Purchasing Ammo -- When did it become a crime?

[FTF]

Bah, they aren't even competitive now... only thing I'll buy there is the valuepack of 9mm for like 13 bucks. I can find better deals on everything from the local gun shop or even better, online. 100 rounds of .45 is like 23 bucks here, .223 is 22 bucks for 40 rounds. Might as well keep the cases locked as far as I'm concerned... they still have guns here though... can't compete with locals though... plus you don't have to have someone walk you out like a little baby.

They don't want our business and they continue to lose it with their stupid policies. Doesn't bother me... if it's cheaper somewhere else, the other place gets my money and I buy my groceries at the Kroger next door. Simple economics. I dont care lol.

 

[Kentak]

It's annoying, isn't it? Not exclusive to Wal-mart, though. One of our major gun stores takes ammo and a lot of other items to the checkout station. Shotgun and .22 ammo are exceptions. The age restrictions are not uncommon, either. I hope this isn't a new, nation-wide policy with W-M. I haven't bought ammo from them for several weeks. I'll be pissed if I have to do the walk of shame.

K

 

[zoom6zoom]

I hereby propose a 30 day moratorium on all Walmart threads.

Do I hear a second?

 

[evan price]

I buy Winchester White Box 9mm at Wal*Mart for $11.88 per 100. Lately, it has been 101 rounds in the boxes! They have .22LR "Golden Bullet" hollow points for about $10 for 550 rounds, Federal or some real brand name, I can't remember.

I kindly ask anyone who can locate a source for these same items, for the same price, including UPS charges to my door, sales tax + etc, that does not require me to buy 5K+ rounds minimum, to post here where the deal can be found and I will immediately stop patronizing Wal*Mart.

Locally I can get CCI Blazer Brass 9mm for $10.98/100 when its on sale at a gun shop in Columbus (Vance's). But that is a special sale price and its almost a 100-mile round trip to go to Vance's.

I usually shoot 400 or so rounds of 9mm every week; I can restock my training ammo by driving past Wal*mart on the way home from the range (That charges $28 for the same WWB 100-pack!) The cost difference of range ammo VS Wal*Mart means the difference between practicing every week or every other week. More practice means more better, right?

 

[Dallas Jack]

Walk of shame

I've never been walked to the front for anything but a gun purchase and that was at Academy.

As far as ammo goes, the gun shop I frequent has a no open policy on pistol ammo boxes. Seems people would open the box, steal enough ammo to load their gun and put the box back. They had a box on the counter when I was there that was missing 6 rounds.

Amazing what some people will do.

Dallas Jack

 

[Axman]

Heck, they even lock up spray paint at wally world! Oh, I went into Autozone the other day to buy a fuel pump for my old van. The parts counter guy actually took it to the checkout for me.

My favorite pawn shop sells ammo for less than all the gun shops and WackyWally Wold!!! They (pawn shop) lock it up to prevent theft because the case is out on the floor so you can see what your buying. The next lowest ammo in my area is a gun shop which has the ammo behind the counter but not locked up. I buy it at the gun shop once in a while but only if my pawn shop is out of the caliber I need.

 

[mp510]

Walking you up to the front is also wal-mart policy for knives as well in my area.

 

[Prince Yamato]

It differs from store to store and from employee to employee. So far, I've been told the following:

1) You must buy here at the sporting goods counter.
2) You have to be escorted to the front counter by an employee.
3) You can walk through the store by yourself with ammo, but not with guns

all those times, I had 3-5 boxes of 100 rounds of 9mm Luger. The reason I shop there for ammo is that it's cheap. It's a purely financial thing.

 

[Brass Fetcher]

Here's a conversation not to have at W-m

Clerk : "(Looking intently at box of .223 Partition bullets) Are you going hunting with these?"

Me : "No."

Clerk : "(incredulous look on face) Well, we have these FMJs for a lot cheaper"

Me : "Sorry, I like the limited expansion and deep penetration of the Partitions."

Clerk : "So you are not hunting with these ... why do you want them?"

Me : "To keep myself from being hunted."

Clerk : complete silence for a looong while. "Have a nice day sir."

 

[CajunBass]

plus you don't have to have someone walk you out like a little baby.

I have never been shamed by having someone else work for me.

I'm old and lazy. I wish I could get them to walk the dog food and cat litter my wife buys there, to the car and load it for me. That stuff is heavy. Then they could follow me home and unload it too. That would be nice.

