Today i took a trip to Bass pro in Denver and man! Talk about huge! First place i went to was right up the stairs and right to the muzzleloading supplies! They had a lot of stuff! I also bought some powder but was unsure if it would work in a flintlock. Goex Pinnecal " Spelling?" Is that good to use in a flintlock? I didnt buy anything due to me already ordering some stuff online and i didnt want to spend $$$ if i didnt need it. Ive gotten good at that lately.

Next i walked over to the muzzleloaders and my heart skipped a beat.'

CVA ELECTRA!! I gotta tell you, that thing is awesome when you look at it in person, get to handle it and it is just something that fits you like it was attached to your body. The balance, the fit, the length of pull was just dead on balls perfect. The barrel " Bergara" Looked flawless, no burrs or anything inside or outside. Sights were amazing. I was really impressed with that rifle.

Next to is and on sale for $284 was a knight rolling block. First thing i did was pull the hammer back and then the block and i darn near started cussing up a storm when i pinched my finger between the hammer and block. That block was darn stiff and i didnt like that at all. Frozen fingers + a hard to open block like that ='s a bad hunt IMO. The stock as usual "for me" did not offer a comfortable drop and needed atleast another 1" drop for it to come automatically to my shoulder. Very good balance and the barrel looked very good quality. Didnt like the sights to much though.

Ready TC guys?

TC Triump..
Light weight, Amazing balance, Shouldered good " Needed another 1/4" drop and it would have shouldered perfect for me".... Fair sights. They had a green dot as the front sight and it was blurry for my eyes. Recoil pad wasnt that great. Thats the most important part on a light weight 6 1/2lb rifle and tc got cheap on that area.
Down side of the rifle. QLA was off center BIG time! I was checking the bore and one side had groves that were taller than the non bored barrel while the other side was flush with the QLA. Whats with the 1" QLA TC puts of these rifles? My Winchester only has maybe a 1/4" QLA. Maybe this is there TC loses their accuracy when conicals are loaded? To me, it didnt make any sense to have a QLA that was atleast 1" long.
Was a nice rifle but the stock could really used some reworking and a less slick surface.
I thought i took it easy on a tc this time, didnt you? lol. It was a nice rifle but tc needs to get their QLA issue fixed badly.

Next up was a Knight Long Range Hunter! I had a hard on when i picked this thing up! The laminated stock was awesome! Free floated barrel, Decent sights. Front sight was really tiny and dark dark red which made it hard to see. Stock to shoulder fit was perfect and came right into action without needing to re-adjust. Took notice that the barrels on the knights did not have a QLA which i liked. However, Knight did a HORRIBLE job on this barrel. I was checking the bore out and it was dirty as hell, Black as sin and was brand new! For $700, I'd damn sure expect a clean bore. That was a really huge turn off for me when i saw the inside of the bore. And that was the only real turn off for me. Im not sure what the black stuff was, but the bore was shiney in spots here and there which to me said it needed a good polishing.

TC Omega X7

Awesome laminated stock " Non thumbhole" SS barrel. No complaints other than the recoil pad was the older stiff version. And the 1" long QLA. Wasnt to sure if i liked the peep sight but its hard to tell when you're aiming at a wall.

Knight Revolution, Amazing rifle that shouldered right up perfectly. Honestly the only complaint was the recoil pad. I guess limbsaver has spoiled me? lol

CVA Optima PRO. Non thumbhole stock. Amazing shouldering, Amazing balance. Palm grip fit great and was comfortable. Rifle shouldered like a rock and was just solid. Stainless steel barrel was flawless. This rifle had cva's $14 recoil pad and if i ever own another inline again, I will be buying the $14 cva recoil pad. This pad was darn near identical to my $40 limbsaver, Identical as in soft and squishy. Really darn nice rifle for $229 with 29" SS barrel and black fleck stock.

Next i found something i wanted REALLY bad. I could feel my right butt cheek warming up " My wallet side "
Winchester Apex , Blue/black. Fit was almost excellent, Looked simple to free float the barrel, down side, Rearsight was missing and it had the old style cement block recoil pad on it. The drop block Locked up TIGHT and did not wiggle or anything. It made a nice click sound when pushed up so you knew it was in place and not coming down on you. Dropped down very smoothly.
On sale for $199 but i just couldnt do another inliner and walked away biting my lip.[&:]

Honestly, the rifle that impressed me the most and had no visual problems was the CVA Electra. That was simply one sweet looking and handling rifle. The cva optima pro is second in line. TC X7 is 3ed.

My biggest disapointment was the Knight LRH due to the bore. Second was the Triump. Third was the CVA Wolf and i only didnt like its cheapy feeling stock at the grip area.

I was hoping they would have the Lyman GPR .54 flintlock but they didnt have Chit when it came to traditional rifles.

Still was fun to get to handle and check all these rifles out. Even this darn store didnt carry any great plains conicals! Lol i have no clue where i'll ever get these again unless i buy off the net and over pay.

Couldn't that LRH barrel have just had preservative grease in it?

I've not seen any of the Bergara barrels in person and I hope they are as good as you say.Did you get a price on spare circuit boards for that Electra?

Fully agree with your QLA statements and would go further in saying a proper muzzleloader crown is all that is needed. Any type of fixed QLA can do nothing but subtract from accuracy once the bullet is loaded. False muzzles were removable for good reason. I think anyone that encountes a truly bad QLA would quickly change any previous favorable opinion.

Sounds like a great store to go to. One that I would make sure and say the heck out of. My Mastercard after a trip in there would be screaming.

Pinnacle will work in a flintlock but not as well as black powder. They advertize that it can be used in place of black powder. Well it will fire, but it might take a strike or two. Also if you use it, duplex the load with 10-20 grains of black powder and then black powder the pan. Then it will fire nice. I shot off a couple of pounds of it trying it every which way in my flintlocks. I came to the conclusion.. youwant dependable ignition? Stick with Goex or another brand of Black Powder.

Now im really happy i didnt buy that goex pinnacle. Wouldnt have been money down the drain.

As for the LRH, It wasnt grease. I dont know what it was but when you shined a light down it, That black stuff really showed a lot of roughness in the barrel. Im trying to find it but not having any luck, Someone on here was complaining about the same black crap that kept coming out of his new LRH.

Cayugad, Surpringly the only thing in that store that hand my hand on my wallet was the Apex and i fought my hand down lol. A lot of stuff there, but wasnt anything special i couldnt live without.

frontier gander, hold judgement on that recoil reducing pad on the new Triumphuntill you have shot it.it sure surprised me. It points real good for me too.
Lee

I wouldnt have wanted to shoot that one That bore was messed up badly. I honestly dont see how it made it out the factory door with it being so plain easy to see.

ThatI would have to see. Lee