.52 cal loads

[Gila]

Just jumped into Muzzleloading. My first MZ Rifle is being shipped as I write this. As most of you who hunt elk in NM know, the outfitters own most of the big game tags here in New Mexico. Drawing a resident rifle bull tag is getting to be almost impossible. I had to hang up the bow because of shoulder issues. A good bull tag here to hunt PUBLC lands goes for 10-15K. Some of the E-PLUS tags are resold 2 or 3 times…

I picked up a Knight Disc Extreme at the blow out price as they are discontinued. I will be shooting #11 percussion caps for now unless I can find a better solution. Going to shoot FTX .325 gr sabots to start with. I am curious about what types of powder to use and how much would work for this knight rifle with a 26” barrel. I am looking for the smallest group at 200 yards. No scopes allowed here in NM. I would like to try some bore diameter conicals but don’t want to pay 2 bucks a bullet….I would rather buy a mold and pour my own. Can I shoot conicals without a patch? Rifling twist is 1:26”. Any help is very much appreciated.

 

[ElDiablito]

I’d use 777. Conicals are nearly always shot without a patch, although, many of us use a wad (wool, poly or fiber) between the powder and conical.

.52 is an uncommonly used caliber so your options for bullets are slimmer than with a .50 or .45.

 

[Gila]

I see that .50 is the way to go for selection of bullets. The .52 didn’t take off. I guess the saving grace is that there are a number of different bullets for the 45-70 which takes a sabot for the .458” bullet. How do you work up a powder charge for BP?

 

[ElDiablito]

Yeah neither of the two sabot manufacturers (Harvester and MMP) offer a .52 sabot. You may have to get them from Knight.

Im not sure what the max charge is in that rifle, probably 150 gr by volume. Most of us start at a reasonable charge and work up in 5 gr increments. I’d probably start at about 90 gr by volume of FF 777 and work up, shooting three shot groups.

Parker Productions make a couple .52 lead conicals but the other two big conical companies (No Excuses and Bullshop) don’t, IIRC.