[BigJon]

Recently picked up an older-model Knight disc rifle, new, and installed the conversion kit so that I can run three powder pellets instead of two safetly if I want to. I have 300-grain sabotted HP bullets. I picked up some Zeiss rings (all I had were some old non-steel Weaver-styles) and scoped with a very fine, old ("Made in WEST Germany") Zeiss scope. ML is a few weeks away. I know how to load and shoot it safetly (I am a very experienced smokeless-powder rifleman), but I am a rookie when it comes to smokepoles.

Any suggestions on a particular load-component with these rifles that works best for you?

How may rounds should I expect to get out of this rifle with Pyrodex or Triple 7 without clearning before accuracy degrades noticeably?

How much variation (ballpark of course) should I expect between a clean versus a fouled barrel?

ANY tips you guys could pass along about how to get the best performance out of this rifle, or save me time and effort in using and maintaining it, would be most appreciated.

Best,
Jon

 

[GBullet]

Jon, I'm going to call you tomorrow about hunting. Ironically, I was planning to use a muzzleloader this year.

Triple 7 and Pyrodex are great. The big cleaning issue is with the plastic sabots. They clog up the bore after a half dozen shots, making loading harder. Just run a patch with a little spit every second shot.

American Pioneer Powder is a great new blackpowder substitute. You might try it instead of Triple 7 or Pyrodex. Also try the Power Belt bullets. They load even easier than the sabots.

Clean barrels are easy to load, but accuracy is still good with fouling.

Expect the best accuracy with around 130 grains of powder. Knights, T/C's and other scoped inlines can achieve 1 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards.

 

[BigJon]

Great to talk to you, GB! Again, you hit the mark - you read the directions carefully (e.g. rookie!). Will be shooting three shots a day for the next few weeks just to see what's what. Incidentally, the muzzleloader has finally given me a great use for an older model (says "Made in WEST Germany") Zeiss scope. It's a 3-12 56 mm, but with the reticle in the other focal plane, which makes it hard to pinpoint the target on a deer out past 300 yards. It fits well on my smokepole, and the rifle is very well balanced with it, believe it or not!

Best,
Jon

 

[BigJon]

This "smokepole" stuff is neat. Kinda nice to have to work for things! I have been shooting a couple of rounds every other day during lunch (we have a place to shoot right at work!), and then cleaning my rifle that night. So far, I have it to about 3" high at 100 yards, and I have not yet had the opportunity to shoot it to refine things or try to see what kind of grouping I get after cleaning.

Unfortunately, I already know that my rifle has about 6" of deviation between shots from a clean and only once-fired barrel.

You know what's funny? As I said, this is an older model, and I picked up a conversion kit to swap out the bolt to allow me to run three 777 pellets instead of two. Yesterday, I tried the converted rifle with only two pellets, and it only "fizzed" and blew a stream of white smoke 25 yards to the target. Did the same thing twice. Each time, of course, I waited quite awhile and then removed the bolt to check to ensure that the barrel was not obstructed. Then, when I went back to 2 pellets, it worked just fine.

So, I'm a few inches high at 100 yards, and I'll probably sight my rifle in about 2" high at that range.

We'll see what we can wring out in terms of consistancy! This is fun. Neat stuff.

Best,
Jon

 

[BigJon]

Got all my cleaning steps figured out, except one. After shooting, I run a moist (water) patch down the bore, then a solvent patch, then two-three dry patches until one comes out clean, and then - as per Rolin's excellent recommendation, a Bore Butter patch. The bore is clean as a wistle after that.

Can't figure this one out though: How the heck to you clean out the ignition hole in the plug? I soaked it in soapy water, ran the faucet over it with hot water, and even filled up my mouth with hot water and blew the water through the hold under check pressure. I'm still sure that there's a better way to be ensure that the flash hole is completely clean. Is there a special tool or procedure to do that?

And one more: I have tried the Powerbelt bullets, and they do, in fact, seem easier to load the the full-sabot bullets. However, that would suggest to me (remember, I'm a centerfire guy) that this may also result in some blowby of gasses and reduce pressure behing the slug. True, or does even the little plastic base on the Powerbelt bullets expand enough to keep gas from blowing by?


Best,
Jon

 

[Cornbread2]

When 70 grains of blackpowder and a 180 grain roundball will kill any deer in the US why do you inline folks think you need three Pryodex pellets, that can and will not burn in a short barrel, and a JHP bullet to kill a deer?

 

[BigJon]

Testosterone replacement.

 

[Half elf]

OFF TOPIC sorta, but I use 70gr of fffg out of my .54 CVA, and a round lead ball. It works everytime I do my part. I started with 50gr, increasing 5gr every shot, and fired over a snowbank until I got black flaking from the muzzle blast. With that as a base line I found that 70gr was the most accurate in my rifle, and loaded my speedloaders accordingly.