Do You Patronize Your Local Gun Shops?

Do you patron local gun shops for the majority of your purchases?

  • Yes

    Votes: 193 72.0%
  • No

    Votes: 75 28.0%

  • Total voters
    268
Status
Not open for further replies.

Olympus

Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
4,212
Sorry if this has been done before. But reading through some threads got me thinking about this. I wanted to do a poll and see how many people utilize local shops for a majority of their gun related purchases. If not, other options would be large retailers, online stores, gun shows, swap meets, face to face, etc.

I have a feeling I know what the majority will be, but I wanted to get an accurate count.

I live in a large city and there are shops all over the place. But personally, I don't purchase anything from any of the shops in my area. I even hate to have to go into one of the shops. I think my primary reason for this is because it drives me up the wall to have to listen to the idiots behind the counter. I would say 90% of the people that work in the shops in my area are about 95% full of crap! They're just big blow-hards who think they know more than everybody and don't hesitate to let you know. I would put them on about the same level as a used car salesman. If I'm going to buy a gun, you'd better believe that I've put in some serious time researching it. So when I go to a shop and talk a guy about a particular gun and it becomes obvious that he's making it up as he goes, I'm done. If you're unfamiliar about a particular gun, just say so. I don't expect gun shop employees to be the walking encyclopedia of guns. Shoot straight with me and tell me what you know. If you don't know much, that's okay, just tell me. I can't tell you how many times I've been into a shop and observed someone new to guns go up to the counter and ask about a gun. The guy gets all puffed up and starts acting all tough and cool and 99% of the time does more talking than listening. It turns me off so much that I almost refuse to patron those shops if I'm given the choice.

Recently I did purchase a gun from a local gun shop. Found the place in the yellow pages calling around for pricing. He had the lowest price so I went by to buy the gun. It was a 70+ year old man with hearing aids and baby blue double-knit pants and cowboy boots. He shot straight with me and didn't feed me any lines of BS. He had the best prices around and made sure I was happy with the gun before I bought it. He went the extra mile and listened more than talked. I've been to a lot of shops, and in my area, this guy is a minority. He will definitely be the first place I look on my next gun purchase.
 
Last edited:
I do not know anymore how many Gun Stores are here in Las Vegas.


But, there are two I have bought from, or which I visit now and then.


These two are down to Earth, no BS, friendly, genuinely patient and constructive with people who come in who know nothing or who are confused and inexperienced...and just all round good natured...never any pressure to sell anything, yet prices are reasponable and well thought out for whatever Arm it is.


Some of the other Gun stores I had visited were not like this at all, high prices, cold or distracted attitudes, irrational claims or assertions about old bad condition items, impatience, rude demeanor of salespeople, so I saw no point in trying to patronize them.


Possibly there are more than 'two' good Gun Stores here, but I have not stayed on it to know who else is out there.
 
I voted yes to the title question, but it is different from the poll question. I shop EVERYWHERE that I possibly can. If the local shop wins my business, goodie, if the online shop gets it, yippie. Locale doesn't matter to me, price does. Having said that, I believe 5 of the last 7 guns that I've bought, were from online sources. So no, the majority of my recent purchases haven't come from the LSG.

My next gun? I have no idea whether the LGS will have a better price or the available inventory. I'm pretty sure there are a few online dealers who might have a better chance with both.
 
The question in the poll was what I meant to ask. Sorry for the confusion.
 
I try to keep my business local as I like my local shop, very friend people with a nice selection. If/when I pick up a used gun (thru PAFOA or the high road) I try to do the transfer there, or ship it out from there.
 
I voted "yes" because I most of my guns from a local pawn shop. I buy most of my ammo and reloading supplies locally to avoid the high shipping costs and hazmat fees on powder and primers. If it something I can't find locally then I'll buy it on line.
 
But, there are two I have bought from, or which I visit now and then.

Which two are they? I assume one is New Frontier Armory. That is the only one in town that I will buy from. All of the others that I have been to are a joke.

Most of my purchases for ammo are from Walmart. Guns are from Budsgunshop.com, private sellers, and from the one gun shop in town that I will visit. I want to give my business to the local shop, they are good guys, but if I am getting a better deal somewhere else, I'll probably get it somewhere else.
 
No, because they're all severely overpriced. I'm NOT paying a $200 markup. That's obscene. Their prices on surplus guns are absolutely laughable, too. I've seen $200 for a Nagant revolver, at a time when they were $75 online from various sources.
 
There are about 7-8 gunshops in my area (within a 45 minute drive), 4-5 of them are local non-chain places. I try to spread the money around and buy something from each of them, mostly ammo and accessories. I will shop around for the best price on bulk ammo and actuall firearms, the local places are pretty competative.

