Gun store craziness.

jeff-10 said:

In heavier metro areas, like the Miami area, the stores do transfers for really cheap. I think it is $15 at Nexus Shooting in Davie, FL. It is so streamlined that Buds or CDNN have the stores listed as preferred sellers and it is a very seamless process. They want you to use their shooting ranges, by other guns, ammunition and accessories. They however refuse to sell any used guns or take trades.

I am starting see AR-15's of all things available again. The issue now is ammo and the more popular striker fired pistols like Glocks, Walthers and the Sig 320's. Prices aren't high on guns just ammo but there are no deals, all full retail. Also, it seems like revolvers are pretty much all gone which isn't surprising because there are quite a few non-gun people who are more comfortable with wheel guns. So when they do feel the need to be a gun owner, they buy revolvers.

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Same here, plenty of new Glocks, ARs, Caniks, and Taurii in most local display cases. Prices are $50-100 above what they were a year ago. Honestly 9mm isnt that hard to find locally either right now- if youre willing to pay $40 a box. .223 is still iffy. No .380 or .357 for sure. .22 is hit or miss.

Used guns are rare, and when you find them, they are clapped out, rusty, and way overpriced. I think the collector- grade stuff is going straight to Gunbroker. The higher prices help justify the shipping and fees when selling online.

gifbohane said:

Nope my LGS increased their transfer fees from $40 last January to $90 in October 2020. I believe that since they have no ammo, no guns or rifles, no consignments and no components to sell, this is the only way that they earn any income. They are staying open hoping to sell jackets, hats and gloves for hunting.

They have to go out of business soon as this will not sustain them. Sad because with the state laws as they are, there are very few of them to start anyway.

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Now that you mention it, most of our surviving gun shops are also ranges, or pawn shops.

One guy has branched out into watches as well, so far he is staying open. We did lose a couple gun-only shops in the last year when the owners passed.

My main LGS has been receiving Glock Models 17, 19, 43x and 45 with the Home Security discount on a regular basis. Last week I picked up a plain Jane Model 17 for $430 with the discount.. Never previously bought a Glock for myself. May go back and put a $390 43x on layaway.

Not much else on the shelves but a couple of Uberti's and Wather's. No long guns at all. Owner told me they received 5 S&W AR's that morning and they were all sold within the hour. Also said they their $25 FFL transfer service was about triple what it usually is,

One local gun store had a LC9 for $450.00! Looked at Armslist and found a independent FFL. $360.00. No tax's or background fee. Paid exactly $360 out the door. They have 9mm ammo. Quite expensive. Like.$40 a round for range ammo. But they have it in stock.

My LGS does transfers for $50, avg. around here is $40. I have known him for many years, his prices are a bit high normally, but he will work with well- known customers. Some prices have gone up a little in the current shortages, but not to gouging levels.
I go there because it's half a mile from my house, known him for 35 years, many guns have changed hands between us, and he occasionally gives me perks, like 3 pounds of powder a couple months ago, must have came in on a trade, (he will buy and sell reloading stuff) and 1200 shotgun primers for $10. He will hold guns for me with no money down for a while, that's cost me a few bucks over the years!

I can say variety is getting lacking in my local stops. Bigger brands aren't as prevalent and their distributors are sending less common stuff like Honor Guard, Arex, Steyr, and CZ. Only that has caught my interest is the CZ Shadow 2. Glocks are cleaned out, shotguns are getting low. My regular store has increased their transfer fee to $45. Not a big deal to me as I don't buy that many online. I'm sure stores know lots of ppl are buying more online and they want a larger cut. At $100 fee I probably wouldn't order then, id just wait til one came in store if it was a new common item

My state requires a background check even with transfers, so now a gun store is providing the means for that and chewing up resources which takes time away from an actual sale (pre covid of course) that will actually make them money. They make almost no money off a transfer vs a sale but still take up salary dollars facilitating them. I can see why they’d charge more or not do them at all.

$100 transfer fee?

I "GET" some of this, others not. Refusing consignments is IMO nuts. They can make as much or more money on a consignment than one they had to pay for. More than once I've put a gun on consignment with a FAIR price and found out the dealer bilked the new owner for a HUGE uplift over my asking price... AND they still charged me the commission.

