Cabela's unbelievable

Mom & Pop stores dont have the overhead a big box store like BPS or Cabalas has. They dont have the selection or variety of outdoor merchandise either, convenience has a price. It cost over 70 million dollars to build one BPS store, that was as of 2020. Utility costs per month are in the tens of thousands, and the one I shop has over 240 employees. If you have any business sense, do the math and you'll figure it out.

I was buying 3 Henry h001 as a gift. Cabelas was as cheap as most places at 329. Not long ago was a sale for 299. Also the rough rider was 99 dollars. Python/ anaconda and other guns that get a premium over msrp are at msrp.

I got a winchester pump shotgun (I hate newer winchester shotguns....still have that flawed ejector) for 249 and a 50 dollar rebate. So they aren't always super expensive. They also have a decent selection of trapping things

You're looking at it all wrong. The value of the firearm has not changed one bit, it's the value of the dollar that has dropped, the dollar isn't worth hardly anything anymore.

In the late 1800s you could probably buy a Colt single action army revolver for less than a $20 gold piece today you can still buy a Colt single action revolver for a $20 gold piece it's all relative.

flightsimmer said:

You're looking at it all wrong. The value of the firearm has not changed one bit, it's the value of the dollar that has dropped, the dollar isn't worth hardly anything anymore.

In the late 1800s you could probably buy a Colt single action army revolver for less than a $20 gold piece today you can still buy a Colt single action revolver for a $20 gold piece it's all relative.

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Yeah. And I have old sears wish books from the 50s and 60s that were in houses i inherited. I like to look at the prices. Tools were higher than they are now. Tvs were 2k dollars. For a massive 32 inch.

In 64 a model 39a was 90 bucks new. Assuming your not a high roller and paid 10 for the scope



Nowdays there is almost no man hours in a gun. All machine made. Back when everything was done by hand using a water powered shaft and sandpaper there would have been a ton of hours in a gun. If guns today were made that way, it would still cost a months wages to buy one. At 30-40 dollars an hour, you won't get much gun nor hand fitting for 1k bucks. So the value of the firearm has dropped some. Or at least the unit cost. Even accounting for inflation

Hoorah for MIM and casting. Lol.

I can also remember back in the day when people would buy a 1911 for $500 or so and then spend $1000 on gunsmithing to make it shoot reliably. These days a $400 1911 can be had that shoots very reliably out of the box. The good old days were not always as good as we sometimes remember them.

ilbob said:

I can also remember back in the day when people would buy a 1911 for $500 or so and then spend $1000 on gunsmithing to make it shoot reliably. These days a $400 1911 can be had that shoots very reliably out of the box. The good old days were not always as good as we sometimes remember them.

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EVERY colt 1911 that wasn't full size that i shot from the 80s and 90s had issues. Then the late 90s early 00s kimbers were pretty reliably unreliable. Especially so if not a 5 inch

But back then your Smith or Ruger revolver would work out of the box. 3 of my last 4 Smith didn't. And my last Ruger didn't. So maybe it's a wash.

Don't forget gift cards & credit cards. One Xmas I got like $250 in Cabelas gift cards from my in laws. Even the local grocery stores carry Cabelas gift cards.
Had my eye on a long gun priced around a grand and used my gift cards and also applied for a store credit card for 10% first purchase. Paid it off in 2 months then cancelled the card. Otherwise I'd never been abke to afford it as I rarely put gun purchases on a credit card, unless I can pay it off on the next billing cycle.

I think most shoppers at Cabelas aren't thinking about price, or whether they can drive a few miles and save $50.

It's inflation. Firearms are probably cheaper than they've ever been before relatively speaking.

Eugen said:

Think prices are high at Cabelas now (or fill in the name for any other gun shop) just think how high prices will be in 10 years. Remember the value of goods is not increasing that rapidly, its that the value of the US dollar IS decreasing that rapidly.

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I get what you're saying on an economic basis, but I do think that the quality of many items is not what it used to be.

Zebraranger said:

Mom & Pop stores dont have the overhead a big box store like BPS or Cabalas has. They dont have the selection or variety of outdoor merchandise either, convenience has a price. It cost over 70 million dollars to build one BPS store, that was as of 2020. Utility costs per month are in the tens of thousands, and the one I shop has over 240 employees. If you have any business sense, do the math and you'll figure it out.

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You’re smelling the right direction, but came to the wrong conclusion - recall, big shops put “mom and pop” out of business, because the small shop distribution model can’t compete with the volume and margins of better-leveraged, larger stores. Large stores dilute greater revenue over LESS relative overhead, hence greater margins, and greater ability to then invest in greater inventory carry, larger properties, etc. But margins rule the market, and diluted models create larger margins than distributed models.

shafter said:

I get what you're saying on an economic basis, but I do think that the quality of many items is not what it used to be.

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I think it depends a lot on your definition of quality. As far as I'm concerned I don't care if something is pretty as long as that is functional. For a firearm that means that every time I pull the trigger it better damn well work. I don't care about a few machining marks that they didn't bother to buff out. They don't make the gun work any different.

I also think some people equate quality with steel guns as opposed to plastic. The reality is that the average plastic Glock is a far superior pistol to any 1911 as far as functionality goes. And likely more reliable.

The Cabelas/BPS website and inventory system is pure garbage. I ordered 2 sets of Carbon Express arrows which were on sale for pickup at my local store. One set was cancelled and now I have only one set for pickup at the store. Won't bother to do this as it isn't worth the drive.

