Hope you get yours.

Great little gun for the money, imo.

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Sure you did

Sport II is coming back down to where it should be IMHO.

Whittaker Guns is back to $549 + $12 shipping.

https://shop.whittakerguns.com/product/368

Damn straight!

Hey, I typed out those words (above) almost verbatim as spoken by the clerk lady at Cabela's. She knows how it works and she could see by my advanced age and dilapidated appearance that I've practically got one foot in the grave already! I think she's going to try to do her best to get me one before I die... God bless her soul!

In stock too... ... but not MA-compliant.

Likewise, I think I'm in excellent shape. Two recent runs to Cabela's, both with discounted gift cards and $$-off coupons, have me looking pretty darn good ammo-wise, even for specialty and odd caliber ammo (which had been a weak point in an otherwise very well-stocked ammo cabinet).

Whittaker's is a great dealer and only 60 miles from my house. HUGE discount firearms dealer in the middle of nowhere but always packed with customers.

Thanks to you guys mentioning their $549 price, I went back to Gander and got them to refund another $50 off my purchase price from last week. Gotta love those 30 day price guarantees!

Seems like about the same price here around me .. so I am going to wait too to see if the prices drop again .. I'm not in a hurry ..

Waiting, waiting, waiting, patience, patience, patience, waiting waiting waiting

Hey guys! It's only July. We should have some time before the real Armageddon panic starts... right?

But too bad for me... it now appears that Cabela's pulled its $599 sale price several weeks early. On-line, it's now $699.

Oh well. My chances were slim-to-none anyway.

Yep. Patience grasshoppa....your not alone in this boat

After Dallas, I think I'm giving up for good. Not only was there no end in sight for the ongoing panic/shortage, but it looks even worse now. What seemed like a good idea (i.e., buying a basic, no-nonsense back-up AR pre-November) has turned into an expensive, frustrating, almost hopeless proposition.

So as they say on the Shark Tank... "I'm out"!

Sorry that it didn't work out for you TTSH. You never know, you might still luck into something...

I bought my Sport II as another 'backup' AR several months ago, anticipating that the political race would rachet up demand. My experience is that you really need to be in front of these buying panics. When all is quiet, and available, is the time to strike.

My LGS had Sport IIs for a "sale" price of $599 for a long time. He stocked up with another few dozen of them a few months ago (he's a smart election year planner). After Orlando, the sale sign went down. Don't know what he's selling them for now...?

I own other, more expensive ARs and think the Sport is a nice option. Knowing the quality of parts and inspection protocol that goes into my Colts makes me feel good about those ARs, but don't believe the Sport is a bad choice. I believe it's a very good value because it is made by a quality manufacturer and marketed as a price point gun. The Sport shares many of the same key component parts as their other higher priced ARs. It's a quality, no frills AR sold at a competitive price, and I like that they've given it a melonite finished barrel. Not the rifle for you if you want all sorts of custom features (custom hand guards/grips, target trigger, special sights, flat top, custom muzzle brake, different barrel specs, etc.), but a great overall choice for an AR, and a perfect backup AR!

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NRA Life Member

Excellent post by the way. I *do* have a weird history of totally giving up on a particular gun or collectible only to find one a few days, weeks or months later. But in this case, the Sport II was never a critical life-or-death goal. It was to be the "icing on the cake" prior to what may be a considerable long-term political threat.

I'll do just fine with what I already own. In fact, I may look into a couple more upgrades that I'd been thinking about in lieu of the back-up gun approach.

Stopped in the rural.....LGS on Friday afternoon..... store was empty, wall still full of EBRs, didn't notice any price increases....... S&W Sport II still about $600 IIRC..... used 4" Model 10-6 in the case on consignment.....$37something.... but had Target hammer and Trigger... passed for fear of "Bubba" gunsmithing..........

Staff was ho-hum.........

One guy came in asking about trading a 4" Ruger Securty six for a concealed carry gun...... looked at some J-frames and LCRs ....left with his Security Six.

