It really boils down to market share. The trend is inlines. Everyone wanted magnum newer and better inline rifles. Only some strange people like us were still looking for traditional rifles and then we would shop the auction sites. Knight never got into the traditional market and did great. Thompson Center is also moving away from them, they have a Hawkins and a Firestorm left in production plus they limit now to .50 caliber. It used to be the day when you could get all calibers. About the only companies that still hangs in there is Traditions and Lyman's for you more mass produced rifles in traditional. Of course there is Pedersolli but they are kind of expensive. Investarms is Lymans, as is Cabela's so it is boiling down to what you want to shoot and what style you want to shoot.

People wanted to get in to the muzzle loader market with a moderate to low priced rifle. They wanted a rifle that was easy to load, maintain, and shoot extreme distances. That was the start of the inline craze.