Forbes article on S&W sales

This economy would really be bad if not for guns&ammo sales, Thank goodness we have a Salesman In Chief

First of all, I am glad to see S&W doing well, stock/profit wise.

I will go ahead and ask a question I hear at the local gun stores and that I heard at the the last gunshow I went to, because of high prices, and low availability... Cause I keep hearing alot of local folks complain about price gouging, and I am tired of it...

If they are doing so well, why dont they lower prices?

because of high prices, and low availability... If they are doing so well, why dont they lower prices?

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Um, you answered your own question. Demand is high (low availability), so prices for what is available go up. Why would they lower prices if they're still moving product?

To a point the firearms makers are "Making hay while the sun shines" a bit more. It is good they are doing well and are supporting our rights in a very symbiotic relationship.

If the president was like Teddy Roosevelt, this wouldn't be news to Forbes. It would be a "well duh!" moment.

I'm glad to hear that S&W is doing good. I know that I've made my contribution to their profitability. I've bought three of them so far this year. Now if only they would lower their manufacturing costs by eliminating the damn lawyer lock.

I will go ahead and ask a question I hear at the local gun stores and that I heard at the the last gunshow I went to, because of high prices, and low availability... Cause I keep hearing alot of local folks complain about price gouging, and I am tired of it...

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If people WILLINGLY pay the asking price, there is no such thing as gouging

There are a bazillion inflation calculators around, plug in the numbers from the 50, 70, 90 and now, you'll see prices are right in line in that regard - seems some folks either are underfunded for this hobby or want something for nothing

I could go out today and freely drop three grand on guns. But it's not going to happen. Why buy new when you get used in private sales for a lot cheaper. People always want to be able to buy a product cheap and to heck with reality. I'm a lawyer I get it all the time "well I had one lawyer tell me the retainer would only be $3,400, and your telling me $2,500, that's not much of a difference. Why can't I hire you for only $500?" Because the next appointment I'm taking after that will have the guy who will pay me $2,500 and thank me profusely and tell me how God blessed him by sending him to me. Guns run much the same way. You won't pay that price, but another guy will so who cares what your opinion is. Money talks, we know what walks.

New guns are going to cost more, the market is like that now. Everyone is stirred up over the election. If you buy new, you buy stupid right now. There are some half decent deals but gun stores and manufacturers are squeezing the market for every penny they can get in case the bubble bursts on them (seven years of fat, then seven years of famine). Will it ever burst, I don't know. But for every ten people who buy a gun brand new, there is at least one frustrated they can't sell the gun back to the store a few months later for seventy percent of what they paid for it, and are barely offered 30%. Then you step in and offer 60% or 50%.

Don't even bother with Armslist in my opinion, and gunbroker has those once in a while deals worth snatching, so long as the item isn't properly listed.

I will go ahead and ask a question I hear at the local gun stores and that I heard at the the last gunshow I went to, because of high prices, and low availability... Cause I keep hearing alot of local folks complain about price gouging, and I am tired of it...

If they are doing so well, why dont they lower prices?

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You SHOULD BE tired of it. This is the sort of idle question which says a lot about the person asking it. And not in a good way.

It is simple -- Economics 101.

The market sets the prices (to a certain degree). If a company can sell all they can make at $XYZ each, why in the world would they DROP the price? The only possible result would be that they make less money! The only reason the price isn't $50, 100, or 500 MORE is that there is competition in their niches of the market and they can't afford to drive their potential customers into the arms of their competitors.

To a very real degree, the more they take in per gun, the happier their shareholders, the happier their employees, and the more money they have to sink into R&D to build better guns, invest in new and better tooling and equipment, lawyers to stave off frivolous nuisance lawsuits, money to give to support the shooting sports and political efforts, and so forth.

It's when companies start CUTTING prices that you need to worry about them. That's when things are going badly -- the market is flooded, there's something wrong with the product, something better has come onto the market, or other negatives. Seeing prices fall should be a warning to you to double, triple, and quadruple-check to make sure this is a wise purchase after all.

"If you buy new, you buy stupid right now"

Wow, I knew I wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but did not realize I had sunk to the very bottom. That's life, I guess.

People should complain about the gov't interference in the market, which drives prices up and selection down.

That is good news in my opinion. Good news for S&W, good news for the American gun industry and ultimately good news for American gunowners. I remember thirteen years ago when the news was bad and the industry was supposedly on it's knees. The Anti's were crowing about how the companies were going under and that was proof that gunownership was on it's way out. Times change.