Knight Mountaineer 45 Cal. Muzzleloader

I killed my first big game animal—a bear—when I was 14 with a muzzleloader.  It was my Daddy’s old Hawken 54 caliber.  Since that day in June 1983, I’ve been a big fan of the smokin’ single shot.

When I really started looking hard at muzzleloader hunting for big deer back in the late 90’s, 45 caliber muzzleloaders were all the rage.  More than a few manufacturers were making guns in the caliber.  I found the 45 to possess great accuracy with flatter trajectory and lower recoil than the big 50 & 54s.  For a decade, there was a decline in popularity for the 45 due to a few industry faux pas and some gun writers knocking their potential. But like a good man, you can’t keep a good caliber down and the 45 is on the rise again.   

The Khanke 50 caliber I’ve hunted with the last two years has a 45 caliber interchangeable barrel.  It shoots sabots very very well (2″ groups at 200 yards). However, Colorado only allows full-bore conicals and that barrel was designed for sabots, so I stayed with the 50 caliber these last two years. Shooting full-bore conicals in a 50 caliber accurately means heavy bullets that punish a rifleman’s shoulder:

I longed for a 45 so I was just giddy when I met with Gordy Edwards, Head of Knight Rifle Division, earlier this summer.  I found that Knight still offers a 45 caliber rifle and that Gordy had the same enthusiasm for the caliber as me.  I told him that I won’t put up with bad accuracy just because I’m shooting a muzzleloader. He just smiled and said “Don’t worry about that one.”

Gordy sent me one of their Mountaineers in a Shadow Gray laminate stock back in early July.  Of course mine’s in 45, but they are available in 50 and 52 caliber (another intriguing Knight endeavor) for you elk hunters.

The bolt-action Mountaineer is designed to be legal in all Western states as it can be easily adapted from #11 to musketcap to 209 ignition and can be either sealed against the weather (an innovation led by Knight) or left open depending on the state (no more wondering if your gun is going to be legal if you pull that great tag!)

The Mountaineer was beautiful but I had to see what she’d do at the range. I love Precision Rifle’s lead conicals having seen the collateral damage they inflict on several deer I’ve shot, including last year’s 190 gross Colorado buck.

They are also a very accurate bullet.  Cecil Epp of Precision Rifle sent me the 360 grain Ultimate One QTs (90 grains lighter than what I shoot in my 50 caliber) and I was off to the range.

After a few barrel foulers and scope adjustments, I fired two consecutive groups at 100 yards that both patterned around an inch—the 1st group at 7/8″ and the 2nd at 1-3/8″.  I was more than happy with that kind of performance!  Gordy was right; Knight has retained her reputation for accuracy.

My very first group with my new Knight Mountaineer 45 Caliber Muzzleloader patterned at 7/8″ inches.  For muzzleloaders, I shoot two-shot groups.  In the field, that is practically all you’ll ever get.

Now that I’ve got my load developed (see short video below), my next step will be to remove my scope (scopes not legal in Colorado muzzleloader hunts) and install an XS Ghost Ring Peep Sight (more on why I choose a peep over a buckhorn-style sight in later posts).  As promised in It’s Not the Weapon…, I’ll walk you through the process of setting up a muzzleloader for hunting mule deer over the next few weeks.  

Oh yea, I forgot to tell you that I will be returning to Colorado this year for my third muzzleloader mule deer hunt in the Centennial State.  Like last year, Live Colorado Hunt 2013, and the year before, Live Colorado Hunt 2012, this will be a Live Hunt that you can follow.  The Good Lord willin’ and if the creek don’t rise, I’ll be looking over some of my favorite pinyon-pine, juniper, and oakbrush country come first light Saturday, September 13th.

Join me by subscribing to the Rok Blog at “Subscribe to blog” upper right just under the Fitness/Other links.  If the last two years are any indication, it will be a wild ride with lots of highs and lows. 

1/9/15 Update.  See the results of that Colorado muzzleloader hunt, recorded live starting here: Live from Colorado, It’s Deer Season!   Opening day through day 9 can be found by clicking on “Blog” link, top of page.