This cropped up in the classifieds, I think a discussion should be in this part of the forums.
I have been seeing prices for barrels creep up quickly lately on ebay and at first I was surprised, as are a lot of us here. But, after a little reflection on the subject, it should not be a surprise. Last year I got 2 barrels from HR when they had the sale. The sale was no fitting fee and 5 dollars off barrel price. So todays 85 dollar barrel was
80 + 12 (my shipping) + 10 (return shipping) = 102 if getting one barrel, roughly 95 if you got 2 at a time since the shipping is the same.
Now its
85 + 12 +15 + 10 = 122 for one barrel
As someone explained, to get that from the factory, you have to package, go to the shipping location, be without you gun for almost 2 months. So, for someone to pay 150 on ebay and have it land on their front porch in a week, and maybe it will fit with little effort is not unreasonable.
Now, it has be suggested that we should be offering barrels for $85, these barrels have never been 85 dollars all things considered. And I am not going to risk letting one go for the "neighborly discount", only to have that person turn around and put it on ebay for top dollar. I call that bottom feeding. I dont know that it has been happening, but I dont want it start if it has not already.