Does Wal-Mart have special versions of guns made for them?

[albanian]

I have heard rumors that Wal-Mart and other large stores will sell cheaper version of certain guns. For example, they may sell a Ruger 10/22 for a $149 but it is not the same Ruger 10/22 that you would buy at a gunstore. It is a Wal-Mart version that may be cheaper somehow or even a factory second. Is there ANY truth to this or is this just a bunch of BS?

I am thinking it is BS but if anyone has any proof that it is not, I would love to hear it. I just don't see why or how a company would risk their good name by selling a cheaper version of a gun.

I did have a Ruger 10/22 that I bought from K-Mart once and it was a lemon. It was a jammer and not accurate at all. That is the only reason that I think the rumor may have some truth to it. Every other Ruger 10/22 I have had has been a winner.

 

[Ala Dan]

I doubt very seriously that one could walk in Wally World these days
and find a Remington model 870 Wingmaster~? Remington 870
Express YES, but not a Wingmaster.

To answer your question, no I don't think Wally World has devised a
way to have any weapons especially made for them. Unless of
course, they were fronting tons of cash.

 

[CajunBass]

Actually they sell a Ruger 10/22 stainless steel rifle, that as I understand it, you can only get at Wal-Mart. Longer barrel, no barrel band, nice stock. At least I've read that on Rimfire.com . I know that's the only place I've ever seen it although I have seen a blued version at Gander Mountain.

It is not "cheap."

 

[Aneat]

Ive seen a "Sam Walton" (the founder of WalMart) special edition 1187 at WalMart but it was not "cheap" by any stretch of the imagination.

I can Imagine WalMart or any large chain saying they need to buy, say 10000 guns for Ruger, Marlin or who ever and that manufacturer cranking them out but I cannot see that gun manfacturer making a lesser quality gun. After all if you get a dud gun I think it reflects more on the gun manufacturer that the store.

 

[Kodiaz]

Yeah I've seen that stainless 10/22 man they look nice. My uncle took me to the Dolphins-Jets game last year. I've been planning on getting him a 10/22.

 

[Aneat]

Dont forget all the "Sears" "Montgomery Ward" and other chain stores that had guns made with there name on them no less!!

 

[scout26]

My uncle took me to the Dolphins-Jets game last year.

At gunpoint ????

 

[ReadyontheRight]

Wal-Mart has special versions of EVERYTHING made for them. So does Home Depot, Best Buy, etc. If they think it will help with inventory, marketing or "we'll beat the price on the same item", there are not many manufacturers who won't tweak a product for a big order.

 

[Ala Dan]

Sears (Laughing Loudly ) You mean K-Mart don't you?

Yeah, I can remember when the old Sears Roebuck & Company
sold Ted Williams and J.C. Higgins long guns. That was just 'bout
the time that Western Auto sold Revelation long guns. Oops- I
had better be careful, before I tell my age~!

 

[redranger1]

the guns wall mart sell arent inferior in quality, but you could call it an "economy model". ie: not as expensive wood in the stock as what everybody else might be buying.

 

[SIOP]

That is correct, Wal-Mart DOES have special models made just for them. I don't know how many manufacturers do it for them, but for sure Ruger does, and you won't find them even listed on Ruger's web site or in their catalog. I confirmed this with Ruger last year. It might only be a small difference, like an inch of barrel length, but enough to make it unique to Wal-Mart.

 

[Ala Dan]

I also remember the old Woolco stores selling firearms, including handguns.
I once found a early 70's display model 6" blue steel Colt Python for only
$125. Boy, I jumped on it ever so quickly~! Wish I had it today.

 

[f4t9r]

I have heard this but never proven as far as I know

 

[Kentak]

Buyer Beware

After retiring, I worked for a few years at Home Depot. I found out that, indeed, makers will produce items exclusively for a large retailer. BUT, it won't be sold as the same item sold elsewhere. In other words, it will have different features and be identified by a unique name or model number. So, if the XYZ brand 12 volt cordless drill is sold elsewhere as Model No. 1650, the one made for Home Depot, which might be of better or lesser quality, might be sold as Model No. 1650-F, or whatever.

So, I don't know if Wal-Mart sells guns made specifically for them or not, but if I was going to buy one, I would look very closely at the description, name, and model number.

Hope that helps.

K

 

[XavierBreath]

Ruger has in the past produced a 10/22 known affectionately as a Wally World Special. It is a 20 inch stainless 10/22 with a regular non-carbine stock with checkering.

These rifles (and the receiver says rifle, not carbine) are hardly inferior to the carbines you can buy at the gun stores. Often, they cost less than a gunstore carbine, shoot more accurately, and if you decide to upgrade them, you can sell the stock for $50 instead of $5.

I haven't seen a WW Special in Wal-Mart for about a year and a half, so the gun may have been discontinued. I don't think any gun manufacturer will institute a special assembly line to make a cheaper version of their product so Wal-Mart can sell it and ruin their reputation. They might sell Wal-Mart the same thing cheaper in a volume deal, but they won't make a cheaper version of their economy models.

