First visit to a Gander Mountain store.
 

There's a fairly new Gander Mtn store about 100 miles away from me, finally made it over there yesterday.

When I got there (4:30PM), I thought the store was closed. Not many cars outside. I counted a grand total of 5 other customers in the 30 minutes I was in the store.There were more sales and stock clerks than customers. The Sportsman's Warehouse near me looked exactly the same way right before they announced bankruptcy.

Anyway, as Steve Martin said in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, "All I can say is WOW!" What a difference from your typical sporting goods store. Roughly 500 firearms on open display, not behind a glass cabinet. Just pick up the piece and check it out.

Ammo not in a locked cabinet, on display like toilet paper at WaldoWorld. They were pretty well stocked up on everything, only a few empty slots on the shelf.

But the ammo prices were through the roof, at least double what I was expecting, so I didn't buy anything. For example, they wanted $49.99 for a 525 brick of Remington 22LR!

But I guess you get what you pay for in terms of service and selection. And if it's not on the shelf, the price is irrelevant. :mad_m:

Re: First visit to a Gander Mountain store.
 

That's pretty much what I saw at the new Gander by me in WI. Lots of ammo, but few buyers at the prices they were selling it for. It got me to thinking that there really is a top price people are willing to pay for ammo, which means it won't go up forever.

There's another gun shop near me that has had the same ammo on it's shelves for a very long time because nobody buys it at the ridiculous prices they charge. Ammo isn't something they sell much of, that's for sure.

Re: First visit to a Gander Mountain store.
 

I've only been in the GM in Rockford once, not overly impressed by the number of firearms, or the pricing there. They are a Bersa dealer, as opposed to my normal dealer, who won't stock them

Re: First visit to a Gander Mountain store.
 

There's one in Platsburg, just south of us. Even counting gas and exchange, i can't get better up here. Now if I could only get it back across the border.

Re: First visit to a Gander Mountain store.
 

I just got back from my local gandy mtn today. I picked up a brand new Savage bull barrel 22 Mag bolt-action rifle with included 3X9 scope for $249--apparently it had been mis-priced b/c it rang up $329 at the register but they honored the $249 price tag. One cool thing about Gander Mountain is they bore-sight scopes you buy there for free (got it done in 5 mins) and they also double the manufacturers warranty on all guns.

I agree that they can be overpriced on some stuff though....you have to watch for sells--either that or if no one else has it, well then they probably do if you are willing to pay, so that can be a good thing as well. Too bad they were out of primers stil though :36_1_28:

Re: First visit to a Gander Mountain store.
 

Sometimes they stock surplus. You normally can get some deals if they do.

The GM by my place had 440rnd tins of Polish 7.62x54r for a long time and during the peak of the Iraq war they had pallets of fresh ammo cans for cheap. They were covered in red sand though. They also had Mosin-Nagant 91/30's priced at $99 for a long time.

Those deals might be gone forever.

I used to buy most of my 9mm from them. They had Remington FMJ brass 250rnd bulk boxes for $39 at one time. Now they don't even stock it and want $25 for one box of 50.

Same thing with 223. They used to have Federal XM-193 right on the shelf for $7.49 a 20rnd box. Now the cheapest 223 you can buy there is Brown Bear steel cased and it's $9.99 per box of 20.

The high prices keep the shelves stocked I guess.

Re: First visit to a Gander Mountain store.
 

GM is way over priced where I live. Especially on used guns. For a few bucks more elsewhere you can buy new. I think it was a Kahr p9, new, they wanted $900!!! Totally insane. I rarely go in there any more.

Re: First visit to a Gander Mountain store.
 

Gander Mountain is hit or miss on used gun sales. I actually saw a used .50 Desert Eagle on sale for under $800 a few months ago....which was a very good deal from my point of view considering the current market.

I go to GM occasionally, hoping to find a good deal on a 12ga SxS (unsuccessfully thus far).

Ammo is certainly overpriced, but more available. I went last week and they wanted $45 for a box of .38 Federal HP - a lot of money, but every other store I have has been completely out of any type of .38 so it's reasonable.

Re: First visit to a Gander Mountain store.
 

Most places I go (with one exception), get stupid with their used gun pricing. It's really ugly, because the poor SOB selling the gun to the shop most likely got a butt-reaming on the sale, then the shop marks it up obscenely, to give a potential buyer a butt-reaming on the buy. No thanks. At least on new guns, I can check the MRSP on the Web and compare it to a shop's sell pricing.

Re: First visit to a Gander Mountain store.
 

Ammo at GM is typically way overpriced. Firearms sometimes overpriced, other times not. I did find a black powder revolver loading stand and #10 percussion caps there and nowhere else local, so that was cool. Just depends on what you're looking for. And it doesn't cost anything to look, other than the gas you burned to drive there.

Re: First visit to a Gander Mountain store.
 

I have a GM up in Huber Heights which I go to every now and again. Never bought anything other than some cleaning stuff from there. Ammo, mags, accessories way overpriced. Some ok firearm prices but nothing to jump up and down about.