I've said it before, and I'll say it again, and time I really mean it: I will no longer do business with either company.

Looking past Bass Pro's unwillingness to buy or sell used firearms (at least in my area), both company's abysmal pricing compared to even the smallest LGS, or even their ever shrinking inventory of products, they've finally pushed me past my point of patience today with recent adaptation of a new set of policies. While visiting my local Cabelas this morning, I noticed that every gun in the inventory, including those in locked cabinets, are now fitted with trigger locks. When I asked about the new locks, this is what I was told:

"Apparently, there was an incident at a Bass Pro Shops somewhere, and the management at the top decided that every firearm is to be fitted with a trigger lock until time of sale. We are not allowed to remove them for any reason whatsoever until the gun is leaving the store."

This new policy dictates that any typical inspection of a firearm cannot be performed before purchase, and the purchase is made under the assumption that the firearm is perfectly sound (I found out the hard way last year this is often not the case with used guns at Cabelas). To further frustrate the customer, all of the revolvers have their hammers kept in the full cocked position so that the cylinder cannot be opened or manipulated in any way, again, thwarting any attempt of even the most basic inspection.

But it gets better: If still not deterred from purchasing a firearm under these conditions, and when I've done so in the past I have sorely regretted it, Bass Pro Shops senior management has dictated that Cabelas must put an end to their 10 function guarantee, effectively preventing the customer from being able to return a defective firearm that they could not inspect before purchase.

In furtherance to this, I don't know about everyone else's feelings, but in general I have a problem with the manner in which the revolvers specifically are stored and treated. I don't know that I would be willing to pay for a revolver that I know has been sitting with the hammer at full cock for some time, just from the strain it leaves on the hammer spring. This is especially true when considering guns such as the 100+ year old Colt Bisley SA revolver on display in the local Cabelas Gun Library with a price tag of $3500 on it. No thanks, and especially no thanks if I cannot perform a thorough inspection on a gun of that high a price.

It really is a shame to see what has become of Cabelas under Bass Pro's leadership. What was once a decent place with ok pricing, and a great selection of product has become a shell of its former self. At this point I don't see the Cableas brand lasting more than another year or two, and this feeling is echoed by both current and former employees I've spoken with. That said however, in light of their new way of doing business, I would rather see them get out of firearms sales altogether, or at the very least used firearms sales, rather than try to hang on with a severely flawed method of business.

Thoughts?

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Here's a few thoughts from last week:

New policy at Cabelas

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

Never bought a gun there, most likely never will. I buy from the gun stores in town.

Looking past Bass Pro's unwillingness to buy or sell used firearms (at least in my area), both company's abysmal pricing compared to even the smallest LGS, or even their ever shrinking inventory of products,


Well if they no longer sell used firearms why does this matter??


On new guns their prices where always to high, so why bother with them in the first place??

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Still Running Against the Wind

They sell new firearms at Bass Pro Shop, however not used, and don't take guns in trade either. Cabelas however still does buy and sell used firearms in addition to new firearms, and Cabelas is owned and operated by Bass Pro Shops

Edit: Yes their prices tended to be too high, however that's where trading came into play. Often one could score a deal by trading one overvalued firearm for another, and often Cabelas would have a particular I want. Now I don't even want to take the risk, even if it's something I can't find elsewhere.

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They wouldn't be able to feed their in store fish, on the amount of money I've ever spent there. The only reason that I ever set foot in the place, is to actually handle a gun that I'm thinking of purchasing online. Some things just have to be held, to make a choice, and the gun show costs money to enter. Now that they have trigger locks...there's no reason to ever set foot in that expensive place. I feel sorry for some of the very nice, helpful employees who will likely lose their jobs. But good riddance to all these high priced places. I hope that Gander has learned their lesson about pricing. They're re-opening a store near me. We'll see.

Never bought one from either place and never will. Their pricing is out of line and I will continue to support my LGS should the need or want arise for another firearm. With that said I quit buying from Cabela's all together except on a rare occasion in the bargain bin. WHY? Because of the policy to form exclusive contracts for a product to sell and then after a year or two take it overseas to be made into cheaper Chinese made product thus undercutting the original manufacturer. They darn near put one small time maker of camo out of business doing so. NO THANKS CABELA'S!