 

[Crosshair]

NO, most everything we sell comes from a distributer who sells to lots of different places. We just get discounts for volume. Only special thing I know of is the 10/22.

 

[Infidel]

Yeah, I can remember when the old Sears Roebuck & Company
sold Ted Williams and J.C. Higgins long guns. ...

Remember? Heck, I still have a J.C. Higgins .22 that was my first firearm. It's in the safe right now. It came mail order from the Sears catalogue in about 1955. Still shoots pretty well.

By the way, I think that the main distinguishing feature of the Wal*Mart Special 10/22 is that it has a 22 inch barrel.

 

[pete f]

I agree with the poster who says all big box retailers have specially made runs for them.

for some, it is to prevent others from taking advantage of "lifetime guarantees" on products sold by the retailer. Home Depot used to say everthing was satisfaction guaranteed. (they do not anymore) and people abused it by returning things they had worn out but bought from someone else so the solution was to have private label tools made or to have manufacturers supply inventory with HD specific model names.


For others it was a way to appear to be competitive with prices on equal tools but really to be faking it. Bosch and Skil used to have the -B( Dash B) tool line. same models except they had a -B after the model number. The dash B tools used lighter windings, cheaper cords, unsealed switches etc. All to drop the prices a few bucks down to out sell the other big box.

As far as firearms, I was told that WW had a few different packages available. Ie scoped rifles pre mounted, than other places but I did see one Marlin 336 that was more like an 870 Express finish that the owner said was from walmart, having never seen a grit blasted NIB marlin, i would say that was peculiar to WW but not going to claim it as fact. Just like the big whole salers of Davidsons and RSG have special runs made for them, i would expect WW to do the same.

 

[Nalapombu]

After hearing from gun shops and NUMEROUS gun store BLOWHARDS that WalMart sells seconds or some other kinds of "special" rifles, a friend and I decided to check it out. The guy that runs the sporting goods dept at our local WM has a son who is in my buddy's cub scout troop and they know each other pretty well. I went in with him and we asked the guy about the rumor. He EMPHATICALLY DENIED that they sell anything other than first run merchandise. After telling us that he was tired of hearing people accuse them of it, he proved it by pulling out a book from a distributor and told us to call them and verify it. We did and the distruibutor told us that the guns WM gets and sells are NO DIFFERENT than the guns that any other FFL gets from them.
The reason they are cheap is that WM sells them lots of times at COST. The manager told us that many times they don't care to make any money on the actual gun. They will let youget the gun at their cost to get you in the sporting goods dept to buy your ammo and the rest of the stuff you need. He said they would order any gun I wanted.

WM has the SAME stuff any other store has.

Nala

 

[CajunBass]

I've seen a couple of the SS Wally World Specials recently so it may still be available, although their web-site only lists the blued Rifle, which I think looks better anyway.

By the way. If you've never looked at Wally World "custom order" book, you'd be surprised what you can find there.
http://www.walmart.com/guns?path=0%3A4125%3A4155%3A170080

I've got a couple of "Sears-Roebuck" shotguns. One was made my Mossburg, and the other by Winchester. Good guns.

 

[shooting time]

I read a article in shooting sports retailer one time and it said walmart buys a different grade of gun than the ones sold in gunshops.If you look at them carefully you will see the difference in the wood and metal finishes as well as some parts are plastic instead of metal.

 

[Ohen Cepel]

A couple of years ago there was a green mannlicher laminated stainless 10/22 at WM.

I tried to have several dealers order one for me and they all told me that they couldn't get it. It was a WM only deal. They must have/had some agreement with Ruger. Not sure if it's still that way or not, this was about 13 years ago.

I don't believe they sell lesser models, just that they get great prices and some special models.

 

[Slater]

I doubt if any gun manufacturer would want to get a bad rep on products sold at the world's largest retailer.

 

[Technosavant]

I think another WM special might be the Remington 597 with the camo stock. Remington made a special run of them back in 00 or 01, but the ones you can find at WM are new production (mine is 05), and with a very low price ($140; an absolute steal). I thought they might have gone out of production (hence the low cost), but Remington doesn't have them in their 05 or 06 catalog, and others at rimfirecentral.com have said that they have seen these in their stores.

It seems like a good quality rifle; still can't wait to shoot it.

I would think that the complaining about WM guns is just people trying to steer business their way. It is more of a hassle buying guns there (about a 1 hour ordeal, instead of 15 minutes), but if you can save 25% off cost, it might be worth it.

 

[Kramer Krazy]

Ruger has in the past produced a 10/22 known affectionately as a Wally World Special. It is a 20 inch stainless 10/22 with a regular non-carbine stock with checkering.

Got one of these for my wife in Nov of 2004. It was a special, Walmart-only, 10/22 that was used to test the market. It was only offered in 2004 through Walmart. In 2005, Ruger actually ran an ad in one or more magazines stating it was a *new* model. The one we got from Walmart definitely is not of any lesser quality than any other 10/22 that I've seen. I wouldn't doubt it if several manufacturers use Walmart as a "test-market" for new models before actually releasing them to the public through distributors and dealers.