I've had similar experiences. The way I look at it is they didn't want to put the effort into learning what they were selling to maximize their profit. I'm not robbing them, just taking advantage of their laziness.
I think that's a Husqvarna 1907. Looks like the one I have (mine has aftermarket grips obviously).
...yeah, was recently at the pawn shop over in Hope, Indiana. They had a 3-4 nice M 1's. All priced in $2K and up range. Seems all the shops have them going high. Probably have better luck negotiating a price at a show.Wife and i went to Clifty Falls yesterday to hike. While in Madison, we stopped by a couple gun stores with items in stock that might interest some of you...
Madison Outdoors has the white boxes of Tula Red Army 7.62x54R on sale for $9.99 each. Cheapest price online for Mosin food is about $12/box. (They actually had quite a selection of ammo in stock when I was there yesterday.)
Madison Gold & Guns has dozens (if not hundreds) of AK bayonets for $25 each, but you have to dig through them all to find one you like. On the other end of the spectrum, they also have two dozen M1 Garands for $2k+ each, and almost a dozen Mosins and SKSes with varying levels of Bubbaing for $500 - 1000 each. They're pretty proud of their guns in there.
CMP is still the best way to get an M1. Even though they've gone up in price, they're still nowhere near show or shop or even private sale prices.
CMP is still the way to go, however the racks at Camp Perry were not well stocked back in August. The national matches were in full swing, and the CMP was limiting 1 rifle per competitor.
We just paid $650 for a rack grade a few months ago, so $700 is an increase. It was kind of rough, stock was varnished and needed a complete strip and refinish, but it is a good shooter. "Rack Plus" is a new category, but it sounds like you're basically just paying $150 for new CMP wood on a regular rack grade rifle.
