Went to a Cabelas retail store today....

Outlaw2013

Outlaw2013

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Went to one of Cabelas big retail stores. The firearm prices are outrageous. Then again, most gun stores are.

USED 329PD for $999. Can be easily had online for $830 and to the FFL for $850 brand new. USED 500 Maggies for $1,100. New online for $900. New 500s and 460s at $1,300+. Again, online for $900. New SIG MPX pistol, $1,600. Online for $1,200 or so. New 642 snub for $450. Online for $350. Some of my prices may be off as those are all from memory, but I know I'm very very close.


I'm assuming the majority of their sales are all first timer or casual gun buyers who just don't know any better.

Seen a poor sap buy a $675 "safe" that was just a 14ga tin can. $2,000 Liberty Chinese Cabelas labeled "safes" that were 11ga jokes with a paper thin flap where the ZOMG 500 LOCKING BOLTZ!!!!!! slid behind. Huge (by real safe standards) door gaps where large screwdrivers and small pry bars from Harbor Freight could easily slip into to leverage the door and it's ZOMG bolts against that lame flap of metal and pop the door like a soda can. The $4,000 units were no better.

The entire building smelled like burning money just from the firearm/safe section.


Please, if any of you have any desires to buy at gun stores or big box places again, at least check SlickGuns dot com first. Find a $20 FFL and save HUNDREDS on the same exact or better stuff. If there are lurkers here who don't know how the process works, ask us in this thread.

PS if you want a real residential security container, or if you must, "safe", for half the price of the Chinese garbage, Google: Sturdy Safe.
 
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Cabela's, Gander Mountain, Bass Pro, Academy, Dick's, etc., etc., etc. The only reason I look at guns in those stores is because they usually have one I can hold to check out, and they don't usually get all butthurt if I work the action. After seeing what I need to see, it's off the to the LGS to order . . .
 
A Jr sized Cabela's opened around here a couple weeks ago. Prices on par with Gander Mtn that opened a few months ago. :(

The bright side is that Cabela's has Net sales that are attractive and small items I want. Now I can buy online and they will ship to store for free. For example, there was some SD ammo I wanted to try that can't be found local so I ordered just one box.
 
Guess I am in the minority, but I like shopping at Bass Pro and Cabela's. Just bought a 18' Suntracker pontoon boat at Bass Pro. I buy all of my new guns through Gallery of Guns...always have gotten a good deal, plus the lifetime warranty.

I do shop at my LGS as well...especially like their free coffee and donuts on Wednesdays.
 
Just opened a new Cabela's near me also. Have always liked and bought a few articles of clothing such as shirts but agree the prices are high on many items. Sure like they're wildlife displays though.
 
I bought a S&W 3914 at a Cabela's a few years ago. I thought the deal was good. Bullets, powder and primers also. I go and see what they have a couple times every year. My granddaughter loves the place, and we have fun there.
 
The Bargain Cave has good deals. Purchased a Burris scope last month that was a display item. Cheapest find on the internet was $ 230, Paid $ 99 and also picked up a few really nice items at less that 1/2 price. I stay away from the rest of the story except checking out the guality of the mounted game.
 
Once in a blue moon you can find a smokin' hot deal at one of these Big Boxes. But they're few an far between. For example, I picked up a .44 Mag pre-safety Marlin lever gun at a Gander Mountain a few years ago. $200 OTD and not a single scratch or defect anywhere. They will frequently have a "loss leader" type new guns for sale. Like a Ruger LCP for $200 or some kind of J-frame real cheap.
 
There was a time when Gander Mountain was THE place to buy outdoor sporting goods. When they were mail order only with an outlet store at the Wilmot, Wisconsin distribution center, they carried complete lines of everything at fantastic prices. As they've morphed into a brick & mortar operation, their catalog shrank dramatically and their prices have gone sub-orbital. No more reloading components in most locations, few reloading tools, etc.. The only gun I ever saw at GM which was fairly priced I bought more than a few years back. It was a .30-06 BAR II, grade I. This was about three years after the 2nd generation BAR's were on the street.

