When to bite one's tongue in a Gun Shop?

[P95Carry]

As ever .. and newbies be aware too .... ''Caveat Emptor'' ...... which apart from meaning ''buyer beware'' ...... also can be taken as ...... ''don't believe all the sales guy says''!!

''Cheaper Glock'' ..... sheesh!

 

[Chuck Dye]

Pedantry can be rewarded in many ways.

Might be instructive to run a friend or two through the store who show an interest in the kind of guns you have on consignment. You may find the cost and hassle of moving the consignment elsewhere less than you think.

 

[MatthewVanitas]

At this point, I'm not so much worried that they'll scare off potential customers, so much as that they'll lie through their teeth to sell my pistols at too high a price to a well-meaning newbie. Admittedly, that does mean more money in my pocket than selling it at a fair price. So there is an economics/ethics conflict here.

I'm also concerned that they won't move my firearms due to lack of marketing skills. These folks don't seem too great on presentation and promotion. I've chatted with them in the past, and offered some suggestions as to how best to present my firearms, and was pretty much told "leave running the gushop to us, we'll sell your guns just fine".

I finally managed to convince them to put the Makarov holster next to the pistol. I tried forever to convince them to notate somewhere that the Mak comes with 100rds of 9x18, two holsters, spare mags, spare grips, etc. I finally managed to sweet-talk the easy-going guy into letting me write "w/ ammo and many accessories" on the "comments" section of the pricetag.

It just annoys me that they manage to do a great job of sales layouts for cheap samurai swords and "collectible" knives, but my rifles, which I deliberatley priced as the least-expensive centerfires in the shop, are buried somewhere out of sight. You'd think some clearer way to say "$99 Mauser Special" would get them their 15% and free up some stock space.

And, at a cost of $20 to re-obtain each firearm (DOJ background check, etc), I can't afford to move a $99 Mauser elsewhere.

 

[Evil_Ed]

I've been doing some knife collecting over the past couple years and have seen it happen quite often that someone with a real interest in the hobby is chased away from it by being snookered by a rip-off dealer.

DaveJ,
Welcome to the high road...What kind of knives do you collect? I collect damascus pieces myself and have been making my own blades for around 10 years. I make mostly repro's of period blades (medieval, renaissance, and some civil war era stuff) but have made modern hunting/skinning/utility knives as well.

 

[DaveJ]

Ed,

I have a small collection of Civil War era knives, no expensive bowies but a couple nice dirks and some folders. I started out with modern folders and have slowly sold most of them to buy handmade/custom. I've got a few Ruana's, not the older ones but even the newer ones are excellent knives. I have a couple Scagel-style made by Dennis Riley and a Scagel 8" done by John Greco. I'm waiting on a dirk from Rob Brown in South Africa, I have a couple of his now, excellent craftsmanship in all of them. Other than that I'll pick up knives that are reasonably priced and in better than good condition. I usually end up selling most of them eventually to finance another handmade. I'm in the process of selling some modern folders now to finance a CC gun, maybe a Bersa .380.

Thanks for the welcome, I'm already learning a lot.

DaveJ

 

[Evil_Ed]

I have a small collection of Civil War era knives, no expensive bowies but a couple nice dirks and some folders.

Cool, I love period weaponry and tools... I have a few utility/table knives from the medieval period that I have picked up over the years. I'd love to see any unusual pieces you have in your collection with an eye to making replicas for some of the Civil War re-enactors I know.

I have a couple Scagel-style made by Dennis Riley and a Scagel 8" done by John Greco. I'm waiting on a dirk from Rob Brown in South Africa, I have a couple of his now, excellent craftsmanship in all of them.

Sounds like you have a nice collection, I've seen some of Greco's work before and a piece from Rob Brown in one of the blade magazines or at one of the shows (they hold the Knifemakers Guild show in Orlando almost every year so I get to see a lot of neat stuff every June).

I'm in the process of selling some modern folders now to finance a CC gun, maybe a Bersa .380.

I feel your pain, money is tight right now for my family as my wife and I are expecting our second child any day now so I am on hold to buy any new toys. I was given the ultimatum that I needed to get rid of a pistol if I wanted to get the CC gun I just picked up so I had to part with my beloved first gun (a Taurus .38 5 shot)... Just sentimental value because it was the first gun I ever bought with my own money. I picked up a nice Kel-Tec .380 for a decent deal locally in Melbourne, Florida. The pistol kicks like a mule but it is very concealable in that you can just slip it into your pocket whenever you need to and it is hideable even in shorts and a t-shirt. Next purchase for me will be a pocket holster with a slot for an extra mag (if and when Kel-Tec catches up with the demand on the pistols to make the extra mags available).

 

[hksw]

Have you considered having business cards made or print them out yourself to save yourself the time of writing out the THR link?

 

[MatthewVanitas]

hksw: interesting idea, but I'm not around gunshops _that_ often, as fun as that would be.

I make it a matter of principle to always carry some blank index cards and a Fisher spacepen. Unsolicited testimonial here for those great little pens. Just make/buy a holster for them, as I lost two of those tiny little suckers before I got smart. So, armed with mighty pen and paper, I'm pretty set to take notes or pass info on whatever.

Interestingly enough, I got that idea off of some survivalist website. Day-to-day survivalist, not "head for the hills" nutjob. He had a great list/debate as to what items a responsible person should always have on him. A knife (and/or other weapon), pen and paper, pocket cash, etc. were all on the list. If anyone else knows the page I'm talking about, a link would be great.

 

[M99M12]

www.skunkabilly.com I think

 

[Kharn]

I only speak up loudly when the clerk is suggesting something illegal.

I just ignore stuff like ".45acp will blow your arm off"; for anything that is blatantly wrong ("There's a three-round limit on any shotgun sold in Maryland" or "You can only buy one firearm, regardless of type, per month in Maryland") I'll try to politely ask if they are sure ("Excuse me, sir, but what about Remington 870s? They come with a 4+1 capacity, does that mean my shotgun is illegal?" or "Isnt that just for handguns and "assault rifles"?") rather than being confrontational.

Kharn