I put one on layaway last month at $679. I dropped in last week to put down a payment and the price is now $759 and they only have one left for sale. Elsewhere they're nonexistent.

This may not be as deep a panic as we've seen previously but it may last longer.

If you can buy one for $540, buy one. Heck, buy three. That is below wholesale. Even at $599, the dealer is hoping you buy extras. Guns are a Big Mac. Accessories are the Coke and fries that keep the dealer alive.

That really is amazing Bam. Everything low end (under $800-$900) is sold out around here. Best I could do today is $1K+Tax if I had the cash and wanted another recognizable name brand AR.

Well, again... At $599+Tx, I thought a Sport II made good sense for me. At $699+Tx, not nearly so much. At $750 or more plus tax, forget about it.

But now they are all sold out everywhere anyway.

Yeah, that's about the long and short of it. I guess you never know when a triple panic is about to erupt. It just proves once again that you can't time the market.

I sure wish gun prices around here were as good as what others are reporting. Gun prices up here totally suck. Typical price for a Sport is $650 at the local chain store (Dunham's Sports). I got my Sport on sale for $600 last October. After I got rid of that Sport and got the Sport II, the price was $659 at the LGS. The chain store didn't even have them. With the supply being real hit and miss now, I guess I can consider myself lucky I even have an AR. I wish everyone luck trying to find one, and I hope you can grab one eventually.

Prices for other guns up here are just plain old retail at best. No real sales ever. My friend just bought an SD9VE for $370. On sale it can show up for $330-350. I saw it for $300 once during Black Friday sales last year. The Shield is always $400. Rarely does it get to $350. When it did, it too was a Black Friday sale. FS and C M&P's are in the $450 range. XD Mod 2's are $500. Taurus PT111 is $280. Glocks are all in the $550-600 range.

I live in Michigan as well and a Sport 2 near me is $700 with many being sold out. I ended up getting a lucky deal from a Kentucky online gun store for $549, gjust had it sent to my local FFL. Everywhere I went was either sold out or wouldn't match Cabelas $599 sale at the time. Forced me online and I got lucky (thankfully the Kentucky store was a recommendation of members of this forum!).

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Proudly own 6 S&W firearms.

The LGS in my Parish is a big rip off joint. But, if you need a small part, or something like that, they are the go to store, instead of driving 60 plus miles to the big city gun stores.
My son and I went to the LGS Saturday to get a few misc AR parts (BCG cotter pins, and other misc. items). He was here to visit me so I could do some misc. items to his AR-556 (paint the etchings, replace the BCG cotter pin, and try my GRIZZLY GREASE on it).
This store sells S&W, Ruger, Colt, and Sig Sauer exclusively. We were looking at the AR racks and they had (1) used 1st Gen Sport (1:8 barrel like mine) for $719. They had (6) Sport 2's for $689 each, and (1) Sig M400 Classic for $988. They had sold over 2 dozen AR-556's in 4 days for $707 each and of the 2 dozen Sport 2's only had (6) left. They sold (4) Colt Expanse models in one day for $739 each. Believe it or not, they stated that their best sellers are the Colt Expanse and the Ruger AR-556. They also stated that the current AR stock will most likely be going up in price this week. SMH!
Anyway, we paid $2.99 each for (2) cotter pins and I paid $15 for a used SD9VE 16 round mag.

Oh, I totally believe it. My favorite shop tried to push an AR-556 off on me at a price of $749+Tx. No thanks. Not when I walked in to buy a Sport II at $599+Tx. But the point is that at least they could get them whereas they couldn't get more Sport II's.

I'm not sure if the Colt Expanse comes in MA-compliant (and no, I'm not going to pay extra to have it made MA-compliant). I've been wondering about that but probably a moot point now given where we're at today in this panic.

