I tend to agree, Bikemutt. While all the people are harping about "mom and pop" stores and the evils of Big Box and Online retailers....I can't say I'm any more or less happy with guns bought through the local "mom and pop" shop, the "Big Box" stores, or online. My purchases have been quick and painless regarding all three, prices have been competitive, and my guns all WORKED, making the "service after the sale" less than a deciding factor. Considering today's guarantees and warranties, "service after the sale" typically means shipping a gun back to the factory,something I'm perfectly capeable of on my own. I understand paying a premium for services one might actually use, but the mom and pop shops don't really offer me anything I can't get elsewhere. I can call Ruger just as well as they can. I can affix a shipping label just as efficiently as they can. NOTHING the local shop is capable of doing is worth paying an extra $100 bucks just so that I sleep better at night "supporting a local business" at the cost of my OWN bank account. Why should I be so worried about THEIR bottom line as opposed to my own? I refuse to overpay simply because someone thinks that I should just to support "local" business. When local businesses start losing sleep on how to better my financial situation, maybe I'll return the favor, but when their mode of business is to separate me from as many of my dollars as possible, its hard to think of them too charitably.