Currently available 45 cal.

I get a little interested in the Knight rifles and then I read comments like yours , I read from a lot of other people,they say the same thing leaking primers or leaking ignitions it keeps me from even looking at a knight,I'm not spending over $500 on another muzzleloader again and have to replace parts to make it shoot better,if I want to do that I'll just buy some other CVA Accura replace the plugs and go down the road,,bolt action,, hankins or Arrowhead, plug or I'm not buying it,, no offense to the knight people either

The barrel and trigger on it was really nice, as was the fit and finish. It was a nice looking gun. I put so much work and money into trying to get it to just be a nice bolt action. I bought different bolts, breech plugs, bare primer adapters, etc. I finally was able to get a bolt handle and bare primer carrier from an old disc extreme and filed the carrier down paired with a Bestill breech plug and it worked like it should. By this time I had already gotten hooked on the idea of the Encore I have now so I sold the Knight and bought the Encore barrel. I will say that the Knight was real accurate and while a lot of them sound like they have problems I believe mine was probably worse than most. I had an older Disc Extreme several years ago and it was less problematic than my Mountaineer and was a very nice rifle. Probably shouldn't have sold that one.

I will continue to make this point no one in America is building the rifle that the American muzzleloaders are asking for you can have someone custom build it or you can buy a rifle like a knight and put three or four hundred more dollars into it perhaps and build the rifle you want,by the time you do that and ship your gun here and there,,I'm starting to appreciate my Paramount a lot more even though I disagree with the bore dimensions, at least to get it to shoot out of the box I didn't have to send it anywhere and no I don't like the bullets they're pushing with the gun,, but in my gun they shot less than an inch ,,I know there's people in America working to design a rifle like that it just aggravates me that that has to be a custom gun that a lot of people can't afford

The thing is if you want to get as light as a Knight UL using a true bolt action you better have about 2+ times deeper pockets. That titanium action alone is going to set you back over a grand. A ULA action is over a grand. A B&C Kevlar fiber stock is around $300 and we have not even got to the barrel or trigger yet. Thats at least another $500 and we have not touched on misc items or labor.

At its price point the Ulite with a Lehigh or Bestill plug aint bad at all. Out of all my Knights all any of them needed was a $20 Lehigh plug to function great. $80 for a Bestill custom fit bushing plug is a bargain. Both are made from better steel than any of the competition is using.

I'll admit I've gotten spoiled to my Arrowhead- hankins modules, I really want to use them in a little ultralight walking rifle bolt action,I'm going to try to get a couple of prototype rifles put together between now and next winter, it'll be fun

Bestill charges about $600 for a LRMP conversion on a Knight. Not sure if he still does it but im pretty sure he uses a ASG plug.

BTW the rumor is......Knight has a prototype 40cal and it just might be a LRMP module system too.

I could get interested in that real fast

Here are all the options Bestill was offering for Knights. Listen to the last couple minutes for the 40.

Auto-5 said:

I’m also looking for a new fast twist 45 that’s BH209 capable. Don’t want a hammer to cock and I desire something as light as possible.
My Super 91 in 45 weighs 8 lbs 2 oz ready to hunt. Just more than I want to carry as I age out of this world. The New England hills seem higher every year.

So, the Cooper...7lbs or more and $2,275 or more. Heavier than I’d like and, yes, pricey.

The Woodman Arms Patriot intrigues me, 6 lbs and $899. I admire the effort made to bring a such an innovative design to market. It meets my requirements and the walnut stock version I find particularly attractive. I wonder about the complexity of the action and operating it in the woods. I’ve watched the videos but need to put hands on to be sold. I almost feel I should buy one just to support their hard work and financial risk.
Bravo!

That leaves the Ultra-lite...6 lbs and $1,015 at Midway with nitride and a green spider web stock. No mystery here except how they managed to make it so light. My Disc Elite 50 weighs a svelte 9 lbs ready to hunt! It never makes it further than the range.

I’m leaning toward the Ultra-lite, familiar handling, simple design and while it’s not cheap...it might be the last gun I buy.
Yeah, right! No, really!!!

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So I own a Woodman Arms Patriot in .45, Knight Ultralight .50, TC Contender 209 .45 cal, a CVA accura MR .50 cal and TC Omega X7. The Ultralight has been my primary hunting rifle for a couple of years. All of the rifles are very light. The weight of the Ultralight and Patriot are within 3 grams of each other with scopes. The Ultralight has a Nikon XR and the Patriot has a Prostaff 4X12.

I just shot the Patriot this morning. It was 19 degrees and windy so not a time for me to dial the rifle in. I shot a .40 sst/85 grain BH209, and another load having a 200 grain bonded bullet with 120 grains of BH209. 200 grain bullet with 120 grains is comfortable with the Patriot.

