Ok, I don't know how my scale gave me 14.5lbs before, but it's showing 10lbs now. Because I wanted to know where the weight was in this gun, I separated the barrel from the action and weighed each component separately. When the barrel/forend weighed in at just under 6lbs, scope at 1lbs, and action with stock at a bit over 3lbs. Even reassembled, it was only weighing in at 10lbs. I think what was happening was that the gun was hanging oddly and levering against the scale (using my bow scale). The 300wm barrel, forend, and scope is only .5lbs lighter than the muzzleloader barrel set, which corresponds to the 9.5lb total gun weight.
Much better...
Chris