Knight's Wolverine, any info/tips?

BradMacc82 · Mar 31, 2018

I was given one not long ago. Have 0 experience with black powder.

Have it blown apart and getting it cleaned up - barrel fouling and some light surface rust in a few spots to address.

Already considering a 209 conversion kit. Being a freebie, I can justify spending less than $100 to upgrade to 209's, if it's a real improvement over standard percussion caps?

10xclean · Mar 31, 2018

powder

I use regular black powder, old school, not the pellets. I have found that 80-90 grains is the most accurrate load for 100 yrds. above that start deforming the plastic sabot. your mileage may vary. Knight was the ****... 15+ yrs ago. I still like mine.

Mike3888 · Mar 31, 2018

Good pick up Brad, knights are known shooters. I have one of the original MK-85s stainless which got retired 2 years ago. ( went smokeless )
I converted mine over too 209 years ago, Never saw a difference and I've had best accuracy with Pyrodex and xtp bullets. If your interested in the conversion pm me.

Doco Overboard · Mar 31, 2018

I own two, I use 90gr pyrodex loose. MMP hp Sabot 250gr Hornady 452 xtp. cci #11 magnum primer. Shoots right to point of aim and killed so many deer with the first one I owned it would make you puke. Albeight the majority of that was done with 370 maxi-balls and some R.E.A.L.s.
I have another Knight rifle (black Knight) from the same period of manufacture that is just as good that is a front line rifle every MZ season.
Reminiscing, I once had a proprietary disc rifle presented as a tip from Tony himself after a goose hunt. I foolishly gave it to my buddy in Centreville who had it ruined from lack of maintenance in about two years time.
Damn thing still shot well though, have no idea where its at now. The others I keep for lenders.
Nice rifle, if its in good shape and you develop a good load chain it will surprise you.

IronEye · Mar 31, 2018

Real black power is very easy to ignite plus you've got a very short flame path on an inline. If you're going to shoot "Holy Black" I wouldn't bother with a conversion. Some of the other replica black powders are harder to ignite and you might benefit from the 209.
209 primers come in two different "flavors" or so I've been told. Standard shotgun primers are hotter than 209 primers made for muzzleloading - and 1/2 the price.
As far as accurate groupings I would guess that accuracy would be best with the percussion caps, followed by black powder 209 followed by shotshell primers but each gun/load is a rule unto itself.
I've got one of the wolverines with a black stock but I not gotten to the range with it.

If this is your first muzzleloader don't even think about using smokeless powder in any amount.

outrider58 · Mar 31, 2018

The main advantage to converting to 209 is if you plan on shooting Triple7(which I love BC it's non-corrosive). I've had guys tell me they don't have problems igniting T7 in pistols using standard caps, but in rifles, they are pretty much a must. If that rifle is 'magnum' capable(being able to handle loads in excess of 100 grains), look at the T7 Magnums. They are 60 gr pellets capable of 2000+ FPS(you only use two pellets). You're gonna love shooting BP.

BradMacc82 · Mar 31, 2018

New to black powder, but not to firearms or reloading. The smokeless will stay far away.

Rifle came with a partial bottle of Shockey's Gold, and a pack and a half of TC 250gr flex-tip sabots, a sling and that was about it. Barrel is stamped LK-93, so I'm not 100% sure if that's the Wolverine or another similar model - so I'm unsure if it's capable of magnum loads at the moment. I'll download the pdf Owners Manual from Knight later today. Serial # is in the 300xxx range, so unsure of how old/new it is.

So far, it's cleaning up ok. Bore is clean with really strong rifling. Exterior of the barrel cleaned up well with 0000 steel wool and oil, 1 small pit just ahead of the end of the stocks forearm. Trigger is definitely crisp, gauging in the 2.75 to 3lbs range (average over 10 pulls has been a shade under 3lbs). All safeties are in working order. So, looks like a good freebie. Both factory sights have either been removed for scope use (rear) or broken off (front), so I'll probably snag a pair of those at some point.

Tackle Box actually had replacement Knight's Red Hot #11 nipples/caps, so I got a spare. Was worried about the original, but after soaking in solvent for 'awhile' it's cleaned out and I can see cleanly thru it. They also had #11 percussion caps, so I snagged 100 of the CCI's and just lit one off to verify the factory nipple/cap is cleaned out. All threads have also been cleaned and greased.

The rifle came with a fixed power Simmons on it, but that's in rough shape - rings are rusted, bottom of the scope has mildew - trash.

I'm almost tempted to try and light this off today, but not with that bottle of Shockey's - have no idea of it's age, or how it was stored, so I'm not going to risk it. May hit wallyworld and see what they have in the black powder section.

