Knight "Ignition Systems"? Full Plastic jacket or Western??

[WV Hunter]

Looking to acquire a Knight Mountaineer or Bighorn Rifle and I am presented with the OPTION of a "full plastic jacket", or "western". What is the difference? Secondly, any ideas as the benefits and advantages of one system over the other? Additionally, Knight is offering a 10 percent discount to purchase the 52 Caliber version vs the 50 Caliber. Any thoughts on this? I'm guessing the 50 Caliber is the more prevalent caliber in use among Muzzleloaders, and therefore offers a wider selection of bullets for muzzleloaders to choose from, perhaps?

Any info and ideas on this are greatly appreciated. Been around centerfire firearms my entire life, but new to this whole "front-loader" world.

Thanks in advance

Bryan

If you go with a bighorn which is an open breech design plunger gun, you could go with the Full Plastic Jacket (FPJ) or #11 (western) setup. Honestly, there isn't much difference. The FPJ uses 209 primers, western uses #11 caps. They both work just fine. I use #11's in all my knight plunger guns. In the plunger guns, I wouldn't recommend using BH209 powder, just stick to real black, pyrodex, or 777.

If you go with a Mountaineer, you should request the Non Full Plastic Jacket (NFPJ) breechplug setup. It uses bare 209 primers. That is the best setup that Knight offers. You just drop the bare primer in the pocket and close the bolt and you are good to go. You can use real black or any sub with this gun.

Regarding the .50 vs .52, yes the only real difference is bullet selection. .52 doesn't have many options. Knight has the Bloodlines which are as good as any bullet you can get, but they aren't cheap. Resale is tougher on a .52, but they are good guns. You certainly aren't at a disadvantage with either, just limited a tad on the .52

If you planned on keeping it long term as your ML to hunt with, the .52 with bloodlines would be able to take any game you'd want to hunt, imo. Saving 10% ain't a bad deal. Good luck

[sourdough44]

I would just get the 50 cal, even without the 10% discount. 'Sportsmans Guide' may have better prices on Knights, check them out.

Unless you are hunting in a Western State with restrictive regs I'd get a gun made for 209 primer ignition. You really should go right to Blackhorn 209 powder. I'd get the non-plastic jacket breech plug.

There you go, get a nice scope & start filling the buck pole.

[DiscMan]

Well let's talk about the 50 or the fifty two. The fifty two has a 1 in 26 twist that will allow you to shoot longer and heavier bullets. The 50 comes with a one in 28 twist. As far as the difference between the two is that the 52 only uses 458 diameter bullets and It will use any 458 bullets on the market. The 50 will shoot 450,451,452,and 458 with the change of a sabot. Knight is the only company that sales the silver MMP sabot that is used in the fifty two. I have shot both many times and own both. I have found that if you shoot the same weight bullet and the same amount of powder the 52 shoots a little faster and flatter. This is because of the faster twist.
Next what system do you buy, well I don't know where you live. If you want to shoot Blackhorn I would go with the RPJ or bare primer. If you hunt wet weather go RPG, if not go bare primer. If you li live out west go Western and stay legal. Good luck with your decision and hope this helps. Remember shoot often, shoot straight and always shoot a Knight.

[GMB54-120]

As far as the difference between the two is that the 52 only uses 458 diameter bullets and It will use any 458 bullets on the market

I think you forgot about the .475 bullet option although most of them under 350gr are not very good long range options.

[DiscMan]

I didn't forget about the 475 just don't have much use for it or those pretty little sabots. Unless you are going to Africa he won't either.

[GMB54-120]

Interesting, the Speer .475 275gr and even the 325gr XTP bullet are quite the deer slayers but i surely wouldn't consider using it on BIG game. Its a pistol bullet after all, not a rifle bullet.

I would not attempt using the 500gr 458s in the 52cal, you will be in for quite a let down unless you enjoy keyholes. Sticking with bullets 400g(ish) or less is far more rewarding.