And looking for opinons

Ok for the story, and it's a long one so humor me.

As I had posted earlier I bought a knight KRB-7 last year with a scope. When I bought it they had done a bore sight on it for me.
Ok next story, 6 months later Knight basically went out of the rifle business. They are still producing accesories and still covering warranty but no longer producing rifles.

Ok fast forward to this year, sight in rifle, shoot at deer and miss (actually it was the second one I shot at that I missed, got the first one) got looking at the scope and realized it had come loose in the rings. So on go Leupold rings which are first rate kick butt. Re-sight it and end up 1-1/2" to the left, try to re-adjust the scope and no go won't move so figure scope is screwed internally. But I can live with that much error at 100yrds for the year since we were in the middle of hunting season and I can adjust with a little Kentucky windage so no problem. Obviously wasn't as I got 3 more deer with it.

Take the scope back to Scheels (it's a store branded scope but what came with the gun) They swap it out no questions except "what is wrong". Great warranty love it reinstall it on gun and go out to sight it in. not even on paper at 30yrs, move up to 10yrs nothing, 20ft I am 9" to the right. end up taking 45" worth of adjustment to get it right and most scopes don't move that far. start to figure that was why first scope went bad, was moved completely out of it's range of movement.

Ok so figure what the heck maybe the base was drilled wrong or something so maybe swapping and see what it does would help, take off scope and look down barrel and can visibly see that the front sight is NOT in the middle of the bases. try putting straight edge across the base and they line up with the rear sight perfectly even. Look again and the barrel looks bent slightly in front of the rear sight.... No way. straight edge again and on 1 side putting the end at the muzzle and along the forearm I have .045 clearance in the middle of the barrel, ok figuring taper at back of the barrel no problem, put it on other side, fits tight to barrel and has .010 clearance at the muzzle. The damn barrel is bent by .055" Gee can't imagine why it shoots 45" to the right.

Ok so now my dilemma. Called the store back and they said no problem bring it in and let their gunsmith look at it, if it's bent they will try and find one but since Knight is no longer making rifles probably won't have one anywhere. So will give me full refund on another rifle.

But I really like the way this one works, and I did kill 4 deer with it this year. They may not be able to find me another one so won't be able to replace it with the exact same rifle. now this sucker does hold under MOA groups (1" or less at 100yrds) but the dang barrel is bent. Now I do have it on paper currently but I know the scope has to be maxed out. So what do I do. My codriver says it ain't broke don't mess with it and keeps coming back to the fact that I did kill 4 deer with it, and I am almost as accurate with this as he is with his 30-06.

So opinions what would you do at this point?

 

A: you like it enough to keep it and just compensate for accuracy

B: if they cant fix it, they return your money.


It would come down to how much I liked it.

Maybe try some other guns see if you find something you like just aas much

 

Or C: take to a good gunsmith and have the barrel straightened.

I had a 30/40 Craig that had a curve even a 5 yr old could see. Took to Titus gun and barrel and for $50 made straight. That was quite a few years back. I know the gun wasn't worth a bunch but it was for a guy that had an emotional attachment and he wanted it repaired and rifle refinished.

 

If there is a visible short bend, then I'd have more concerns over a squib load than anything. Does it drop excessively over 100yds?

 

I'd see if they can find another gun like it. If not, I'd find another gun that I liked. You shouldn't have to over compensate that much. Clearly if your able to compensate for that much of an error, your a helluva shot. Any gun would suit you fine.

 

took it in and it was very much so bent according tothe gunsmith. They couldn't not find another one in any of their stores so they made me a really good deal and I traded it for a TC Triumph Bone collecter. Gonna take it out tomrrow and see how it shoots

 

Rob,
It's a shame that Knight went out of business, but, I personally, would not tolerate any rifle that has a bent barrel, or one that 'just won't shoot'.

You will LOVE that Triumph!!!!!
I was really, really lucky last year, and won a T/C Triumph in a raffle.
Granted, it's the 'standard' model with synthetic stock and blued barrel, but, with T/C's "Gorilla" scope mount and a Nikon 2.5-7x32mm (shotgun) scope, this rifle is really accurate at 100 yds!

I am going to change the scope mount out for a Leupold mount. I just very much prefer Leupold mounts/rings.

Using Pyrodex pellets and the T/C "Shockwave" sabot bullets, I was amazed at how accurate a b/p rifle could be!

 

I already have the leupold rings. I love those rings personally and won't buy anything else anymore.

I think BP has a bad rep for accuracy, but I have had a couple of them and honestly never had one that woudln't hold under 2" groups at 100yrds. Well to be honest I wouldn't own a gun that I couldn't do that except my handgun and even then I had 2 that would hold 6" groups at 100yrds with open sights

 

The "Gorilla" mount is strong. Very strong. What I don't like about the "Gorilla", is the lack of windage adjustment that the Leupold mount gives.

The reason I'm using the "Gorilla" mount is due to my youngest son and his lack of patience in getting this rifle ready for blackpowder deer season! (The "Gorilla Mount" was available locally. The Leupold was 3 days away, by mailorder!)
(I had to move the reticle 42 clicks to get the groups centered up at 25 yards!)
Whereas, with the Leupold, a little 'nudging' with the rear ring screws, I could have been able to leave the reticle (virtually) where it was, and only make oh-so-slight reticle movements.
(Read as I'm spoiled with Leupold mounts/rings!)

 

Took it out today and put about 10 rds through it. Never sat down and tried to group was just trying to get close, shoot 1 adjust etc BUT all my adjustments and the bullet went rigth were I thought it would I.E. move it 12 clicks down and 8 right and the POI would move 3" down and 2" right.

Did run it across teh chronograph and with 100gr of triple 7 mag powder was doing 1890-1920fps with a 265gr sabot. the knight was running about 1820 with the same combo.

Also this thing is a LOT easier to clean and I thought the knight was easy.

I did have a little issue cause first 5 rounds I shot were 250gr TC shockwave sabots (came with the gun, figured get on paper with them first) when i switched to my 265gr hornady FTX sabots it threw them way off in comparison but still consistent with each other so need to play with it some more (hey good excuse to go shoot more)

Anyway happy with it so far.

 

Rob, my youngest son and I love to go shoot blackpowder, now.

I stayed away from it, for years, because I smoked and really didn't trust that bp wouldn't ignite from an errant spark.

My fears were just that. Fears.

We've found bp to be a LOT of fun!!!!!!!
Yeah, the clean-up is a little more involved than smokeless, but, we shoot slower and more 'thought' goes into each shot.




I kick myself in the **** for not getting into blackpowder, sooner.