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Cranky gun shop owners

chuckchuck Member Posts: 4,911
edited May 2002 in Ask the Experts
GOD LOVE YOU ALL, The Gun smith is the most underpaid people in the united states. and I don't know how they do it, their are a lot of JERKS that come in to their stores, I was at my local gun store yeasterday and a FOOL came in to have a scope mounted on his rifle, and he told the store owner that he bought the rifle, mounts, rings and scope at WALLY WORLD. the owner went ahead and mounted and bore sighted it for FREE. I had to leave before I punched the guy in the mouth.( I COULD NOT RUN A GUN STORE )
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Comments

  • PotatoBobPotatoBob Member Posts: 41 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I dont think it makes someone a fool just because they buy a gun at wal-mart.In case you didnt notice,this world is run by money.If someone can get something cheaper at wally world,guess what,thats where they are going.We here at these forums know that supporting our gun shops is important but we cant expect everybody in the world to only buy at gunshops.As a gunshop owner you take the good with the bad and hope that you can win a new customer in the process.
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  • leeblackmanleeblackman Member Posts: 5,303 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Sounds like the owner/gunsmith is one heck of a guy, and really smart too. I would have done the same thing for the new customer. Thats how you build a customer base. Now that customer is going to go home, and probably mention it to a few buddies. Now that gunsmith has at least three new customers.


    Visit me http://www.geocities.com/gunsmithlee
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  • William81William81 Member Posts: 25,342 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I agree with the supporting the local gun shops. It is sad that so many of the ones I have traded with over the years have folded up. The closest one to me now is 45 minutes down the road. The best one is two hours one way. I do not make that trip often, but when I do, I have a list...My favorite shop is always happy to see me....
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  • jdb123jdb123 Member Posts: 471 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    chuck just how exactly is that guy a FOOL?
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  • will270winwill270win Member Posts: 4,845
    edited November -1
    I don'reckon the guy is a fool for where he bought the gun. If I was the smith certainly I would have charged him a little bit and offered him a cup of coffee. With enough courtesy maybe the guy would buy his next gun from the shop. Maybe the "no charge" was the poor Wal-Mart shopper cup. He certainly made a new customer when a gun needs work. As a customer I would have been wondering what was going through the smith's head when that customer came in, but he has probably seen it a hundred times or more.


    ~Secret Select Society Of Suave Stylish Smoking Jackets~
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  • bikrprchrbikrprchr Member Posts: 217 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    There are 2 local shops I frequent. One does repair, and I have bought a couple of guns and bullets, brass, primers, etc. there. The other stocks just about every gun a fellow could ever desire, from the low end to the high. Talk about testing the owners patience, the other day I was in the store making a payment on a lay away, and a guy comes in and asks to see a new .45 pistol. He right away starts taking it apart, without asking permission or anything. The owner of the store asks him what he is doing?, and the guy looks at him and says "why do you care if I take it apart or not" the owner proceeds to explain that most customers when buying a new weapon prefer not to have it messed with before they buy it. The guy did buy the gun, but is seemed to me to show a real presumption to just start taking it apart. Had he asked first, I feel he would have been showing the owner the respect he deserves. He was a 20 something, and I guess the younger generation mind set was in play. I don't think I have it in me to work in the retail firearms industry, and I really respect those who do.

    1 Cross + 3 Nails= 4given
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  • Big Sky RedneckBig Sky Redneck Member Posts: 19,752 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    What's so bad about buying a new rifle at wally world? If I can save an easy $50 on a brand new rifle I'm gonna do it, I'm not rich and I'm not giving charity when I don't need to. The gun dealers know this and they CAN be competitive if they want to but alot of them want to pay the mortgage with one sale. Walmart sells 5 guns for the same profit a dealer gets on one, maybe the dealers should look at it that way, lower the prices and sell a few more to make the same money instead of being greedy and getting pissed at someone for saving a few bucks. And besides, if you don't know how to bolt on a set of rings and scope, you shouldnt............................................
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  • offerorofferor Member Posts: 8,625 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'd say this: you don't buy your eggs at the supermarket and take them down and expect Denny's to fry them without charge for you.

    Same here -- he bought parts -- he was looking for an assembly service. Preferably a competent one. He didn't ask the clerk at Wal-Mart to assemble the parts, now, did he?

    He might have got charged for the service at the dealer's, or a gun shop owner might do him a favor. Either way, he's lucky, because if he bought the parts unassembled to save money and can't put the thing together properly it's nobody else's fault. Expertise IS worth a whole lot if you hope to hit what you aim at some day.

