by WolfKill » February 23rd, 2012, 9:51 am
The earliest MK-85 rifles did not feature Green Mountain barrels. My first MK-85, which I received from Tony Knight in January 1986, was serial No. 37 - that one was built with a 1-turn-in-48 inches Numrich barrel. My second MK-85, Serial No. in the 300s, was built with a turn-in-32 inches barrel. Until 1989, Modern Muzzleloading used a number of different barrels from different makers - McMillan, Wiseman, Lothar-Walther. That year they made the transition to Green Mountain. From 1990 on, the rifles were built with Green Mountain barrels. I'm not sure if there is a serial number that can be used to say that from that number on up...the rifle has a GM barrel. My feeling is, that number would be around 3500...which is also close to the time when the operation moved from Lancaster, MO to Centerville, IA. Toby Bridges