Post by grizz1 on Dec 3, 2007 20:06:34 GMT -5
The Knight rifle ,you may not own one but I bet you have heard of them.I thought you might find my story on the Knight muzzle loader interesting.
It was fall in the early eighties when Ralph ,a friend of mine suggested we go to Tony Knights and get in some practice with our archery gear on some 3D's.Seems as though Tony had set up a small range East of his shop for guys to practice on so I agreed to go right after work.I wasn't sure how to get there but Ralph said I'd need to go 1 mile North turn left then cross the river on the old cement bridge ,hang a right at the Y then take the 2nd right down the big hill across Wildcat Creek,he thought it would be 4, maybe 5 miles.Then he said "I'll just come by & pick you up" ,that was fine with me.
We got there in about 10 minutes after we got off work and imediately started shooting since we had not seen anyone around the house.It was a nice range in very realistic conditions,about 14 targets and lots of tree limbs in the way.If I remember we shot two or three arrows at each target from different stakes to make a total of 56 shots.It was very hot that evening and the one bottle of pop I'd taken was long gone so when we were finished I was more then ready to leave.
Ralph said that he normally gave Tony a couple bucks for shooting so we should see if he was home or leave the money in his shop with a note.He also said I should meet him as he was working on some kind of gun and since I was a black powder fella I might like it.
By this time Tony was home and soon was showing us his new invention,he called it an inline muzzle loader.I looked it over and thought it looked quite modern and it came to my shoulder much like a Rem 700 I owned.He told me I was holding the 2nd one he had made, just finishing it that week and if I wanted to shoot it I was more then welcome.I declined but I think he wanted to show off his new gun so he loaded it and after pointing at a metal gong hanging from a post at 75 yards, said watch this.He fired and rang the target big time,so he repeated this twice more so there was no doubt about the capabilities.Then the BIG question ,do you guys think I can sell any of these?
I didn't know quite what to say to be honest but understood his theory once he told me why he made it.Some local guys had been Black powder hunting for elk in CO and they were not pleased with their guns since they had some misfires,missed shots at elk and a few other complaints so they told Tony to see what he could come up with and that is just what he did in a short time.I told him I was gettng along fine with my .58 cal hawken ,.54 cal TC hawken but he might sell some to these local guys.
On the way home I told Ralph my thoughts were that fellas like me "The Traditionalist" would not buy the gun because it was just TOO good ,much the same as a modern gun and almost unfair to use.BOY WAS I WRONG!I should have tried to buy stock right on the spot.
So in this little red building on top of a big hill on a 12 mile long one lane road West of the Chariton River in North East MO the inline was born.Soon Tony moved to Lancaster Mo into a new building where he employed 12 full time people but never had a chance to keep up with demand.They soon outgrew this new building and moved to Centerville IA and it has grown from there to what you all probably know more about then I do.
I now apoligize for thinking the inline would not be a big seller,I thought about this all week as I carried my scoped stainless Knight with synthetic thumbhole stock in the rain ,freeing rain and snow in quest of the big bucks I 've been hunting.
When I drove by and took this pic no none was around the old shop,the archery range closed shortly after I was there years ago,I was right it was just too far out in the country for folks to go to.
Man I wish I had bought that first gun he made,he said the stock wasn't quite right on it,unlike the 2nd one.
Whatever muzzleloader you choose to use I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Grizz1
