Looking For A Knight .50 Hawkeye Pistol

Paul Wants To Know... "Does anyone know where I can buy one of the Knight .50 caliber Hawkeye muzzleloading pistols at a reasonable price?" 

"Why Can't I Duplicate The Load Ballistics Published On The NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING Website?"

World events are so much easier captured for the public to see due to the fact that such a large percentage of people now have a camera with them at most times - whether that camera is an actual digital still or video camera...or simply a cellphone with photography or video capability.  Snapping photos, either still or moving, has never been easier.

Somewhat in the same light, inexpensive yet reliable chronographs have made it so much easier for the typical shooter to clock the bullet speeds of his loads.  On a somewhat regular basis, NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING hears from muzzleloading shooters who have acquired a new chronograph - and a few have been shocked to find that, shooting the same rifle...powder...charge...sabot...and bullet...ignited by the same No. 209 primer or percussion cap...they are getting velocities that are often 50...75...or even 100 f.p.s. different than the loads and data we've compiled on all of the pages found at the following link -

http://namlhunt.com/loaddatalinks.html

That does not surprise me.  The fact is, on any given day, I experience the very same thing.  It simply boils down to the fact that you are not going to get the same velocities on a -10 degree (F) morning that you achieve on a +80 degree (F) or warmer afternoon.  Likewise, a variety of other factors also come into play that will affect the day to day velocities any shooter achieves, including the percentage of relative humidity in the air and the elevation of the range where you are shooting.

I've been on hunts where mornings were below zero and afternoons well into the 50's.  Yes, it will affect point of impact...but normally not enough to be of any real consequence.  A 50 or 60 degree temperature change will very commonly move point of impact up or down an inch or two - but with a properly sighted modern in-line rifle and a good center hold on the chest cavity of the game being hunted (at 50 to 150 yards), shooting a 250- to 300-grain saboted spire point bullet at 1,900 to 2,000 f.p.s., should put the shot squarely through the kill zone, perhaps an inch higher or lower than where the crosshairs were at the shot.

Here at NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING, we try to hit our range two or three times a week in April, May and June, then again in late September, October and early November - basing when we shoot on temperature.  Our range (shown above) is located in a shallow valley about 15 miles northwest of Missoula, MT.  For us, the ideal shooting temperatures are 45- to 55-degrees - often meaning that during early Spring and late Fall, we shoot more in the afternoons - while in late Spring and early Fall we hit the range in the mornings.

The ballistics data on the website was compiled from the shooting we've mostly done within that temperature range.  Still, we do a great deal of shooting when it's much hotter...or much colder.  This ongoing testing is conducted to see how those weather changes affect velocities, accuracy and point of impact.  Our published loads and data are simply a base, shooting during the most ideal weather and temperature range, in order to allow a comparison of rifle, powder and projectile performance.

During 2013, between our coldest and hottest shooting sessions there was an extreme spread of almost 110-degrees (-10 the coldest and +99 for the hottest).  Shooting our 30-inch barreled Traditions .50 VORTEK Ultra Light LDR test rifle, loading with 110-grains of Blackhorn 209 and the 300-grain Scorpion PT Gold, we experienced right at a 90 f.p.s. variation in velocity (fastest during cold weather and slowest during extremely hot weather).  Still, every shot would have taken a whitetail at 100 yards.

Before heading out on a 2013 Missouri Breaks hunt the week before Thanksgiving, the sighting of the rifle was tweaked to bring the point of impact up about an inch - and 5 days later a single shot dropped a nice 10-point buck at 140 yards.  As the weather changes, tweaking the sighting of any modern in-line rifle should be an ongoing thing...especially when a major weather and temperature change rolls in.  -  Toby Bridges, NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING


Here's A 2011 Article/Report That Takes A Look At "Variables In Muzzleloader Ballistics & Performance" -

http://www.namlhunt.com/mlvariables.html 



    

January Question Of The Month

Dave wants to know..."Where can I find parts for the Austin & Halleck Model 420 rifle?"

NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING Newsletter...Summer-Fall 2013

It's been busy here at NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING since we published our Winter-Spring issue of this newsletter back in March. We've had a lot of shooting to do this year, which got a little tough here in Western Montana as we had one of the hottest summers on record, with a record number of days into the mid to high 90's.  Still, we managed to get it done, doing all of our shooting early in the morning, when temperatures were right at 50 degrees.  Generally, we would get in about two hours of shooting before the temperature topped 65 - and that's when we would load up and head back to the office.

