Late Thursday afternoon I was talking to a buddy of mine, another .44 Special lover, and was crying the blues about having made my mind up to buy a pair of New Vaquero's in .45 Colt. He was a little confused as he had never heard of any New Vaquero's being chambered in our favorite cartridge and after giving him the low and slow on these Lipsey's special edition guns his ears really perked up when he heard they had made them in a 3.5" Sheriff's model and told me he'd call me back in a few. A few minutes later he called back and asked if I'd pay $100 less than I'd found the only Sheriff's model on Gunbroker for a brand new in the box, 4 5/8" barrel, blue steel, New Vaquero in .44 Special. I like to have broken my neck trying to jump out of my chair and grab my hat, put my boots on, and stuff my wallet in my pocket all at the same time. Then he told me it was too late for me to get to the gun before the shop closed but the shop owner was a good friend of his and would hold the gun if I wanted it. So he gave me directions and he and I met the Friday morning at the little shop about an hour drive from my house and 20 minutes from his.
There it was in all it's splendor, nesting in it's box among several other Ruger single actions. I didn't try to dicker or anything, I just asked the shop owner, a very fine fellow, for a 4473 and handed him the required amount of American green backs. We concluded our business and the dealer reached under the counter and pulled out the same gun in a Sheriff's model and slid it across the counter to my buddy. My bud started pointing and making noises like he was choking and the shop owner winked at me. My bud asked how much and the dealer quoted him the same price as what i'd paid for the other gun. After having told me he thought I'd made a good deal my buddy started on about the price and offered him a rusty Old Timer pocket knife and $5 for the gun. The dealer just winked again and grinned and thanked me for my business and told me I might as well go on home... that he and my bud would probably agree on something a couple of weeks from now.
I drove home and just as I walked in the door my bud called. He hadn't quite closed the deal yet on the Sheriff's model yet, he was up to the knife and $20, but that the dealer had called him just a minute before and told him he'd found another one just like the one I'd bought in the back room that he didn't realize he had and did I want it for the same price. Well, YEAH!!!
I was headed down this morning to pick up the other gun but I woke up to one leg of my home electrical service being down and had to wait on the power company all day to get here and fix the problem in the line. I called the dealer early this morning and told him of the problem and he said he'd gladly hold the gun until I could get there but I went ahead and gave him my CC info to pay for it that way I don't have to worry about sometime else happening and slowing down him getting paid for a kind act.
So I'm sitting here loving and rubbing oil onto my newest six gun and the stainless 24" barreled Rossi '92 in .44 mag that will be it's long gun companion. (sigh) Life is good.
Rob
