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Gun Shops

SixStringerSixStringer Member Posts: 131 ✭✭✭
edited April 2002 in Ask the Experts
After reading about grumpy gun shop owners I would like to respond. Owning a very small shop where I cut every corner to help save my customers. I must put my 2 cents in. Do most people really beleive the small gun shop can compete with the Xmarts. Thank about it price is controlled by volume. The small gun shop may buy one or two Mossburg 835 for example. The Xmart or large sporting good chain may buy 500 of any one gun for the distributing center and supply all Xmarts in thier region.Who do you thank gets the price breaks. Another thing I encounter frequenty is a person will buy their gun,scope,ring/bases and sling and swivels studs at the local Xmart and come on down to the shop asking if I would mind mounting the scope,. boresight it,drill stock and mount sling studs. I say sure the total charge will be about 35.00. His next comment is I have a friend that said you did this free for him. I respond, but your friend Jimmy purchased all his item from me. I must be doing somthing right my business is increasing about 25% a year.

Comments

  • SixStringerSixStringer Member Posts: 131 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have been reading about the BAD GUN SHOPS, First let me tell you I am not a gunsmith or do I own a gun shop. I am 65 years old and have been in a lot of gun shops in my life, I have yet to meet a GOOD gunsmith that wasn't a little crankie, and all so their prices are allways a little higher than your K-mkart stuff, If you don't like your local gun shop, the next time you have a question about a gun Ask your K-mart person, all so get them to repair them. Gun shop people have to make a living,which inclues Rent, Utilities, and time, Your K-mart and wallie worlds can be bought out by Rossie O and do away with all gun stuff, and if you have ran off your local gun shops, where do you buy your gun stuff. Do some thinking
  • SixStringerSixStringer Member Posts: 131 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Id love to support my local gun shop, but all of their products are amazingly over priced. (ammo that costs $6.99 at Academy cost $10.00 here, etc.) Is this a gun shop trend, or is this place just over-priced?
  • fergusonmorse392fergusonmorse392 Member Posts: 432 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    there are exceptions, but try to put things into perspective, like a full service gas station, if all you ever need is gas, you pump your own, but if you need other services, tire fixed, tune up, oil change, etc,etc, it good to have a working relationship, even gup shops have sales from time to time.
  • jsclarkeyjsclarkey Member Posts: 41 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    f.m. 369 is right. and also remember most gun shops only buy ammo at maybe 1-5 cases at a time and not 1000-5000 at a time like the chain stores.i don't know about you but every time i visit a gun shop for something that the chain stores would never have i pickup a box or two of the ammo i am getting low on.likewise i always check the wal-marts for sales on ammo-once i went into a walmart in new york and they had .380 winchester silvertips marked down from 23.00 a box to 18.00 and then down to 10.00 and the final price that i paid at the register was 7.50 per box because of some other built in discontinued price schedule- i took what they had left which was only 10 boxes. also check into reloading- you can get set up with a whole setup from lee on a basic anniversary kit through midway for about 75.00 plus dies. remember we need the gun shops to always be there-because every one that closes is one for the anti's. so patronize them as often as you can afford and remember
    shoot often, miss less and have fun!
  • ameriskinameriskin Member Posts: 1,859 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    my gun shop here is so over priced. a used beretta 96 for 680 bucks? gimmie a break. and they act like anyone who doesn't work there is retarded. i refuse to go back there ever again, and i'm finding out everyone else here feels the same and alot of people think they will be going out of business because they don't care about the customers anymore, just $$$. oh well, that's why i come to gunbroker! great site, i find good prices and no jerks. just some rambling for y'all to enjoy, lol. cody
  • cliffdropover1cliffdropover1 Member Posts: 136 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I agree 100% with Ameriskin. We also have one in my area that we wonder how he stays in business due to the same items mentioned above.
  • boeboeboeboe Member Posts: 3,331
    edited November -1
    I agree that for the most part prices are way too high at gun shops. But there are exceptions even in those shops. Every once in a while a real underpriced treasure is hiding amidst all the over priced stuff. I can think of one such shop here locally that within the past year sold a pre-ban Springfield Armory M1A, in great shape with four military mags for $900.00.

