Some of you know that a friend (sqezer) of mine at a gun show called and asked if I wanted another MK-85 - $85. Did not take me long to say yes! - even if it is in bad shape - the parts would be worth that.

This is a picture of the rifle he sent me.



LeRoy bought the rifle for me and said he would ship it. But when he got home and took it apart to check it out - he found it was loaded!!!! - he removed the BP and pushed the load out then ran some patches through - discovered some pitting in the breech area and bit on the hammer floor. Wasn't sounding real good but I asked him to go ahead and send it out.

It arrived on Monday - it physically really did not look that bad. I spent the day cleaning up and working on the pitting - minor pitting and I did find a little bit more just beneath the crown. With that I broke out the JB's and worked the bore over. Got the rifle pretty much ready to go and since it was only 3:00 thought I would run to the far and see if it would shoot! Oh! I did one other thing removed the green wood stock and dropped the rifle in a DISC Elite Thumbhole stock. Dropped right in and really felt good!



Right now the 'PLAN' is that I will probably load this rifle the Junior High kid across the street so he can muzzleload hunt with his dad this fall. But before I could do that I wanted to make sure it would shoot. I just can not understand why some would not take care of their rifle and let the decay happen. But! I was confident the 'ole girl' would shoot! MK's are tough!

Got to the far and got setup - I had laser bore sighted the rifle at 13 yards in the house so I set the target at 50 yards as I was pretty confident I would be on paper. Another change I removed the scope blocks and the rear sight and installed a Williams WGRS peep - I really do not like these because they are what I call a 'slide and glide' sight. I much prefer positive clicks like the Williams FP peep...

The Rifle did not disappoint! I ended up quickly shooting 2 different groups before I had to hustle back to the house. Hope to get out more with it this week...



Not to bad for an $85 rifle!

I'll say you got a great deal on a good shooting rifle. I don't know why people don't take care of their equipment either. I really get tired of hearing the whining about having to clean their rifles.
I told a friend one day who was whining that I figured he didn't have to clean his rifle just let it go. But also expect the wife to stop washing dishes and clothing as that is a chore she does way more than you have to clean a rifle. Never heard him whine about cleaning a gun after that.

Al

Very nice shooting. Some day I might have to get me one of the MK-85 rifles. They seem to be a great rifle. But the three LK rifles I have kind of make up for it.

I have seen more of my friends ruin a rifle because they were too lazy to clean it. PERIOD. Then have the gall to complain about it. I mean what did they think when they got into this sport ... the rifles cleaned themselves. That's why one reason when a powder advertises its easy to clean and you don't have to clean until days later ... that don't impress me much. If the powder ignites easy, has good power, shot to shot consistent, and cleans easy ... now that impresses me. One reason I like Triple Seven and black powder.

Blackhorn and American Pioneer / Shockeys, are the only two powders I consider easily cleaned. Pyrodex is by-far the worst.

What a nice buy that MK-85 was. Probably get that $85 back, just selling the laminated stock that was removed.

I strongly disagree with your powder list. I think any powder that soap and water takes out of my barrel is ok in my book. And Pyrodex with just soap and water will come out of the barrel with a few wet patches.

Sabotloader if you see another cheap MK like that, keep me in mind.

Still loaded? Unbelievable. From the grouping you must have done a great job on it. Such a shame to treat a nice gun like that. Congrats on the resurrection and I am sure your neighbor will really enjoy using it.

Now it makes sense why we disagree Dave. I never let the soap and water baths go inside or outside of my MLs. My feeling is moisture is the #1 enemy of guns...... all types.


Enemy #2?........ that darn Bore Butter / Wonderlube. It cannot be trusted after one of your water baths.

I've been washing my muzzleloaders with hot soapy water for years. If you know how to do it right you get zero flash rust. Clean, dry, and then a good quality gun oil. I could shoot one till I had the rifling wore right off of it and still have no pitting or rust.
Of course you can do it with solvents with good results also but I find water is effective and very inexpensive with the powders I shoot ( real black and 777). I think solvents are necessary with BH209.

I am not sure why you would make that statement unless you were not competent in what you were doing. I must admit I do a lot less water baths than I use to, but even then I would not have a problem using the water bath. Water will not hurt a thing if the parts are dried properly.

Likewise, bore butter/Wonderlube when used correctly can work and have worked for many years. The real key there is to use it correctly not as a cure all fix everything - because when it is used incorrectly it can go sideways in a hurry.

What I believe it all comes down to is knowing what you are doing and doing it correctly.

They key to cleaning a ML barrel with soapy water is to make that water as hot as you can possibly stand it for the rinse. Hot water spread over a mass evaporates quickly and dries off before flash rusting.