We had two new rifles to wring out, the .50 Traditions VORTEK StrikerFire and the .50 Redemption from LHR Sporting Arms - and through summer and early fall we managed to put about 500 rounds through each. Our early report on the Redemption can be found at http://www.namlhunt.com/mlrifle8.html .  And our first report on the VORTEK StrikerFire can be found at http://www.namlhunt.com/mlrifle9.html .  That's the VORTEK StrikerFire in the photo above right.

Deer and elk hunting seasons have been underway here in Montana for about three weeks, and I've gotten in 9 days of hunting - passing on three whitetail bucks.  Two were small 4x4's, and one was an equally small 5x5.  All had, at most, 14 inch spreads.  So far, I've seen just one bull elk...headed up a ridge almost two miles away in the last 15 minutes of daylight.  I put in two more days on that ridge and never saw him again. Early next week, a hunting partner and I are headed over to the Missouri Breaks to spend 7 or 8 days hunting big mule deer and river-bottom whitetails.  Hopefully I'll be able to share the details of a successful hunt on the NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING website before the end of the year. In addition to hunting deer, I also plan to do some fall turkey hunting...and busting a few pheasants with a muzzleloading shotgun.

The website has grown...a lot...since last year.  In fact, as this is written, this year we've added 61 new pages...and intend to add 4 more to the 2013 Article-Report menu before the end of the year.  Between now and the first of the year, we're also working to upscale the look of the site a bit as well.  To help the nearly 150 or so pages currently found at www.namlhunt.com to download quicker, we're also making the navigation of the site less cluttered by publishing a series of navigation pages, eliminating the huge drop down link menu that often took 20 or 30 seconds to download. Here's a look at how we've simplified the 2013 Article-Report page -


                                               http://www.namlhunt.com/2013-articles-reports.html 

The 2012 Article-Report menu has already been re-constructed in the same manner, and before January 1, 2014 the 2011 article and report menu will receive the same treatment.

If you've spent much time on the website over the past couple of months, then you've surely noticed that we are providing more coverage for the older style traditional muzzleloaders.  Our goal is to ALWAYS keep on providing the same great coverage of modern muzzleloading as we have in the past, and to expand our coverage of the traditional side of our sport.  Muzzleloading at all levels has gotten way too fragmented. There is still way to much bickering between modern minded muzzleloading hunters and purist traditional muzzleloading hunters.  Here at NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING...muzzleloading is muzzleloading - and we will represent both sides of the sport.

Our industry also needs to do some serious organizing.  As a rule, most muzzleloader oriented companies are now doing little to nothing to promote and build muzzleloader hunting opportunities.  Here's a look at that problem...and how the muzzleloading industry needs to model itself after the archery industry...or we just might begin losing way too many muzzleloader hunting opportunities -

                                                  http://www.namlhunt.com/mlindustry.html 

If you are successful in your hunts this fall and winter, send us a few photos and details of your hunts so we can share them with others.  Traffic on the NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING website has gone through the roof.  For the 12 month period from November 1, 2012 to October 31, 2013, the website was called upon 3,057,315 times by the muzzleloading hunters of North America - 419,766 times in October alone.

Thank you for helping make the site Today's No. 1 Source For Muzzleloader Hunting Information.  - Toby Bridges, NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING


                                                LEGISLATIVE ALERT!

A Petition has been filed to legalize Blackhorn 209 in Nevada.  The State of Nevada is the ONLY state to ban the use of this modern top-performing muzzleloader hunting propellant by name. Take a few minutes to send the Nevada Wildlife Commission a message - that muzzleloading hunters need to make those decisions...not a board made up of affluent residents appointed by the Governor who do not hunt with a muzzleloader...or who, very likely, have never even shot a muzzleloader. 

Legalization of the powder will be a topic of discussion at the December 6th commission meeting.  If you have not already, send an e-mail in support of this black powder substitute.  For more details and a link and an e-mail address where you can comment - Click Here.



    

Legislative Alert! Petition Filed With Nevada Board Of Wildlife Commissioners To Repeal Or Amend A Ban On Blackhorn 209!

The State of Nevada is the ONLY state to ban the use of this modern top-performing muzzleloader hunting propellant by name. Take a few minutes to send the Nevada Wildlife Commission a message - that muzzleloading hunters need to make those decisions...not a board made up of affluent residents who do not hunt with a muzzleloader...or who, very likely, have never even shot a muzzleloader. For more details and where to send your e-mail, go to the following link...

                         http://www.namlhunt.com/blackhorn209-10.html


                                        Get Involved...Send An E-Mail!

