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more sad news on the gun front.....
toad67
Member Posts: 13,019 ✭✭✭✭
Heard that Lew Horton was closing down at the end of this year.... They were a major purchaser of firearms, and had many of their own variations produced... Sad ending to a really great company...
Comments
:oops:
Mike
The more traditional approach is still used by SIGARMS. They have a retail site, but if you want to buy firearms directly from SIG you need to spend $200,000. Although one of our well heeled members spends that much every year on car wax...$200K is a lot of money for me, so I buy from a distributor. In any case, the price difference between buying factory direct verses through distributor is not as great as you might think, so in the case of SIG, the distributor prevails.
Gun Broker has a hand in this as well. Bill Hicks, a large distributor, sells on Gun Broker using the name TheGunDock. If you look at the prices charged on GB verses Hick's dealer prices, the markup is around 4%, which would seem to cover Gun Broker fees. Hicks won't sell consumer direct, but anyone can buy through Gun Broker. I bought two silencers from TheGunDock/Bill Hicks through Gun Broker because it was less of a hassle than ordering through Bill Hick's company website.
The issue of distributors place in the firearms industry is in a state of flux. Horton was better known for their semicustom firearms and not as a go-to distributor for dealers, which isn't a good thing.
That's actually the only thing I knew of them. So they are closing the custom shop down as well?
Then, you'll lose any customers that might have bought from you for items you might have in the future. I have walked away from more than a few gun stores when they raised their rates on transfers beyond normal (for here). One basically said what you are saying in that he was competing with himself. I said OK, show me the mint condition Ruger 44 mag fingergroove carbine or the Bren Ten that you have in stock and we'll talk (which were the two items I was there to pick up). Brand new, current production things, perhaps there might be some merit to it. However, any dealer than wants to charge more than $30 for a transfer, loses me for any possible future local purchases.
I loved the special order limited edition distributor or dealer contract runs of odd and upscale or interesting makes and models of standard guns - the strange configurations and colors and variants...
We always did well with those firearms in the gunshop days - I have a dozen of them myself...
The SIG triple black nightmare 320 I bought for Makaila 3 years ago from Davidson's is a perfect example - my colt AR carbine with the heavy target barrel is another...
Variety is the spice of life and most of the distributor folk were great people.
Mike
serf
Have a great day.
A local shop here does free transfers for Veterans. I think I bought a gun from them every time they did a transfer for me.
I'm not saying that Hicks is not selling on GB, but TheGunDock has a storefront in Paris, KY and Bill Hicks is located in Minneapolis, MN.
4% CC fees, 8 % sales tax. $30 FFL fee, Ins and shipping on a $1000 gun gets to be kinda expensive.
Think I might sell most of mine. ( I bought one from Kasey yesterday).
:shock: