplexed.

I use to use 209's all the time thinking I was creating something really good and positive. When I was using 209's I did use the W209 and another primer that you can not even get anymore a Remington 209-4. A very mild 209 primer built for the 410 shotgun.

You did not say whether your ignition system was the plastic jacket system or the bare 209 primer system, in either case they are really more than I needed. I switched back to #11 Mag primers and T7-3f for all of my shooting.

My hunting load for either deer or elk is a Lehigh/Bloodline .458x275 grain bullet in a MMP Orange sabot, with 110 grains of T7-3f, ignited by a RWS Dynamit Noble 1075+ cap ( a CCI #11 mag cap will work very well also) . But for the most part it really doesn't matter the MK is a beast of a gun and will shoot most often what you want to shoot.

This is one of mine...

Sabot, nice to visit with you again. This gun is 209 bare primer. Looking at primers, it appears cost is very similar to caps at around 8 cents. I will have the primer tool. Is there a downside to using the primers? More blow back? I swab between shots and will be using primarily Prodex RS and some Schuetzen. Is crud ring a problem under those conditions with 209's? I was aware of some risk using BH in the plunger style guns. I guess ease of cleaning will play a role in whether I experiment with that.

That's a good looking gun. I prefer the thumb hole stock and will have an eye out for one if this gun (and shooter) go together well. Do all MK-85's fit an MK-85 stock or will it depend on the year of this weapon? How do I tell?

Not much of away to get around it... plunger guns get the breech area dirty, whether you are shooing a cap or a 209. There is a bit of concern shoot bare 209's in that the blowback can/could eject the primer back into the face of the plunger - force the plunger back and allow the 209 or parts of the 209 to fly out of the breech area... This is not very common with moderate loads and lighter projectiles until you get to BH. Caps can do the same thing except the tend to stay in the hood of the hammer.

Probably not, Pyro could cause the beginning of one but since you are patching between shots I doubt that you would even notice it...

Because BH is a smokeless progressive burning powder it has a longer duration of back pressure on the nose of the primer and could cause more frequent blowback problems.

Well according to some you need a MK stock... but both of the thumbholes that I have came off new Big Horns. Both of these stocks accept the MK without a problem. My MK's are both Predators, one has a GM barrel and the other a Wiseman barrel.

As always a thorough relpy. I think I shall use 209's and get myself a pair of yellow shooting glasses since I'll be using a scope and I need them for skeet shooting anyway. Thanks!

I use 80 gr of pyrodex P with an over powder wad and I use #11 mag caps. That load has 1150 FPE at 200 yards.
Ron

That's a thumper. How's accuracy @200?

I have it sighted in for 200 yards and I have shot milk jugs with it but I haven't shot groups. The front sight is a little big and I have to use a 6 o clock hold to hit something as small as a milk jug. Ron

Ah, thought maybe you had shot them from a scoped rifle. I had some long range success with open sights by placing the front bead on the target bull and elevating it above the rear notch(Williams sights). I was amazed how your eye can repeat what it has seen if you can check the POI through a spotting scope between shots for feedback to hone in at long range (200).