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car-15
02-18-2006, 21:28
I was up in the springs today and was looking around at the gun shops, help me understand why speciality sports is $60 to $110 bucks more on every model pistol compared to sportmans warehouse and $120+
on every bushmaster? can the corporate buying power save them that much? or is ss just gouging? not to mention the counter people at sw are more than helpful, while you play the lotto at ss weather you get a a$$hole or not.

michael_aos
02-18-2006, 22:12
Admittedly, it may be because the prices are so great (I don't know, I wasn't looking at prices) but my complaints at Sportsmans Warehouse are:

#1 - you can't see what the heck they have in stock.
#2 - the folks behind the counter are waaaay too busy to talk to anyone

In my experience, there's really only one guy at Specialty that's really an outright jerk. The 2 newest employees are great. Kim is always pleasant.

So you've only got about a 1 in 7 chance of getting a bad one.

Mike

car-15
02-18-2006, 22:19
I agree on the stock thing they need to find a better way to see what they have, the pegboard thing is not the best, as far as help I had three guys ask me if I needed to see anything, the j frame I bought was $54.00 cheaper than ss so I could overlook the pegboard thing to save that much.
that covered the fuel to drive up there from pueblo, the 2 boxes of ammo I got for it, and lunch :D

michael_aos
02-18-2006, 22:33
Some other observations about Sportsmans Warehouse, although not necessarily directly related...

I've bought a bunch of CCI Mini-Mags there, and I've found that the solid, round-nose are SUPPOSED to be $3.99/100 and the hollow-points are SUPPOSED to be $4.50/100.

But they're all randomly mixed together and randomly priced. They do ring up "correctly" at the register though. The downside to all this is that I now have 1400 hollow-point Mini-Mags that are marked $3.99 and don't run in my Marvel .22 conversion.

They're supposed to give a 5% discount for "case" lots of ammo, but only 1 in 3 gave me the discount. I still don't know how many rounds of .22 are in a "case".

Mike

michael_aos
02-18-2006, 22:35
I really do like the selection of reloading components at Sportsmans. When they were doing their $10-off purchase of $50 (1 coupon, per person, per day) I made a lot of trips over there...

:D

It's also "handy" that they're only 4.7mi straight down Chelton from me.

Then again, I'm only 2.3mi down Fountain from Specialty.

:twisted:

Mike

car-15
02-18-2006, 22:43
I really do like the selection of reloading components at Sportsmans. When they were doing their $10-off purchase of $50 (1 coupon, per person, per day) I made a lot of trips over there...

:D

It's also "handy" that they're only 4.7mi straight down Chelton from me.

Then again, I'm only 2.3mi down Fountain from Specialty.

:twisted:

Mike
thats why I went there today they have 10% off everything in the store except ammo and guns they are 5% off through this weekend.

Colorado Osprey
02-19-2006, 11:01
car-15, you are already in Pueblo

Do you use Arctic Shooting Supply?

http://www.arcticshootingsupply.com/index.html

I've heard that they will match or beat prices. He gets supplied from Davidson's among others.

On another note you should see my review of SS from the dealer reviews, it ain't pretty.


The staff has always been top notch as far as attitute and knowlege over the last...say 20 years. I remember when it was just Jeff in that 8x10 shack.

I have 2 gripes though:

1st, prices are not "fair"...most are actually over MSRP. When stating this to Jeff his response was "The manufacture's site MSRP was wrong." I don't know personally if this is true for all firearm manufacturer's MSRP pricing on their web sites, but I suspect Jeff just thought he was not making enough mark up at MSRP.

2nd, I always will ask if I can get a discount because over the last 20 years I have purchases 20+ guns from them and kinda expect special treatment. Nodda...ever. Jeff stated, "I never offer discounts unless I have too many of something that I need to get rid of." That in itself I have no problem with, EXCEPT, I know people personally, good friends, best friends, who get a discount EVERY time they buy a firearm there. I guess spending upwards to $15,000, is not enough to warrant "good customer" status.

Synopsis:
If I am looking for something they have a great display of firearms to play with to decide what I want. But, I do not support them by purchasing anything from them anymore.

EDIT: Their used gun prices are fair indicating people getting hosed in trade in value. I have purchased 3 of these over the years too.

I expect Sportsman's Warehouse will be hurting them financially and they will alter pricing or go under. That new building must have a lot more over-head that will cost them...maybe they will be forced to raise prices?

michael_aos
02-19-2006, 11:38
Do you use Arctic Shooting Supply?

I've shot with Brad at PWSA several times. IDPA, IPSC, 3-gun, Steel.

I've only had one dealing with Arctic, and it was very bad / expensive for me.

So no plans to ever deal with them again.

Mike

Colorado Osprey
02-19-2006, 12:04
ooooooh.....sorry to hear that.....I've only heard of good from them before your experience.

car-15
02-19-2006, 15:55
I have bought almost every gun I own at arctic, they are a great bunch of guys, I have a ps90 on order from them. just I was also needing some camping supplys and had a meeting for work up in the springs, so I made the usual stop at ss and sw. 8)

michael_aos
02-19-2006, 17:14
They came highly recommended.

I special-ordered my Olympic K9GL from them.

The gun was in long before they called to notify me. They overcharged me (above retail) and they kept the original parts (I paid for upgrades from the factory) that shipped with the gun.

:x

Mike

XJ
02-19-2006, 21:16
thats why I went there today they have 10% off everything in the store except ammo and guns they are 5% off through this weekend.


Dammit dammit dammit, there was a sale and I didn't know. Guess ignoring all forms of local advertising doesn't pay off. Could have picked up some more black hills blue box.