BudsGunShop: Which brings up a whole other issue for consideration. As you can imagine, with our low prices, there are many FFL dealers who are not at all happy with us shipping firearms into their state, much less their store. One way some FFL dealers have found to get between us and our customers satisfaction is to claim there is something deficient with the order....no fired shell casing, magazines "missing", scratches on new guns, etc. The one I like the best, just because it is so easy to disprove....is that the gun "is not there yet". We ship all our firearms Signature Required....so we know when the guns are delivered...and sometimes we have to remind the dealers of that.
I don't blame them for being concerned about Bud's low prices. When we begin to use our local FFLs only for paperwork for our online purchases we risk not having local FFLs to ask to do that paperwork. Then we can't buy online or locally. I've talked to the local dealer about the impact of online orders. It is amazing how many people buy a $500 dollar gun online because it is $20 cheaper than the local shop.
I am glad that places like Bud's exist. I like being able to shop online. Though I haven't bought from Bud's yet, I did buy one online gun for delivery at a local shop - the only local shop. Buying online is a great way to let one dealer's excess inventory fill a gap in your local dealer's inventory. Just try to shop locally first.
I am going in to order another gun today - a hard to find model. In this case, I may have to do the purchase online for delivery through the local shop; and that's when I think it is appropriate to do so. If my dealer can't get the gun from their distributors, I am prepared to order the gun from the only online shop that I found with the gun in inventory. This is a perfectly reasonable thing to do and to ask of my local shop. Bud's, by the way, doesn't have this model in stock and hasn't for a while. I did consider them as my backup route but had to settle on another backup instead.
If the local shop can get it, I will probably pay $50 more for a $900 list price gun from them than I would pay online. The online price is actually closer to a hundred less but I have to pay shipping and pay the local shop for doing the paperwork - charges I don't have to pay at the local dealer. The result is about a 6% price difference to buy locally from which my dealer has to pay rent, insurance, employees, utilities, and inventory costs in order to keep the doors open - so I can order guns online and ask them to do the paperwork for $25.00.
People, consider buying your guns locally first. Support the local shop. If they can't get what you want then absolutely go to Bud's or other shops like them.
By the way, I do not own or work for a gun shop. I don't know anyone who does own or work for a gunshop except by face when I stand at the counter of the local shop. I don't even know their names there - that's my fault, not their's. All I would have to do is stick my hand out to know them. The point is that my view on this is not a self supporting view except to hope great success for my local shop so they will be there when I want to buy a gun.