Publishing More Traditional Muzzleloader Hunting Articles

Through the remainder of 2013, and all of 2014, it is the goal of NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING to publish at least one traditionally oriented muzzleloader hunting article each and every month.  A September feature on hunting small game with small bore rifles is a good look at how the website will present the traditional side of this old shooting sport.  That article can be found found at the following link -

http://www.namlhunt.com/mlsmallgame2.html

Another traditional muzzleloader hunting feature will also lead the menu of October articles and reports.  That article shares the challenges of shooting and hunting with flintlock smoothbore muskets and Indian Trade Guns.  It shares a deer hunt with a bit of muzzleloading history - the very first of the North Star Trade Guns  ever produced - plus takes a look at the tremendous variety of smooth-bored long arms produced through the ages...and the modern reproductions of quite a few of those models.
To read that article, go to -

http://www.namlhunt.com/mlhunt7.html

Every NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING traditional muzzleloading article will be a combination of muzzleloading history and personal "hands on" experience.

The host of this website, Toby Bridges, has often been accused of being "Anti Traditional Muzzleloading", due to the great amount of coverage given to today's modern in-line rifles and top performing loads. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Bridges has written hundreds of magazine articles on traditional rifles, and has thoroughly covered those guns in 10 books he's written on muzzleloading - including the book shown at left - "Custom Muzzleloading Rifles", published by Stackpole Books in 1986...which was also the first year he shot and hunted with a Knight MK-85 in-line ignition rifle.

He is as experienced and knowledgeable about the older style front-loaded rifles as anyone in the World - and is also considered the top authority on loading...shooting...and hunting with today's modern in-line muzzleloading rifles.  He enjoys playing both sides of the muzzleloader hunting game.

Bridges himself has built several dozen traditionally styled "custom" muzzleloading rifles - including the two fine rifles shown on the cover of this book. One was a big .54 caliber Hawken rifle built to handle massive 120-grain powder charges behind a patched round ball, the other a short and slender lightweight full-stocked .45 caliber Kentucky rifle for his 9-year-old daughter.

Two articles already slated are "Loading & Shooting The Traditional Muzzle-Loaded Shotgun", which will primarily cover older style "non-choked" scatterguns, and another article that's a look at "The Old Masters", which will share the gunmakers of the past...and the early history of muzzleloading in America.

Through 2014, the website will also work in a few reviews of several traditional reproduction rifles that are currently being offered, perhaps spotlight a present day custom riflemaker or two, report on accessories for the older style muzzle-loaded guns, and we'll share some loading tips for achieving best accuracy and game taking performance. On this website, it is the ability of any muzzleloader and load to take game that is given priority.

The website started life as "High Performance Muzzleloading" back in 2003. By 2006, it became very evident that many out dated and backward hunting regulations were hampering the continued growth of muzzleloader hunting in the U.S. - so that year the name of the website was changed to NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING. Since then, the site's efforts have been very influential in getting many of those non-serving regulations changed.

It has been the modern side of the muzzleloading industry which has supported the fight to liberalize muzzleloader hunting regulations - so all can enjoy and participate in the muzzleloader hunting seasons. The fact is, close to 90-percent of all muzzleloading hunters today hunt with the modern in-line rifles and loads. That's why the coverage of muzzleloading on the website has swung so heavily in that direction. What the website hopes to accomplish through stepped up coverage of traditional muzzleloading guns and hunting with them is to share the enjoyment and challenge of that side of our sport - to encourage more of the 3- to 3 1/2-million muzzleloading hunters in this country to use traditional muzzleloading equipment for at least some of their muzzleloader hunting. - NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING 

       LOOKING FOR TRADITIONAL MUZZLELOADING SPONSORS

If you manufacture or market products specifically for today's traditional muzzleloading hunter, these pages on the NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING website are more than likely the absolute best place to advertise or promote those products. Currently, traffic on this site over the past 12 months has topped 2.7-million. This month (September 2013) alone, muzzleloading hunters  referenced the website more than 300,000 times. We are right now very much on track to top 3-million site users for all of 2013.

You cannot reach that many muzzleloading hunters anywhere else. Our sponsorships are extremely reasonable, providing links to your website and inserting your banners or logos where appropriate. Or, we can custom fit a page around your magazine style advertisements. For more details, or to inquire about getting a traditional muzzleloading product review on this website, drop us an e-mail at the following e-mail address. 

 

 

                                                    namlhunt@gmail.com                                           

 

                                                                                                                           

 

Getting The Most Out Of A Multi-Reticle Muzzleloader Hunting Scope

There are several different riflescopes now on the market which feature a reticle having multiple cross-bars, cross-plexes, cross-hairs or circles, offering built-in holdover for shooting at longer ranges...well, long range for a muzzleloader anyway.  Do they work?  Most certainly, but to fully benefit from using such a scope, today's muzzleloading hunter needs to know a thing or two about setting up a rifle and load in order to tap the full benefit of such optics for today's top performing muzzleloading big game rifles.

