.52-Caliber Becoming New Standard in Muzzleloading

Favor for muzzleloader calibers has shifted slightly over the years with a new caliber taking the limelight, then sliding away and making room for a different caliber in short order. The mainstay, of course, is the .50 caliber — a solid caliber excellent for many types of big game. The petite .45 had its day in the sun, and the rotund .54 also made a showing, but the .50 has remained most common.

Now, the .52 caliber is on the rise, and for good reason. “Many people ask me which muzzleloading rifle I prefer to hunt with,” said Knight founder and muzzleloading legend Tony Knight. “For me that’s easy — the Extreme .52 caliber shooting the 375-grain Red Hot bullet with 150 grains of 777 powder. The .52 is the most powerful muzzleloader in the world!”

The .52 caliber in the Knight Extreme muzzleloader, with a 375 grain bullet and 150 grains of 777 loose powder, provides a velocity of 1,498 feet per second with 1,869 foot pounds of energy at 200 yards. Compare that to a .50 caliber 250-grain bullet with 150 grains of powder that features a velocity of 1,320 feet per second and 966 foot pounds of energy at 200 yards.

If that’s not impressive enough, look at the bullet drop at 200 yards. When sighted in to hit the bullseye at 100 yards, the .50 caliber features a drop of 12.97 inches at 200 yards. The .52 drops only 10.57 inches.

If you’ve toyed with the idea of moving to a .52 caliber, Knight provides several models that provide the accuracy you need to hunt any big game in North America. Knight’s .52s feature a special Power Stem Breech Plug that ignites the powder column farther forward to increase velocity by 11 percent and double the downrange energy at 200 yards.
Knight’s .52 calibers include the .52 Extreme, Bighorn and new for 2006, the Revolution II and Long Range Hunter.