Walmart rifles

[Bravo11]

I'm sure this is pure BS, but I heard someone say that rifles at WalMart were not the same quality as rifles purchased at other dealers.
To me it wouldn't make sense to set up two production lines but if the volume was there it might be feasible.
Has anyone else ever heard this?

 

[CommanderPoopyduX]

I haven't bought many guns from Wal-Mart but my Ruger 10-22 had a GREAT trigger from Wally World, which is better than from many places. As far as that goes, there would need to be a special designation on the gun to distinguish it from the other "good quality" guns.....basically I'm calling this BS brewed simply by Wal-Mart haters.

 

[gipperdog]

It wouldn't make any sense to set up two production lines because it would be very costly - too costly to save any money thereby incurring a savings by going to Wal-Mart. Unless the guns were "seconds" & if so, they'd have to marked as such. They just get a good deal on stuff cause of their "corporate" buying power.

 

[kermit315]

wish they sold .22's in our walmarts, i am in the market for one that isnt an arm and a leg out here.

 

[Average Joe]

same, no difference

 

[JamesM]

Plain Jane 10/22s are $179.99 at walmarts in WA

 

[RustyHammer]

LOL .... I've got some swamp land to sell ya, son ...

Don't believe any thing you hear and only half of what you see!

 

[redneck2]

Actually, there is a difference. Can't tell you what it is right now, but a local dealer that's extremely knowledgable and a friend of mine can pick one out in a heartbeat, at least in 870's. Some of the parts are plastic instead of metal IIRC. I was in his store when someone came in and wanted to sell a shotgun. He looked at it for maybe 10 seconds and said "bought it at Wal-Mart didn't you?" At first the guy kinda stammered, then said yes. He handed it back and said he didn't want it. Too many problems.

It wouldn't make any sense to set up two production lines because it would be very costly

Actually, there are a lot of the big, big retailers that do this all the time. Sears puts different carburetors on their lawn equipment so that you have to buy repair parts from them. Electronics retailers like Best Buy, Sears, Wal-Mart and K-Mart have different codes on their electronics. Ever wonder how they can give 110% of the difference on prices on identical items? It's because they're the only one with that item code.

Trust me, if a mega retailer is going to buy hundreds of thousands or millions of something, the manufacturer will do anything you want.

 

[joplinsks]

I believe Bass Pro Shops is going to have a big pre-hunting season sale starting this weekend with Ruger 10/22's discounted to $139 and Marlin 60's discounted to $135.

As to Walmart's gun quality, that's pure BS and has been dismissed many times in the forums. You're buying the same new guns that sell everywhere... only difference is probably that Walmart gets the best distributor pricing.

 

[SigfanUSAF]

I've purchased about a dozen 870s from our local WalMart, and I assure you, from tearing them all down for parts, there is NOTHING different about them. Same cheap plastic trigger guards you find on regular 870s, same heavy matte finish, etc.

 

[Smitty in CT]

There seems to be a huge difference for the Mossberg 702 "Plinkster" .22LR semi-auto...

From what I have read and experienced, these rifles had some problems when they first came out, jamming, internal parts breaking, etc. Wal-Mart bought a ton of them, Mossberg fixed all of the problems on all of the "newer" guns at about the same time Wal-Mart was pulling the guns out of most of their stores...all of these "older" 702's that were all over the country got shipped back to the distribution center. From what I can tell the only Plinksters that Wal-Mart has are the "old" guns. Many people on here that have new "Wal-Mart" Plinksters all seem to have the same problems. I bought 2 "new" Plinksters from Dick's this past fall, they haven't had any of the problems that the "old" rifles seem to have.

The basic guns are the same...just the newer ones have been "fixed". I don't think Wal-Mart guns are nessecarily lower quality, just in this case, it seems like bad timing.

The Wal-Mart Beretta 3901 is a great gun...

 

[one eye joe]

Except for a few models made "exclusively" for Wal Mart, they get their guns from the same wholesalers as any other dealer.

 

[hrgrisso]

Yep

My 10/22 runs great!

I also bought a Mossy .270 ATR there last year. 1MOA within the first three shots, no sighting in required. I'm not going to claim it's that way with all those rifles, but mine was!

Still shoots that well, and I love it. Only issue I've had so far has been the Magazine sometimes doesn't balance well if I'm not careful loading it. But if I've loaded it right never seem to have a problem emptying it!

