Earl goes to Germany to pick his stuff... and has to cover his overhead ... and given the current Euro-Dollar conversion I can see why he is more expensive...look at the German webpage, the P99 goes from 740-800 Euros.... you do the math.....
uncut:
Well, in the interest of reasonable debate lets just agree that "Earl" has "gots to" make his profit because of whatever it costs for him to go "pick" his special P99's in Germany.. No problem with that. Lets agree that Earl is the "go to guy" for for those special Walther items unavailable elsewhere here in the U.S. We can agree on about anything from the fact that Earl is a super nice guy to the fact that all Walthers not purchased from Earl are indeed 2nd's and of lesser quality, and therefore lesser value.
I paid $581.00 for my "proof marked" P99c/AS.. That's $581 OTD.. Had I purchased a "real, genuine, all German" P99c/AS from Mr. Earl I would have paid: $799.00 for the pistol alone, plus shipping, plus a reasonable ffl transfer fee to my local dealer. (Who only charges $25.)
Look like Mr. Earls P99c/AS would wind up costing me about 50% more than the one my ffl dealer ordered for me?
I applaud those folks whos income allows them to buy from Earl, I can't.. I indeed agree that most times you "get what you pay for".. I just also think there are times when you can pay more, and not necessarily get more for your money.
In my humble opinion I think the only difference between the P99c/AS laying on the nightstand in it's cheap, but supremely functional FIST Kydex iwb holster that my local ffl friend sold me for $581.00 and the P99c/AS I could have purchased from Earl is that my pistol has the imported by S&W logo on the barrel. I would be just as happy if there were no importer logo on my Walther, but I understand that Uncle Sam requires one. I would assume that even Earl's Walthers are marked someplace with his importer mark?
Basically I think the money I saved NOT buying a genuine all-German, hand picked Earl's P99c/AS, and extra magazines (which I bought thru CDNN at a reasonable price) would have paid for the surplus SOG P5 I bought some time ago... So, I like to think because I settled for a "possibly-all German" P99c/AS I got a neat free old surplus P5..
It was not my intention to torque off all of the Earl fans, I just thought, and still think, that his pricing is too high.. And, it's his right to set the price, just as I have the right to purchase my Walthers elsewhere..
I do know that my P99's are more accurate than I am capable of taking advantage of.. I know that so far both have been 100% reliable, and are a pleasure to shoot. I don't know what an Earl's handpicked special ALL GERMAN P99 could offer me beyond that...
Best Wishes,
J. Pomeroy