 

[gm]

The biggest problem in the North Olmsted, OH store is finding somebody to get your ammo out of the case. I've stopped TWO Wal-Drones and STILL waited an hour without being helped. When I don't have a couple of hours to kill waiting to be helped, I've taken to calling ahead. Imagine, making an APPOINTMENT at Walmart! Of course I've been treated even worse at Dick's Sporting Goods, where people have seen me standing at the gun and ammo counter without even acknowledging my presence. That took 1/2 hour and two requests too, but at least somebody finally showed up.

lol, guess what I did last time that happened to me?I picked up the phone on the counter and pressed intercom and screeched "customer requires assistance in sporting goods".The store manager was there within a minute looking rather bemused at my antics,but after waiting 45 minutes and countless searching,I got immediate results.

I had to fill out a form buying 2 boxes of 8mm mauser ammo from a dunhams.When I enquired as to why,the sales lady responded its a local pd thing.

Now, I'll give the local gunsmiths and gunshops a call and see which has what on sale.

 

[redneckdan]

Last week I walked into walmart to order 3 cases of .22 RF. The gal says "oh, we have that in stock right now" and proceeds to grab 3-50 rd boxes and set them on the counter. I repeated that I wanted cases, not boxes or bricks. She asked how much 3 cases was. When I said 15,000 rounds whe just about fainted. I told her I'll take MTU pistol club buisness else where. Went up the road to dunhams and got treated great by counter clerks who knew what they we talkin about.

 

[tuckerdog1]

Never had a problem buying ammo

About 1/2 the time, I have to find someone to get the ammo out of the locked case. But that normally does not take too long. Never been restricted as to how many boxes I want to buy. I usually have other shopping to do, and they always let me take the ammo with me so I can pay for it up front with the rest of what I buy.

No complaints in Georgetown,
Tuckerdog1

 

[TallPine]

I only buy the .22 RF bulk packs at walmart. Around here, they are sitting out on the shelf and we just put them in the shopping cart with everything else. I think we've bought up to four boxes at a time (2200 rounds) and nobody said a word about that.

The clerks usually just roll their eyes about the "rifle or handgun" question, since either my wife or I definitely are over 21. Though I've been tempted once or twice to say: "these two boxes are for rifle and these are for handguns"

 

[outofbattery]

Do you get miffed when you go into a gunshop and they have all the handguns locked up under glass? It's done for the same reasons,mainly theft and stoppage of instant use.Of course it would take a special kind of idiot to buy a gun and ammo from Wal*Mart and then rob the place but nobody needs to challenge just how dumb criminals can be.There have been quite a few people who have used rental guns at ranges to shoot themselves,it's not a big jump to think someone might go down to Wally World and not have the decency to wait until they got back to the car.

If it takes 2 more minutes to buy ammo there,which for me it doesn't as it's the only thing I buy there so I'm happy to just get rung up in sporting goods and avoid the lines at the front of the store,than a gunstore and that annoys you then just go to the gunstore.It's about 40% less to buy WWB 9mm from the Evil Empire than my local shop,I unfortunately don't make enough an hour that 2 minutes would pay for the savings.

 

[RNB65]

I buy almost all my ammo at Wally World -- 9mm, .40, .45, .223, 12ga. I usually buy in fairly large quantities -- 500-1000rds at a time. No one asks why and no one checks an ID. I pay at the gun counter and they put it in bags and hand it to me. Then I'm off to the grocery section to buy grub. Couldn't be any easier.

 

[SeanSw]

My experiences at walmart have mirrored many of these. Twice I have walked out of the store having waited 30-45 minutes for an 'associate' to show up and unlock the glass case. Other times it's an in and out trip with standard casual business at the sporting goods counter. Waiting a few minutes isn't going to upset me. Once I walk past the greeter my service standards take a dive and I'd be wrong to expect anything less than minimal service, whether it's because of a careless associate, or an associate who is being ordered to go around the store stocking shelves and picking up returns when he ought to be servicing the counter. I have worked for wal-mart before and you can blame management for understaffing just as often as you can blame an associate for not caring.

Dick's is still the best price I can get on 9mm (about $6 a box if purchased in bulk) but I have had negative experiences with them too. I wanted to get the case price by purchasing 15 boxes at once and it took 3 people to approve my purchase as no one knew if it was legal to purchase that much ammunition at once

In central Illinois there are no gunshows or sporting goods stores to purchase ammunition from. It's wal-mart, Dicks, or a 2 hour road trip to find a gunshow - which won't have deals on ammo anyways. I've wasted a thousand miles in gas with pockets stuffed full of cash to bring home a years supply of ammo only to find tables of $16 per box .38 reloads. Dick's still wins out on 9mm in bulk pricing over ordering online.

 

[DF357]

Buy your ammo on line in bulk

Can't do that in Mass............