 

[scubie02]

while I would tend to say BS, I would also say that if *I* were a distributor, and I got in those few fluke models you get with the uber nice wood or something you are amazed to see on rifle X, that one would be getting set aside and sent to some shop I had a great relationship or who's owner was a buddy or whatever, I wouldn't be sending it to some big chain that isn't going to care, if you see what I mean. That's not to say they are two different quality guns, just human nature of how something like that would work. I know my little mom and pop local guy actually drives down to the distrubutor's sometimes to pick up guns, and he has said the guy would let him go in and pick out the one he wanted, so you can say "get me one with some nice wood" or "check it over really good for even inletting and such" if you know that's a common problem with model X, and he will do that, or I have seen him talk to the guy he knows who works there on the phone and say "hey check the inletting for me before you send it, ok?" That ain't happening with some chain, they are going to just grab 10 boxes or whatever.

 

[orionengnr]

Along the same line, if I were a manufacturer, and Joe Mama Distributor bought one thousand rifles/shotguns from me each year, while WalMart bought 100,000, to whom would I send my "seconds"?

Just something to think about...

 

[Il Duca]

Every now and again Wal-Mart will order rifles with different features. And they order the absolute cheapest gun the manufacturer makes most of the time, no Walnut, no fancy engraved receivers. Package Savages with cheap Simmons scopes and cheesey sythetic stocks, etc. I have never seen a difference between the models at Wal-Mart and the ones at my local shops that are $100 more. Believe me I've looked, hard. That's why I bought my package Savage with the crappy Simmons scope and cheesey synthetic stock at Wal-Mart for $299 and not the local shop for $389.

 

[jhunter]

My local wal-mart quit selling rifles, is this not the case everywhere? I figured TX would one of the last to quit selling them, but I guess I was wrong..

 

[christcorp]

No, our walmarts sell all the rifles you want. As well as ammo, reloading supplies like powder, primers, etc... Even our Kmarts sell rifles and ammo. later... Mike....

 

[jhunter]

Ours did up until a couple of weeks ago. The sign on the gun rack says that wal-marts are no longer going to re-stock rifles due to some bs. I quit reading. However, they still have ammo available. Just picked up 10 boxes of 45 today for 9 bucks each. They are re-stocking the ammo, and I assume will continue to stock it. I will read the sign in more detail next time I am in there. Prior to this, people were saying their local wal-marts quit. I did not expect ours to do so. Lots of shooting in my area, and they were selling like crazy.

 

[RandyB]

Being a fromer FFL dealer and a former sam walton employee I can tell you that thye guns they order are the same ones any FFL dealer is going to order. Walmart is cheaper due to volume buying, not quality.

 

[rantingredneck]

I also can't see a distributor who deals in the volume required to support Walmart going through their guns one by one and grading wood and such. "This one good it goes to Joe's Gun Shop, this one bad it goes to Walmart....." Do you really think the distributor is going to go through all that?

 

[scubie02]

I did not say they would go through walmarts guns one by one to judge wood before sending. I said if you happened to notice that a particular gun had especially nice wood, you wouldn't be sending it to walmart. And yes, if I had a gun that was messed up in some way, I WOULD be sending it to walmart, because if I send it to them, who knows how long it will be until they get to that particular gun to sell it and somebody notices, whereas if I send the ONE gun to the dealer that somebody ordered, it is likely to be noticed right away, that dealer might be pissed and want to send it back before the customer even sees it, and if not the customer is probably more likely to notice. Also, the average person who shops at walmart is probably going to be from a lower socio-economic background than the guy going to a higher end place, which is going to translate into being more used to being shat upon, and more likely to go *shrug* "well, the inletting is all messed up but hey it was from walmart and it still shoots and was cheap so..." whereas Joe Richguy is going to throw a fit and step in it and demand that "something be done" because that is what they are used to...

 

[MrAcheson]

Are the guns fundamentally different? Probably not. But I have noticed that Walmart's guns are often the base models with the cheapest finish and the most plastic parts. But the value is there for your dollar.

Make sure you inspect your guns if you buy from Walmart or any other big retailer though. If you aren't getting a display model, then you might be getting a gun that has sat in a store room for a long time under questionable conditions. You wouldn't be the first person to open your box at the counter only to find your shotgun is speckled with rust because it got wet sometime in the misty past.

 

[MechAg94]

The WalMart near me has stopped selling firearms. A number of them down here have stopped. These aren't just inner city stores either. Oh well. They still sell ammo.

 

[Bravo11]

Before I buy that swamp land from you let me state again that it is just something that I "heard" and I didn't put much stock into it. Apparently RedNeck2 has heard the same thing.
I've seen a few of the WM stores around here quit selling guns over the counter. I don't know if they can order them or not. Does there have to be a FFL qualified person on the premises for a gun sale?
On the reloading issue. I also "heard" that the reason they quit selling reloading supplies was because someone put reloading powder in a muzzle loader and had a major accident. After the lawsuit, WM quit selling reloading supplies.