Local Cabela’s

Thunderchicken said:

Local Cabelas is worthless. Drove up to get some stock finish. “We haven’t carried that since the change over. We used to sell quite a bit.” I’ll just order from Amazon.

Last time was when a game cam marked $99 rang up at $199. “I’m not surprised—Do You want to go pick out another one?” No, I’ll just order from Amazon.

Realized the last four times I’d gone to get something, I ended up ordering from Amazon and it just isn’t worth a twenty mile drive for that. Oh yeah, last time they’d removed the bargain cave too.

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Maybe if more of us start saying that companies will pay attention to the face they're chasing customers away.

Sad story. They used to be THE place to go for reloading supplies etc. but that was about 10-15 years ago. Now we have the makings of another Gander Mountain.

VoodooMountain said:

Just went to my local cabelas and it seems to me they wont be around much longer.

Prices are even higher, selection even worse, NO BARGAIN CAVE, and probably more employees than customers inside. About the only customers I saw were picking the old cave clean.

$33 powder, $60 primers, $50 lee die set, $30 small bag of brass. And none of this even in the flavors I needed.

I'm very disappointed.

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KCK or Wichita? I live a few miles from the KCK store. I haven't been there in a few months but they still had the bargain cave last time I was there. The cave selection was getting pretty thin though. And if they're going to charge that much for powder and primers I'll just stick to buying from a couple different LGS, or Powder Valley when I buy in bulk.

So just yesterday I received in the mail a new Cabela's 2018 SHOOTING Catalog. has all sorts of stuff in it only they don't tell you that most of it is not in stock in the stores. Though there is a disclaimer in very small print on the back cover; Prices effective through 12/31/2018, Prices may vary in stores and on cabelas.com. Then on the page with the primers and powders at the very bottom of the page in an ATTENION $20.00 Hazmat and no returns on ammunition products.

Sorry but they've lost me. I've been in need of primers for months and they have been Out of Stock since March so I'm holding out to make an online order big enough to reduce the Hazmat charge for LPP, SPP and powder. I am now looking at buying enough to cover a full years worth or more like 2 years.

This really bums me out. The Cabellas in Biddeford, ME was always a happy diversion on trips to Portland. Sounds like they'll soon be just another yuppy sportswear fashion store.

Oh well. I'm sure Midway USA and Powder Valley will be happy to take up the slack.

I received a gift certificate for Cabela’s so I placed an order early this week.
After reading the post about the small mom and pop who was a little slow to give shipping info I thought I’d throw this in to this thread. Now I know the online isn’t the same as the local, but I think it does show how they’re doing.

In my case I’m less than impressed.
I placed my order on Tuesday
I didn’t get an email until yesterday saying the order is in the system and I’ll get another with shipping info when it ships.

So today is Friday and I still don’t have a shipping email.

Thankfully nothing I ordered are things I need right away, or even “need”quickly.

So high prices, decreasing stock, and bad online doesn’t look good for Cabela’s. In fact, I’m pretty much at the point that the only reason I placed the order was to use the gift card.

KansasSasquatch said:

KCK or Wichita? I live a few miles from the KCK store. I haven't been there in a few months but they still had the bargain cave last time I was there. The cave selection was getting pretty thin though. And if they're going to charge that much for powder and primers I'll just stick to buying from a couple different LGS, or Powder Valley when I buy in bulk.

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The KCK store was the "flagship" here in Kansas when it opened and for a while was the second most popular tourist destination. Heck, when the kid was young we'd go there for a day trip. I bought a lot there over the years and it used to have a pretty good selection. Only been a couple times since the merger but it was looking less like it was... too bad.

Nearest Cabela's to me is about an hour away, in a suburb of Buffalo NY and I get in there once or twice a year. Last time was a couple months ago and the gun and reloading inventories were pretty good; at least at that time. Now I'm wondering what it will be like the next time. My last trip resulted in me buying a case of shotgun shells for a decent price..... 16 gauge dove & quail loads. Something I can't get in case quantity locally.

theothermike said:

Hamburg PA had about 8 different powders last time I went, the bargain cave was almost empty as well.

Christiana mall DE had restructured the floor layout to be completely asinine while cutting the reloading section down to 1/3 of its former glory. The bargain cave (more like closet) was also just about empty.

Its a shame the deal couldn't have had bass pro being bought out by cabelas.

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Hi...
I regularly go to the Hamburg, Pa Cabela's store.
I have noticed that the prices on reloading components have increased which isn't a big deal to me because I have always got better prices and selection at my local gun shops.

Prices in the Bargain Cave for refurbished and returned scopes have increased to near the price for new in the box scopes.
The gun library where they keep the really nice firearms was pretty well stocked with an occasional good deal.
The regular used rifle and shotgun racks were mostly stocked with poorly cared for guns. Many had a lot of rust and obvious pitting on the blued steel parts. I don't mind honest wear on s used firearm but some of these rifles and shotguns looked like they had been neglected for years.

I did notice a large amount of BPS products on the sales floor and not much in the way of hunting clothes particularly upland game type clothing and rabbit and pheasant season is only a month away.

It's easy to find better deals on reloading supplies online.

I went to the one in Buda, Texas, the other day and they had a ton of powder. I grabbed a pound of H4350 and was talking with one of the employees and he said I was lucky because the day before there was no powder. Maybe a supply chain issue going on but it doesn't look to me like they are backing off the reloading scene at this point.

Mark

420 said:

It's easy to find better deals on reloading supplies online.

