If it wasn't for Walmart, I wouldn't be shooting.

[fiddleharp]

There's a local, independent sporting goods store that I've been patronizing since the 1970's. Nice folks, and the prices are generally competitive.
During the recent ammo shortage, they were the only shop in town that had cases and cases of Federal 510 .22 ammo on hand. They were charging $30 a brick. I told them I'd rather not shoot than to pay that.
Now 510B's are back at Wal-Mart for $1.77 a box and I'm willing to bet that the small shop will have to mark down those 510's drastically if they ever want to move them.
I'll be watching!

 

[danprkr]

The flip side to the Wal Mart coin is that they have only what is the best selling of whatever. You want something out of the middle of the road you're out of luck. You're never going to find 12 ga slugs, or nice defensive rounds there. That's where your local gun shop comes in. They carry the stuff that the Wally World doesn't.

 

[Elmar66]

Cool, hope to see you at the Bullet Hole sometime KingoftheHill. I don't like Bass Pro because you have to use their ammo. I did take my CHL class there because shooting was included in the price.

 

[cwbjaxfl]

i buy all my .40 ammo at wally world $14.47 for 50rnds of federal fmj's

 

[GRIZ22]

Who the hell buys it at those prices??? More importantly, how can someone charge a 40%+ mark up on the same block?!

It may what it costs them. Wal Mart is the biggest retailer in the world and they can cut some big contracts. In my area a small retailer will pay $1.50 for a 2 liter bottle of Coke wholesale. Wal Mart sells it for 98 cents.

 

[Nushif]

intriguing...

I just realized something.

The shared sentiment here seems to be that WalMart can use economy of scale to gain an edge, right? And that's alright in the system.
But on the other hand ... A gunshop using again... Economies of scale to gain an edge is a bunch of dirtbags.

Where is the difference between WalMart outmuscling a local gunshop and a local gunshop outmuscling a low end buyer?

In the end everybody still shoots less, either way. And the less people can afford ammunition, the less they buy guns, right? Or am I missing something?

 

[oneounceload]

I don't belive that just cause wal-mart,buy's in volume that they get it at any cheaper price than the next door gun store.God old wives tail that don't hold water



Well that's good for the rich and famous danprkr,but joe smuck-ah-telly get's no break where is where it should be.So for me and 99.9% of the populace it's a wives tale.

WOW..........someone with absolutely no idea how business works.............

You're more like the .1% you missed.......volume pricing DOES exist

As to the comments complaining about a small business marking things up 100% - do you really think that 100% goes in the owner's pocket?.give me a break

folks like that REALLY need to go take a business class to learn some basic facts.

Everyone complains about low quality i everything and then go running to wally world because they have the cheapest crap from all over, especially China - you can't have it both ways. If you can't afford to shoot, try reloading, shooting less, shooting a .22 or doing another hobby.............GEEZ!

 

[arizona_cards_11]

Right now I'm reloading .45 acp for roughly $133 per 1000.......this is with the higher price in lead and not buying anything in bulk. (Only 1lb GP and 1k primers at a time from my local gun shop)

 

[Hatterasguy]

I hate Walmart and buy from a local shop since they are close.

Perfect example, UMC .45ACP is about .35 cents a round from Walfart. From the local shop Winchester White box which IMHO is better ammo is .39 cents a round.

For an extra .04-.05 cents I rather support the small guy.

 

[SOUTHPAW]

Walmart is fun if you make a game out of it!

Hahahahahahaaaaa! That's ALL so true!

 

[danprkr]

It may what it costs them. Wal Mart is the biggest retailer in the world and they can cut some big contracts. In my area a small retailer will pay $1.50 for a 2 liter bottle of Coke wholesale. Wal Mart sells it for 98 cents.

Exactly, before Wally quit selling guns in this area years ago there was a mom and pop store that quit stocking Remington because they had to pay more for them than Wally charged retail. Problem was that unless you wanted 30-06 or 270 you were out of luck that's all Wally sold. If you were a lefty - same deal. But, if you wanted that Remington 700 in 30-06 Wally was THE place to buy it. If you wanted anything else you had to go to the locals, pay full retail, and wait for it to be ordered in. Happens on everything from candy bars to jeans to (yep you guessed it) ammo.

