# Good Night, Knight Rifles



## thetreestandguy (Dec 16, 2005)

Looks like Thompson Center will be(is?) the industry leader-


During the recent NRA Annual Meetings, Americanrifleman.org/Americanhunter.org learned that Knight Rifles is closing its doors after 24 years as a key American firearms manufacturer. That news was confirmed late last week via an announcement from Modern Muzzleloading, Inc., a related subsidiary under corporate parent, Pradco Outdoor Brands/EBSCO. The press release stated, The decision to close the Knight operation resulted from an overall industry downturn. Reportedly Knight sales had declined sharply in recent years and efforts to sell the brand and company assets were unsuccessful. 

The release indicated Knight owners would not be abandoned. All warranty, non-warranty, and replacement part services will remain in placeand all customers will have access to experienced service personnel for consultation, questions and repair of Knight products (in serviceable condition). Additionally, Modern Muzzleloading will continue to offer Knight parts and accessories, according to the announcement. 

From the time of introduction in 1985, Knights inline muzzleloaders exerted a profound effect on the American hunting scene. Founder Tony Knights ingenious adaptation of a largely forgotten, 180-year-old muzzleloader design attracted deer hunters in droves thanks to modern lines and ease of operation. In short order other firms co-opted the inline concept, and the resulting new class of firearms tallied big sales. This led to a resurgence in muzzleloading as big-game hunters across the nation equipped themselves to take advantage of blackpowder-only seasons. 

Like millions of other American hunters, I took advantage of the muzzleloading boom to spend many more days afield, and accordingly Knight muzzleloaders played a big part in my sporting life. Using the early MK-85 model I tracked deer in snow during late seasons, and later used a Magnum Elite to kill my first 6x6 bull elk. Subsequently I used Knights to take mule deer, pronghorns, black bears, wild hogs and many more whitetails. For meas I expect will be the case for othersthe news of Knight Rifles demise is like learning about the loss of an old friend. 

John Zent, Editorial Director


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## wartfroggy (Jan 25, 2007)

thetreestandguy said:


> The release indicated Knight owners would not be abandoned. All warranty, non-warranty, and replacement part services will remain in placeand all customers will have access to experienced service personnel for consultation, questions and repair of Knight products (in serviceable condition). Additionally, Modern Muzzleloading will continue to offer Knight parts and accessories, according to the announcement.


Well that is a little more comforting. Upon first hearing the news, I was worried about ending up with a gun, and no way to fix it if needed. It is a shame, I liked their products. Another american business down the tubes. :rant:


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## Swamp Monster (Jan 11, 2002)

T/C has been the leader for a number of years now. Knight went downhill once Tony sold them. They have not produced much in the last 5-7 years that consumers have wanted. There best design, the Disc Elite and Exteme were their last nice rifles save the Long Range Hunter which is based on the Elite gun. The new switch barrel KP1 looked nice and would have competed with the Encore but it was too little to late. The Revolution and it's variants were utter failures along with the budget break action they recently offered as well. T/C continued to gain marketshare not to mention the flood of cheap imports that people were more than happy to buy. It's too bad, another American company closing. 
http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=290222


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## old graybeard (Jan 19, 2006)

I hate to see it when a company goes down


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## Ken (Dec 6, 2000)

I wonder how big their current inventory is, and if there will be some good deals on closeouts. Or, maybe they are already at distributors


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## Swamp Monster (Jan 11, 2002)

Ken said:


> I wonder how big their current inventory is, and if there will be some good deals on closeouts. Or, maybe they are already at distributors


A member found a great deal on the Knight Long Range Hunter....a great gun. Maybe some still left? These typicaly sold for $750-$800 so this is a pretty good deal. 
http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=289245


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## Critter (Mar 3, 2006)

They are having an auction at the Centerville Iowa location this weekend. 300+ rifles on the block plus various tools and equipment.

http://www.hawkeyetrader.com/content/view/4772/58/


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## BUSTA'YOTE (Aug 26, 2003)

I think Sports South must have gotten a BIG share of it. A month or two ago it was pretty bleak (red) under Knight Rifles, about 2-3 weeks ago it was solid green except for the T-Bolt. They have about every item, but may not have that many of every item? I was up to Jay's a week ago and they had more Knights than I have seen up there in a couple years. Lots of KP1's, some with the original hammer group, and some with the newer improved hammer. It just too bad they didn't get that right when they first came out. I think Knight tried to keep this under wraps as long as they could. It sure wasn't hard to see it coming, with nobody selling their rifles anymore.

It really is too bad they let things go on the way they did with all the rifles that just didn't cut it with the masses.

In the Super Search box put in Knight Rifles, then click the blue arrow. Don't panic when you see the SS SRP, those are way higher than retail. I have seen some good prices on the toads (Revolution/II, Vision, KRB7, and Shadow), but they are going to have to be good to get rid of those IMO. They are what got them in this mess in the first place.

http://www.internetguncatalog.com/Default.aspx?tabid=179

Tompson Center is also hurting a bit, they have several people laid off. If they were not in with S&W right now they would be in the same boat. It helps that S&W (T/C) is much more diverse than Knight in that they don't just sell sporting arms, the other side of their house is paying the bills for the sporting rifles right now. 

The muzzleloading market is reaching it's saturation point right now too. Unless you can introduce a favorable model every year or two, your gonna be hurting. You need a really good one like the Omega, and now the Triumph, not several half baked models like Knight/PRADCO/EBSCO attempted to do. IMO, the Disc rifles were there last good model, with the exception of the KP1 with the new hammer group.


