I guess I can blame this purchase on the newest propellant on the market for MLs, Blackhorn 209. Having obtained such great results with it in my Encore Pro Hunter, I had all the excuse needed to add another ML to the battery! That, and the fact that one of my sons has decided he wants to put the slug gun aside and switch over to a ML for deer hunting. Okay, enough of that and now about the KP1...
In short, this rifle is what a break action ML should feel and point like. The stock is very classic in appearance and feel. Not the least bit awkward to throw up quickly and point like a good shotgun. The barrel is smaller in contour than others I've owned in the past and this allows the balance to be more in the center of the gun rather than the extreme muzzle heavy feel of most others. Stock is equipped with a Kick Eze recoil pad, another nice feature.
The rifle comes with two breach plugs, one for use with Knights FPJ system and the other for plain 209 primers. After fumbling around with the plastic jackets, trying to get them situated on the breach so the action would close properly, I followed the directions in the manual and removed all of that. Just open the gun and pull the ejector out, no tools needed. Then remove the breach plug and replace it with the one designed for non-FPJ use. Put the ejector in a bag along with the FPJ plug and forget you have them! The straight 209 plug is magnetized so getting the primers into or out of it is simple, even in the dark.
After going through the typical preparations of cleaning the barrel, installing the scope and boresighting, I headed for the range. It's warm this time of year so a few shots to get it on the paper were all I was hoping to accomplish before the barrel became too hot. Luckily, it hit close enough to the aiming point at 25yds that I decided to try a few shots at 100yds before heat became a problem.
Loading 110grs by volume of BH209 behind the 275gr Parker BE, I fired one shot and then walked to the target. I then loaded the same charge behind a 300gr Barnes original and shot again. Not as far off the mark as the Parker, so I shot another shot with the Barnes and then the last with a Parker BE. Two shot groups don't tell much but the barrel was more than warm by now so I left it at that. The "group" for each load was about 1" so I'm anxious to return later and shoot a couple more shots into each one.
The rifle doesn't seem to kick as hard as the Encore with these loads. I believe the stock design has a lot to do with this. The action opens and closes easily and is bank vault tight. Trigger pull is very good and the lock time seems faster than one would expect from an exposed hammer action. It doesn't have the needless QLA of the Encore, nor the overly long breechplug they are now using. Both just rob the gun of effective barrel length and are unnecessary, IMO.
Overall, this is a solidly built rifle that isn't terribly over priced like the Encore. To me, it feels much better in the hands and off the bench is easier to control.

John, take note that removing the ejector leaves it's spring, the cross-bar and a small ball in the barrel lug. It might be best to remove those as well because they will probably fall out by accident during cleaning. I didn't know that little ball was in there and only found it while looking for the spring.

Your opinion parallels mine overall and especially so far as the FPJ system is concerned - it's awkward and unnecessary. Knight remains convinced of the FPJ's merit but may well drop it from the design (as well as the "decocking safety" - another near useless feature). Elimination of both those items would result in less production cost and perhaps less blowback into the action area, something you probably didn't see much of with so few shots.

Knight has redesigned the magnet retention in the non-FPJ plug. You will want the new design which hides and contains the magnet behind a pressed washer. That magnet was subject to break in the first examples. I broke the magnet in one and my other older one looks like it may not last long.

Knight has also reduced the hammer travel and increased the hammer spring tension to improve lock time.

http://www.sunrisearchery.com/KNIGHT_KP1.htm

I really need to get out and shoot some more as I have both the mods mentioned above as well as the new non-FPJ breech plugs to try. It's either been too wet or just TOO HOT for me to get out to my shooting area. No sense shooting when blinded by sweat.

Thanks for the info! Sent you a PM about this.