There is a Cabela's 20 miles from my house. I could not care less about their overhead, what they charge for guns or if they even sell them.
I live in a rural area, not one traffic light in the county. and there are several places I can buy guns and ammo for much less than at Cabela's.

The money Cabela's makes on guns is a drop in the bucket. The real profit is in all the crap you walk past on the way to the gun counter.

Their prices can be all over the map- sometimes way high, every so often a really good deal. I think they price their used guns the way they do because they expect someone to trade in towards it. And if they sell enough used guns at high prices, they probably think they don't have to change anything.

357smallbore said:

I was in the Cabela's store Kansas City Kansas today. First off as usual on a holiday weekend it was a zoo. It just amazes me at the cost of firearms today. I mean I'm an old school shooter from way back and just can't fathom the dollar amount that a handgun goes for that matter a rifler and shotgun.
I was looking and if you were to buy a semi-automatic pistol, rifle and a shotgun from a decent manufacturer.
You would be over $2,000 for three guns.
And of course not to mention if you don't reload and you by ammunition for that stuff the high dollar amount for that. And if you did reload reloading, components of gone out of this world. I saw they had a thousand primers of CCI small rifle primers for $139 just unbelievable
I am so glad I have what I have now and what I paid for it then versus today. A new shooter got to have a thick wallet and deep pockets

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I get it, but like others said if you account for wage increases, inflation, etc. prices today aren’t that much higher than back in the day. Also, a lot of quality machinery or technology isn’t going to be cheaper than $4-500 today. I often liken gun prices to computers. You can get a basic one for $4-500. A ultra budget computer for $300 that no professional would use. You can get a high quality computer used for $500. A lot of quality to computers will be in the $600-1000 range. With certain brands or bells and whistles, more.

Shanvanvocht said:

It's all relative. I bought many a gun NIB for less than $100, but my weekly take home pay was no more than that. When I made $2.35/hr (Union Job) $100 was a hell of a lot of money--now not so much. When wages go up, the price of goods and services necessarily follow. There are plenty of good quality handguns available in the $400-$500 range which is, again a week's pay for the average worker.

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Pat Riot said:

Cabela’s was much better before Bass Pro took over. At least they had decent sales and a decent Gun Library. The prices in the gun library were high but one could find an Easter egg on occasion.

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True, although, I got a used S&W 637 recently from Bass Pro for around $230.

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Prices for primers would really drop if the importation of Chinese and Russian reloading components were not banned. It is telling we ban the importation of Chinese ammunition and firearms, but since Gen Z can't exist without a cell phone, importation of those are allowed.

And guess what, the Russian oil cost cap, that was set so we and the Europeans can buy Russian oil. I guess the limits to virtue signaling is texting, surfing the web, and gas prices.

Autodidactic said:

True, although, I got a used S&W 637 recently from Bass Pro for around $230.

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Nice! Congrats.

Pictures?

Is it reasonable to believe that these prices would ever go DOWN?

There is a bump after every panic. And the price of materials goes up. And inflation is out of control. All of these things add up.

About the only items I find decently priced at Cabela's are their RedHead line of clothes.

Pat Riot said:

Nice! Congrats.

Pictures?

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Thanks!

ilbob said:

I don't care if something is pretty as long as that is functional............The reality is that the average plastic Glock is a far superior pistol to any 1911 as far as functionality goes

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Why a glock instead of a High Point???? Both are functional and both will put holes on paper.. Yetttt there is a reason, correct?




OP: yeah a load bread doesnt cost 30cents anymore .. I am not sure why gun people think that prices should stand still or that they made $$$ on a sale when they never factored in inflation.
Seriously you can spend 100,000 dollars on a pickup truck now-a-days that should be an eye opener..

I used to adore Cabela's. I've spent good money on boots, shoes, and all manner of hunting clothing and various accoutrements from them and the basic quality of everything I bought shone through. Warm clothes were warm and durable. When Bass Pro opened a store on the old Stapleton Airport site in Denver, I went over to visit them because they had a killer sale on an optic I had an eye on. I took the time to noodle through the store as I'd always done at Cabela's Sidney, NE megastore and at the old store in Kearney, NE. (Sidney was much, much grander. Well, it just opened, truth be told. Soon after Sidney opened, we drove up, spent the night at the new motel nearby just so I could spend as much time as I wanted, looking over every single display and every little other doodad, grinder, slicer, etc. the next day) It appeared to me that the Red Head apparel was inferior to the Cabela's branded stuff. Bass Pro was like K Mart and Cabela's was more like Sears by comparison. Sam's club vs Costco in terms of quality.

I only ever bought one handgun from Cabela's and only because it was on sale and they were running a credit card promotion that cut the price even further. The Shield was so cheap, it was almost free. Whenever I looked at the rifles, shotguns, and handguns at the gun counter, everything was a step up in price from local sporting goods stores like Gart Brothers (long defunct) or Dave Cook's (also defunct) there in Denver back in the day. I don't live there anymore. Vegas has more gun shops and but a single Bass Pro that I don't visit. Thankfully, a Sportsman's Warehouse is ten minutes away when I need to put my hands on something.

I worked for Cabelas back when it was still a private company and hung around about a year after it went public. I left. As is a common tale....tail? The two brothers good people, the children, IIRC only one had children about as worthless as they get. Made that long painful drive across NE more times then I could count, I try to think of nice things to say about those two towns....there is not any.

I started working for them before the animals got installed in the KCK store, I helped put on an ear as odd as that sounds. It was a very different place before they sold it, after it is just another big box store.

Sportsmans warehouse 20 miles in one direction and 20 miles in the other is a Cabalas and PSA, Academy. When i'm down that way i skip the Cabalas