One of the local places I frequent has consistantly had the SD ammo I prefer (Speer Gold Dot Short Barrel .38 Spc +p and Federal Hydra-Shocks .40 S&W.) This place always gets some money from me everytime I walk in, even if their guns are a little over priced.
 
I like to keep the local guy in business. But it's getting to be tougher. He's carrying less and less of what I need. I seriously think he's going to go under eventually.
 
I rarely find what I am looking for in my local shops, and when I do, it has a tendency to be far over priced. I have gotten accustomed to purchasing online and using my local FFL for their fantastic $10 transfers.

I'm a huge supporter of buying local, but there is a point of absurdity when the prices are hundreds of dollars more than online.
 
I would like to send some cash to my local guy, but the shelves rarely have the guns I am interested in. I tried to purchase 30-30 last weekend, no go none in stock. Ya gotta be kidding. When I lived in Omaha I was close to the Scheels store there. They continuously competitive shopped to make sure prices were fair to better than the competition, huge inventory of guns and ammo, no junk, the salespeople were brow beaten by management enough that they didn't hassle you, but would be able to answr questions. :)
I found some killer deals there too, they like to keep inventory moving, and do a good job marking down slow movers to get em' outta the store.
 
I would love too but don't. They don't stock what I want, are over-priced, rude, and I've seen customers manhandle merchandise and they don't say anything. Scratches on new guns, I kid you not.
 
I answered no before I realized it was for related purchases as well. Most factory ammo and if they have what I'm looking for, I'll support the local guy. Why Academy won't order other guns for you, I couldn't tell you :(
 
When they have what I am looking for at a realistic price, sure. I'm willing to pay more locally accounting for FFL fees/hassle, shipping, and the instant gratification factor.. but when the pricing is ridiculous I go straight to the Internet. it ends up being about a 50/50 proposition so I'm not sure how to answer the poll.
 
Yes. I have never purchased a firearm online.

I do buy some reloading components and tools online.

I am very fortunate in that I have great little gun shop just about 2 miles from home. It's owned by a couple in their late 60's, who are always friendly, never pushy, and will order just about anything I want if they don't have it, or in some cases tell me which other shop in the area has what I need.
 
I mainly buy mail order, due to that I shoot predominately vintage & antique guns that the components for are seldom seen in the average gun store. I occasionally pick up smokeless powder, primers & caps at a gun show or Sportsmen's Warehouse due to the HazMat charges when shipped, but buy all my blackpowder online as few places even stock it anymore.
 
For most of the firearms that I have purchased in the past decade I have been able to use my 03FFL, the rest I have been able to use the 01FFL of a friend, a true "kitchen table" dealer.

One time, years ago, in the spirit of "support your local gun shops" I went into a relatively new local gunshop with the intent of asking them to order a specific pistol for me ... I ended up leaving after they, apparently, did not approve of my choice and entertained themselves with that quite a bit. They told me that the pistols were no longer made and no longer available. I went home from there, fired up the 'puter, quickly found a one (NIB) online at a good price and ordered it.

I haven't been back to that gun shop since that day ... but in the recent past I have read that, perhaps, I hit the guys on a bad day, so, next time I am in the area with some time to kill, I may drop by.
 
No. My local gun store is owned and operated by a extremely rude guy. He has not been rude to me in particular, but I have been in there and what he says to other customers just gets on my nerves. I won't do business with someone who acts the way he does. Honestly you would just have to meet the guy in order to grasp to what extent I really mean. :)

The most local I go is to stores like Academy, and Cabelas.
 
I would patronize the local gunshops more if they:

1) could even come close to the internet/large retailers on ammunition and gun prices

2) had what I wanted or had the ability to order what I wanted

3) had greater ammunition diversity in the right calibers

4) had competative FFL transfer fees and

5) would perform FFL transfers on gun models that they are also selling instead of refusing to do so in hopes that I'll pay their $100-200 higher prices.

Fortunately, there are pawnshops, large retailers, and internet retailers to patronize instead. I will grant that there are some local shops that are friendly and helpful that I'd LIKE to patronize more, but I just can't bring myself to pay double for a box of .22 WMR. If I want to spend money on smiles, I can get prettier ones down the road at a different kind of shop.
 
We're lucky here I guess. There are a few who are rude that I won't do business with, but there are a few that are great. Usually when I find something online, by the time I pay shipping, tax and ffl transfer fee, I can buy it locally just as cheap. If I could really save money though, I would buy online.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top