Happy ending. i went back yesterday afternoon and talked to someone who i presume is the manager of the new firearms dept. took him about 2 minutes to honor the first price and in addition i got another $50 off as an in store rebate that they applied to the price of the gun. apparently the person i talked to didn't have the authority to discount the gun from their regular price to the sale price at the time i requested them to find me one. all in all i am very pleased with the way it was handled and since Cabelas is here in town it was no big deal to come back a second time to get my gun.