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Chet I agree with you on the first part but not on the second. While the 52 might be a great gun, I just can't see that caliber ever being highly marketable. I thought, (but I may be wrong), that it was one of the things that brought them down.
I think the Ultimate Slam in 50 caliber will be their flagship rifle, but I honestly don't know what it has over the disc elite. A Lehigh conversion on the disc elite is a much less expensive alternative to what that Ultimate Slam is bound to cost. Of course everyone is not a cheapskate like me.
Like you say time will tell. It will be interesting to see what transpires.
Art

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Please explain how the 52 caliber has any advantage over a 50 caliber if you are using sabots?? The sabots have pretty well taken over unless you shoot round balls. There really is not alot of conical shooters out there.

So what bullet are you going to use in a 52 caliber sabot that I can not use in a 50 caliber sabot?? I do not know of any.

I think the 52 caliber is part of what brought them down. It was just another gimmick. They need to go back to building quality rifles like the MK-85 and do a better marketing job. I have never heard a single person complain about their MK-85 in any area except that it takes 2 or 3 minutes more to clean it over an Encore?? They definitely have a superior trigger over the factory Encore, and out shoot every Encore I have ever compared it to(dozens). And the Knight will shoot anything you want to put in it(accurately). Ask Cayugad about his Knight. He says the same thing. It will shoot what ever you shove down the barrel.

TC won for two reasons. Number one is the marketing dollars they spent(and that is the real reason). And secondly they convinced shooters that it was so much easier to clean. And that really boils down to 2 or 3 minutes. WHOOPPEEY. Tom.

My guesses

Some form of LK93 or MK85 for states that have more restrictions on the ML seasons.

The 52cal is getting some more sabot attention, most likely just adding a 52x452 for more bullet selection....im pretty sure about this one.

52s are not going anywhere soon since you can now buy both the 52x458 and the 52x475 sabots...im sure because i bought both recently.

I doubt you will see a LRH AND Ultimate Slam or whatever they name it competing together. Next models down will likely be some kind of Elite or Extreme with a "twist". Not quite a LRH since you want your flagship to really standout from the pack.

NFPJ ignition designs will be more BH209 friendly.

I doubt you will see any 45s unless they are special editions.


As far as the 52cal having a ballistics advantage, well it does IF you want to shoot the big .475 375gr Redhot with at least 120gr of powder. It can deliver a ton of energy at 100yards and over 3100fpe at the muzzle. The same bullet in a current 50x475 sabot from Harvester falls only about 200fpe shy and not quite as accurate. Using a better 50x475 sabot they might be closer. Using the 458s from either caliber, there is not much of a difference unless they are kinda heavy.

Too many US makers of muzzleloaders have gone out of business and i hate to see that. i sincerely hope that the resurrected Knight will again become a prosperous and thriving company. The leadership of Knight needs to remember what got them in trouble the last time-a proliferation of models; some of which were bad designs.

Much of the market share has been grabbed off by CVA. Break action CVA guns are the rage now: Most of the hunters that i see have break action CVA guns. i just hope that Knight can make it.

I think they're going to have to come out with some sort of break action. Except for a couple, all that both CVA and TC make right now are break actions. It's what most people want. It doesn't matter how good of a gun you build if you can't get people to buy it.

Chet, the 52 has only one advantage that I can see, and that's the ability to handle heavy bullets better, its has not proven to be vary marketable. I would be inclined to think that since the 45 's popularity has increased that they would be more marketable. I suspect that they will go with the most marketable calibers and guns at least until some profit is shone.

I hate to say it but my prediction is that they are going to be coming out with top of the line guns and will be priced accordingly. The average joe-blow will still by the cheaper overseas guns leaving knight struggling like before.

My perception... I believe you are correct to a certain extent. I believe they will have a 'top of the line' gun and I also think they might come with a 'middle of the line' gun that will be somewhat competive, but in all they will offer American made steel and American made parts - which right off the bat costs them more money than an import.

The other end of the equation is what is the company really looking for... I think they might be just looking for a share of the market on this first go around under new ownership. I am not thinking they are going to try to capture the largest share of the market.

I believe they might offer quality first then quanity. I believe they also will be realistic about the numbers they sell in 2011.

One other point that I would like to throw out - the people at the corporate level of PI are very successful and have diversified into many different markets and products... They have made a living spending money wisely.