I buy some, and only some fishing stuff at both places. Never rods.Mostly plastic soft baits, and that is not 20.00 dollars /yr. I would never consider buying a gun there. The fudge is good at Cabelas. No need for me to cross them off a list they were never on. Buy and sell your guns on this forum. Better selection and price, and I have not seen a misrepresentation yet. Just one guy backed out of a deal after he got my money and I paid exactly what he asked

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Pete
I ain't no fortunate son

People buy guns all the time online that they never have a chance to handle, but at least they can usually return them. This new "you can't check 'em and you can't return 'em" policy is crazy.

I have found some decent deals at Cabela's - the last being this nickel 19-3 snub. They came down some and I got some off for putting it on a brand new Cabela's card (paid off and closed when the bill came) so it was under 5 bills.



But mostly their stuff is stupidly overpriced. Maybe now the guns will sit long enough the prices will drop enough to take a chance.

I'll still shop there for ammo - they carry .38 S&W and some other oddball calibers. I have yet to find an actual bargain in the Bargain Cave, though.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

I just visited Cabela's in Rogers, Ar which is about 80 miles from my location. All guns had trigger locks and the other thing there were not
many revolvers, new or used. Mostly plastic semi autos of which I am not interested. Also two disinterested guys behind the counter.

I am also done with them..........!I'd rather deal with locally owned gun shops.

...so I visited couple. The ones around here had VERY little that I would by. Was completely disappointed by the one in Myrtle Beach. They can all go under for all I care.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

It's probably easy to get disinterested after the twentieth customer who has been denied a chance to properly inspect a gun gives you the same disgusted look as the previous 19, sighs, and leaves without buying anything.

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Release the Kraken

Several years ago my son and I went to a Cabellas in Nebraska. I think it was where their home office was at the time. He called me over to a rack of rifles and said "look at this". It was a K 98 Mauser bring back 100% correct in about 98% condition for $399.00. It's the only purchase on a gun that either of us have ever made there. I have a lot more luck dealing with the small stores and pawn shops on the scarce stuff.

I was at the Cabellas in Avon, Ohio a few weeks ago...no used long guns in rack outside the "Library" like it used to be before Bass Pro...only used guns (long and handguns) were in "Library" and there were very few of them I might add...I asked the clerk why they did not handle used guns like Cabellas used to and he said "we do NOT get them in anymore as no one is bringing anything in towards a trade so we do not have many" (maybe they are not paying enough for trades)...very disappointing as I used to really enjoy going to Cabelas and perusing their used gun inventory and once in a while found something at a decent price...I guess those days are over...SAD!

I buy my guns from my local guys ,they will look for something they may not have that I want and have networks of reputable dealers in and out of state .If I have a problem I can talk to the owner not some kid called a shift manager .So I say yay for Bass Pro/ Cabelas the sooner they kill their firearms business the sooner our local true gun shops can make a big come back .

It is sad that Cabela's has been bought out by BP. Never bought a firearm in BP..Limited inventory and price too high. However I have bought quite a few at Cabela's in the past. Usually for very good prices. As far as the LGS. I actually owned one for 27 yrs. I did well but really got tired of the paper work and regulation. To be honest the profit in most guns is minimal. Profit comes from the small stuff you sell. Right at this point the gun/shooting business is kinda hurting and I think you will see less and less of the smaller LGSs. I hope that statement is wrong. Reloading supplies are getting harder to find locally due to more stringent regulation by government and a smaller profit margin.

The Cabela's near me (in MA) has always been a mixed bag... no sales of used handguns since Day 1, no MSR's and a very limited selection of MA-compliant handguns.

Still, I've managed to buy several guns from Cabela's since they opened that store in early-2015, all bought "on-sale" using discounted gift cards, price matching (now discontinued) and other incentives. Paying full price at Cabela's makes no sense at all. I've also done very well buying ammunition from Cabela's.

But since the BassPro buyout, things have gotten worse and the new policies are a huge turnoff. I can't see myself buying another gun from them ever again. That's kind of sad, but consider that most of the guns I buy these days are used anyway. I've had my fill of new ******-triggered MA-compliant handguns and, in fact, am selling off much of what I previously bought.

Let's always remember that BassPro bought Cabela's mostly to kill off its competition. It was never about making Cabela's a better place for firearms enthusiasts to shop.

I suppose the message is if you have a broken gun and want to get rid of it, sell it to Cabela's, where presumably neither employees nor customers will be able to check it. Once they sell enough bad guns, they'll acquire a reputation that will force them out of the used gun market.

