I am such a good shopper

So Dad needed a gun. For primarily decorative purposes. Please don't ask - he's getting stranger as he ages.

This could not, of course, be a simple gun. Oh no - it had to be a cowboy gun. It also had to be something in a slightly uncommon caliber, with which he can (in theory) hunt deer in Michigan brush, and for which he can eventually buy an equally cowboy-looking companion revolver in the same caliber.

Got that? And nothing too expensive.

Did I mention that Dad stopped interacting with technology in 1969? The last mouse he dealt with was scurrying around his woodpile. He stomped on it, and that was the end of that.

So during his recent visit I sat him down and we took a brief spin across the gun-nut section of this magnificent internet. We looked at guns by Marlin (just not cowboy enough), Henry (ahhh...a little expensive and really shiny and not quite right), and Cimarron (holy MSRP, Batman!). To say nothing of Uberti, Navy Arms, and all the rest.

Then we stumbled across the Puma. It's an Italian Brazilian (thanks, Drew! I knew that!) gun, made by Rossi, and imported. They make a lever rifle in .45 Long Colt with a 20-inch barrel and case-hardened color on the receiver.



Kinda pretty, if you're into that sort of thing. And affordable.

So Dad went home with an item number written down, and the gun dealer he prefers to use (just down the road from the hollow stump in the northern forest where I grew up) said, "Sorry, can't find one."

I searched the 'net. Gunbroker.com, which is becoming more and more simply a place where retailers list things at mediocre prices, was coming in just under MSRP. With shipping and transfer fees (which were abnormally high at Tree Stump Guns, by the way - I called), we were not looking at a good deal.

I found that Gander Mountain is a vendor for the Puma importer, so I called the one up North. They could get one, the man said, for $60 over MSRP.

That, I figured, was a load of Puma poo. Just after I resigned myself to lurking on Gunbroker and getting Dad on the hook to pay retail (ick!), I thought to myself, "self, you haven't looked to see if Bud's has one in stock."

Why, yes. Yes, they did. At about $130 under MSRP, and with free shipping to boot.

I've heard mixed reviews about Bud's, but it seems a reasonably functional group of people. I'll be interested to see how long it takes, as Dad will be mailing his payment to them. I shall keep y'all posted.

I'm so proud of myself. Saving that much money makes me want to go out and blow the "savings" on ammo and toys. But, alas, if it's not my money I saved, I don't think I get to do that.