Cabela's unbelievable

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357smallbore said:
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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Anyone with historical perspective understands that old shooters actually had to have an even thicker wallet and even deeper pockets.

Because - y' know - inflation.
 
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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This. We got a Cabela's store just a few years before Bass Pro took over. I got some good deals on ammo, handguns & long guns, mostly new but a few used/ surplus. They used to have four large racks of used long guns outside the Library, all cheap to mid-level prices from bolt actions and surplus to ARs and AKs. That's all gone. It's been years since I set foot in one, and their website is a joke. I've regularly purchased firearms online from places like Palmetto State Armory, Academy Sports and Sportsman's Warehouse for local pickup. Not Cabela's.

And +1 on the drop in quality on their clothing. I have an OLD pair of Cabela's winter leather hunting gloves, VERY nice quality leather, great fit, fingers are 'boxed in' so the tips aren't flat so dexterity is great when driving or shooting. still in use after sewing them back up a few times. A few years ago I boight a new pair of Cabela's heavy shooting gloves, so cheaply made. Like someone just traced their hand on a piece of leather, cut two of em and sewed em together, in the dark. While kinda drunk.
 
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.308 Norma said:
Here's a copy of a page out of one of the 1962 Winchester-Western catalogs my folks had in their country store/gas station. As you can see, if you were around back then, you could have gotten a brand-new Winchester 70 ("pre-64" naturally) for $139.00. Of course, I was only making $1.00 and hour (minimum wage) working in the apple and peach orchards back in those days. A better comparison though might be what my dad was making as a boiler operator - he was making a whopping $1.65 an hour! So, if Dad would have had to pay list price (which he didn't because he could buy guns wholesale through his and Mom's country store), he could have paid for a new Model 70 "Standard" (or a "Featherweight") with just a little over 2 weeks wages. o_O
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How many weeks wages are "pre-64" Model 70s going for now? I'm asking - I don't really know. I have a pristine one sitting in the gun safe that I promised to our oldest daughter's youngest son as soon as he has a place of his own where he can keep it. :)
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That Winchester catalog flat floored me! If only, if only!
 
wesmonster said:
And +1 on the drop in quality on their clothing. I have an OLD pair of Cabela's winter leather hunting gloves, VERY nice quality leather, great fit, fingers are 'boxed in' so the tips aren't flat so dexterity is great when driving or shooting. still in use after sewing them back up a few times. A few years ago I boight a new pair of Cabela's heavy shooting gloves, so cheaply made. Like someone just traced their hand on a piece of leather, cut two of em and sewed em together, in the dark. While kinda drunk.
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This is where I notice the biggest change. Cablea's used to have some really high quality stuff. Boots, pants, jackets, etc. I was a big time pheasant hunter up in MN and found through 100's of miles of mud slogging each year what worked and what didn't. The stuff that did, like the better Meindl boots, is no longer carried at BP/Cabela's.

Gun dept is pretty much the same though.
 
I bought my Mini 14,Browning median pro and Taurus PT 111 from Cabela's. They had the best price at the time. As well as a few scopes. I was going to stop in yesterday on the way to my parents. When i saw how full the parking lot was i kept going.
 
Tell me about it, I remember when I could get a chop beef sandwich, fries and a drink for under $3 and another $2 would get me a pitcher of beer…

The good news is that $500 Python is now worth a couple thousand. So there are up sides too, at least for someone, when I die.
 
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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Basic rules of economics. Plus, prices went crazy during Covid, not sure if people were thinking they'd shoot the virus or what. They have inched down but since they went up by feet, the change is somewhat nominal.

Also, the OP mentions guns by a reputable manufacturer. Being a seller of such makers, I have seen a great change in some makers products. I assume it has to do with new ownership buying the marque and trying to make a quick return on their dollar. As you mention, there are plenty of good guns in the sub $500 range. I have a Bersa Thunder 380 I am quite content with. My Extar EP9 was under $400 when I bought it, it's now $450, but it's a fun range toy. Alas, the trend in the ATF seems to indicate I will need the SBR tax stamp soon.
 
Gasoline used to be .25 cents a gallon too, this is the world today. Pay to play or sit at home and bitch. Or we can have everything made offshore by slave labor but that is not working out so good either.

Cabela's is a women's clothing store with a few guns and fishing lures as window dressing to keep the menfolks busy while the women shop for cute cloths. Mostly Bass Pro junk.
 
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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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Firearms at Cabela's are grossly overpriced. We have a one in my area, and they stay pretty busy selling guns even though there are dozens of pawn shops and mom and pop gun shops who are selling the same guns for $100+ less. For whatever reason, people are hell bent of going to these big box stores to throw away their money.
 
3Crows said:
Gasoline used to be .25 cents a gallon too, this is the world today. Pay to play or sit at home and bitch. Or we can have everything made offshore by slave labor but that is not working out so good either.