Hatterasguy - good point. But, we all have that breaking point, I'd pay an extra nickel to support the local guy, but I doubt I'd pay an extra dime. For each of us it's different.

 

[mregunz]

oneounceload I didn't say anything about a 100% markup,and most of the markup is more than that anyway classic example I have a friend yea I actually have a friend,that used to work a part's store and every item was 150-300% markup he said.So yea 100% of the markup does go in there pocket if not 200% so give me a break

 

[lions]

I don't belive that just cause wal-mart,buy's in volume that they get it at any cheaper price than the next door gun store.God old wives tail that don't hold water.

You don't even have to be as big as wal-mart to recognize volume discounts. Check out Ammoman.com's 9mm ammo.
33.8 cents/round for 500 rounds
29.9 cents/round for 1000 rounds

You would save 3.9 cents/round going from 500 to 1000 rounds. That is pretty significant if you ask me. It actually gets cheaper still if you buy 5000 rounds.

Volume based pricing is very real my friend, wal-mart takes advantage of it and so should you.

This isn't their cheapest ammo by the way, it's just listed at the top of the page.

 

[Hammer-52]

Won't Shop Wally World

Since moving to Germany haven't had much chance to shoot. But that said I do NOT & will NOT shop at WallMart. Can't stand the store policies (video taping firearms and ammo purchases) and I prefer to patronize my local businesses. So when I get back to the states (twice a year to AZ & ID) I go to a few of my favorites locals--I always get better service. Also the reason I reload. Just my opinion.

 

[javabum]

Thank You lions....Never heard of them before.....It is now booked marked in my computer.

But i still plan on shopping wally world....when they have it,i can get .22 for one heck of a price.Try reloading .22.....cheaper to buy it.

 

[slowr1der]

Since moving to Germany haven't had much chance to shoot. But that said I do NOT & will NOT shop at WallMart. Can't stand the store policies (video taping firearms and ammo purchases) and I prefer to patronize my local businesses. So when I get back to the states (twice a year to AZ & ID) I go to a few of my favorites locals--I always get better service. Also the reason I reload. Just my opinion.

I've heard about this video taping gun and ammo purchases, but I don't get what the big deal is? The local shops most if not all of them I've been to have video camera's right over the cash register. Do you really think they aren't video taping you too? I've just never seen the problem with that.

As for the above post about do I think all of that 100% markup goes in the owners pocket? No, I understand he has other things to pay, but that's still no excuse. He doesn't need to mark it up 100% to pay his bills. The majority of it probably does go in his pocket. Actually, I take that back. They don't seem to be moving much ammo at all, so the owner probably isn't making much at all on ammo. The last few times I've been in there it doesn't look like they have sold any ammo hardly at all over the last few months. Online places don't mark it up 100% from Walmart, and the one local sporting goods store with decent prices doesn't mark it up 100% either. They seem to still be selling ammo, yet the gun shops seem to want to mark it way up and not sell any. I just don't exactly understand it, but it's not my shop. They can do what they want just as I choose not to buy from them on stuff that's 100% markup.

As for finding only common stuff at Walmart. That's pretty much true. Although our Walmart does carry 12 gauge slugs as well as 12 gauge buckshot. It seems to depend on what Walmart you go to though as to what they have. They have most common calibers and a few oddball ones. There is some ammo like the Federal Fusions I like that they don't carry, and you have to buy somewhere else, but they carry the large majority of the popular stuff. If they don't carry what you need you can usually order it online for a fraction of the cost of the local gun shops.

 

[Hammer-52]

Not sure of your opinion of Mayor Bloomberg's "Mayor Against Illegal Guns" program but I find it offensive (some might call MAIG & Bloomberg the enemy of 2nd Amendment). And Wal-Mart has chosen to team up with MAIG so I consider Wal-Mart part of the problem.

Again just my opinion you are free to make your own decisions.

