What's up with todays' gun shops?

[503]

Agree on the $$ issue. Nice wood stocked rifles cost a lot more. If you're getting into shooting/ hunting you can drop $500 on a Synthetic rifle that is very accurate and can take abuse.

Even mil surp rifles have gone way up. On guns international dudes want $800 and up for beat up mosins. The market is way out of whack.

Don't worry, it will get worse.....

Cheers

503

 

[JimP]

Agree on the $$ issue. Nice wood stocked rifles cost a lot more. If you're getting into shooting/ hunting you can drop $500 on a Synthetic rifle that is very accurate and can take abuse.

Even mil surp rifles have gone way up. On guns international dudes want $800 and up for beat up mosins. The market is way out of whack.

Don't worry, it will get worse.....

Cheers

503

You can even throw old time hunters into that category.

I own a number of very nice wood stock rifles and shotguns. However my last two rifles have the synthetic stocks and I got them for a reason. You can beat on them, get them soaking wet, and take them out the next day and for the most part they will hold their point of aim as long as you didn't beat on them too much. One of them that sports a synthetic stock was purchased for hunting north of the 45'th parallel. I took it on a bear hunt in British Colombia where it rained on us for 8 days out of 10. I had no question on where the shot was going to hit when I pulled the trigger. I don't know if I would of trusted one of my wood stock rifles to do the same.

But I think that the big thing is that generation X, Z, and any of the rest of the alphabet wants a play toy. I can go out to a area that I shoot at and collect a couple buckets full of cases that they just leave in the dirt. I have a .40 S&W that I reload for. I usually pick up a couple hundred empties at that shooting range every year. And if I wanted 9mm or 45 ACP I could pick up even more.

 

[WyoBull]

I love a nice blued rifle sitting in a beautiful pice of wood and I have several of them. I am also a bolt guy primarily.
If I am being honest though, when I am out hunting elk or deer here where I live and it is snowing sideways with me trying to climb over rocks and up mountains that are very slick, that is when I appreciate my SS rifle with the synthetic stock. Or, when I am calling coyotes in the middle of winter, my Rem 700 VSSF in 220 Swift always gets the call when I open my safe.
My nice wood and blued guns are in use when I am not hunting in weather or an area where they are going to get beat to crap.

 

[BeeMaa]

With states scrambling to retain and recruit new hunters, many legalized semi-auto for big game hunting so it's more cost effective to buy just one rifle to serve multiple purposes..

So if I get a NEMO Omen 458WM and have wood furniture on it...I'd be good right?

 

[Doug3006]

I am not planing on buying anymore guns. Not worth the hazle. Have all I want.
Krish

Get to a hospital quick, man! You’re speaking nonsense! Maybe some bourbon before calling the first responders!

 

[HookMeUpII]

NJ being a weird state, with equally weird gun shops, you never know what you will find. Back when I was heavy into black rifles/tactical stuff, all I found was hunting and target rifles and shotguns. Now that I'm far more into hunting rifles and shotguns, all I see is black rifles/tactical stuff. I tend to agree.

It's the same here in NJ: Lots of "AR's" and "others". Mostly tac and home defense shotguns like Shockwaves and Mossy 590's dressed down. Tons of pistols which is funny because NJ is communist when it comes to pistol purchases.

Every now and then you find some interesting stuff. Coincidentally, I just got the call from an FFL up the road from me my NICs came back and I can pick up my Ruger No 1 in 458WM. A gun I've always wanted, sitting less than 5 miles up the road from me. He also had a 375HH bolt-action which I would have actually bought as well. Problem was someone threaded it for a brake and the brake on it was stuck solid. Just wasn't worth the hassle.

The shops more to the north and south have more collector, hunting, and non-tactical stuff. We also have Griffin & Howe which I am sure many people know of on here.

 

[JimP]

I'm going to wonder through a Cabela's uses rifle rack in a couple of weeks, you never know what you are going to find in them.

The last time that I was there I found a Remington Nylon 66 that I almost picked up.

 

[VertigoBE]

The only upside I see to all of this is that many no longer know the value of their used gun inventory and just want to move anything with wood or blued steel as quickly as possible.

the other side of that coin that I often see as well, is that when a H&H 12 bore is in a gunshop. Non-original wood, rebarrelled, some marks on the screws, they will still ask 15KEUR for it without blinking because well, H&H.

