My local gun dealer said he can't even order one, saying these are factory direct (apparently to ma & pa stores anyway).
Possibly, but my strong hunch is that Christensen only wants to do business with stocking dealers. In other words dealers that are willing to commit to a minimum order of X number guns or a dollar value (at once, or with delivery spaced out over a calendar year). It's their way of separating the 'wheat from the chaff'.
FWIW, the LGS here is a stocking dealer. They've physically received and sold every Classic Stainless and Classic Carbon they ordered on the initial order, re-stocked and sold several more since then. Lead time for stocking dealers is 60-90 day depending on model and options from what I've been told.
