Is Midway USA the Best Online Store?

[Ventura Guy]

I am always on the lookout for good deals for shooting equipment and accessories. I do quite a bit of planning for items I need and in no way an impulse shopper. I like to research products to make sure I am getting the most bang for my buck.

With that said I think midway usa is the best overall online store. They have a huge variety of items and the best prices. I pay no taxes and normally my purchase qualifies for some kind of discount making even the shipping free. I have attempted to compare what I have in my cart to let's say Brownells and midway is about 15 to 20 % less always.

So I want people's opinion to see what online store they think is the best deal.

 

[oldandslow]

vg,

This must be a joke or you're new to shooting.

I used to order a lot of stuff from Midway until about six years ago. The problems began with exhorbitant shipping prices. I'd order thousands of pistol bullets but they refused to ship them USPS Flat Rate box so instead of paying about $10 per Flat Rate box I'd have to pay $75. They charged $33 to ship a 2 pound shotgun barrel and wanted $55 to ship two soft rifle cases (weight about 4 pounds). All these were prices for standard USPS and not Express mail. Needless to say I never shop at Midway and have found many online stores with good pricing and better customer service. Good luck.

best wishes- oldandslow

 

[RustyShackelford]

Online retailers....

US online retailers have been hit & miss in the last few years.
MidwayUSA improved the S/H(Nitro Express). I've ordered from MidwayUSA a few times in the last 24mo. It's been a + shop/purchase most of the time.
Id order new products or Ammuntion from MidwayUSA.com again.
Brownells.com on the other hand was less than ideal, . They delivered the products I paid for but the QC/customer service has declined since the 1990s/2000s.
The same goes for Sportsman's Guide. Gary Olan, the owner/CEO reportedly sold the entire business so now the retailer seems streamlined & less friendly, .
I ordered a few products about a month ago. The pants I requested were the wrong size.
In fairness, SG used a different vendor but in 2015, these retail/online places can do much better. Not worse.
One retail outlet I will never buy any items from is Able's Ammo of Texas. They are awful. Poor QC, 0 customer service skills. The warehouse never informed me when my order was sent or by which location, .
They also processed my $ right away but waited nearly 6 working days to process my order(only 02 items too, ).
Don't give Able Ammo your business.
Maybe one of their employees or managers might read this & pass the word on.

Other decent sources include; CopsPlus.com Galls.com NatchezSS.com PoliceHQ.com GlockStore.com SGammo.com .

Rusty
PS: I ordered 01 t-shirt(free S/H) from veteran owned small business; www.ninelineapparel.com . They state orders might take up to 07/seven business days, . I'm now on day 06. I might not get anything else from them either.

 

[notaglockfanboy]

I am not new to shooting, and I order from Midway. They are the first place I check if I need something, and 99% of the time the only place I have to look. They have great customer service and have never hesitated to make something right if I have a problem.

 

[LRShooting]

oldandslow said he "use" too. Now Im not saying he isn't right about how they were as I am too young to have ordered much stuff past 5 years ago.

However, they have recently changed their shipping system quite a bit. I go to Columbia, MO quite a bit (where they are located) and just pick items from MidwayUSA's customer pickup. That being said, the last time I ordered stuff, it was average for shipping costs. If you really wanna find out, put something you might order like a stock and go through the checkout process to calculate your shipping charges.

Other than that, I think they usually have fair prices. For example, I was looking at getting a TPS 20 MOA steel rail and they are priced cheaper than other places. Of course if you go on Midway and look at their inventory, its usually pretty low or out of stock for some items because of high demand and they are a pretty popular site. Im not saying they are better all around, but I do prefer to get things from them because they are reputable and I get nervous when ordering from a new or a not well known source.

Since your question is basically which is the best online store, I say Midway is it. BassPro, Cabelas, Brownells, etc, all have some things (brownells has a lot of things), but I think Midway beats them in prices and shipping has gotten better.

 

[mljdeckard]

When I shop, I open up a few tabs, to Midway, Brownell's, Cabela's, and sometimes Amazon. I run the order in all of them, and go to the checkout, and whichever has the most of my items, with the best prices, get's the button pushed. It's almost always Midway.

I have seen guys complain about them before, and I ask where else I should shop, and I don't usually get a response. I suppose if I seriously subdivided and ran down every single item in every single category I could find, I might save six bits, but sooner or later my time has to be worth something.

 

[Justin]

I do most of my online ordering of gun stuff via Midway. I've always had decent service from them, and shipping lately has been reasonable.

I don't have a Brownell's account, but my friends who order from them seem happy as well.

 

[Ventura Guy]

Seems I am on the right track for once. Just wanted to mention that midway always seems to frequently have some type of deal. As an example last month was my birthday. They sent me an email and offered special birthday pricing on their entire store. Didn't order anything but last week decided to order about $200 worth of stuff. Called them to see if they would extend offer. They kindly said no but gave me a code for $15 off my order. Made the $13 shipping more than free.

