Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Knight LK93 .54 caliber

I have to admit that I am a fan of the Knight muzzleloaders. With that said, I generally hunt 1 or 2 days a year with a MZ, and then put it up till next year.

For the past 7 or 8 years, I have used a Knight Wolverine, light contour, in 45 caliber. I like the rifle, it groups great, carries good, but I just don't like the blood trails I get from it, and this year was it's last year in the field with me.

I went back to a local gunshop, and picked through some new, old stock Knights. There was only one in 54 caliber, and it caught my eye. Nothing fancy, but I am interested in shooting the Hornady Great Plains 425 grain HP at distances up to 125 yards max. I want beaucoup blood trails, or extremely short ones. Rifle to be used for Whitetails, 99% of the time.

I have 777, Pyrodex RS, Alliant Black, and Holy Black FFG on hand.

Does anyone have a load they wish to share?

PS, I tried the search function, but as usual, I can't get it to work.

CT

That Wolverine 45cal will shoot atleast a 405 grain conical.

75 grains Blackpowder with that 425 is probably close at 100 yard targets.

If interested, contact knightrifles.com about getting a 209 primer conversion for your 54-cal, if it was produced prior to 1995. Those made prior had breechplugs shared by both the 50 and 54-cals and can be converted.

Also, can you shoot sabots in Kentucky? If so, there's nice options to shoot sabots bigger than .452 in your 54-cal.

Did you trade-in your 45-cal Wolverine..... or keep it?

I will be contacting Knight reference the production date.

Sabots are good to go in Kentucky. Saw some nice Barnes sabots on Midway's website, using the 50 caliber bullets..

I kept my 45 caliber, my son killed his first muzzleloader deer with it, so I cleaned it and put it up.

I know where there is another one just like it though.... In the box.

The 54cals are hammers with those 54x50 sabots. Lots of good 50cal bullets that work at ML speeds. Look for the Speer 50 325 JHP or Rainier 335gr JHP. Midway or Grafs usually have the Rainiers cheap. The Speers have become very hard to find but they are the bullets Knight shipped with various 54s back in the day.

Dont give up on that 45cal though. There are lots of good bullets and conicals for it. Lehigh Defense has a new controlled fracture bullet in 185gr that should provide a very good blood trail for a light bullet.

NoExcuses sells a 385gr conical that you may like. Bullshop has a large selection lead also.

Them 45cal light contour Wolverines are getting harder to find now.

I agree, don't give up on the .45. Blood trails don't have much to do with caliber, more with shot placement and bullet design. A ton of folks like the .45, and there are alot of great bullets you can use in it.

Re: the .54 (or any of the knight plunger rifles for that matter), I would shoot the #11 ignition - its as good or imo better than the 209 in that rifle. Don't buy into they hype of converting to 209 for that style rifle. Its a waste of your money and time, imo. You gain nothing. I agree with overkill... the Speer 50/325 is one of the best bullets you could use. You have plenty of options with .54/50.

I love my .54 MK-85. I shoot either the 325 speers, or a hand cast lead bullet of similar weight that a friend made - in purple mmp sabot, over 100gr pyrodex, with RWS #11 caps. Hammer tool

Many thanks for the replies. I'm going to run it as is, for now. If the Hornady Great Plains bullets shoot to suit me, I'll be all set. If not, I'll be looking for some of the purple sabots to run 50 caliber pistol bullets through it.

Knight also sells 325gr Bloodlines for the .54
By all accounts that bullet (in any caliber) is absolutely devastating!

.54 Bloodline


As mentioned earlier, this style bullet would be a great option for your .45 if you are concerned with what you have currently used. Knight offers the Bloodline

.45 bloodline


And Lehigh offers the newer version called the Controlled Fracturing for .45's. Note that it does not come with sabots.

Lehigh .45 CF

Agreed

Dont waste your money on the 209 conversion for plunger guns. 209s are fine but Knight and White plunger guns work very well with caps. Just stick to Pyro, Trip7 or real black and you should be very happy.

The bullets i listed perform great at the speeds those powders can generate. The 300gr Speer might be ok too and they are easier to find. The Barnes 50/275gr is also a great bullet at those speeds.

Had a chance to shoot it a little today. 100 Grains of Pyrodex RS and the 425 grain Great Plains bullet will do to ride the river with for the time being. I am using RWS #11 caps.

Good deal. That should be a hammer!

I have it cleaned and ready for the upcoming season. Our modern season opens the second Saturday in November and then the late MZ season comes along in December, iirc.

I look forward to getting blood on it.

I had a .54 Rem. 700 for a short time and it wouldn't group for beans. Thru trial and error, I finally found that it would shoot the Hornady Great Plains 390gr.(discontinued) bullet. The dirtier the bore got, the better it shot, crud ring and all. I settled on 100gr. of loose Ffg 777 which gave me a 2-2.5" group at 100yards which was more than adequate for me. I stopped at 100gr. because it kicked like a SOB with those 390's and I just didn't want any more punishment.

I have a LK93 in .54. Stainless, thumb hole stock.
I've tried several loads, but the simplest and very accurate is a powerbelt all lead .348gr on top of two 60gr pyrodex pellets with musket cap ignition.
Last mule deer I shot turned and I shot it at 75 yards through the right hip, penetrated through the hip bone exited out the left rib cage with a rib bone sticking out of the exit hole.
Convinced me the heavier powerbelts don't blow up like people say they do and that was several feet of penetration.

338, That is impressive. I'm really looking forward to the late MZ season, I've got the can't helpits for some testing with this Hornady GP bullets.