I was bitten by the H&K bug after shooting a colleague's VP9 last year; the VP40 (the version chambered in .40 S&W) was promptly added to my list of guns to get in the near future.
Fast forward to last week, when I noticed that Cabela's was running a sale on the VP9 and VP40, with the standard version of both guns reduced to $530. A decent if not stellar price vis-à-vis buying online, where I've seen it go for under $500 at times, but to me, the additional $30 was worth the advantage of actually being able to examine and inspect the gun for flaws before committing to a purchase.
Last Saturday, I went to the Cabela's in Woodbury with the intent of purchasing a VP40. Aside from the one in the display case (which had obvious handling marks), they only had one new VP40 in stock. The salesperson brought this out from the back room for me, but upon a cursory inspection, I noticed it had a ding on the front left of the slide that went down to bare metal. So no sale, but the salesperson ascertained they had three new VP40s in stock at their Owatonna store.
On Sunday, I drove all the way down to the Owatonna Cabela's. Surprisingly, despite being crowded, there weren't many customers at the firearms counter and I was able to interact with a salesperson almost immediately. Of the three standard VP40s they had in stock, one was the display model which had the usual handling marks; of the two new ones that he brought out from the back room, one had a 1/4" gouge at the very rear of the frame's beavertail and the other sported a 1" scratch on the slide just below the ejection port. So again, no sale.
The salesperson at the Owatonna store indicated that his computer showed two "new" VP40s in stock at their Rogers location, but at this point, I've all but given up hoping to find one that isn't cosmetically buggered.
Is this the new norm for purchasing guns nowadays, or am I being too OCD about wanting the product to be in perfect mechanical and cosmetic condition before plunking down my hard-earned cash for it? Should I take the trouble to drive up to Rogers and hope that "the third time's the charm?" By the way, the sale ends this Wednesday (3/21).