Interesting. I'm undecided on liking it.

...I MUST have one!

Seriously, it is a 4" 696 with matte finish and better grips AND, of course, the Magnum chambering. I showed it to a friend who stopped by the shop and he allowed that it would be perfect with .44 Special level loads, which is true. Not to stir the pot but he didn't like the lock or MIM parts (trigger really) nor did he like the matte finish. People commented on the black screw heads with the stainless gun. My price would be around $700 with employee discount. I don't know if I can get excited about it at that price.

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Sincerely,

Hobie

I won't be trading off my Mountain guns any time soon...

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Of the Troops & For the Troops

also in the case.

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Sincerely,

Hobie

I saw that the going price on GB was around $700-725 for the ones that sold. Still a better deal on GB than paying sales tax. I'll stick with my Astra.

We've been calling for an mid-frame .44 forever, and now we have it...

but we're put off by the screws and the finish.

Remind me how much it would cost to build one of these from a 696 and a 686 MG barrel?

....what they can do. Modern metallurgy, new materials, tight tolerances, and all that.

Am I going to get one? Not a chance. I own a number of .44 Magnum revolvers (from a 3" 629 to a 10 1/2" RSBH), and making a .44 Magnum LIGHTER just doesn't make me salivate to run out and buy one (for the record, my 4 3/4" FA .44 magnum is my vision of the PERFECT .44 Magnum).

I love the 696 .44 Special, great carry gun, but I don't see any need to make it a .44 Magnum.

Now, if they would make the S&W Model 69 in .45 Colt, I would probably sprain something getting my wallet or checkbook out fast enough to pay for it!

Say what you will about quality, they were there first with the Trackers. Covered all the calibers too, .41 Mag, .45 Colt, .44 Mag, .45 ACP. Multiple barrel lengths, ported, not ported.

Heck, the Taurus 441 was around many years before the 696.

Just sayin'........

I see a pattern developing.

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Sincerely,

Hobie

had in the shop, but I made him pack a Mountain Gun as I felt better about the reliability of the S&W. I have that Trackeer for sale 500.00 wanna buy it?

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Of the Troops & For the Troops

......until we get to $500. After that we add a flat 50 bucks. Anything over $1000 our cost is a flat 100 dollar fee.

Is that similar to what your shop is doing? Just curious.

Our biggest (and only) competitor within a 50 mile radius is a place named Ranch & Home. They are about 10 miles away. Recently they have upped their prices across the board, pretty dramatically I might add. A Springfield Armory XDM sells for $599 in our shop, and $729 in their place!

The rest of their prices, which used to be competitive with us, have increased correspondingly. Not sure what the malfunction is, but they were outrageously bad during the last panic as well, which caused a lot of hard feelings towards them. This latest faux pas might signal some serious trouble for them with the customer base. Believe it or not, a few of the clerks there are quietly sending folks over to our shop! In fact, their clerks buy from us, as our prices are better than what they get.....with the employee discount.

Strange how some folks do business. I hope their sales of Carhart and Wranglers makes up the difference.

Otony

Was very accurate with .44 Specials, never lit up a Magnum in it.

I gave an Airman from Eielson the $175 he wanted for it, then moved it along in the great Alaskan move-away sellout.

However, you can have some very fine one-of-a-kind items for close to the same price.

I had to have one!!! After thinking on it a bit I'm pretty sure I'd just as soon carry my 4" 629. What I really need is someone who wants to trade a 4 5/8" stainless SBH for a 7.5" Redhawk .44.

I won't sell my M329PD nor my M29-2, but I would like to try one out.

Just because it's chambered in 44 Magnum doesn't mean you have to shoot 240@1400 or 300@1200 all the time.
I'm pretty certain most of us shoot many more 250 cast @900-1000 than full bore loads. I know I do.
It's funny how so many want a lighter, more compact field gun, but pass on one when they finally get a chance to own one. We're a fickle lot for certain.

.

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Sincerely,

Hobie

Unless you have another income stream into the biz, it doesn't seam feasible.

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Of the Troops & For the Troops

........we move a tremendous number of firearms. Our rep at Davidsons informed that we are one of his largest accounts. Here is a good example, we started a new bound book last March, and filled it before the end of the year. I will have to check, but that is a significant number of guns. We average buying a minimum of $3000 to $4000 worth of guns per week.

Second, and very significantly, we are also a pawn shop. The State of Washington sets our interest rate, which is 25% on a loan. You would be shocked at the number of folks who come in and repawn on the 90th day, that is, simply pay the interest and start a new 90 day wait.

Frankly, the pawn shop end of things pays the bills, and the gunshop side is icing. We have a captive audience. As I mentioned, other than Ranch & Home, you have to drive an hour plus to reach another shop. And the boss is lenient re: late pawns. Depending on the customer, he will charge a late fee rather than keeping the item, which insures repeat business. Rare in the pawn industry.

And I never mentioned the profit margin on used guns. Guns lost in pawn cost peanuts. If a used gun is in good shape, like new, we price it a 100 bucks less than what we sell it for new. Great price for our customer, but I guarantee we are making more off of it than on a new gun.

Same, same, when the boss buys a gun from someone. The most he will give is about 60% of wholesale, and that doesn't happen often. He has no qualms about lowballing people, a practice I'm not too comfortable with, but that is the way a pawn shop runs.

Honestly, pawn shops are like heroin in some respects. A huge part of the customer base is dependent on the shop, and will never get the monkey off their back. I was hired to work the gun end of things, and try to stay with that as much as possible.

Otony

aveni1955 AT gmail DOT COM

Otony

the effort to receive enter the gun and customer info at 10%...

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Of the Troops & For the Troops

I just checked our log book. We entered in right about 1600 guns last year, both sales and transfers. That does not count pawn guns (different book).

Transfers are $15 each and 10% of the rest adds up to real money.

Otony

the ammo and accessories. IF you can get the stuff, you do pretty well. Two local shops are gone because they could not get ammo. Nothing to sell, nothing from which to make a profit.

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Sincerely,

Hobie

.......no ammo because it is too difficult to compete with the "Mart" prices (we have Kmart, Walmart , and Bimart here in town).

No accessories as the boss isn't interested. However, in the year that I've been there, he has seen his gun sales increase dramatically. Part of that is due to he "panic" of course, but a significant portion is due to the fact that I'm gunny and he ain't.

Now that he sees the difference in sales, he is open to having some accessories in stock. I have to make some highly edumacated choices on fairly universal stuff for him to feel secure about putting his foot in the waters.

In the end, having a pawn shop is his insurance policy.

Otony