1. I am considering 2 guns: Thompson, Triumph.....or....Knight,KRB. The knight is a lot less expensive and it seems to me that the guns in effect are very similar. Which would you choose and please qualify why?
I own a Knight Disc (my first MLer) a TC Omega (my 2nd MLer) and a Savage (my 3rd mler). All three are accurate. I like the Savage the best because it is accurate as heck, can shoot 200 yards, and shoots smokeless powder so I only clean the rifle 2x per year. In fact it shoots best dirty. Either of your choices is a great rifle and since you specify $2000 is your budget I would go with the Triumph. By the way the cost of a Savage awith a stainless barrel is $550, tupperware stock, you can get a Laminated stock for another $100.
2. I like my Trijicon TR22 scope. I am thinking of mounting one of these on the rifle I buy. Do BP rifles have that much more of a kick than say a 30-06?
If you shoot light loads, then they kick less. If you shoot 150g of Pellets of powder it will hurt like an 30-06.
3. There seems to be a lot of back and forth between 100 grains and 150 grains. If 100 grains does the job then what benefit would I derive from 150 grains? Flatter shooting? More kenetic enrgy? etc.
In most cases 100g does the job, especially if your in the woods,if your trying to shoot over bean field 200 yards then you may need the 150g or 120g of loose or 130g of loose. Many of us shoot loose, since is is cheaper and we can work up more accurate loads.
4. There are so many bullets out there to choose from but I just want to get the same performance that I get from my Hornady ammo in my 30-06. Is this possible or do the BP guns just punch a hole and go on through. On that note why do BP guns use such huge ammo? Would not a smaller, lighter, yet faster flying round be favorable?
Sure a lighter bullet will travel further and be flatter shooting, several on here shoot .40 cal ShockWaves 200g in their 50 cal MLers and have excellent results. Bigger bores shoot bigger bullets with more mass at lower velocity but have a lot of killing power,what would you rather be killed with a bowing ball going 50mph or a golf ball going 500mph, or a 300g bullet going 2000fpsall would kill you,all would have a lot of energy. Most MLer bullets expand, that the the reason for the large hollow points on most bullets, however there are newer longer range bullet that have a large expansion cavity below a plastic tip, Hornady SST are a good example of this, ShockWave (made by Hornady) but sold by TC is another and Barnes TMZ, Parker Ballistic Extreme are all examples of MLer bullets designed for longer range. The inline MLer was basically designed very similar to a 45/70, go look at the 1000 yard black power 45/70 shooter and see what they shoot. big bullets going 1200-1400 fps has big rainbow trajectory, what was the famous long range Sharps rifle? A 45/70. So MLer are basically 45/70 rifles who are "hand loaded" from the muzzle.
5. Any other BP rifles out there that you feel I overlooked? Money is not really an issue in purchase but I would like to keep it under 2000 dollars for the complete set up.
Your looking at two excellent rifles choose whichever fits you best by handling it. If you ever desire go go smokeless, consider a Savage, but I would buy the TC Triumph first because you learn a lot about MLing with that gun. I now only shoot MLers for deer hunting, more of a 1 shot challenge, I feel more killing power than a 30-06--- with a 300g huge bullet going 2000 fps. So get the TC, shoot it and fall in love with MLing (I predict you will since you said you were anal), then buy a Savage, use the Savage in Gun season (1 shot is all ya need) and use the Triumph in ML season, that is what I am going to do this year. Last year i used my Savage the whole time (both MLer and Rifle). They are all fun. Accuracy of Savage, see my web site, for bullet selection and powder selection over the last 2 years:
http://www.the-gleasons.com/this_is_my_savage_10_ml_page.htm
Chap Gleason