Sport 2's at the biggest dealers in Ohio are at $600 with ample supplies....gun show in Dayton sunday had table fulls of AR's but seemed like more than normal numbers were finding their way to the parking lot.....now the manufacturer of my 2 AR's can't crank them out fast enough AR15 HM Defense & Technology AR15.......my plan before November is to stock up on a few stripped lowers.....everything else is just parts is parts

Prices will only rise as the political season continues to heat up is my prediction. The politicians and the talking heads have really been ramping up the rhetoric against the Second. Support the NRA as mich as you can!

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Hue 68 noli me tangere

Oh, I've still got a couple nice stripped lowers in the safe as my ultimate back-up insurance policy... but I'm not ready to go into building mode just yet.

Here in the People's Republic, we are in the summer doldrums, meaning no gun shows here until late-September. Who knows what the market for MA-compliant AR's may look like by then?

Also, I just found out that Massachusetts may skip its traditional tax-free weekend in August... a traditional (and usually very successful) TTSH gun shopping weekend. That may be the last nail in the coffin for any back-up AR possibility for me pre-November.

Yep. I think a lot of it will boil down to customer demand vs. manufacturing speed. Demand is through the roof since Orlando and going nowhere but up post-Dallas... but parts supply and manufacturing capability should be up as well. It's not like this is the first time we've gone though a difficult time like this.

The good news (so far) is that ammo supply is holding strong. A whole lot of us learned from Newtown and are in great shape ammo-wise as a result. That's my read on it anyway.

Couldnt find one in the phoenix valley at all. I had decided to give in and look at some bushmasters but a trip to my LGS revealed they had one sport 2 on the wall, and one in the back. Needless to say, bought it on the spot for $750 with magpul furniture and taxes... now time to stock up on some .223

If it is a tall tale it has found it's way to NJ. I called my dealer (Atlantic Tactical) to confirm the price and availability on a Sport II this past Saturday. The salesman said they had plenty of them and they were $585.99 plus tax. I couldn't get there before they closed Saturday and my next day off was Wednesday. While I was checking out my salesman remarked to a co-worker that mine was the last one still in a box. When he rang me up it was $615.99 plus tax. When I questioned him about the price I was quoted on Saturday, he said that S&W raised the price. Not the end of the world, still a good price, but I was mad at myself for waiting. IMHO it has more to do with demand than anything else. There were at least 2 other people there buying Sport II's.

Another "pre-election" buyer that was set back by price hikes post Dallas. Almost bought one at $529 few months ago definitely regretting.

Are these models optics ready?


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I took my g/f with me to the LGS today. She is looking for a pink holster for her SP 101 .38 SPL.
While she was talking to the owners wife and daughter I strolled over to the AR rack. They sold the Sig M400. The Sport 1 was still for sale with a bump in price to $800. They also had (5) Sport 2's left with an increase in price to $725 each. I asked one of the counter guys if they were getting any more AR's in any time soon and he said they received (3) Ruger AR-556's Thursday and sold all (3) that same day for $750 each. He said they have a shipment coming Tuesday and Thursday of next week. They have (4) Colt Expanse's coming Tuesday (price not known yet) and (2) Ruger AR-556's coming in Thursday that are already sold.
These people and their price increase's are insane! I asked for the price on some TULA 9mm ammo. A 50 round box is priced at $18.99! SERIOUSLY?
BTW, my g/f did get to order her pink holster from the owners wife. She still won't tell me what she paid for it.

"Optics ready" is simply the newfangled way of saying "no iron sights provided"... so by definition, since the Sport II includes iron sights, it is not an "optics ready" carbine.

Your Atlantic Tactical store still sells to civilians? Our Massachusetts Atlantic Tactical store stopped selling to civilians the day the company was acquired by Safariland. It was a pretty dirty move too, without any warning. I got the royal zing in the process for which I will never forgive them or buy another Safariland product ever.

Amazing, isn't it. There are days and weeks when they can't give the damn things away... and then there are times like this when demand is crazy through the roof almost regardless of price.

Such is life in these United States. And it's only going to get worse after November.