 

[cat_IT_guy]

I order a lot from Midway, never had an issue. They even took returns at no charge for an item I incorrectly ordered. I dont find shipping costs to be unusually high.

That said, Primary Arms is rising up my list of favorites. They have a smaller inventory than Midway, but if they have what you want, its usually cheaper.

 

[Aragon]

www.midsouthshooterssupply.com is typically less expensive -- both for product and shipping than Midway. Particularly it seems for black powder stuff.

 

[Old Dog]

Midway may not be the best, but it's up there near the top as far as I'm concerned. The shipping prices are reasonable. The sales are often excellent. I order from Midway a lot and have had nothing but positive results with great customer service. I also use Brownell's a lot and one of my favorites, Top Gun Supply.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

20 years ago in the catalog days, Midway was where I shopped. Now, I can usually Internet shop a better deal elsewhere.

 

[nathan]

Yeah, their shipping cost is high. But they have just about everything .

 

[Savageman25]

Midway is a good company to shop at. A couple years ago I wouldn't have said so. Their shipping rates were getting stupid. Especially if something wasn't in stock and another thing you ordered was, then you would be paying shipping twice even it was only a day apart. I'm not sure if they still do that but I make it a habit to only order when things are in stock to avoid that issue. I think they realized people were getting fed up with their ridiculous shipping cost and fixed the issue for the most part. Other great places are graf and sons, Natchez, and brownells even though I think brownells is a bit on the pricey side. I could list a ton of places that have specific things but not very many carry such a wide variety as those three I mentioned.

P.s. I think basspro and cabelas are usually overpriced. You can sometimes get a deal but not very often. Just my .02 cents

 

[ku4hx]

Best is, at best, purely subjective. For me there is no one best online gun store, there is only varying degrees of value from all of them I know of. I opt for higher value (most bank for the buck) which I measure according to my personal criteria. Things I look for are brand name, unit price, total cost including shipping, known customer service issues (or non issues), perceived reputation and so forth and so on. With all that in mind, I'm always aiming at getting a "personal best" deal but where I order from is irrelevant since I stick with what I consider reputable firms.

Best for me is seldom the lowest total cost and likewise not the most expensive. It all just depends.

 

[NWcityguy2]

I bought from Midway for quite a while without problem. Then one time they mailed my package to the wrong address. I contacted them before it was even delivered, asking them to reroute it to the correct address. They said no, they wouldn't do that, and if the package wasn't returned they wouldn't reship it or give me a refund. They said it was up to me to make sure whoever got the package returned it to them. That was the last time I did business with them.

 

[nettlle]

I like Midway. Some others I like:

Slickguns
Midsouth
Brownell's
Graf's
Widener's
Optics Planet

Optics Planet doesn't carry the full line of gun and reloading stuff like Midway or Brownell's but it's hard to beat their price on the stuff that they do carry. They offer free shipping on a lot of what the sell.

In my experience Brownell's has the best customer service off all.

 

[ford8nr]

Midway is great for selection, shipping is still higher then need be, and customer service SUCKS.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Midway USA and Brownell's are my top two online sources for gun parts and tools. They alternate being #1 and #2. They both have accepted returns and quickly given refunds when due. I've been a long time customer of both and have no reason to stop now.

 

[Pilot]

I also have not been using Midway in the past few years due to high shipping costs. I shop around now, and buy from a variety of dealers.

 

[HexHead]

Midway has recently changed their shipping costs for the better, but their reliance on that Mail Innovations or whatever they call the UPS/USPS hybrid service just sucks. I used to get my orders delivered in 1-2 days, now it's NEVER less than a week. I'd love to choke the life out of the MBA that came up with that crap.

 

[bannockburn]

It's been awhile since I have done a lot of online ordering but I found Midway, Brownells, and CDNN were all pretty decent in terms of their merchandise selection, overall costs (including shipping), and customer service.

 

[OilyPablo]

The Best?

That ALWAYS depends on the item. I had given up on Midway a couple three years ago. The shipping WAS crazy expensive. Lots of people complained. I do believe they listened. I just did a nice large order from them, I even added some heavy items and the shipping didn't change - it was around $16 for LARGE HEAVY box. They had every item in stock for good prices. Order came quickly, packaged perfectly. I was very happY!!!

Able Ammo is pretty bad, but for me the worst is Natchez. I actually want to like them. But they have NEVER gotten an order right for me, their stuff if priced on the high side and the shipping is expensive. I gave up on them around 2012 when they shipped me a broken set of sights - the package was fine - item was put in the box pre-crushed.

 

[Sav .250]

"The best" is what you find doing your do diligence as a consumer. Price, quality, service, what ever.

 

[Taurus 617 CCW]

I stopped using Midway several years ago unless absolutely necessary. It all started when they stopped printing their paper catalog. I asked how I would show my customers products at the gun counter and they said print it out from the website. That's not very professional looking having a full ream of printer paper. Then they eliminated discounts for wholesale and gunsmiths. Then the shipping costs went up and I was fed up. I only use them if I can put a very large order in and use a promo code now.