[ithacaartist]

Shooters appear when and where they will. I've stocked my safe with interesting shooters almost exclusively from online auctions and classifieds, and done OK overall. For collectibles, I'd have a lot of good things to say about our WTS section and what's been offered there, at least since I've joined the forum. The biggest factors involved would be the patience required for your gun to "come around" there, and the depth of one's pockets, in that you need deeper pockets to buy at full retail, or be involved with the better, pricier stuff. I think the only way to obtain an absolute guarantee of authenticity would be to buy one newly made by Mike Krauss, or the like. However, the judgment of the consensus of seasoned collectors here on this forum gets you almost asymptotic to that!