I took my Pistol Permit class from Gregg and then bought my first pistol from him in the summer of 2004. He gives you a coupon for one gun at cost when you take the class. I bought a SW99 in .45 ACP it, I paid $489 in August of 2004, I believe the MSRP was $789 then. I checked another gun shop near me at the time and they were charging $589. Last summer I bought a Walther P22 (.22) with the 5" barrel from him for $329, I have seen it for $329 at Four seasons I believe and for $329 - 389 at gun shows (At the Marlboro and Lunenburg show some dealers were selling the same new gun with that spread, who would buy from the high guy ?). I also think I saw it advertised somewhere for $299 but I am not sure. Anyway, with my small experience he has had good prices. His .45 ACP ammo has been priced well too. Recently I made my first trip to Four Seasons and found his ammo and prices good. Blue Northern is the closest shop to me and they seem expensive on everything.
So Thursday I stopped in shortly after lunch time to ask them about the S&W promotion, Denis said they would have an email out with the details that night but he couldn't say what would be on sale or for how much yet. I was interested in a SW1911DK which has a MSRP of $1274 so I kept pressing but he wouldn't say. Anyway Gregg came over and said if I wanted the gun he would figure out what Saturday's deal would be and I could buy it now and pick it up Saturday. Gregg is no dope he figured if I was going to buy it better to sell it now and order another one before Saturday to potentially sell to someone else (this is what he told me). He looked up some stuff and told me a cash price of $900 and he would give me a free AG Accuracy grip, which they sell for $69.99. I did plan on buying one of those grips (although I don't think I would permantly put it on the DK) so I think it was a good deal. I hadn't found this gun for less than $900 yet. So I told him I would take it and come back Saturday and pick it up, I was planning on bringing my SW99 to the Smith and Wesson guy. I did pick it up today and I am happy I bought it although I have not shot it yet, hopefully this week but by the weekend for sure. Also the S&W guy worked on my SW99 and said the DK didn't need anything, it was almost performance center quality (which is good, since that is what I was expecting). A few other people came in and had their guns worked on while I was there, it always seems like they know most of the customers. One guy came in with his young son who wanted to see old militray rifles like the M1 and Gregg was politely showing them to him.
Well, I just wanted to tell my experiences there, I find it the type of place where if you can go there you will get more infor than calling or emailing, that is a pain if you don't live near there but I think it is just more of an "old time merchant" kind of place. I work in the produce business which is one of the last bastions of this type of thing so I guess I enjoy it in a way. Someone mentioned that Denis can be a wiseguy in a previous post. This is true but if you keep talking to him you will get a straight answer and he seems like a nice guy, gun shops do get a high percentage of tire kickers so I suppose cracking jokes keeps him enjoying his job. Gregg is usually roaming around and he might step in if it sounds like you are serious about buying something. Also, I took some more courses from Gregg last summer and he does really know what he is talking about and is one hell of a shooter which makes me value his opinon on firearms. Anyway this is a long way of saying I like the place but I could see how it might not be for everyone.
PS Ken, what time were you there? I was there from around 10:30 to 11:15.
PPS I would recommend taking the Combat Handgun course from Gregg, 8 or 9 hours, 400+ rounds, a fun time.
Ned
One more thing, if anyone bought a new S&W recently, go to this website, enter their monthy gun giveaway constest and then you get a link to a coupon you can print out to get a free range bag from S&W. S&W links to the site but does now mention the free bag, you have to enter the contest. I heard about it at the 1911 website.
http://www.shootingusa.com/LATEST_UPDATES/GUN_A_MONTH/gun_a_month.html