    To err is human, to moo is bovine.
  • martzkj@msn.commartzkj@msn.com Member Posts: 582 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Ammo is one of those items a small shop can't really compete on price. However, try to buy something that is not the norm. and you will see you need the gun shop.
  • sealyonsealyon Member Posts: 313 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have run across a lot of shops that do poor with there customers. It's usually a self correcting factor. They go broke. Then again you can find a diamond amongst the coal like Dick Williams. Owner operator of Dick Williams gunsmithing and sales. NEVER too busy to help with a problem or impart a little knowledge even when he doesent profit. The 18 year old at the local X-mart would not be much help.(Especially if he has spike hair and a nose ring)If you only have 1 or 2 shops close,you have problems. If there are more, check them out. You may be suprised
  • jonkjonk Member Posts: 10,121
    edited November -1
    I frequent my local shops and yuck it up with the owners whenever possible. I buy guns from them if I like the gun and if they aren't terribly overpriced. I buy a box of cheap ammo whenever I go in; eg: a box of 7.62X39 runs $3.75 locally and $1.99 at gun shows. Now if I'm buying for volume to actually shoot, the gun show wins. But I pop for a box just to be supportive. Also, I take all my gun work to local shops to get them fixed and pay them transfer fees. Some shops are quite reasonalbe on products and service, others outrageous. Naturally the outrageous ones don't see much of my (or anyone else's) business.

    "...hit your enemy in the belly, and kick him when he is down, and boil his prisoners in oil- if you take any- and torture his women and children. Then people will keep clear of you..." -Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher, speaking at the Hague Peace Conf
  • SixStringerSixStringer Member Posts: 131 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I just dont know if the gun shops have perspective. I've had otherwise honest fellows tell me $345 is a good price for a used CZ 100 .40 cal. Its cost $320 new online!
  • punchiepunchie Member Posts: 2,792
    edited November -1
    Six Stringer did you look at the bottom line on that $320 gun. You know, after the 35 shipping and the 25 transfer fee. I have found out the hard way that what looks like a real good deal may not be what you thought.

    AN ARMED SOCIETY IS A POLITE SOCIETY
  • will270winwill270win Member Posts: 4,845
    edited November -1
    I hate the California laws as they are the reason stuff is expensive here. I would give my left, well you know, to live back in Birmingham, AL so I could buy all my stuff from Jo Jo's Gun and Pawn. Them guys are awesome as all get out. Cheap too!


    ~Secret Select Society Of Suave Stylish Smoking Jackets~
  • rmeyerrmeyer Member Posts: 566 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Where i'm at only the real small shops and pawn shops are over priced on used stuff. For ammo and new guns I always go to Turners Outdoorsman. They run weekly ads I access from my computer a day before it comes out and thier prices are competetive. Walmart might save me a quarter a box for ammo but I like shootin the * with people who know what they are talking about. Another reason I like to go there is they have the best selections of stuff unlike Walmart and they have a full line of handguns to look at.
  • Old hickoryOld hickory Member Posts: 1,368 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Support your local shop unless he's a total embecile. Who else will take a trade when you're short on cash? There's also the chance of a sleeper based on the fact that shop owners have there own prejudices on guns. At my local shop there are probably 50 used guns a year that are definitely bargains. Plus ya getta feel um!!!
  • rballirballi Member Posts: 770 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    If you don't know what you need, go to a gunshop and they will help you out on ammo, scopes, rifles, etc. If you already know what you want and know what it is used for and if you can save alot of money, go to the X-Marts. If it is only a couple of bucks diff on a scope or rifle, I always support the gun shop. If it is substantial, for example, Academy has new 10/22's for $139, gun shop is about $179, well that extra $40 buys a good set of rings and maybe a base. But if you go to the X-Marts as a first time buyer, the clerk might not know what to sell you. There are people out there that think they can legaly hunt deer with a 22 or 12ga Shotgun with 8 shot. The clerk will sell it to you. He/She will also sell you that $25 scope to put on your Mini 14 or 300 Win Mag you just bought while your spouse was grocery shopping; you know good and well that scope won't last too long. Alot of times the gunshop will sell you a quality scope just above your price range, but they will mount it correctly and even bore sight it for you, maybe even sight it in.

    Gun shop owners will have a conversation with you to help you choose what is right for you and for what you are going to do with your purchase. They also will usually make it right if there is a problem. Sometimes, they even offer you good trade in value.
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