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## jhall586 (Nov 12, 2008)

Always hate to see another American company go down the drain but never liked Knight. A good friend of mine had a Knight blow up in his face. Knight paid him $275k to drop his lawsuit and to never speak of the accident. Knight acknowledged there was a defect in his rifle and said it was an isolated incident...Maybe it was only one incident but when something like that happens so close to home makes you wonder about the maker...


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## Swamp Monster (Jan 11, 2002)

BUSTA'YOTE said:


> I
> The muzzleloading market is reaching it's saturation point right now too. Unless you can introduce a favorable model every year or two, your gonna be hurting. You need a really good one like the Omega, and now the Triumph, not several half baked models like Knight/PRADCO/EBSCO attempted to do. IMO, the Disc rifles were there last good model, with the exception of the KP1 with the new hammer group.


Exactly. Most people don't buy multiple inline muzzleloaders like they do other sporting firearms. Unless something groundbreaking comes along in the way of inlines, there are literally millions of folks just not in the market. For most guys that shoot them once a fall and hunt 3-5 days a year with it, they are rarely if ever in the market once they have an inline, any inline that gets the job done. It will be interesting to see how all this works out.


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## 12970 (Apr 19, 2005)

Sad day for sure... I have a Disc Elite I like a lot just need to use it more but as with Knight my time is not going to spent in the woods this year being in Michigan and Unemployed puts a damper on that... Maybe something will change and it will get better soon and maybe someone will buy Knight and get it back open with better designs and such... Heard they had something in the works just too late to get it done and out...

Newaygo1


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## DANIEL MARK ZAPOLSKI (Sep 23, 2002)

so is this the end of JIM SHOCKEY or does he make his very own smoke pole to continue the story with? :idea:


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## QuakrTrakr (Apr 4, 2001)

DANIEL MARK ZAPOLSKI said:


> so is this the end of JIM SHOCKEY or does he make his very own smoke pole to continue the story with? :idea:


He's been shooting TC for 2 or 3 years now. Green Mountain Barrels has some hot deals on some Limited Editions.
http://www.gmriflebarrel.com/productdetail.aspx?id=930115

http://www.gmriflebarrel.com/productdetail.aspx?id=930110


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## DANIEL MARK ZAPOLSKI (Sep 23, 2002)

jhall586 said:


> Always hate to see another American company go down the drain but never liked Knight. A good friend of mine had a Knight blow up in his face. Knight paid him $275k to drop his lawsuit and to never speak of the accident. Knight acknowledged there was a defect in his rifle and said it was an isolated incident...Maybe it was only one incident but when something like that happens so close to home makes you wonder about the maker...


well at least he can afford a good one now, LIKE OMEGA. glad he is all right nothing funny there when something blows up in your face. i had an old double hammer shotgun blow its breach on me when i was 12. burned the **** out of my face and eyebrows, hell what eyebrows it took forever for them to come back. shooting rats at the dump at night. that must of been one hell of a flash for all them to see.


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## QuakrTrakr (Apr 4, 2001)

I've been trying for days now to talk to someone from Knight. They won't answer phones, return calls, or respond to emails. :rant: I want to put a stainless barrel on my DISC. Seems their promise to keep their service and parts departments going is wrong.


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## BUSTA'YOTE (Aug 26, 2003)

QuakrTrakr said:


> I've been trying for days now to talk to someone from Knight. They won't answer phones, return calls, or respond to emails. :rant: I want to put a stainless barrel on my DISC. Seems their promise to keep their service and parts departments going is wrong.


Ive called them at least 4 or 5 times in the last two weeks, I have been able to talk to someone every time. Gail is in customer service. Gordy left early last week to go back up to Centerville, IA for the auction they had Saturday at the old plant. He was back Tuesday, I talked to him for a while, UPS dropped off my part today. 

I think the company probably has them jumping through hoops right now. Keep trying, try just holding on to the line once and not pushing any buttons. The e-mail system is slow, my last one took about two weeks.

What barrel are you looking to get? How much do they charge for a barreled receiver?


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## QuakrTrakr (Apr 4, 2001)

I left a message with Gail today. I imagine they are pretty busy. Laura quoted me $186 for a stainless DISC a while back.


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## BUSTA'YOTE (Aug 26, 2003)

QuakrTrakr said:


> I left a message with Gail today. I imagine they are pretty busy. Laura quoted me $186 for a stainless DISC a while back.



I think they have been swamped since the press release, and I think they are down to a skeleton crew. They are probably getting more calls a day right now than they ever did.

That is probably just the barrel? Does that include any of the following, breech plug, sights, ramrod guide, trigger? The Disc Extreme bolt and breech plug is $100+ by itself, I doubt that is included either?

I take it you are just looking for the bare bones barrel/receiver?


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## QuakrTrakr (Apr 4, 2001)

BUSTA'YOTE said:


> I think they have been swamped since the press release, and I think they are down to a skeleton crew. They are probably getting more calls a day right now than they ever did.
> 
> That is probably just the barrel? Does that include any of the following, breech plug, sights, ramrod guide, trigger? The Disc Extreme bolt and breech plug is $100+ by itself, I doubt that is included either?
> 
> I take it you are just looking for the bare bones barrel/receiver?


Yeah. I have everything else. Including the Pachmayr recoil pad I bought. I bought the blued gun the first year it was released and have hunted hardcore ever since. You know how cold weather hunting gets. My blued barrel just isn't worth the effort anymore. She sure has killed a bunch of deer though! I really love Knights. I feel comfortable with shots out to 250 yards on a live animal. I practice at 300 yards. I'm gonna make the rounds this weekend as I travel from port to port fishing to see what deals are out there. I actually have every breech plug they offered except the loose powder tube type. As they came out with them, I was testing them. I still think I like the crossfire plug the best. I got my most consistent groups with it.


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