Here's my take on it:
1. If the price seems to be too good to be true, it probably is.
2. Regardless of all the goofing on Cabelas and their skill or lack of it that goes on here, I think a lot of that has to do with less well-known guns. A M21, they can look up in a book to price.
3. Complaining about the seller scamming you and not giving up the name, internet handle, city/state, and other ID info - so we can avoid him - isn't fair to us. We sympathize that you've been scammed, but it's close-to-useless information to us, if we don't know who did it so we can benefit from it.
4. Complaining to the postal inspectors (you did use postal money orders and keep the info and receipt, right?) is an effective way of getting a scammer's attention.
5. Telling the scammer "give me my money back or I'll trash your name (or call the cops)" can, depending on the laws of the various states - they vary widely - be construed as extortion. It's a useful counterclaim for him to file if you do (even more if you don't) sue him.
6. MY take would be to do one of two things if there's more than a twig of distrust between buyer and seller:
a. See if your FFL will hold the gun and then ship it back, and have the money sent by the seller to your FFL. Once the money arrives, the gun goes out. Both a possibly-crooked seller and a possibly-scammed buyer will have to agree no one's going to endanger their FFL by monkeying around when undoing a transaction and they can then undo the trasnsaction on a ground of mutual distrust and a disinterested neutral party undoing it.
b. Alternatively, demand the money back, tell him you will send the gun when the money arrives, and use tracking numbers. If the seller is worth his salt, he would have given a return period as part of the deal - don't deal with one who won't. I won't.