One guy I know of charges $25 for the call, others have raised their transfer fee. It's nuts out there, and like others I have a L-O-N-G memory.

gnappi said:

I "GET" some of this, others not. Refusing consignments is IMO nuts. They can make as much or more money on a consignment than one they had to pay for. More than once I've put a gun on consignment with a FAIR price and found out the dealer bilked the new owner for a HUGE uplift over my asking price... AND they still charged me the commission.

One guy I know of charges $25 for the call, others have raised their transfer fee. It's nuts out there, and like others I have a L-O-N-G memory.

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When my LGS sold my Glock for more than we originally thought, he took his 10% of the total so we both got more from that deal

Lot of noobs buying guns, around here, you can tell, by the counter dialogue, during the 4473 process. Ammo is high, when it is available. There's more long barreled revolvers, and striker fired "wonder guns" available, than anything else. Any hammer fired auto loader is turning into a rare duck.

OK, so as far as LGS gun store craziness, dig this…

1) So, just before Hillary Clinton was supposed to be elected in 2016, I started buying AR-15‘s and matched upper and lower receiver sets, for “putaways”, anticipating they would be banned for new civilian sale within the next 3 to 6 years, but still transferable. (We are still in that window, LOL...) I have a closet full of NIB rifles and lowers with matched (by finish) uppers of various flavors.

I bought the rifles and received the transfers from the receiver manufacturers at what was then my LGS, Clyde’s Sporting Goods in Lansdowne, MD. The older guy who ran the place wanted $60 per transfer of the receivers. I had no problem with that; why?

Because it was MARYLAND!

All kinds of hoops had to be jumped through beyond the normal 4473 form, and then I had to wait, even for the lower receivers, because hypothetically they could be built into pistols. Interestingly enough, because they were not in fact pistols, I did not have to do the handgun qualification license that Maryland requires prior to the purchase of a pistol. The whole thing was very odd. But it seems like an extreme burden to me and I did not mind paying him for his time and computer BS interface effort.

His is a top-notch shop, in the family since even prior to the 1968 GCA, and I wanted to make sure he stayed in business. No problem. I even paid the premium he wanted for the Windham HBAR carbines.

No regrets.

2) My wife and I moved out of Maryland in April 2020, but a month or so before we left, I went down to my local range called “On Target” near Jessup, Maryland.

It was maybe three or four weeks after the first COVID-19 cases were in the news. At that time, Asian Americans were kind of looked at in a certain way, if you know what I mean…

I had just gone down there to shoot my 1911A1, and let me tell you something, that place was hopping, like crazy. Almost all the people clamoring around the glass cases were Chinese guys, some of them foreign nationals, I expect, and they were buying all the Glocks you could ever fantasize about. The shotguns were completely stripped from the wall. Asking prices were not even challenged. It was total mayham; I think they brought in off-duty staff just to handle the paperwork and the checks.

I got a lane on the range, fired my rounds, and got out of there before the fire marshal might come and close the place down for exceeding occupancy limits, ha ha...

And that was in March of last year, as I recall.

Now I live in Pennsylvania, were no such silliness exists for firearms purchases, at least that I have seen so far.

bigpower491 said:

My FFL still charges the same for transfers and consignment, and his shop is bare. None of his prices changed. Ill always do buisness with him

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Same here, my LGS is holding the line. There are good guys out there.

YankeeFlyr said:

Now I live in Pennsylvania, were no such silliness exists for firearms purchases, at least that I have seen so far.

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Thanks for sharing, glad you are here in PA.

My favorite gun shop to buy in doesn't like doing transfers, either, having charged $50 since they opened in 2011.

My favorite pawn shop does all my inbounds, for fifteen each (he collects $20, but five of that is for the NICS check.) I've bought numerous guns from each of them, though it's been a year since the last.

jmorris writes:

I guess that’s the company you keep. Last time I went to pick up firearms transferred to my FFL he gave me one extra.

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One extra firearm..?

I still shake my head at people who look at business owners who raise their prices in a time of low supply as being somehow immoral and those who keep their prices the same as being the good guys.

Today's "crazy" prices may not seem so crazy in the days to come. In fact, depending on how things go over the next few months ammo at any price may be considered a bargain. I hope not.

My LGS, the one I most frequent and like the most and has the best prices typically, has always charged $100 for transfers. I thought it was weird that he could be competitive with Wal mart with ammo pricing, but charge an arm and a leg for a transfer. I figure he just didn't like to bother with it.

