I wouldn't buy one either because I don't have a use for it.
But some guys hunt the wide open ranges out westor "up north"using their trucks,ATV's and horses.
Or if they're hunting out of a well establish stand, the chances are that they're not doing much walking while hunting.
Say a person is hunting on the open grasslandplains, orfrom a "horseback"elk camp,or up north for barren ground Caribou.Even ifthe perfect shot is taken, the animalmay stillbe on it's feetand the hunter doesn't know if it's hit or not becauseof the smoke.Soa quickfollow up shot is taken to not risk a miss ora longer track and recovery.
Awild boar hunter might like something like this too due toit's toughnessand the difficulty intracking them.
Cabela's sells the Pedersoli Kodiak and since they've been aroundalmost forever, they've sold many thousands of them. So someone's been buying them.
Ardesa/Traditions isonly trying to cut in onthe alreadysuccessful Pedersoli market with an improved rifle.
Ardesadoes make some expensive, high quality targetguns that are sold only in Europe.
Successfulcompanies usuallymodernize and invest inproducing better quality productsfor specific markets.Buyers for thisexpress rifle willbe far and few between.You knowthat the reason for thehigh price and theprice reductionis, justlike with everything else, due to the weak dollar.
The gun buyingpublic generally doesn't like anything that's too cheap or too expensive.
But it sure is fun thinking aboutallof the vastlydifferent types of muzzle loaders that are available and theirpractical uses.