I didn’t want to taint my 2022 Nationals thread with this, but I thought I’d share this experience from the show:
I saw both the M777 and M119 built up at Mr. Vargas’ table. I pulled out my phone to compare my photos with the trail on the M119 - it does seem off. Of course several issues have been noted with the M777 already. Mr. Vargas was selling one of each kit for a total of $150. Not a bad price for a kit without obvious flaws. I asked it that meant that I could just get the M777 for $75, and that I could fix the little inaccuracies. His hackles instantly go up. No kit is completely accurate, he says. (True to a small degree perhaps, but let’s face it, there are some that are extremely accurate, and these ain’t them.) He said nope, $90 was the price for one. At this point I’m thinking that the better deal would be to just get both. I looked at my wife and she gave me the signal. Up to you. To put it in context, we had just found a S&W Model 629 at Bass Pro in Omaha. They wanted $1499. They’re very hard to find. The only reason I didn’t get it is because I specifically want a five inch barrel with a full underlug, not 8 3/8. And it was used. So this very same woman encouraged me to get the gun. Mr. Vargas was on the way to making a sale. I asked if he might be offering the M119 with the newer style tires in the future.
That’s when things got weird. But of all the nuggets that came out of his mouth this was the most memorable:
“You know why I don’t offer the most up to date versions? Because guys like you come along and want specifically what they used. If I do the older version I don’t have to worry about that.”
Well, in addition to not making much sense (the first time I fired the M119 it indeed had the older tires) it just seemed as if he was full of it. Still, I’m about to pull out my wallet. I’ve actually got my hand on the edge of it. After all, I can always find tires that are a closer match.
That’s when he turns to his partner and says something very offensive in Spanish. Perhaps he didn’t think the half Asian guy in front of him had taught in primarily Hispanic schools in Texas for eight years. Or that the Chinese wife has been a speech pathologist in Texas schools for 22 years. She understands Spanish quite well. She gave me the slight head shake, but by then it was unnecessary. No kit is worth it. I’ve got plenty of other things to build, and styrene versions will come out of these two guns, without the mistakes, because some guy like me will have helped research it,