Cabela's is a women's clothing store with a few guns and fishing lures as window dressing to keep the menfolks busy while the women shop for cute cloths. Mostly Bass Pro junk.
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So is Dicks. No guns ammo or even camping gear.
 
While I always liked Cabela's before Bass Pro took over, they have always been high on their firearms prices. Used firearms were always over priced at Cabela's. I have only bought two handguns from them and only when on sale and no one else could beat their prices.

I am fortunate that there is a Cabela's, two Bass Pro's, Midway USA, Graf's and several Academy Sports all with in an hour drive from me (Graf's is only 20 minutes). Plus there is a lot of small gun shops within that radius too.

The one thing about the Cabela's in St Louis is its location. The store is locate in Hazelwood, Mo which is in a pad part of St Louis County. I haven't been there since before the 2014 riots that tore up a lot of north St Louis County.
 
Inflation. Things cost more over time. The Savage 110 was introduced to be a budget option rifle at the time, and the 110 moniker was because it was priced at $110 at its introduction in 1958. While looking back it might be like "Gee, those were good times . . . ", but adjusted for inflation that $110 from then would be equivalent to $1,146 now. The rifle costs LESS than that now. As a matter of fact you can get something like a Savage Axis for about $350 now. If you were to adjust it for inflation that gun would have cost $36 back in the day.

The reality is that aside from milsurps (for which the best times have truly come and gone), we're pretty much in the golden age of firearms. Adjusted for inflation guns gun are at nearly their cheapest point ever and there are WAY more options available than there ever have been.

And yes there was a pandemic bump in prices, but that was temporary and guns are still not priced THAT bad. Prices have already started to settle and there's a good chance they'll swing back pretty far as the pendulum comes back this way, as production has ramped WAY up so as the demand returns to normal supply will likely be quite bloated.
 
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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I agree. The store near me has really gone downhill on selection and prices. At least they are not so crowded anymore.
 
As Cabelas is Bass Pro now same same, does not shock me at all. Gun show here in KC last weekend I scored (really the wife scored) LRP for $125 and I think I did very well.

The Cabelas in KC is in KCK for what it is worth. Locals see Kansas city and Kansas city Kansas as two very different places.
 
I don't think Bass Pro ruined Cabela's any more than Cabela's ruined Bass Pro. I got more good deals at BPS years ago. Closeout and discontinued guns for 40-50% off...Merge the 2 together and the deals disappear since they no longer compete with each other (I guess).
 
My friend invited me to go to the Scheels in Overland Park,Ks., yesterday. My first time there and, yeah, clothes LOTS of clothes but upstairs they had ammo, primers and powder on the shelves. Decent prices and selection too and a good firearm selection as well with some good deals on the used rifles that we were tempted by. The fellow in the ammo department was very helpful and apologized because "They really got hammered yesterday, so we have less." I picked up a few things and have to say I'll be back.
(Well, since the slippers that I bought my wife were the wrong size and style I "have" to go back...;))
 
Over time the cost of goods in relation to income remains pretty much the same, but they don't always increase at the same times. Over the last 20 years our average income has increased faster than the cost of goods. We have gotten spoiled with cheap guns and ammo in relation to income. Many younger shooters don't understand how good they have it.

In the last 2 years the cost of goods has increased faster than income. But if we look long term goods today are still cheaper than 20 years ago relative to income. Looking at gas prices vs income compared to when I started driving in the 1970's we really should be paying $4/gallon. And when you factor in that vehicles today go about twice as far on a gallon of gas, $3/gallon gas is dirt cheap. My 1975 Jeep 4X4 truck got 6-8 mpg city, 11 hwy. My current truck gets 16-17 mpg city, 20 hwy.

And everything works 2 ways, inflation can work to your advantage. In the last 2 years I've sold several guns that I've owned for 20+ years at a handsome profit. I can no longer buy a new truck at 1%-2% interest, but my investments are now earning more.

The sky isn't falling.
 
Shanghai McCoy said:
My friend invited me to go to the Scheels in Overland Park,Ks., yesterday. My first time there and, yeah, clothes LOTS of clothes but upstairs they had ammo, primers and powder on the shelves. Decent prices and selection too and a good firearm selection as well with some good deals on the used rifles that we were tempted by. The fellow in the ammo department was very helpful and apologized because "They really got hammered yesterday, so we have less." I picked up a few things and have to say I'll be back.
(Well, since the slippers that I bought my wife were the wrong size and style I "have" to go back...;))
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Yeah, Schells are great. Wish we had one closer. I hear they are going to build one in Tulsa, but that's still 2 hours away.
 
I’ve stopped buying guns entirely and cut my shooting down to like 10% of what it used to be. Can’t afford the money or time much anymore.
 
I worked the gun counter at a Cabela's for a short time.
I really didn't like selling a firearm to someone at a high price when I knew they could go 20 minutes away to a Mom & Pop gun shop and get it for a LOT less.
One of the several reasons I didn't stay.
 
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