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That may well be true sometimes but now when you are only buying a pound of powder and one brick or primers at a time. Just doesn't seem to make sense to spend $60.00 on supplies and then have to add shipping and a high Hazmat fee on top of that. Sure the individual prices may be higher but that is the price of convenience to be able to pick up only what is needed at the time.

For those that have no problem dropping $400.00, $500.00, $600.00 on an order for supplies that's great but some of us are not in that boat and only buy what we need in much smaller quantities.

Cabelas in Louisville has taken a nose dive since the buyout. Reloading supplies have dwindled. Used to be either Berrys or Xtreme bullets were almost always on sale, now it's very rare.

kmw1954 said:

...then have to add shipping and a high Hazmat fee on top of that.

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I don't buy if I can't get no hazmat and free shipping. No, I can't always buy because I have to wait for those deals to come along but people shopping in stores can't always buy either due to stock it seems.

kmw1954 said:

For those that have no problem dropping $400.00, $500.00, $600.00 on an order for supplies that's great but some of us are not in that boat and only buy what we need in much smaller quantities.

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Good point. I don't buy small quantities of anything - in large part because of how I buy. When the no hazmat and free shipping comes along I load up regardless of what I have on hand.

Hokie_PhD said:

I received a gift certificate for Cabela’s so I placed an order early this week.
After reading the post about the small mom and pop who was a little slow to give shipping info I thought I’d throw this in to this thread. Now I know the online isn’t the same as the local, but I think it does show how they’re doing.

In my case I’m less than impressed.
I placed my order on Tuesday
I didn’t get an email until yesterday saying the order is in the system and I’ll get another with shipping info when it ships.

So today is Friday and I still don’t have a shipping email.

Thankfully nothing I ordered are things I need right away, or even “need”quickly.

So high prices, decreasing stock, and bad online doesn’t look good for Cabela’s. In fact, I’m pretty much at the point that the only reason I placed the order was to use the gift card.

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I ordered a steelhead fishing rod and it took 3 weeks to get to the store for ship to store. I don't do that anymore. They were then pissed i wanted to return the rod because steelhead season was over!

Dunno, I stopped at my Cabelas today and they had the powder, primers and bullets I was looking for. They had a large array of reloading components. We'll make a Cabelas run every other month so that the Boss can do clothes shopping while I put up some reloading components. BTW the Cabelas I go to is in Berlin MA.
- mike

kmw1954 said:

That may well be true sometimes but now when you are only buying a pound of powder and one brick or primers at a time. Just doesn't seem to make sense to spend $60.00 on supplies and then have to add shipping and a high Hazmat fee on top of that. Sure the individual prices may be higher but that is the price of convenience to be able to pick up only what is needed at the time.

For those that have no problem dropping $400.00, $500.00, $600.00 on an order for supplies that's great but some of us are not in that boat and only buy what we need in much smaller quantities.

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Graf's. $7.99 shipping and $10 Hazmat. Also, no sales tax.

Buddy was heading to Cabelas today and I asked him to pick me up N133 and H335 if they had it. They had both.

Mark

I’ve heard they have placed trigger locks on ALL firearms and will NOT remove them (under any circumstances) for the customer to dry fire the weapon before purchase. This was a knee jerk reaction to a suicide at a Bass Pro store. Good luck with that BP...

Kck today powder was fine...no primers but they haven’t had any for awhile. Lots of equipment, bullets, cases, etc just like always.

Texas10mm said:

Graf's. $7.99 shipping and $10 Hazmat. Also, no sales tax.

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So again, add $18.00 on a $55.00 order? That's like adding 30% to the total of the order.

The whole point was that I could leisurely drive to the local Cabela's and pick up that one box of primers and one jar of powder and have it the same day. At the same time there is a shop a little farther away that I can still get better prices than a number of online suppliers w/o having to pay shipping or hazmat. But again to make the trip worthwhile I have to increase the amount I am buying.

I feel like I've probably had a better experience at Cabelas than most people in this thread. It's not my favorite store by any means, but their prices seem to be inline with almost any other large retail store.The store about an hour from he has a decent reloading selection, decent ammo selection, large gun selection, etc. The last time I was there, it still had the bargain cave as well, which I've picked up a bunch of awesome deals in. They also occasionally have pretty decent sales. Usually these sales make their items similarly priced to the cheaper online retailers.I probably wouldn't pay the prices on most of the things there unless I needed them instantly.

What makes it worthwhile for me is the fact that you can buy gift cards 20% off online pretty often. When you combine this 20% off with the sale items, it often makes for killer deals. For example, recently they had Hornady bullets 20% off. This made them about the same price as Powder Valley. Then I got the 20% off from the gift cards making them about 20% cheaper than I could find them online, and I didn't have to pay shipping. I was paying $21 per 100 Hornady SST's. Even without sales, the 20% off usually rivals online pricing and I can have it in my hand instantly. That's what makes me like Cabela's.

All of that said, the coupons do seem to have become non existent since BPS took over. I used to get coupons in the mail that made these deals even better. I do miss those.

I got a cabela's, bass pro, and sportsman warehouse within 10 minutes of each other. Bass pro was always the highest. I never bought anything from them. Cabela's was next, but was good on primers and powder sometimes. Sportsmans warehouse was lowest-priced. But when bass pro took over cabela's all three prices went up. Now cabela's prices are no better than bass pro.

Out local Cabela's never carried a lot of powder and primers, but it was a good place to buy a pound or two of powder you wanted to try. Since the BPS buyout, the reloading supplies appear to be sold and not replaced. With their high prices and scant reloading supplies there is not much reason for going there any more.