Yes, we know, for the umpteen time, yes, the market is crazy. That said, I would not be too quick to condemn anyone for a high selling price at this point in time. No one knows the wholesale/jobber atmosphere any of these suppliers are facing. I do have a problem with the online companies that have what appears to be "reasonable" priced ammo only to find that regardless of quantity, doubles in price when shipping and "handling" is factored in at time of checkout.
I remember back when Smith introduced the Model 66. They were scarce as hen's teeth in retail environments but we had one in our show case that was priced at three times the MSRP even though the sale price reflected our standard markup. (Anyone who has ever run a small gun shop knows you can't keep the lights on with the markups on guns. Ammo and accessories is what keeps the doors open) We would continually have people come in and while standing there handling our model 66, complain of the price, stating that our chief competitor was selling them at something near MSRP, and we're taking $50 deposits to get on the waiting list. We finally got a buyer who did not care how much it cost but, then it was almost two years before we were able to replace it at any cost.
Now who in your opinion was taking advantage of the customer?