Yeah...my thoughts are that both stores sucked equally before the merger...so I wouldn't blame any of Cabela's current, apparent shortcomings on BassPro.

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Smith. And Wesson. And Me!

I kind of think Cabela's was pretty decent on many items. I bought a few guns at very reasonable cost. As fr as ammo..I bought little unless it was closeout. Last was 9mm HP ammo at 6.44 a box of 50. Norma 223 at 3.44. I quite often bought primers under my wholesale cost Powder was never a real deal..but sometimes they had just what I wanted at reasonable prices too. Bass Pro almost never had a decent selection of reloading supplies and never any used guns or decent prices on new. Looks like now with BP doing the buy out, Cabela's is going to disappear. At least as it's former self, anyway! I have a Cabela's credit card but with the banking changes and their corporate changes I'll probably quit using it.

Just received a notice from Bank of America stating that they were stopping business with the Bass Pro Shop Outdoor Reward Card. They say that they would ship a new card, without the Bass Pro Shop affiliation. I guess that they have issues with them too.

Bank of America has problems with anything gun related.

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That's gonna leave a mark.

I’d tell B of A to stuff it, but that’s just me.

[I]t is a matter of economics,Buy a used gun from a customer for 2/3ds of blue book ,sell for for 1/3 rd profit New guns sales less of a profit. Make clothing and sell for 80% profit .What would do if you ran a business?
the Cabella family took the money and rar with it after dad died. like most of the younger crowd ,family builds things because they have a passion for it ,and the kids don't want to put in the effort that dad did take the money and Go
The above straight from a manager at Cabelas .
I n all fairness my most recent purchase from them was a m-27-2 with a nickle finish 3-T's And 4" barrel,factory target grips for $500.00. I will keep shopping until they close.After all i am 10 min. away.

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age is just a number

The new Cabelas/Bass Pro credit cards will be from Capitol One.
Bank of America wants no gun business.

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Super Snooper

I no longer do ANY business with Bank of America. They have taken a stand...so did I.
This corporate-activist stuff is really dumb.

Now that they are fully homogenized, I think BPS will sadly neglect shooting customers more every year.
Which also makes no business sense because they paid heavily to acquire Cabela's customers.
Millennial's will probably not shoot/hunt like we do, but why not keep as many customers as long as possible?

The Bass Pro Shop here has always had locks on their guns since they opened a few years ago ..
so nothing has changed here with their policy ..

Several smaller gun stores in the area also have all of their inventory with locks too so
its not just the big box stores here in my area ..

OK, but do the small stores remove the lock for inspection? That's the beef with Cabelas and used guns right now. The trigger lock cannot be removed in the store and there are no returns on used guns.

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Release the Kraken

I second this... I visit somewhere between two and six different gun shops over the course of any given week, and only Cableas/Bass Pro Shops have the policy of no lock removal for inspection purposes. Other shops that keep locks on will take them off for inspection purposes when asked to do so. Heck, Cabelas, up until recently, would remove trigger locks on any of their racked rifles upon request before the sudden policy change.

My regular rotation of shops visited weekly includes one that just last week had a suicide in their indoor range. One would expect major changes in policy after an event like that, however by Saturday when I stopped in, everything was back to business as usual, albeit the staff was still understandably a bit shaken up.
I chalk this up to the shop knowing their core customers, and knowing that 99.9% of us aren't skulking about for nefarious reasons. I feel the opposite about the Cabelas/Bass Pro policy, in that it feels that there is a lack of trust in the customer. It also says to me that the company does not understand their core demographic, and does not have interest in fixing this problem, as was expressed by several Cabelas staff when I asked who I should reach out to express my dissatisfaction for the recent policy change. I was told that my opinions, no matter how valid will be falling on deaf ears that have no intent on reversing the policy.

This is why I would really like the company to end its firearms sales altogether. They don't understand the customers or the business, and thus shouldn't be in it.


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The Bass Pro buyout of Cabela's has really had a terrible effect on our local Cabela's particulary with the used guns; selection is down and prices are up. I have gotten some fabulous deals there in the past (a real ASP 39-2 with holster and spare mag, a 4 digit Detonics Combat Master with all original papers were my best scores) but just boring stuff and manufactured commemorative / collectibles mostly these days. Them ending their layaway policy has saved me a lot of money though..