    -- Life NRA Member
    If dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
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  • COONASSCOONASS Member Posts: 2,068 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Yes money does make the world go around like potatobob but.......I buy from my local gun shop and yes I do Pay a little more than the discount stores.......but............I always get a lot better deal in the long run........all the "FREE" perks, info , gifts , friendship that could not come from any discount store..........My last trip to my local gun shot I bought two boxes of shotgun shells ,
    He gave my 10 yr old son a free gun sling............I feel the gunsmith in chucks story was just showing the loud mouth how much of a person he was.........this loud mouth may or may not wise up on the next purchase...........but if he doesn't watch out on the next request........................coonass

    "A man is known by the
    company his mind keeps."
    T.A. Aldrich
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  • TheguncounterkidTheguncounterkid Member Posts: 224 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:
    What's so bad about buying a new rifle at wally world? If I can save an easy $50 on a brand new rifle I'm gonna do it, I'm not rich and I'm not giving charity when I don't need to. The gun dealers know this and they CAN be competitive if they want to but alot of them want to pay the mortgage with one sale. Walmart sells 5 guns for the same profit a dealer gets on one, maybe the dealers should look at it that way, lower the prices and sell a few more to make the same money instead of being greedy and getting pissed at someone for saving a few bucks. And besides, if you don't know how to bolt on a set of rings and scope, you shouldnt............................................



    As a smaller gun dealer (200 guns or so in stock), its is impossible to compete with the "box stores". My dealer price is usally within $5-10 dollars of thier retail...before shipping! case in point..ruger 10/22 sythetic. My best dealer price is 139.99 but yet Bi-mart (west coast wallyworld like chain) sells them for 129.99. Gee, kinda hard to make a living there. We have had to change from a normal selection to basing our new stock on what they DONT carry. I would love to make a ton of money, but anymore is a fight just to keep my doors open.



    Edited by - Theguncounterkid on 05/04/2002 17:58:16
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  • Big Sky RedneckBig Sky Redneck Member Posts: 19,752 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Hometown Arms And Ammo in Alexandria PA, I know the owner quite well. All he sells is used guns and does a far better business than the dealers who sell new guns in the this area. According to him he does not want to sell new guns for the reason you state, he will order you a gun new if you want it and he will TELL you to check Walmart first. I buy most of my guns from him, used. Walmart don't sell used guns so the dealer is the place to go.

    I'm sorry your suppliers charge you like they do and I apologize for being rude, but then again, would yuo pay $50 or more for a gun when you don't need to? Buying a brand new rifle to me is a treat, can't always lay down that kind of money so when I go to get a new one, sorry but I'm headin to Walmart.
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  • SixStringerSixStringer Member Posts: 131 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    My local gun store regularly has ten to fifteen cars in front of it, and it is still a complete rip off. Everything, not just the guns, is over priced. Case in point, a USED CZ 100 .40 cal for $345.. I mean come on, that's just crazy, and the guy tried to tell me it was a great deal!
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  • leeblackmanleeblackman Member Posts: 5,303 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'm actually thinking about getting my own FFL and becoming a dealer. I'm not going to open a big store front or nothing, just sale appointment only and on the net. I however will not be selling the same guns that wal-mart does. That way I don't have to compete with their prices. I've noticed the only big store around here that sells handguns is Acadamy sporting goods, they have really low prices. I'll just try not to sell the same ones. Other than that, I'll just mainly deal in the samethings I like to collect, and to hook my friends up with dealer prices. All for fun.

    I too can see how hard it would be for a small gunshop to stay in business, but if you think about it, for any place that has a walmart it would be hard for any specialty shop to stay in business. Why go to the shoe shop and spend $20 more for the same shoe you can get next time your at walmart getting groceries.

    Now that I think about it, we don't have very many specialty shops here in town. Only those that don't stay in business very long, or those that sell stuff walmart doesn't like antique shops.

    Its natural for the consumer to buy from the cheapest place, but the gunshops around here seem to do ok in keeping competition. After all, walmart only sells about 10 different rifles, and 10 different shotguns in stock all the time. I can probaby name them all if I think about it hard enough. A mini-14, a couple of savage bolt guns, a little henry .22lr, a couple of remington bolt guns, and a remington 22. Then on the shotguns, they have a few remington semi autos, some remington pumps, maybe a winchester pump or two, and a couple single shot shotguns. Not much to compete with there.



    Visit me http://www.geocities.com/gunsmithlee
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  • TheguncounterkidTheguncounterkid Member Posts: 224 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    No worries 7mm, i just get my hackles up once in awhile. Gun shows in town and been dealing with people ragging on the prices of everything.
    BTW im a cheap * myself and sometimes buy from walmart rather than paying shipping and waiting a week..now how sorry is that. Just dont tell anyone i ever said that..
    -The Kid
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  • SixStringerSixStringer Member Posts: 131 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Why is the small gun shop so important? If a shop owner adapts to the times (the internet?), he will sell more guns. If he stagnates and over prices, he deserves to go out of business, no matter how nice of a guy he is.
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  • leeblackmanleeblackman Member Posts: 5,303 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Some people may live better off of selling overpriced cause of the occasional impulse buyers or idiots that don't know any better. I mean you could sale 50 at $10 each or 10 at $50 each you still come out with the same income.

    Visit me http://www.geocities.com/gunsmithlee
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  • bullelkbullelk Member Posts: 679 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    If the FOOL didn't ask him to mount it for nothing, It was the shop owners choice. I've done it myself just to more or less embarrass him.
    Gino


    If All Else Fails, Read The Directions!
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  • PotatoBobPotatoBob Member Posts: 41 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Good posts guys.Like you said,the gunshops dont deserve our business just because they are there.They have to earn it like every other business.Ive got a baby due in about 5 months,im not going to give up my sport,but im sure not going to be wasting any money by paying more that I need to for a gun.
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