 

[Sidhepro]

Count me in as perfectly happy with my local Wallyworld. I believe we only have one local gun store, run by a VERY nice older gentleman, but his hours are hit and miss at best, and as a result, I have no clue what his pricing is on his ammo. That and he and his good ole boy buddies all smoke, and I'm allergic, so I can't really frequent his shop anyways. That said, without driving more than an hour, my only other option is Wallyworld.

My guys don't make me wait, (and I can always poke my head over to Electronics and ask them to call a manager for me if I'm in a hurry), I've -rarely- paid at the sporting goods counter and generally get to take my boxes (yes, multiples) and wander around to finish my shopping. I think I only asked the first time if I should be ringing up at the counter, because in California, that's what we had to do. Whichever.

Since I generally do my check-out routine at Garden, I get the same guy ringing me out all the time. He -knows- I'm buying for myself on a weekday (I hit the range while everyone else is at work/school on my days off), and generally asks what I'm taking with me in my range bag.

We did have a good laugh over the 'rifle or pistol' question the first time, because it made no sense to me that you had to be 18+ for rifle and 21+ for pistol ammo (but it's the same .9mm rounds!).

FWIW, I'm overage anyway, so carding me does no good. *shrugs*

Kat
*Happy with my Marble Falls Wallyworld*

 

[The Kidd]

I like our Wally World. I work nights so I usually stop on the way home. All the sporting goods guys are 'gun guys' so it is un-stressful. I've bought several firearms there and always get walked to the front, we even joke about how silly that policy is, but it is not worth their jobs to ignore it.

Last weekend we picked up a Ruger that I'd ordered for my son. After we got walked to the front my son asked if I should have given them my CCW to carry too. I'd been thinking the same thing on the (perp) walk.

 

[hatch27]

Walmart cheaper....haha

I bought a new XD-9 the other day, so went to walmart to pick up a box of cheap target shooters. Guy didn't know what the hell he was looking for, and they wanted an arm and a leg for em. $9.00 for a box of 50 115g FMJ. got the same box at academy for $5.00

 

[Headless]

...9.00 for a box of 50 115g FMJ. got the same box at academy for $5.00...

strange, the local wal-mart sells boxes of 100 9mm 115gr FMJ's for 11.99. Still not 5$/50 Wish there was an academy around here. Their website lists 50 115gr FMJ winchester's @ 6.93 a box which is more than my wal-mart charges; are your 5$/50 rnd boxes a sale price or something? Even the 250round mega packs of remington UMC rounds work out to $7.30/50rnds.

 

[dragongoddess]

"Never had that happen at my Wal Mart and I buy ammo all the time. I pay at the sporting good checkout, they hand me a sack and receipt, and I wander around the store buying whatever else it is I need."

Same experience here in old El Paso. I also would be interested to know where I could get .45 cheaper than $9.97 for a box of 50. Otherwise I will just continue stopping by Wal Mart for my ammo. Might even order a gun from their order book.

 

[Zen21Tao]

he was watching me like I was gonna rob the place. Then the cashier looked at me like I was a terrorist...

You should have asked them if they carry fertilizer with ammonium nitrate and say "if you do I'll take every bag you got."

 

[TimboKhan]

I have to say that this doesn't bother me all that much. The sporting goods counter not only does it to ammo, but to pocketknives. I really do think that it is less because of any nefarious scheme to rob us of our 2A rights than it is a matter of theft, because they also walk video games, iPods, PSP's and all that sort of stuff up to the counter too, or at least they do at my local Wal-Mart. The also have an 18 and over rule for spray paint, which I think is actually a town ordnance. Circuit City, while obviously not a ammo retailer, also does the same things with small, easily stolen items. It's an annoyance, but a fairly minor one, especially since I usually ring out in sporting goods anyway. (Hardly ever a line)

On a different note, I always get good service in the stores I go to, because I more or less force the store employees into it on account of my overbearing, yet friendly, Marine personality. If I have to wait more than 5 minutes, I hunt someone down, start talking to them, and they either help me themselves or they get someone to help. And you know, now I get help immediatly because they want to help me. They know I am friendly and that I won't blow my stack if they don't know how to do something on a the register or whatever. I also make darn sure to say thank you when I get exceptional service, and if a manager happens to be nearby, I make sure I tell them. Retail is a crappy and surprisingly hard job, and it always amazes me how much a simple "Hey, thanks, I appreciate you helping me out" goes. Of course, that other facet of my Marine personality can come out if I am really mistreated, but I just believe in the whole "catch more flies with honey than with s***" philosophy.