About two months ago, my wife was watching the SHTF news stations and asked how tough it would be to get another AR-15. She enjoys shooting mine and is good at it. She decided she wanted one too. We paid $649 at my LGS. We took it up north where we have an open landfill for shooting. The night before, she broke it down, cleaned it, lubed it, loaded a few mags and asked how early we could get started.
It was pretty well sighted in and after 50-60 rounds, she began changing her stance and firing positions to get a feel for it. Spot on.
Once back at the cottage, she broke it down and inspected it, wiped it down and proclaimed it a 'keeper". So is she.

That's insane.

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Neh that's all the fault of the individual stores. They raise prices. A shooting yesterday or last week doesn't raise price of manufacturing or suppliers. Only the dealer does that. $19 for Wolf? That's not supply and demand that opportunist. If the major online retailers haven't raise much if ant then there is no price increase down the line. I have 3 store near me with good prices and even during the great panic they raised prices ONLY when they had to pay more. Thats understandable. In the other hand a store near my work is quite the opposite. He goes to Walmart and resells their ammo. If it sat long enough you'll see different price tags depending on the news of the week. If you think $19 for wolf 9 is too much hell sell you as many individual bullets as you want. I wouldn't shop there if he had the last ammo on earth

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The owner of this store is a *******' snake! He knows that his store is the ONLY store within a 50-60 mile radius. But, there is a WM about 2 miles from him.
I only go there to buy items that I don't feel like driving over 50 miles to buy. I never buy ammo or firearms from there. His prices are insane! And, that's just it; he knows he is the ONLY store around and he sticks it to the people.
I called his store about 3 years ago to get an FFL transfer fee price. He asked me 50 Q?'s, stating he had that, or this, blah, blah, blah. I hang up with him and he is calling me back with another "deal." He called 2 more times before I told him to go get.........well, you know!
I also go there to tell him about all of the great deals that I get online and at the stores 50-60 miles away. I can literally see his head getting red about to explode!

Just visited my NSLGS and his price was exactly the same it was some 3 weeks ago for the Sport II.

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Sure you did

Made it to the big city today. Fully intended to buy, at the right price. Cabelas had plenty of M&P15's in stock if you wanted to pay 699 Price match was local within 100 miles...no internet.

Gander mountain has theirs on sale for 674 then 70 total off with thier new CC deal. Then with tax your still out 655 or so. Price match does NOT include firearms

Im waiting on Whittakers

I checked our local (Massachusetts) Cabela's on the website today and... amazingly... they show the MA-compliant Scout II back in stock.

But unfortunately, they had pulled their $599 sale price early. No, I'm not paying $699+Tax.

My name is still on the waiting list so it will be interesting to see if they call. I am not holding my breath.

In my unscientific studies, I've found big box stores to be the priciest, regardless of the political climate at the time. Store name recognition and huge overhead play a big part. Not to say I don't shop at them. Sometimes they have sales that the little guy just can't match due to volume buying at a special deal for their stores.

I do try to buy from local gun stores as much as I can. Sometime I make out and sometimes I break even. The level of service you get at a small store usually isn't matched at a big one.

Some of the online stores have generated a bad reputation of poor service and/or jacking up the price when the political opportunity presents itself. I steer clear of those places. The same goes with a local gun store if they do the same thing. Fortunately, my favorite ones have not done so yet.

Notice I made sure not to name names. Everyone's experience and opinion is going to be different. I'm not about to get into a war over it. It's your money, spend it how you wish.

What are your thoughts about Ruger 556 vs Sport II? Basically same gun so get whatevers cheapest?
- Ruger has quick disconnect so just add a sling.
- Ruger has 1/8 twist barrel vs 1/9 on Sport.
- Typically Sport is $50-100 cheaper

Gun would just be a plinker so dont need anything too fancy. Eventually add optics

The day after San Bernardino seemed to motivate me to travel down to the LGS and ask for a price match for 600 from Impact for the Sport 2. The person behind the counter said he could do 530. The was a whole stack of them right behind the counter. I was really glad I bought it right when the price bottomed out. Impact lists it for 630 now. The demand for those particular rifles have shot up incredibly. At Impact the most popular firearm on the whole site is the Sport 2.