Fit and finish. There is a clear winner here, its the Patriot its better than any of my other muzzleloaders. The Ultralight is very good but definitely not equal. Example that separate the rifles, on the Ultralight the welding at the lug only OK, my stock contacts the barrel, the bolt on my rifle needed to be worked to smooth it out, the oem beech plug is not 17-4 SS, the lettering on the barrel is stamped and my Ultralight is not nitride treated. Almost every part on the Patriot is CNC cut and is either nitride treated 17-4 stainless steel or hard anodized aluminum, all markings are lasered etched. Fit and finished are just better on the Patriot. BTW, the breech plug is heat treated 17-4 ss out of the box on the Patriot.

My gun that I bought was sent dirty, I was worried that the barrel would be pitted. So before contacting the seller I cleaned it. There is absolutely no corrosion on the rifle, the rifle is in excellent shape. The Patriot was much easier to clean than my Ultralight. On the Patriot separate the barrel from the receiver by removing the hinge pin, and clean. To clean the Ultralight I insert a tube into the breech area to avoid dropped dirt into the trigger area. I won't be cleaning the Patriot like I do with the Ultralight, it doesn't need the same level of cleaning due to the finish.


I would buy the Patriot over the Ultralight. I am hoping to buy one of the 1/18 .45 when they are done.

Nice review cattledog. You have sort of turned my head in the direction of the patriot.

This may seem like a strange question, but is it noisy when working the action? Capping and decapping are sometimes necessary and mechanical noises are alarming to deer.

Something new and different has its own appeal.

About the same. You can set the cross safety and cock the rifle before you talk into the woods. No louder than any other cross safety.

I don’t doubt the Woodsman Patriot is a really nice rifle. To my eye’s I just don’t like the looks of it.
The ultra lite is a very sharp looking rifle.

I have to say I bought my ultra lite with plastic jacket and ordered the lehigh plug and adapter and it functions flawlessly, clean as whistle, i am getting around.007 crush with no shims. The patriot is an interesting gun.catledog im glad you grabbed the patriot, i was very tempted and really didn’t need any more

The Patriot is certainly a different maybe odd looking muzzy. However I've never thought of it as ugly. I really like the different choices of lamenated stocks. The best shooting guns aren't necessarily the purdy ones.

I don't own an UltraLite (yet) but if I was buying new, that would be my choice. Possibly (probably) nitrided, and 1:20. The .45 knight bolts that I've owned, including .45 super disc, .45 disc elite, and .45 extreme... all shot clean as a whistle with a Lehigh plug and W209's.
My .50 cal bolt knights, same thing... zero blowback with a Lehigh plug and W209's.
I understand some folks have had issues, but I (and many others) have not.

WV Hunter said:

I don't own an UltraLite (yet) but if I was buying new, that would be my choice. Possibly (probably) nitrided, and 1:20. The .45 knight bolts that I've owned, including .45 super disc, .45 disc elite, and .45 extreme... all shot clean as a whistle with a Lehigh plug and W209's.
My .50 cal bolt knights, same thing... zero blowback with a Lehigh plug and W209's.
I understand some folks have had issues, but I (and many others) have not.

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I had issues with my knight bolt guns until I got on this forum and figured it out with the posts on here.now i am happy with the results, i have a couple more to convert .thank you to those who figured it out and posted thier results, i love my knights and lehigh conversions

Mnt monkey said:

I will continue to make this point no one in America is building the rifle that the American muzzleloaders are asking for you can have someone custom build it or you can buy a rifle like a knight and put three or four hundred more dollars into it perhaps and build the rifle you want,by the time you do that and ship your gun here and there,,I'm starting to appreciate my Paramount a lot more even though I disagree with the bore dimensions, at least to get it to shoot out of the box I didn't have to send it anywhere and no I don't like the bullets they're pushing with the gun,, but in my gun they shot less than an inch ,,I know there's people in America working to design a rifle like that it just aggravates me that that has to be a custom gun that a lot of people can't afford

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You really don’t have to spend 3 to 4 hundred on the ultra lite, I believe i spent around 39 bucks for the Lehigh plug and adapter and needed no shims , i have since converted my other knights with the same results, 2 more to go

Which Knight bolt works best with the Lehigh BP?
The bare primer type with rails or the FPJ bolt with the Lehigh adapter.

I have the FPJ bolt and adapter in my Elite and it works well.

If I order an Ultra-lite, I’ll have a choice.

FPJ bolt and adapter ,, is the best IMO. I have both.

SuperKirby said:

I had the .45 Mountaineer. Even with the Bestill plug I still had too many issues with a sticky bolt/primers and finally gave up. Thus ended my interest in Knights.

I have a .45 Brux from Luke at Arrowhead and can't recommend one of those enough.

I will also say that I've exchanged a few emails with Mr. Woodman about his Patriot rifle and I can't say enough how impressed I am with him. Quality dude and I believe he makes a quality rifle, enough so that I'm actually considering purchasing one to see what it's all about.

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saw one shoot once at Friendship