Here, we will be using the TB-ML muzzleloader scope from Hi-Lux Optics to provide pointers which will allow the muzzleloading hunter to sight in the primary crosshair at 100 yards with an accurate combination of powder...charge...sabot...bullet...and primer...then rely on three lower cross-bar plexes for placing shots at 200...225...and 250 yards.  The reason why we've chosen this scope is that the TB-ML model was developed out of all the shooting conducted for all of the information packed muzzleloader performance articles and reports that are published on the NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING website.  We know that the locations of the longer range plexes were not determined through calculation...but rather through placing thousands of rounds downrange... because we did that shooting.

Take a look at the TB-ML reticle in the drawing at right.  Note the three shorter cross-bars below the center crosshair.  The locations of these "aiming points" were determined more by velocity and bullet ballistic coefficient than any other factors.  The reticle was developed using  a .50 caliber rifle loaded to get a saboted 250- to 300-grain bullet with a .210 to .250 b.c. bullet out of the muzzle at between 1,925 f.p.s. and 2,000 f.p.s.  If you are saying to yourself that such a wide range of bullets and velocities cannot all print "on" exactly the same at all these ranges...you are absolutely right.  But, for hunting, they don't have to.

                              

The rifle shown in the photo at the top of this post actually belongs to a very good friend, and this summer (2013) I tweaked his load and scope to make it a deadly 250-yard big game rifle.  However, it is exactly like one of the rifles I now tend to shoot more often than any other - the .50 caliber Traditions VORTEK model.  And like all four of my VORTEK test rifles, this one is also topped with one of the Hi-Lux Optics 3-9x40mm multi-reticle TB-ML muzzleloader hunting scopes.  The load it tends to like more than any other is 110-grains of Blackhorn 209 behind the saboted 300-grain Scorpion PT Gold bullet and black Crush Rib Sabot, both produced by Harvester Muzzleloading.  At the muzzle of this 28-inch barreled No. 209 primer ignition in-line  rifle, the load is good for 1,952 f.p.s., generating 2,535 foot-pounds of energy.  On a really good day, when conditions are ideal, and the shooter is up to it, the rifle and load will often punch a great sub 1/2-inch cluster at 100 yards, such as that shown here.

More typically, the groups I shoot are more like 1 1/4- to 1 1/2 inches, measured center-to-center.  While little things like 20 to 30 degree warmer or colder temperatures...shooting at 2,000 to 3,000 feet different elevation...or say a change of the humidity by 30- or 40-percent can cause the exact point of impact to shift a 1/4 to 1/2 inch from day to day, the fact remains that such accuracy will still take any big game animal with a center chest cavity hold at 100 yards.

Through the course of a year's worth of test shooting, I punch a lot of standard paper targets...and often get a little bored.  One enjoyable way to get in some beneficial shooting, especially when shooting with a multi-reticle scope, is to play around with cardboard cut outs that simulate somewhat life size shooting at game.  The above piece of cardboard is roughly 18 to 19 inches from top of what would be the back to bottom of the chest cavity.  It also measures right at 40 inches in length - relatively closely simulating the body size of a whitetail buck.

That 10" diameter paper plate also roughly simulates the so-called "kill zone" of a whitetail.  In other words, any reliable bullet design that can be put into this area with AT LEAST 800 F.P.E., and which is capable of transferring that energy to the target, will cleanly bring down a mature whitetail or mule deer buck.  Keeping hits in that "zone" is the key...and this is where the multi-reticle muzzleloader scopes can be key to being successful.

The 9 shots inside the kill zone shown on the cardboard silhouette at right include 3 shots at 200 yards (3.1 inch spread)...3 shots at 225 yards (3.6 inch spread)...and 3 shots at 250 yards (4.7 inch spread).  The proper hold-over cross-bar reticle of the Hi-Lux TB-ML scope was used at each range...and the three overlapping groups have an extreme spread of 6 inches (center-to-center). 

All 9 of these shots would have effectively put down a 200+ pound buck.  At 250 yards, a 300-grain Scorpion PT Gold bullet (.250 b.c.), that left the muzzle at 1,952 f.p.s., would still be flying at around 1,300 f.p.s. at that distance, and would hit with 1,125 foot-pounds of retained energy.