Here is a short bit from the press release plus the link:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 14, 2008
No. 07

WAL-MART AND MAYORS AGAINST ILLEGAL GUNS ANNOUNCE "RESPONSIBLE FIREARMS RETAILER PARTNERSHIP": A 10-POINT VOLUNTARY CODE

The Voluntary Code - A Set of Retail Best Practices - Goes Beyond What is Required by Law

Wal-Mart and the bi-partisan coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns today announced that Wal-Mart, the largest seller of firearms in the nation, has adopted the new Responsible Firearms Retailer Partnership, a 10-point code that will help ensure that guns do not fall into the wrong hands. The Responsible Firearms Retailer Partnership, created by Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Wal-Mart, is a set of policies that will be implemented over time that includes video recording of sales, rigid controls on inventory, checks that gun purchasers are not misrepresenting themselves and the development of a first-of-its kind computerized crime gun trace log for retailers. The new crime gun trace log will flag purchases by customers who have previously bought guns later recovered in crimes.

http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/html/media-center/pr007-08.shtml

 

[mregunz]

I don't buy any powder,or any reloading supplies from wally.And after this garbage they did I certainly wouldn't if I did.They have plenty of anti-citizen owning a gun law's in place just enforce what they got.Great quote from the great one.And we are that close from one generation to the next.And complacency and the oh-well ,ho-hum attitude is what does it.

 

[SOUTHPAW]

Since moving to Germany haven't had much chance to shoot. But that said I do NOT & will NOT shop at WallMart. Can't stand the store policies (video taping firearms and ammo purchases) and I prefer to patronize my local businesses. So when I get back to the states (twice a year to AZ & ID) I go to a few of my favorites locals--I always get better service. Also the reason I reload. Just my opinion.

So you would rather pay almost double for a product? Wow, business must be good in krautland...

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Learn to reload and cast your own bullets. You can get a reloading set up for what you're paying for 250 rounds.

 

[SOUTHPAW]

Learn to reload and cast your own bullets. You can get a reloading set up for what you're paying for 250 rounds.

This has been addressed 10 times already. The focus at hand is factory ammo.

I plan on getting into reloading but it's not going to happen over night. Realistically, I will probably fire 5,000 factory rounds before I get to loading my own. Right now time is money...

 

[Vern Humphrey]

This has been addressed 10 times already. The focus at hand is factory ammo.

I plan on getting into reloading but it's not going to happen over night. Realistically, I will probably fire 5,000 factory rounds before I get to loading my own. Right now time is money...

At $85 for 250 rounds, 5,000 rounds will cost you $1,700.

You can buy a Dillon RL 550B for only $419.95!!! Add a couple of hundred dollars of accessories, buy 5,000 primers, a mould, a keg of Bullseye, and you still come out under $1,700.

 

[SOUTHPAW]

At $85 for 250 rounds, 5,000 rounds will cost you $1,700.

You can buy a Dillon RL 550B for only $419.95!!! Add a couple of hundred dollars of accessories, buy 5,000 primers, a mould, a keg of Bullseye, and you still come out under $1,700.

I understand that. But like I said, I simply don't have the time right now to learn how to reload, setup the equipment and start making rounds. Hopefully I will get into reloading sooner than later but in the meantime I'm not going to not shoot. I suppose the 2 free hours a week I have I can read and take lessons but come on, a guys gotta play! I'm planning on getting the equipment as soon as I sell one of my cars, but I will not invest before I learn. Idle equipment is useless....

 

[Blackbeard]

I don't belive that just cause wal-mart,buy's in volume that they get it at any cheaper price than the next door gun store.God old wives tail that don't hold water.

Not only does volume pricing exist, but in many cases Walmart can dictate the price to the supplier. Being the largest retailer in the world has its advantages. If you as a supplier don't sell to Walmart, you're bypassing a huge chunk of the marketplace and consequently will have a hard time making any money.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Not believing in volume pricing is like not believing in tornadoes or earthquakes -- it leaves you bleeding in the wreckage, wondering what happended.