I could have bought ANOTHER Sport, but, I liked the Ruger more than the Sport 2, so, that's what I bought. I shot a better group with the AR-556 and, IMHO, it just felt a bit better to shoot than the Sport 2.

The only big box store I have ever bought a gun from is Cabela's. And as I learned right here on the forum, the key to dealing with Cabela's is some permutation or combination of the following: 1) Sale prices, 2) Local price matching, 3) Use of discounted gift cards, 4) Use of $$$-off coupons, 5) Use of club rewards, and 6) Buy tax-free if/when possible.

In regard to local price matching, Cabela's has pulled back on its price matching policy greatly in response to some pretty stiff competition (at least in my area - not sure about nationally). Before, local price matching was a promise. Now, it's kind of a squishy hit-or-miss policy subject to gun department management approval.

My last price match request turned into a brief negotiating session with the gun department manager. I made out okay, but it was something short of a full price match. But the use of discounted gift cards and a $$$-off coupon still made it worthwhile.

Impact guns, if it's the cite I'm thinking of were always priced a little high

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I've dealt with Cabela's, Gander Mountain, Dick's Sporting Goods, and National Armory from time to time. Ever since Dick's decision to stop selling MSRs after the Connecticut shooting, I rarely do business with them anymore.

I do look for sales when I'm in the market and Cabela's has a military discount (10% I think). They are a bit of a drive, so they aren't the first place I look.

Usually, I go LGS, unless they can't get what I want then I'll start looking at big box.


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Our choices here in MA are somewhat limited. We are fortunate to have one excellent, very-high-volume, price-setting gun shop in Eastern MA... however, they don't carry everything and some items sell out fairly regularly.

Big box-wise, we have a "Mini-Cabela's" and a Bass Pro. Neither sell used handguns. New handgun prices at Bass Pro are very high. I can't really speak to their long gun prices. At least Cabela's runs sales and coupon deals... plus you can buy discounted gift cards occasionally (as you can also for Bass Pro, but the deals usually aren't as good). We have Dick's stores also but I don't even count them anymore. They are a joke for all but the occasional ammo buy.

I have bought 3 brand new handguns from our MA Cabela's store so far... 1 at a decent price and 2 using local price matching and the other tricks I've talked about in order to make the buys worthwhile. When our Cabela's store first opened, buying a gun there was an absurdly long and tedious process. They had no idea what they were doing. Things have gotten better over time. My last purchase there was relatively painless in comparison, but still not as straightforward and satisfying as buying from an experienced shop.

The truth is that I wish we had more of the well-known big box stores to choose from... choices and competition are good... but it's also quite possible that they would be no better than our Bass Pro and our Cabela's here in loony moonbat Massachusetts.

I'm thinking that $700 Sport 2 is looking like a good deal today huh?..

Wise guy!!!

I guess you read the news. Pretty much all semi-auto long guns are banned for sale in Massachusetts as of Wednesday. We are not yet sure how this might impact semi-auto handguns. Confusion reigns at this point.

So yes, my plan to pick-up a Sport II is dead and buried. And yes, at the handful of dealers that were still selling AR's on Wednesday (many stopped all sales immediately), folks were paying any amount of money to get one. Didn't matter what it was or how much it cost. It sold. 2,600 guns in half a day from a very limited number of willing dealers. Bizarre but true.

TT...NC is still a (relatively) free state. I'm sure you'd be welcome.

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642-1, M&P15 TS

The fact is that I'm stuck here for good now. We finally bought our retirement property... and it's here in MA.

Funny, isn't it. One week after we buy our retirement property, our nutcase AG lady unleashes her surprise retroactive unilateral ban of all semi-auto rifles (and maybe semi-auto handguns too)... making me a "Felon in Waiting" pending her next move.

Am I a lucky guy or what?

Next hobby: bird watching (assuming I am not in prison).