Dilemma - Order through LGS or FFL Transfer?

So here's where I stand. I live in the tiniest of tiny towns (populaton 700) in New Mexico, there are only 2 gun shops nearby (one just opened 2 months ago) and 1 additional FFL nearby. Lets call them LGS 1, LGSNew and GarageLGS.

I purchased two firearms online and did the FFL Transfer with GarageLGS, a guy that does FFL Transfer for $10 out of his garage for a little extra income.

I'm currently in the market for a Ruger LCP, and since I had good experiences with GarageLGS, I called him to get his price. Never got a call back from him, not even after 2 weeks and 3 calls to him with messages left. So, GarageLGS lost my business.

I called up LGS 1 to see their price, $375 OTD for the Ruger LCP or $100 for an FFL Transfer if they can order the gun themselves (to avoid losing money to the internet). Screw that, too much of a rip off either way.

Onto LGSNew. This shop JUST opened 2 months ago, less than 100 yards from my house, which doesn't say much because that's actually clear across town [ROFL1] . Naturally, I want to support them, but, they quoted me $360 OTD today for a Ruger LCP and I'll have to wait over a week to get it in stock. Lastly, their FFL Transfers are $25.

Now here's the kicker, I want to support LGSNew because they're new, much better prices (in general) than LGS 1 and are very nearby (not 30 minutes away like LGS 1). However, I found a place (kygunco.com) that sells Ruger LCPs for $283.99 shipped and they have them in-stock, making the total price after transfer of $308.99, which is more on par with what the LCPs should cost.

But for some reason I feel guilty about not ordering the LCP through LGSNew, because they'll lose business and in the long haul there's the possibility they could close, leaving me without an FFL. Granted he did just tell me that he's got a lease of 1 year, so theres still a while before that could happen. Yet at the same time, if I order through kygunco.com I can order the LCP this weekend and it'll ship on Monday, arriving at my FFL on Wednesday, but if I get it locally I have to wait until my next paycheck (Sept 1st), then wait longer for them to order it and get it in stock, and THEN pay an additional $50.

It seems silly to order through LGSNew, when its going to cost me more and be a significantly longer wait.

What do you guys think? Am I worrying about LGSNew too much or should I adopt the mentality that "if LGSNew feels they're losing money to the internet, perhaps they should be charging more for their FFL Transfers"?



As a side note, LGSNew seems to be buying ammo from Walmart and selling it for twice the price on some calibers. Federal .223 Bulk Pack is $39.99 at WM, it's $49.99 at LGSNew. Federal .380 50rds is $18 at WM, it's $37 at LGSNew. This is partly why I am leaning towards just doing FFL Transfers only through him.

The new store most likely isn't making a large profit on the pistol they were going to order for you. I would guess they would make $50-60 on the pistol if you bought it from them. They charge $25 for the FFL transfer that does not cost them anything but time and record keeping.

Either way, they are making money off of you. Buy some expensive bullets from them while you are there and you'll even out their profit margin on the whole deal.

Buy from the cheap place, ship to the new store, get your gun for $308. Then spend $50 buying ammo and accessories in his store. They don't make their profit on the guns, but on all the accessories. I bet his markup on Shoot-N-C targets is more than 150%. You're gonna need some .380 for that thing. My $0.02

FWIW, I just shot mine, and the trigger pull on it is pretty crazy. I guess that's because it's a defense gun and I just need to get use to it.

H.

Thanks for the replies, since they do markup the ammo it does make sense to do the FFL Transfer through him and then purchase a little ammo from him as a courtesy.

Now I just need to decide if I'm ready to order the LCP now or wait a little bit. My inclination is to get it now!

Oh, and yes I've felt the trigger on the LCP before, it definitely is heavy. I've known that for a while now, but the ease of concealability of the pistol outweighs the heavy trigger pull in my opinion.

ever consider original business was on vacation, or death in family??