At this point in time; if every Gander Mountain store closed, I wouldn't miss them one iota, I'm sorry to say.

Bruce
 
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I like many of their items and like to hold and see stuff in real life too, but those firearm prices are astronomical. I expect places to make profit but HUNDREDS of dollars on items that are only in the hundreds in total is crazy.
 
I bought a rifle from Cabella's once....

Once.

I learned quickly that it was a mistake. The same rifle was much less expensive locally, and even less expensive on-line.

I guess they just count on nOObs to support their gun sales.
 
The one in Reno will give a Vet. a discount...........
more than all the other stores.

Just let them know BEFORE they hit the final tally button !!
 
My brother has a friend who went to a new Cabelas store opening in Tenn. He camped outside for three days for the opening. They were giving away door prizes. They only let 500 people in at a time and the line was all over the parking lot. My brother's friend got in on the first 500 and all he won was a $10 gift card........LOL !!
 
I make weakly visits to the gun library at the local Cabelas, and know them well enough that they keep my number in the Rolodex in the gun library office.

The gun library works strictly on margins-if they buy a gun for a certain price, it gets marked up a percentage over that.

So, often times the price a gun is out for depends on who(in the store) bought it.

BTW, prices in the Gun Library are rarely firm-I think the last gun I paid sticker price for at Cabelas was my 52-2, and that was because it had been out for less than 24 hours.

There are great deals to be had at Cabelas, the problem is that most stores have enough volume that the good deals are gone before many folks ever see them. Spend some time at the store and get to know the guys who work there, and I guarantee that you'll see what I'm talking about.

If anyone would like, I'd be happy to tell the story on the $160 Model '97 I bought at Cabelas.
 
I bought my M&P 40c at Cabela's only because I had a good sized gift certificate there though. They were about $60 higher at the time than most places online.
 
Bamaeagle said:
My brother has a friend who went to a new Cabelas store opening in Tenn. He camped outside for three days for the opening. They were giving away door prizes. They only let 500 people in at a time and the line was all over the parking lot. My brother's friend got in on the first 500 and all he won was a $10 gift card........LOL !!
Click to expand...

Well it's really just south of the Tenn line in the thriving metroplolis of Fort Oglethorpe GA. I only point this out to avoid the embarrassment of associating the rediculousness of what you describe with my fellow Tennesseans. :D

But what you say is true. People stayed in the parking lot overnight, police were dispatched to handle the traffic and deal with issues. Quite the news event for the Chattanooga area. Just crazy silly for a $10 card. Probably selling on ebay for $5. :rolleyes:
 
We made the Pre Opening day event for Cabela's card holders only at the Fort Oglethorpe, GA (Chattanooga store). Inside I was told that they expected 5,000 people that day and when we left around noon, I think they had the target number correct, as it was difficult to walk anywhere in the store for people. Got outside and there was some people who had put up a tent and appeared to be waiting for the regular "opening day event" the next day. Gal at check out said they had an employee and family only day on Sunday before we were there and she though they had over 1000 at that. Cabelas is a long time, my favorite, and I love to shop there. Waiting on the new one to open in Huntsville in few months.

After missing the boat on that "grail gun" for me, a 396. I found mine on line in the KC, Kansas store in the Gun Library several years ago. Guy was super nice, we talked two or three times before i gave him my credit card and said send it to my FFL. One of my best purchases and can say a very enjoyable experience of buying without seeing.
 
ChattanoogaPhil said:
Well it's really just south of the Tenn line in the thriving metroplolis of Fort Oglethorpe GA. I only point this out to avoid the embarrassment of associating the rediculousness of what you describe with my fellow Tennesseans. :D

But what you say is true. People stayed in the parking lot overnight, police were dispatched to handle the traffic and deal with issues. Quite the news event for the Chattanooga area. Just crazy silly for a $10 card. Probably selling on ebay for $5. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the correction of the location. All my brother said it was in Chattanooga. He use to live in that area but now is here in Alabama. I try NOT to go to any type of "GRAND OPENING" as they are just too many people there for me. Me and the wife did a Black Friday shopping thing on year after Thanksgiving and we both said we will not ever do that again....LOL.
 
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