• This Forum is for adults 18 years of age or over. By continuing to use this Forum you are confirming that you are 18 or older. No content shall be viewed by any person under 18 in California.

It's getting tough to support the local gunstore

My local LGS is a 35 minute drive and I used to make it at least 3 times a month for supplies. Then the last shortage arrived and he raised all his prices by at least twice the price.
His price for a transfer went from $25 to $85, 22lr went from $20 to $48 a brick
and components almost doubled with limits on how much you could buy. That is when I started looking on line and found that there were much better deals than locally, so I mentioned it to him, his reply " buy it there then" so ever since I have been buying and having it delivered to my door, don't have to drive anywhere and get better prices too boot. I'm not the only one who left him and now I hear he is complaining his business fell off by over 50%. People will only take so much and when you gouge your regular customers they will find another source.
 
Got a funny hunch that the reloading gods monitor my inventory and find whatever I am short on and disappear it. Would like to believe that I am well prepared. What if someday we are rendered illegal? Where are you going to go to play with your EarganspliterLoudenboomer? For me custom target bullets are the weakness in my plan.
 
The only shops that have much of what is popular are those that planned ahead and bought ahead, and have inventory stocked in the back room. The little guy, who took a chance, and bought 'extra' not knowing for sure it wouldn't take him 15yrs to sell it all. The bigger stores like that "just in time delivery" thing. But right now, there's just not much to deliver. And what does get delivered gets bought up as soon as it hits the shelves.
 
If you're just now discovering that 'the shelves are bare', you must be spending too much time in the basement. With the divisions we have in this Country, and the virus too, it was almost inevitable we'd see shortages of ammo and reloading supplies. With the civil unrest, I'm not surprised many who never even considered owning a gun have bought at least 1 or are looking to buy.
 
rjtfroggy said:
I'm not the only one who left him and now I hear he is complaining his business fell off by over 50%. People will only take so much and when you gouge your regular customers they will find another source.
Click to expand...

Let's hope the folks who left him stay smart when and if things settle down.
 
Most have for at least 4 years now.
I run in to him every now and then at the range and his complaint hasn't changed.
He asked me where I was buying now and I told him I took his advice and buy online now and save on gas plus save on components.
 
I have always bought in large quantities for reloading supplies. I have enough supplies to last for a few years. Then last month I created my own shortage of a different nature.

A friend that I regularly shoot with brought a 30 year old CZ 452 out and started shooting. It is a tack driver and he was having a lot of fun. Next thing I know. I had to have one. Bought a new CZ 457 MTR. A week later, my son calls me a tells me about an Anschutz 54 Super Match, built in 1958, fully equipped with everything the factory had to offer for it. The metal clad case for it weighed over 20 lb. I took it to the range and also had to have it.

Now I am suffering from ammo shortage. There is plenty of ammo available, but not the good stuff and I refuse to shoot ammo that won't do the rifles justice.

So now I spend several hours a day searching for Fiocchi, Official 320 Match.
 
swd said:
The local gun shop here is selling Glock 19's for $2200 and can't keep them in stock. Insanity.
Click to expand...

dude no way...you got a pic of that price tag?!? You have to be on the left coast for those prices. In the SE glocks are looked at as the less inbred sibling of hipoint.
 
300_whisper said:
dude no way...you got a pic of that price tag?!? You have to be on the left coast for those prices. In the SE glocks are looked at as the less inbred sibling of hipoint.
Click to expand...
Yes left coast Kalifornia where you can only buy one handgun a month and the state limits what models we can buy.
 
I was going to try a regional (2 hr drive) shop for off brand primers so I clicked on the "notify when in stock" email. I got the email the other day and was blessed with an old price of $25/K increased to $80/K. Bwa ha ha.... hope they taste good.


I just checked - now they are up to $100/K!!
 
Just Say Moe said:
I was going to try a regional (2 hr drive) shop for off brand primers so I clicked on the "notify when in stock" email. I got the email the other day and was blessed with an old price of $25/K increased to $80/K. Bwa ha ha.... hope they taste good.


I just checked - now they are up to $100/K!!
Click to expand...
how many do you get for 100K?:eek:
 
swd said:
I’ve known him a long time he opened the safe to show me all the sold ones waiting their 10 day Kalifornia waiting period. He pulled 2 out and showed me the tags. One a G19 that sold for $2200 and a G43 that sold for $1700. There were probably 30+, all sold. People who didn’t own a gun before are scared and are desperate enough to pay insane prices to get a handgun in this state.
Click to expand...

Customers must be Google, Amazon, Microsoft managers :)
 
I was at my local gun shop on Monday and I was stunned to see the depleted shelves of factory ammo and reloading supplies. I hadn't been to the shop in about month and at that time they had plenty of just about everything.

I did manage to get the last box of Nosler 50 grain BT's, my go to bullet for varmint hunting in my 223 Rem's. But the powder, especially the H series was almost all gone. No pistol primers and only magnum large rifle primers. The 22 rim fire ammo was gone also. Wow - what a change in only a month!

I try not to wait to the last moment and have adequate supply of components but I suspect with the upcoming election it's only going to get worse for how long is anyone's guess. I like to visit the range two to three times a week to practice. While I only shoot about 10 rounds each range session, i.e. 5 at 100 and 5 at 200 yards I might have to start rationing my practice shooting.

I know the owner of the shop and he said the moment some of this stuff comes in it's gone in a few days even with limits he set on the most popular items.

PS: The one powder they had in abundance was IMR 3031. While I've never used it, my rifle smith says it will work quite well in my 223 Rem's with 50 and 55 grain bullets. Might give it a try if I run low on H 4995 and can't find any Benchmark, H335, Varget, or IMR 8208.
 
shortgrass said:
The only shops that have much of what is popular are those that planned ahead and bought ahead, and have inventory stocked in the back room. The little guy, who took a chance, and bought 'extra' not knowing for sure it wouldn't take him 15yrs to sell it all. The bigger stores like that "just in time delivery" thing. But right now, there's just not much to deliver. And what does get delivered gets bought up as soon as it hits the shelves.
Click to expand...

Pity the poor LGS that did stockpile a bit and just when the owner thinks he ship has come in, he can’t dare charge market rates lest a bunch of grumbling entitled shooters blame him for “gouging“ as if someone is forcing them to buy .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Upgrades & Donations

This Forum's expenses are primarily paid by member contributions. You can upgrade your Forum membership in seconds. Gold and Silver members get unlimited FREE classifieds for one year. Gold members can upload custom avatars.


Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.

You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.


To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.

Classified Ads

Forum statistics

Threads
165,829
Messages
2,204,440
Members
79,157
Latest member
Bud1029

Share This Page

Back
Top