A sign
Gun sales are at record highs. Ammo prices are through the roof. Yet a maker of hunting rifles is about to go under:
Later this morning, Knight Rifle will officially release the news of their decision to cease manufacturing. The official announcement to Knight employees was made last Friday, but officials have avoided speaking with the media in an attempt to keep the lid on the story until June 1.
The trend of high gun sales has not exactly trickled into the hunting market.
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:38 am
Maybe not, but what about their debt load?
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:42 am
All Knight makes is front-stuffers, and competition in that market is ferocious.
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:05 am
Maybe they ought to come out with an AR-15 with a piston?
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:13 am
Maybe they should make something to use all the .500 S&W, .460 Ruger, .17 HMR, and .270 Win I see on the shelves. Either that, or SAA and 1911 clones.
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:49 am
The trend of high gun sales has not exactly trickled into the hunting market.
I would suspect that there will eventually be a decrease in hunting gun and ammo sales.
My theory is that the blood sports will continue to lose hunters. The main reason is that the US is rapidly heading towards hunting being a sport of the privileged.
More and more property is being locked up tight by deer clubs that try to keep membership low.
Property owners are charging exorbitant lease prices
States are marketing hunting to the tourism market.
Fewer and fewer of us true Fudds (I use it to refer to us small game hunters) can find places to hunt during deer season and after. When we quit, the hunters lose votes on the theory of why should we support the ones who drove us out
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:54 am
That’s too bad. Knight made some pretty solid deer-whacking guns.
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:34 pm
They bet the farm on producing a VERY niche product…high end muzzleloaders. Wrong niche.
Our local “niche manufacturer” would be Bob Hart and his super-expensive custom long range rifles in whatever bizarre caliber you can dream up are still selling pretty well. Right niche.
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Maybe they could switch over to making cartridge ammunition & help releave the shortages on the shelves??
June 2nd, 2009 at 4:47 pm
I’m sorry to hear this. OTOH, I never did see the use in making a muzzleloader that looks like a modern rifle. Having to deal with the increased lock time involved with a sidelock rifle is part of the challenge.
June 3rd, 2009 at 1:27 am
Yay!!!!!!
One less maker of the only type of hunting rifles Obamans want you to be allowed to have under that Second Amendment thingy……..
Really, all Knight rifles (and all inline frontloaders that copied them, only cheaper) have ever been were “rule beaters” (think 9×23, all you IPSC folk!), invented to allow Iowa farmers to whack Bull elk in Colorado without learning to deal with the inherent difficulties of a side-lock muzzleloader, because getting a non-resident Bull tag for a centerfire rifle was too hard…..
jimbo86