My other LGS/outfitter, that I don't like, that has the same 12 overpriced handguns in the case for a year at a time, charged $30 for a transfer. Now they don't charge anything because the owner gave the business to his son who apparently didn't want to stop his herbal grow op so now the gun part of the business is finished.

shafter said:

I still shake my head at people who look at business owners who raise their prices in a time of low supply as being somehow immoral and those who keep their prices the same as being the good guys.

Today's "crazy" prices may not seem so crazy in the days to come. In fact, depending on how things go over the next few months ammo at any price may be considered a bargain. I hope not.

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I completely agree. The retail gun business is notoriously treacherous with extremely low margins and lots of red tape. It is exceptionally hard to be a small business owner let alone one that deals with firearms. Gun owners as a whole should support all forms of the firearms business. Online and local. Public and private ranges.

And if a retailer doesn't price his product based on his replacement cost (NOT his purchase price), he might be out of business when he didn't charge enough to buy replacements - if he can even get them. Governments still want their property taxes, utilities still need to get paid as do employees; if he went from selling 100 per week to 1 or 2 because that is all he has, the doors will close soon enough.

jeff-10 said:

I completely agree. The retail gun business is notoriously treacherous with extremely low margins and lots of red tape. It is exceptionally hard to be a small business owner let alone one that deals with firearms. Gun owners as a whole should support all forms of the firearms business. Online and local. Public and private ranges.

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Some gun store owners don't realize they actually have to be nice to customers, like other business owners. I've walked into stores where a few senior good old boys are sitting around BS'ing and seem disturbed you might interrupt them. Conversion would stop and you'd get the eye.

Another newly opened LGS only had "tactical" items in it, and nothing besides black guns. If you didn't look like an extra from "Deliverance" they tended to ignore you, or were rude. You'd walk into an empty store and they'd still ignore you. Guess what, they're gone after only three years.

Just because you like guns and want to sell them doesn't automatically make you a business man, hard lessons to be learned there. Customers like me will spend their money where they feel welcome.

Speedo66 said:

Some gun store owners don't realize they actually have to be nice to customers, like other business owners. I've walked into stores where a few senior good old boys are sitting around BS'ing and seem disturbed you might interrupt them. Conversion would stop and you'd get the eye.

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Not a unique experience, when I walked into my LGS midday a few years back to buy a 600$ item The six old dudes stared at me like I just interrupted their poker game and I had no clothes on.

The industry magazines continually points out this sort of problem with the widening demographic of new gun purchasers. However, go out of business, it's a free market. I was once rudely treated in the specialty cheese store. They folded in a few months.

I also got crap at the Academy gun counter years ago. Such much so that I went full bore 'Karen' and spoke the the MANAGER!

Yep, I 100% agree with Speedo66 and gifbohane, if you treat your customers like dirt, I won't do business with you. I will only make a deal if both parties are satisfied. I remember many years ago I wanted the Remington 700 sps bolt action 308 and I went to the LGS that is a pretty large shop and usually pretty busy. It was a little busy and I waited for about 15 minutes to talk to someone. Finally, I asked if they had it in stock, they didn't. I asked if he could order it. The guy totally blew me off. I waited again about 15 minutes and asked again and they said something like they could, but why would I want that one or something to that nature and then blew me off again. It was almost like I was a known bad person and they just didn't want to service me. To be honest, I was probably the most polite person in there. So, I left and drove an hour to Adventure Outdoors that had it in stock and paid probably $100 less. I was willing to buy local, but not from jerks like that. Never been back, even though some people say they are great.

Seems to me if my shelves are bare, I would put out a sale advertisement of a reduction on commission on consignments from 20% to 15%. I want people in my store, not walking by seeing empty shelves and my employees twiddling their thumbs. Also, consignments have no carry cost other than the small amount of overhead they take up sitting in the display counter.

But there are a lot of businesses out there that are not run by people who can think logically. And in a supply market like this the business who has inventory is the business that stays profitable; hence get consignments in to sell. Given the tight supply market one's commission should go down as they are not having to work as hard selling in a tight supply market.

And for the LGS owner be smart when helping the customer establish price, i.e. the pistol doesn't go up in value relative to the amount of dust it collects. Have reasonable expectations for both parties.