It surprises me that there actually is such demand for these at $700. I would have thought most would be looking at Ruger MK3, Buckmarks, etc that run $300. I'd like a 617 to get more work with double action but realistically I plan to do 90% shooting with the my Ruger 22/45 and S&W M&P 15-22.

I hope you were informed correctly about the production run. If this is the case we should have no problem securing these at reasonable prices (assuming the production run is more than a trickle).