The one bullet that the new Knight "LRH" shot only so-so was the flat-shooting 195-grain Precision Rifle duplex sabot "Dead Center". Now, this light bullet measures just .357" in diameter...but right at 1.005" in length. In other words, the bullet is nearly 3 times longer than in diameter. The Knight "LRH" features a premium Green Mountain barrel with a turn-in-28 inches rate of rifling twist. And while this twist tended to shoot every other saboted bullet in our test with very acceptable accuracy, the best we could do with the duplex sabot .357" diameter PR bullet was about 2 inches at 100 yards...and at 200 yards that translated to 4.5" to 5.5" groups. Still good hunting accuracy, but not the proverbial "tack driver" the rifle has proven to be with other .430" to .452" bullets that are 2 to 2 1/2 times their diameter in length. My drop testing coincided with some rate of rifling twist testing for Green Mountain Rifle Barrel Company. The company had sent me 3 fast-twist "drop in" barrels for my old custom side-hammer half-stock - 1:24, 1:22 and 1:20 twists. Curiosity got the better of me, so I took the long Leatherwood Malcolm scoped 1:22 barrel (32" length) with me to the range...and shooting a 110-grain charge of FFFg GOEX Express Black Powder behind the long and small-diameter bullet, I quickly discovered that it liked the snappier turn of the rifling. At 100 yards, ignited with just a standard No. 11 percussion cap, the rifle and powder charge proved fully capable of printing the 195-grain .357" PR "Dead Center" bullet inside of an inch...and one 200-yard group measured just 1 3/4" center-to-center. Three of those shots went through one elongated hole that, as far as I can tell, is about 3/8" center-to-center.
As saboted bullets continue to get longer, perhaps it is time for in-line rifle makers to begin looking at a rate of rifling twist that's just a tad faster than what most are using now. - Toby Bridges
5-Shots At 200 Yards - With the light .357" 195-gr. PR "Dead Center" bullet. Three basically through the same hole!
Cut-rifled for long, heavy bore-size conical bullets, Bridges found the 1:22 twist bore of his side-hammer to prefer the light duplex 195-grain .357" PR "Dead Center" bullet.
Comparative Rates of Bullet Drop From 100 to 200 Yards
5.25" - 195-gr. PR .357" Dead Center
6.9" - 260-gr. PR .400" Dead Center
7.3" - 240-gr. PR .400" Dead Center
7.5" - 300-gr. PR .430" Dead Center
7.9" - 240-gr. PR .400" Extreme Elite HP
8.85" - 340-gr. PR .451" Dead Center
9.7" - 250-gr. Parker .451" Ballistic Extreme
9.9" - 250-gr. Barnes .451" TMZ
10.8" - 250-gr. Hornady .452" SST
11.2" - 275-gr. Parker .451" Ballistic Extreme
11.5" - 290-gr. Barnes .451" TMZ
11.8" - 245-gr. Barnes .451" Spit-Fire
12.3" - 300-gr. Hornady .452" SST
12.9" - 285-gr. Barnes .451" Spit-Fire
13.8" - 295-gr. .499" Power Belt
14.9" - 223-gr. .499" Power Belt
18.7" - 250-gr. Hornady .452" XTP Hollow-Point
21.2" - 300-gr. Hornady .452" XTP Hollow-Point
So...How Much Does Your Bullet Drop From 100 To 200 Yards?
Just 25 years ago, reliable 200-yard perfor-mance with the muzzle-loaded big game rifle was just a dream. Today, most all of you reading this report fully expect your rifle and load to deliver more than adequate accuracy and energy at that distance to cleanly down the game being hunted. And thanks to the advances made with the rifles we hunt with... the powders we now favor...and a great selection of modern hunting projectiles - 200 yard performance is indeed a reality.
Earlier this year, one of the major bullet makers challenged me to do comparative testing to come up with some realistic rates of bullet drop for the growing selection of aerodynamic, high ballistic coefficient bullets. So, for the past three months, I have been spending much of my time doing just that. In fact, to determine the data that is being presented here, I did a great deal of shooting with 18 different bullets, burning nearly 8 pounds (volume equivalent) of FFFg Triple Seven. In all, nearly 600 shots were fired - 500 from the same rifle.
While I did learn a thing or two about the trajectory of some of today's better selling muzzle-loaded hunting bullets, what I learned most was how much temperature and humidity affected the performance of a rifle and load. I began shooting back in mid April, with early morning temperatures often in the 40s...and just concluded my shooting yesterday (July 9th), with temperatures at daybreak already in the upper 70s.
Every bullet checked for how much it dropped from 100 to 200 yards was shot from the very same .50 caliber rifle - the new Knight DISC Extreme "Long Range Hunter". And to compare apples to apples, every bullet was loaded with the very same powder charge - a 100-grain volume measured charge of FFFg Triple Seven. From the e-mails I receive from HPML viewers, this charge and powder has easily been the most widely used.
Altogether, I ran 14 of the newest and sleekest saboted bullets through the Knight LRH. The line up included the 250- and 290-grain Barnes TMZ bullets, the 245- and 285-grain Barnes "Spit-Fire" bullets, the 250- and 275-grain Parker "Ballistic Extreme" bullets, the 250- and 300-grain Hornady SST bullets, plus a wide range of Precision Rifle Custom Muzzleloader Bullets. That selection of PR bullets included the 195-grain duplex-sabot .357" diameter "Dead Center"; the 240- and 260-grain .400" diameter "Dead Center" bullets, the 240-grain .400" diameter "Extreme Elite HP"; the 300-grain .430" diameter "Dead Center"; and 340-grain .451" diameter "Dead Center". And for comparison, I also did extensive shooting with the 223-grain bore-size (.499" dia.) "Power Belt" and the 295-grain "Power Belt" of the same diameter. Likewise, the widely used 250- and 300-grain .452" Hornady XTP jacketed hollow-point bullets were also thrown into the comparison.
