Bullets for 52 caliber knight

[Saxtonyoung]

Recently picked up a Knight Extreme in 52 caliber and was wondering if anyone was shooting either paper patch or bore size bullets in this caliber. I see Lee makes a 515-500 bullet that could probably be patched . Also Accurate has a 52-510M in there catalog. If you have any experience I would like to hear about it and the size you make your bullets.

[Harleysboss]

I read a post on a different muzzleloading forum about the 52 cal. The poster was shooting bore sized lead conicals and shooting them quite well. What is the twist in your gun? I would think that the mold from accurate would be a good one for PP. Lots of info as of late on PP bullets. I've been shooting my Knight MK85 54 cal PP with a mold that Accurate made me. Works great! I have a project gun that is not ready to shoot yet but it is a 52 cal with a 1-36 twist for shooting PP I went with the Lee 515-450 mold. Based off of the 50-70 sharps rifling. I need to get a .519 sizing die and finish the gun before any range results. Yours would be a great candidate for PP shooting I would think. Powder, correct size wads, 9lb onion paper a sizer die of correct diameter for your bore and soft lead bullets and away you go.

[Harleysboss]

I just looked at the 52-510 that may be the correct one for a lubed bullet but check out the 51-510, its a little under sized and probably drops just right for PP and maybe no sizing. Accurate will make a two cavity mold. I just got an aluminum two cavity from him and its top notch. Good luck.

[idahoron]

I will second what Harleyboss said.
I have thought for a long time that the 52 is a sleeper for paper patching. There are a ton of bullets that are available.

[Saxtonyoung]

The Knight 52 has 1-26" twist.

[Good Cheer]

Renegade with 38" percussion barrel; .520 bore x 003-004 groove x 28" twist. Using a Lee .519 sizer.
194187
Also got a 26" flinter barrel rebored the same way that I can't seem to find time to shoot. Need to get around to fitting the R&L replacement lock.
I like the Ideal #512138.
194188
Got .515 round ball molded up to test as well (sitting on the shelf now for months!).

[Saxtonyoung]

That Ideal mold look looks like it throws a great bullet for the 52 caliber, but I'm sure they are not readily available.

[Saxtonyoung]

Good Cheer,
I found an older thread where you PP some of these bullets for your Renegade - very nice. Out of curiosity who did you have rebore your barrels and what caliber did they start out at.

I'm going to order the Lee 515-500 and give it a try, they are very reasonably priced and available. It appears to be a long bullet with a decent size metplat. I'm thinking the 1-26" twist should be able to stabilize it .

[Good Cheer]

Yo Saxton.
The 38" barrel began life as a Green Mountain .40 bench gun. I was tempted to make it a .42 for paper patching .41 mag molds but decided bigger was better. Besides, we got a .44 bore minimum for deer.
The 26" flinter was a TC Renegade .50 and cleaned up to .52 with no problem.
Mr. Hoyt did the rebores.

[54bore]

The .52 Cal is very interesting to me, I remember asking Idahoron a long time ago if he were to build a custom big game rifle above .50 What would it be? His answer without hesitation was .52 Cal, that has stuck with me. Back in that time I was on a quest to find a Green Mountain LRH in .54 Caliber (that never happened, and i have yet to see one to this day) I ended up buying a Lyman Great Plains Hunter (1:32 Twist) in .54 Caliber, my first and only brand new stil in production Muzzleloader, it is a good gun but takes a very distant backseat to my TC Hawken and Renegades. Did Green Mountain make a .52 LRH drop in barrel back in the day? I have never heard of one?

Saxtonyoung, I am very interested in your progress with this .52 Cal, i will be watching for updates on it. Good luck with it!!

[Good Cheer]

Relining a pitted three bander to .52 would be a nice project if it already has a good lock, good trigger and good sights.

[Saxtonyoung]

As far as I know Knight is the only manufacturer to put out a production muzzleloader in 52 caliber, of course it is a Green Mountain barrel so it is of high Quality.

The 52 is like a lot of other calibers that doesn't have a large following like the 50 does. I was able to acquire this one in like new condition for about 1/3 the price of a new one for this very reason.

I used a 45 Omega to harvest several deer long after many lost interest in the 45 by developing my own loads for it, I'm sure I can do the same thing with the 52.

[Harleysboss]

I dont think you will have any troubles getting your 52 to shoot with great accuracy. Ive got my little custom 52cal TC New Englander one step closer to shooting. Had my tang drilled/tapped for the peep sight. I will post shooting results in the near future.

[Saxtonyoung]

My Lee 515-500 mold should arrive this week. I also just won the bid on a discontinued Lyman mold 515142. Both these bullets may prove to be about the same as far as performance, but the only way to find out is try them.

[carbine]

Most of those .515 bullets are used in Smith and maynard CW carbines.

[idahoron]

Not to sure about that. The 50 sharps has a pretty large following.

[Saxtonyoung]

I received my Lee .515-500 mold and after casting with soft lead I had several bullets that were .515" diameter, 1.05" long with .300 metplat and weighed 530 grains. The only sizer die I have close to this caliber is a Lee .510. After sizing I put 2 wraps of #9 onion skin paper from the papermill that brought my final size up to .516. I also used some grocery store receipts that brought me up to .517. I have a couple options to bump up size.

1 - have Lee make me a .519 die and size bullets after they are patched.
2 - lap my .510 out to .512-.513 then patch after sizing.

Most likely go with option 2 , I already have a couple custom dies on order from Lee and they take a while to be processed.

I did try posting some pictures but I kept getting a memory to low message.

[Good Cheer]

The .519 sizer does provide the ability to make everything fit. That's what made me want to pony up the price.
Is your bore for sure .520 on the button?

[Saxtonyoung]

Yes it is .520 bore with .529 grooves.

[Saxtonyoung]

I found an article Buckshot done on lapping a Sizer die with 320, 400 and 600 emory paper and a steel rod. With just a little time and elbow grease I was able to open my die that was actually a little less than .510 to .512. After sizing and patching ,my bullets came out at a hair under .519 and they slide down the barrel using just 2 finger on the ramrod, very similar to when I use to shoot a lot of slip fit bullets.

We have been experiencing a lot of rain the last few days, so when we catch a break I will be putting these bullets to the test.

[bulletbusiness]

So what diameter would I have to size my bullets at to get them to be a friction fit in my Knight 52 without having to paper patch them?

[Super Sneaky Steve]

I don't have a Knight 52 but I've shot a lot of cast bullets out of my 50 and 45 cal rifles. I like to size .002 over bore. You can get pin gauges on Amazon or you can slug and measure but gauges is the best way.

[megasupermagnum]

Knight is well known for producing fantastic consistent barrels. Assuming a 52 caliber is like the others, they should be pretty dang close to .520" bore diameter. I'd try a .521" or a .522" bullet.