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Ralph Grant,

I too noticed the same thing about Dick's Sporting goods. Only a few guns on display and what were on the racks were low-end budget stuff. From past experience, I didn't even try asking management about their gun-stocking rationale.

I went in to their store about this time last year; at the end of the late muzzleloader deer season, looking for a bargain. The shelves were bare and a clerk said they put all of that stuff away because it was the wrong time of the year to sell it. When I asked why none of the golf stuff was put away as it certainly wasn't golf weather either, all I got was a blank stare!

Member Joined: 25 Jul 2006 Posts: 781

The reason that Cabelas/Bass Pro etc can move guns at high prices comes down to two things.

Lots of buyers are not confident in buying from a stranger and they don't know the real market value.

Then all you need is enough foot traffic and guns will move at the higher price. AND they sure have enough foot traffic.

Jeff

Joined: 17 Dec 2005 Posts: 47

While I'm not a frequent shopper at BASSPRO, it does pay to watch their special offers. The St. Louis store sometimes sells flats of "shotgun promo ammo" at very good prices.

Last year, one of their one-day-specials had Winchester Super Speed 12's or 20's at $20/flat. Limit was two flats per customer. There was a line of 100+ people waiting when they opened. They ran out, but gave rainchecks, and eventually filled everyone's order.

Recently I bought several flats of Remington Game Clubs at $36/flat on sale there.

Joined: 13 Feb 2007 Posts: 98 Location: Illinois

The Bass Pro here in Gurnee, IL doesn't sell used firearms to my knowledge. What I've seen online though is insane in terms of pricing. Their reloading stuff is actually priced so high that its cheaper to buy new!

Gander Mountain occassionaly will have a gun, either mis-priced or incorrectly identified, on their used gun racks that is a real steal. About 2 weeks ago I purchased a LNIB Browning Citori 12 gauge Upland with Invector Plus chokes for $800. I've also seen some nice Remington 1100s for $300 - $400 on their racks. Their prices on reloading equipment though has gone through the roof, and they weren't that good in the first place.

Scheels, as someone mentioned, seemed to have the best pricing of any place I've seen. Was at the one in West Des Moines during Pheasant Fest and they had a Grade III Citori for about $1100. That was a pretty nice price. Their ammo and lead shot was also nicely priced.

Was at a Dick's yesterday and picked up some Winchester AA target loads for what amounted to $5.50/box. That was a nice pickup IMHO. They seem to deal in mostly lower end and cheaply priced firearms though. Had some decent Beretta semis on the rack but most were Stoeger/Baikal/NEF type guns.

All in all, when it comes to buying anything, fellow shooters are usually the best source. For reloading supplies, places like Recobs, Gamaliels, Natchez, etc is really the way to shop.

Member Joined: 14 Feb 2007 Posts: 110

Economics...culture...

This may be better suited for our general discussion forum.

It's hard to understand why these way over priced guns are selling. But it's also hard to understand why an over priced SUV sells.

And often the same upscale gun buyer will also throw some low end gear in his cart. It seems the demand for Chinese (often slave labor) produced goods continues to boom. Even the last of the hunting clothing sellers are falling (LL Bean went foreign about 7 years back and now even Filson is going that way).

The best values happen to be for the best products. And these are mostly those produced years ago. A rock solid old shotgun out of the newspaper and a vintage wool mackinaw from Ebay is a real shopping spree!!

Member Joined: 26 Apr 2005 Posts: 743

Wow! I've never been in a Bass Pro Fine Gun Room, but I have a feeling they don't know what a Nitro Special is. But hey, guys--you're missing some real bargains! They're selling a couple Parker 12's and an LC 16 CHEAPER than the Nitros!

Sorry, but there's a HUGE difference between those prices and Cabela's. I think we may have discussed a Lefever A Grade 16, 2 barrel set, that they had at KC Cabela's, for something like $1800. That was actually a skeet gun, only A Grades made in that configuration were A Grade Skeets, and that price was almost certainly low. Don't believe I've EVER seen a 4-figure Nitro at a Cabela's--even the small bores.

I've dealt quite a bit with both Cabela's and Scheel's. Cabela's, generally speaking, will dicker more on their posted prices. Sometimes one will give you more for a trade, sometimes the other. But if you watch Scheels stores carefully, you can get some bargains. (Problem is, their guns are not listed on line, unless they've changed very recently.) Right now, for example, the Scheel's closest to me has an SKB 280E 12ga, nice condition, for $950. Friend of mine recently bought the same gun from them in 20ga, rare IC/IC configuration, for $1300--which is right about at "book", and below most asking prices I'm seeing on the 280 20's. They'll seldom dicker on the tagged price, but if a gun sits in inventory for a year (maybe even less?), then they'll start cutting the price. And both Cabela's and Scheel's are excellent at standing behind what they sell. So if you can buy from them at something close to market value, even if that's a little more than you'd pay buying from a private party, or someone you don't know at a gun show, there is some peace of mind involved.