Of the bullets tested, the sleek 195-grain .357" diameter duplex-sabot Precision Rifle "Dead Center" was defintiely the flattest shooting of the lot. Back in late April and May, with cooler temperatures and lower humidity, the bullet averaged 4.65" of drop from 100 to 200 yards. In June and July, shooting in warmer temperatures and with significantly higher humidity levels, average drop increased to 5.25".
Actually, all six of the Precision Rifle bullets shot turned in flatter trajectory than any other bullet tested. Even the hefty 340-grain .451" "Dead Center" shot flatter than other bullets nearly 100 grains lighter. Take a good look at the drop comparison at upper right and you'll see that this big bullet came in sixth, with 8.85" of drop, thanks to its high ballistic coefficient. Precision Rifle has established a .376 b.c. for this bullet.
Of the jacketed lead-core or all-copper spire-pointed (or spitzer style) saboted bullets, the 250-grain .451" diameter Parker Productions "Ballistic Extreme" proved to be the flattest shooting, with an average of 9.7" of drop. Actually, of the 245- and 250-grain saboted bullets of this type shot, there was only about 2 inches difference in the average amount of drop. With heavier 275-, 285-, 290- and 300-grain saboted jacketed or all-copper designs, the amount of drop from 100 to 200 yards ranged from 11.2" for the 275-grain Parker .451" "Ballistic Extreme" to 12.9" for the 285-grain Barnes "Spit-Fire".
I hear a lot from viewers who continue to load and shoot the "Power Belt" bullets, mostly because they load easily. And they should, since the .50 caliber bullets are just .499" in diameter. I've also heard a lot from viewers who have had poor success with the "Power Belt" bullets, claiming that the bullet fragments horribly when it hits a game animal. I still contend that, especially with present easier loading sabots, such as the Harvester "Crush Rib" design, today's muzzleloading hunter is far better off sticking with a good saboted bullet. Any of the newer spire-pointed saboted bullets featured in this test are a better choice than the "Power Belt" designs.
For this test, I shot both the lightweight 223-grain and the medium weight 295-grain "Power Belt" bullets - both with the polymer "Aerotip". Being right at .50 caliber in diameter, I was not too surprised to find that both of the these bullets tended to have noticeably more drop than any of the sleeker poly-tipped spire-point saboted bullets. The light weight 223-grain bullet dropped most, with 14.9" of drop, while the longer (and slightly higher b.c.), heavier 295-grain "Power Belt" dropped 13.8".
Of all the bullets shot for this comparison, the most accurate was something of a tie between the 250-grain Barnes TMZ and the 250-grain Parker "Ballsitic Extreme". The new Knight LRH rifle proved capable of punching 1/2-inch 3-shot hundred yard groups with each. And most of the 200-yard groups shot with the rifle and either bullet tended to stay inside of 2 1/2 inches. Another great shooting bullet for the Knight LRH was the 300-grain .430" PR "Dead Center", turning in a number of sub 1-inch hundred yard groups. The worst accuracy was with the the 295-grain "Power Belt". At 100 yards, the rifle and 100-grain charge of FFFg Triple Seven tended to keep the bullet inside of 2 inches. However, the best 200 yard group shot with the 295-grain "Power Belt" opened to more than 10 inches.
Just before fall, HIGH PERFORMANCE MUZZLELOADING will publish another report on the weather variables we experienced during all of this shooting. This ought to make for some good reading, and perhaps it will explain why your rifle shoots good on some days...and just so-so on others. We'll also take a look at how to counter some of these variables. - Toby Bridges, HIGH PERFORMANCE MUZZLELOADING
More...
Of all the newer saboted bullet designs tested, the long, sleek 195-grain Precision Rifle "Dead Center" proved to be the flattest shooting. Shown here with the unique "duplex sabot" for loading and shooting in a .50 caliber bore.
HPML found the new Knight DISC Extreme "Long Range Hunter" to shoot well with a wide range of saboted bullets.
Barnes Bullets' new all-copper poly-tipped "TMZ" proved to be one of the better shooting new bullet designs out of the Knight LRH. Shown is the 250-grain version.
HPML host Toby Bridges used the Knight LRH to punch this sub half-inch hundred yard group with the saboted 250-grain Barnes all-copper "TMZ" bullet.
The 250-grain Parker "Ballistic Extreme" is another great shooting bullet out of Knight's new LRH version of the DISC Extreme.
Here is three shots through the same elongated hole, shot with the Knight LRH and 250-grain Parker "Ballistic Extreme".
Updated 8-4-06
Two More Bullets
Due to the lingering heat wave that brought most outdoor activites in the Midwest to a stand still through most of July, we actually ended the above trajectory testing before we had a chance to include two other bullets - the 260 grain saboted .400" diameter Precision Rifle "Extreme Elite HP" and the saboted 260 grain Harvester Muzzleloading "Scorpion" funnel-point bullets.
Recently, we managed to squeak in a couple of early, early morning shoots to include these two. Drop from 100 yards to 200 yards for the spitzer hollow-pointed PR 260 grain "Extreme Elite" was 7.4 inches, while the blunt nosed Harvester Muzzleloading .451" diameter "Scorpion hollow point dropped 15.9".
For more on how we shaved more than a third of the drop from the "Scorpion" hollow point, click here.