The best deals I can find are on very high end, fully bespoke rifles with magnificent engraving costing more than my car, but from a lesser known maker. Those go for little money compared to their value.

 

[Hogpatrol]

So if I get a NEMO Omen 458WM and have wood furniture on it...I'd be good right?

Only if you mount on it a Nightforce ATACR or Trijicon Ten Mile FFP. They'll have enough elevation so you can make those thousand meter shots on elephant.

 

[Green Chile]

Griffin & Howe would be a fun place to visit. That's a far cry from your average gun shop.

 

[Phil Giordano]

I'd say, here in Italy there are still lots of traditional gun shop, with plenty of hunting bolt actions, side by sides, express rifles and traditional handguns. Just like my shop, mainly because I like it that way. Sure it's also plenty (every day more and more), of black rifles and tactical kind of shop, as I guess it really depends by the personal feeling and taste of the owner. Me, I'm not interested in nothing but very traditional hunting guns, classic revolvers and semiautos, and classic knives like old Al Mar, Sog from the 80's, Randall and so on : customers go here and there depending by what they're looking for. They know what I like to offer, because is also what I like for myself, what I'm competent in, and because (since I spend lot of my life in the shop) I love to have those kind of stuff around me. I'm a "vintage" guy. Strenously.

 

[BeeMaa]

Griffin & Howe would be a fun place to visit. That's a far cry from your average gun shop.

Gulf Breeze Firearms in Florida would be good too.

 

[Bert the Turtle]

Kids these days. All they want is “tacticool”. Hunting with an AR- ridiculous. Bunch of military wannabes.

Give me a proper hunting rifle built on a proper hunting rifle action like a Mauser. None of that military stuff for me!

I’m sure there was a group of grumpy old caveman bitching about the kids with their AltAlts.

 

[CoElkHunter]

The only upside I see to all of this is that many no longer know the value of their used gun inventory and just want to move anything with wood or blued steel as quickly as possible.

Very true.

 

[C.W. Richter]

I've made so much fun of the industry over the last 10 years I've just given up black plastic junk everywhere! I've picked up a number of fine guns in Cabela's gun libraries you can even look at them online and finer places as well... The real answer is they're peddling the lowest cost production for profit via advertising. Also why everything is getting smaller (6.5 cm) right out of the McDonald's playbook. In most cases when I hear the term factory gun these days I cringe. There are some great semi-custom guns out there like weatherby and Christensen etc. al. But otherwise a lot of junk being peddled at Wally world and spoken highly of by sponsored TV shows and podcasts magazines the same Dem MSM that got Biden hired.

 

[CoElkHunter]

That's an interesting comment...shooting and hunting are vastly different topics. That comment sums up perfectly the difference I feel hanging out with a gun shop or gun range crowd versus a hunting group. I love shooting and do it as much as I can, which is not as much as I would like. However, I approach shooting from the perspective of a serious hunter. I work on my shooting to remove any personal excuses from having a good hunt outcome. I just recently got back from a bear hunt in Canada where half the guys in camp lost their wounded bears...very troubling and it came from the usual crowd in camp that talks a LOT about their skills around the table but doesn't deliver in the field.

Wow! Half lost wounded bears? That’s MUCH worse than the guys I hunt elk with. LOL

 

[C.W. Richter]

Wow! Half lost wounded bears? That’s MUCH worse than the guys I hunt elk with. LOL

And the bear are generally a closer range affair.

 

[CoElkHunter]

I am not planing on buying anymore guns. Not worth the hazle. Have all I want.
Krish

And the sun will soon be rising from the West each morning. LOL

 

[CoElkHunter]

Well, I’m going to keep looking through my LGS when I have the time. I did buy a like new Ruger .375 from one of the mostly black gun stores a few months ago. It was a good deal probably because nobody knew what it was and/or wanted to buy it. I’m just amazed how the firearms market has changed even over the last five years. After reading all of these posts, I now understand why it’s changed with the mostly younger generation of shooters but not necessarily hunters. I guess as long as they’re buying guns they’ll support our 2nd Amendment rights.

 

[krish]

And the sun will soon be rising from the West each morning. LOL

It will. But I need to use the ones I have first. I can't think of anything That I will use that I don't have. I only like Bolt, lever, and semi Auto rifles. Not big on hand guns. Have three , a 911 45 acp, a44 magnum Ruger, and 500SW.
I AM GOOD.
KRISH