Academy vs. Gander Mountain for guns (rant)

[rodnocker1]

Like Navyguy and BB said (Hello BB! ), they depend on the uninformed.

The GM in College Station has a round receiver M44 with a hardwood stock that looks like someone was either driving railroad spikes or batting rocks with it......all for a mere $199.00. If you have a $30.00 C&R, you can get them from J&G Sales for $69.99 each. Add the $20.00 shipping and you still come out paying less than 1/2 of what they want and will get a better looking rifle. True, you do get to see the rifle you are buying but anyone who would buy this rifle at all, much less at this price, wouldn't know what they were looking at anyway.

I have both an FFL 03 and an FFL 01. I have people I work with ask me all the time to price them guns and invariably, the best advice I can give them is to go to "budsgunshop.com" (the exception right now being AR's since Bud's doesn't have any but neither do my Distributors). The difference between Bud's prices shipped and my dealer cost with shipping is usually only $15.00-$25.00 dollars. Throw in the sales tax I would have to charge and you are cheaper to just order it through Bud's, put it on your credit card, and have it shipped through me.

I'm not trying to take away anything from these Dealers or badmouth them in anyway. I have a small 32' X 16' building that I work out of alone whereas they have 30 bazillion sq.ft. stores, 50-100 employees, tons of inventory, millions of dollars invested, 401K's, Worker's Comp Insurance, etc, etc. that I don't have to cover, so I can see why they would need a "slight" markup.

 

[TdDude]

Academy usually does have the best prices on firearms, the trick is, do they actually have the gun you are looking for? Their selection is pretty limited and you can bet, if you go back six months from now, they will have approximately the same selection. Variety is not their spice of life and they will not order a gun for you.

It is true that Acadamy doesn't have any way to order anything. I've even tried to pre-order some ammo because their ammo prices are always the best around and I was told that they don't take orders for anything. It seems like their stuff is just sent from "On High" whenever it's sent.

It's the same way with shoes, bicycles, clothing, camping gear, whatever. They have what they have and that's what they have.

I will say that the manager at the Academy I shop at has been very knowledgeable helpful to me. About the only gun stuff I get there is cleaning stuff and ammo. I usually purchase any firearm I get from private parties used.

 

[TXPaul]

I was told that Gander was the K-Mart of sporting goods so I finally stopped by last weekend and was shocked!

I was looking at guns and reloading supplies. The shotguns were way overpriced and they even wanted more for used pistols than I can buy new ones for elsewhere.

Some of the reloading supplies were 50% more than mail order.

I guess I will have to stick to Academy, shows and mail order.

 

[tex45acp]

Something else about Academy, a buddy of mine bought a handgun there and had to sign a document that if anything was wrong with it, right out of the box, or even any time during the warranty period, it was up to the gun owner, not Academy to get tthe problem taken care of by the guns Manufacturer. I dont know if that is true with the others mentioned here. He bought a little Beretta in .32acp for a BUG.
I personally buy from the local gunshops, for selection, knowledge of the firearms they sell and service after the sale. I really got the chance to test the service when I bought a new Kel-Tec PF-9 that shot 6" high and to the left, right out of the box. I called them and they had me bring it back and they took care of sending it back and then recieving the repaired pistol. No charge to me and I bought it at a discounted price from them.

tex

 

[TXTacticalSource]

Something else about Academy, a buddy of mine bought a handgun there and had to sign a document that if anything was wrong with it, right out of the box, or even any time during the warranty period, it was up to the gun owner, not Academy to get tthe problem taken care of by the guns Manufacturer. I dont know if that is true with the others mentioned here. He bought a little Beretta in .32acp for a BUG.
I personally buy from the local gunshops, for selection, knowledge of the firearms they sell and service after the sale. I really got the chance to test the service when I bought a new Kel-Tec PF-9 that shot 6" high and to the left, right out of the box. I called them and they had me bring it back and they took care of sending it back and then recieving the repaired pistol. No charge to me and I bought it at a discounted price from them.

tex

This is part true but you got part wrong. Yes is true you have to sign a waiver stating that Academy takes no return in Firearms BUT they will assist you in returning it back to the manufacture for service. I have yet to see a gun shop that will take back a gun back after it has been fire. There is shops like Shiloh Shooting Range that will let you shoot a gun before buying it if they have a Test one and I think thats is awesome.