Tite Group experience
I had an interesting experience Friday when calling around to area shops checking to see if anyone had an M1 Carbine in stock. When I contacted a shop called 'Tite Group', it became immediately noteworthy and different from the other calls in that during the first minute of the conversation the person changed his mind several times as to whether or not he had one in stock; first staying no, then yes, then no again they did not have any, then again reversing and finally stating yes he had one and it was a new Auto-Ordnance / Kahr Arms model stating "it is in my warehouse". I stated that I might be interested in one of these, in addition to continuing to look for a GI model, if it was in fact a well made firearm and asked if he would like to bring it to the shop from his "warehouse" so I could see it. He stated that they were extremely well made, better than the GI Models, but he does not "take guns out of the box and risk scratching them up on the counter" before being paid for !
In 44 years of purchasing firearms, I have never had a dealer state that they had a gun but would not take it out of the box to be viewed, this just sounded a little different to me.
Knowing that some dealers sometimes state they own a firearm and in their warehouse when in actuality they mean it is something they can get from a distributor, I asked if he definitely owned the gun and had the gun available and response was yes, but again, he does not take guns out of the box before being paid for.
This just seemed a little unusual, at least in my experience. Knowing for a fact that soft counter mats are relatively inexpensive, I purchased my own for $10 the last time I was at the S&W Retail Store in Springfield, and knowing that even if a store did not want to spend the money on a nice counter mat, would seem that a soft rag placed on a counter can adequately protect a firearm from being scratched, at least in my opinion. This fellow's manner of doing business is interesting to say the least.
Perhaps he has a good reason for conducting business in this manner. However, never been to that shop, never talked to them before, but believe I will avoid them in the future.