BradMacc82 · Mar 31, 2018

Swing and a miss, not a thing at wallyworld anymore. Even the BP stuff is off the shelves.

With the sun fading, and powder of questionable lineage, looks like I won't be lighting off this smoke pole today.

Blacksmith101 · Mar 31, 2018

Where are you located some kind MDS neighbor may give you enough just to make you clean the gun again.

BradMacc82 · Mar 31, 2018

I'm down in SoMD (Calvert Co.), on a whim I poured 95gr of that questionable Shockey's and put a flame to it - POOF! So maybe it isn't that questionable after all?

**Seems that the LK-93/Wolverine is rated for up to 150gr charges, going by the manuals reference chart on page 14. Good to know, but I doubt I'll lean on it that hard.

DaveP · Apr 4, 2018

Great guns, I have a few Wolverines and a LK 93 , precursor to the Wolverine, but wood stocked.

All LOVE a Knight all lead 260 gr hp over 90 gr 2F Goex black power. We've probably taken close to 100 deer with this combo.

BradMacc82 · Apr 4, 2018

All cleaned up and back together again - minus the missing/broken sights. New set of medium rings, a Nikon Buckmaster 3x9 BDC, should be plenty for my purposes. I've got plenty of 250gr Sabots to cut my teeth on, 99 CCI percussion caps, just need to order in some powder and we'll be in business.

DaveP · Apr 4, 2018

Nice.
I actually prefer #11 caps to 209s.

Melnic · Apr 5, 2018

One question, did you put some anti seize on the breech plug? (not sure how that one goes together) but anything threaded near the powder would be wise to put something on it first.
Someone with more experience with that model would have specific advice.

I tried the Schokey powder wish is basically a rebranded American Pioneer. The only thing I had an issue with for this stuff vs other subs is that the grain consistency was poor. lumps in it that I felt yielded some variations in loads.
At the time I got it, Goex inventory around me was poor and I had only one bottle of 2F so I duplex loaded with 15grain real BP then 50grain Sub to do some target shooting with a sidelock. Using the Shockey stuff even with my inline, I could hear a delay in ignition that I did not have with BP or later BH209.

That looks purdy

Good luck!

BradMacc82 · Apr 6, 2018

Everything threaded (especially the breech plug and nipple threads) were lubed with anti-seize. I had to hold the barrel by it's mounting lug in a bench vise and use some 'leverage' to get it out just to get everything cleaned up. Almost as bad getting the nipple out of the plug. I'm thinking the previous owner wasn't the best with maintenance (or it just sat for awhile).

I'll likely just order in some Pyrodex RS/T7 FF, haven't had much luck finding any locally so far. The Shockey's, I'll likely just dump that - doesn't flow well thru my powder measure, and I just don't know it well enough to trust it.

Being a newb to BP, think it'll be easier to cut my teeth with loose powder first. May do a 209 conversion after I get some experience under my belt.

BradMacc82 · Apr 21, 2018

No guts, no glory. Just lit off my first BP round. Everything is intact, I call that a success.

Slacked off on ordering in powder, so I rolled the dice and tossed 90gr of the Shockey's down the bore. Topped it off with a 250gr Shockwave Sabot. Didn't go for accuracy or anything, just needed to see if it'd light off - it passed the backyard range test with a healthy cloud of white/gray smoke. With a #11 cap, could not detect any delay in ignition - soon as the hammer hit the cap, it made smoke and noise.

Already learned a lesson too, I need to pick up the rest of the stuff for this rifle. Apparently there's a box that has the starter ball-handle and brushes, etc. that's been found - and that'd make my life easier. Starting and seating the sabot using only the rod with no handle, can be less than pleasant - but it is doable in a pinch.

promax03 · Apr 22, 2018

I have one of these. I used to use two pyorodex 50g pellets with Hornady 300g sabots. I always used the musket caps, alway fired. The gun was a tack driver at 100yds.

SoMDSlugger · Jul 20, 2018

I've actually owned several of these guns and all with #11 nipples. Never had a single misfire and put countless Deer in the freezer with them over the years. They are extremely accurate rifles, but, a complete pain to clean compared to today's models. I wouldn't waste the money on upgrading to the 209 kit if you could actually ever find one. The guns simply don't need the 209 primer. I've always used Pyrodex RS and a 300+ grain cast bullet and nothing gets any better than the pure basics with these guns. I buy everyone I see for sale. Slap a $40.00 3-9X40 Walmart scope on it and you've got gold. Got any for sale ?

Knight's Wolverine, any info/tips?

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