Malice
Member
There is a gun store close to my house in Southwest Houston called the Gun Shack. Its a small place run by one guy, his daughter (I think) and maybe one other guy. Ive been in there twice. The first time was when I was looking to buy my first rifle (Ruger 10/22) and he tried to charge me $300 for a messily used one. I almost bought it (had 0 firearms knowledge at the time) but my dad suggested that we look at Wal Mart first. $150 new in box? There we go.
So I go back today for the second time, with the tons of firearms knowledge ive gathered at places like this forum as well as my practical experience shooting since then. It was like a scary movie. Everywhere I turned, I saw a price tag or hand-made sign that made me want to scream in terror. The Saiga that I bought at Fountain Firearms down the road about 20 minutes for $250 minus %5 (the tag SAID $250 and I was willing to pay them their reasonable price) was on display there with a tag that read $395. And guess what? It was USED. Obviously used. Worn finish, etc. Their basic Wolf ammo is $4 a box rather than $3 or $2.50! The worst part was when I asked him how much one of his USED off-brand 25rnd 10/22 magazines was going for, he said "Well since they're banned and all, I can let you have one for $79.95."
At that point I walked out, shaking my head. I do NOT look like the stereotypical Texan gun-savy type. I have been described as "metrosexual." You could tell the guy had one look at me and assumed he could charge me any price he wanted, tell me anything he wanted. Not to forget, his guns and ammo are ticketed at %50-%100 markups. What a jerk!
Makes me want to stand outside of his shop on a busy day and tell people how too-much they paid as they walk out. Some "stores" are not even legitimate places of busniess. Anyone else have experiences like this?
So I go back today for the second time, with the tons of firearms knowledge ive gathered at places like this forum as well as my practical experience shooting since then. It was like a scary movie. Everywhere I turned, I saw a price tag or hand-made sign that made me want to scream in terror. The Saiga that I bought at Fountain Firearms down the road about 20 minutes for $250 minus %5 (the tag SAID $250 and I was willing to pay them their reasonable price) was on display there with a tag that read $395. And guess what? It was USED. Obviously used. Worn finish, etc. Their basic Wolf ammo is $4 a box rather than $3 or $2.50! The worst part was when I asked him how much one of his USED off-brand 25rnd 10/22 magazines was going for, he said "Well since they're banned and all, I can let you have one for $79.95."
At that point I walked out, shaking my head. I do NOT look like the stereotypical Texan gun-savy type. I have been described as "metrosexual." You could tell the guy had one look at me and assumed he could charge me any price he wanted, tell me anything he wanted. Not to forget, his guns and ammo are ticketed at %50-%100 markups. What a jerk!
Makes me want to stand outside of his shop on a busy day and tell people how too-much they paid as they walk out. Some "stores" are not even legitimate places of busniess. Anyone else have experiences like this?