The 260- and 300-grain Scorpion PT Gold bullets were the bullets shot most during the development and refinement of the TB-ML scope, shooting 110 grains of FFFg Triple Seven.  The charge got the 260-grain .220 b.c. bullet out of the muzzle of a 27-inch barreled Knight Long Range Hunter model at 2,018 f.p.s., and with the rifle sighted 1-inch high at 100 yards, then using the 200-yard cross-bar would print right at 2 inches high at that distance.  The same rifle, loaded with 110-grains of FFFg Triple Seven and the .250 b.c. 300-grain Scorpion PT Gold was good for 1,909 f.p.s. at the muzzle.  Again, sighted 1-inch high at 100 yards, then using the 200-yard cross-bar reticle, at 200 yards the heavier and slower bullet would print on the average 1 inch below point of aim. 

Due to the lower b.c. of the lighter 260-grain bullet, somewhere between 150 and 200 yards, it begins to slow faster than the higher b.c. 300-grain polymer-tipped spire-point.   Using the 225 yard cross-bar at 225 yards, the 260-grain Scorpion PT Gold will print pretty much "on", while the 300-grain version of the same bullet prints about an inch high.  Out at 250 yards, the 260-grain bullet hits the target around 2 1/2 inches below point of aim - the 300-grain bullet averages nearly 2 inches above point of aim.  Still, when it comes to maintaining "minute-of-whitetail", all of this is a moot point.  On more than one occasion I have conducted similar tests, shooting three shots at each range (using the proper cross-bar) with each bullet (with rifles sighted to print 1 inch high at 100 yards), and the extreme spread of all 18 shots rarely opens to more than 6 inches.

With a center chest cavity hold on deer sized game every one of these shots printed inside the "kill zone", and would have taken game.  Since developing the TB-ML scope with Hi-Lux Optics, I've only had to rely on the longer range cross-bar reticles a half dozen times to take game for the table.  However, I have used the scope on several different rifles to bust some 200 to 250+ yard coyotes, groundhogs, and other predators or vermin.  My longest shot was on a coyote that I had lasered at 256 yards.  I held just above center, and squeezed off the shot.  That yodel dog never knew what hit him.

The 110-grain charges of Blackhorn 209 I'm now shooting out of the .50 caliber 28-inch barreled VORTEK and the 30-inch barreled VORTEK Ultra Light LDR are just a bit faster than the charges of FFFg Triple Seven used when determining just where the longer range cross-bars of the TB-ML would be located.  Even so, that really has not changed the points of impact much once out at 200...225...250 yards.  The overlapping three 200, 225, 250 yard groups (9-shots) punched with my friend's Traditions VORTEK were shot with a muzzle velocity of 1,952 f.p.s., not 1,909 f.p.s. - and all 9 stayed in the kill zone.

The multi-reticle muzzleloader scopes do indeed work...and work very well.  However, no one should ever shoot at game at a range they have never shot at - no matter what some scope makers may lead you to believe.  The best advice anyone could give the muzzleloading hunter that's either new to a multi-reticle muzzleloader scope, or who is anticipating the purchase of one is to get out and shoot often at those longer ranges.

Another tip is to make absolutely sure that the reticle of the scope is perfectly squared with the bore.  If the crosshairs have even the slightest tilt (not square with the bore) to one side or the other, it will result in the shot being off to the side.  Sure, the crosshair itself is centered in the scope, and can still be sighted to print dead on at 100 yards.  But if the crosshairs are not level with a perfectly leveled rifle, then the 200...225...or 250 yard reticles will be off to one side or the other of the primary crosshair - which should be directly above the cross-bar being used. 

If it's not, then the scope is not squared with the bore.  If you already have a multi-reticle scope on your rifle, next time you are aiming with one of the longer range cross-bars, plexes or circles of your scope...note where the crosshair is on the target.  If it is slightly off to the right...your shot will go off to the right.  If it is off to the left...guess where your shot is going. 

Also, keep in mind that these scopes are still very, very useful when shooting considerably slower loads or much lower ballistic coefficient bullets.  While the so-called "200 yard" reticle...or the "225 yard" reticle...or the "250 yard" reticles may not be on AT THESE DISTANCES...they will still allow you to hold on at some longer range...and that would be up to you to do plenty of shooting to determine exactly where each prints the load you are hunting with.

Toby Bridges
NORTH AMERICAN
MUZZLELOADER HUNTING

www.namlhunt.com

            
NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING Special Offer For The Hi-Lux Optics TB-ML Muzzleloader Scope...

Here is a great way to save $50 on the Hi-Lux TB-ML Muzzleloader Hunting Scope...and to support the website's efforts to keep on bringing you the best muzzleloader hunting coverage on the internet today.  Just go to the following link for all the details...

http://www.namlhunt.com/specialoffers.html