Anti Milsurp Gun shops

[TFLeader]

In my travels I have found Gun shops generally fall into 3 categories:

1: Primarily Milsurp with some new firearms on the side.
2. Primarily non-milsurp with a rack or two of milsurp in the back on the store
3. Anti-Milsurp "We don't deal in that military stuff".

Why do you think some shops don't like military firearms?

- They don't make enough $
- They don't understand military firearms
- Military firearms are risky business
- They don't like dealing with C&R FFLS

 

[USMA-82]

I think its a combination of things. Brand-new, modern firearms are easier to price. Just look at what it cost you as the dealer, add a standard mark-up, and as long as the final price is at or below the MSRP (and a little lower than your competitor's price), you're good to go. You really don't need to know everything there is to know about the gun - they've got brochures and websites for that. You just need to know what people want.

With milsurps, it's a whole other game. You have to become an expert on a wide variety of firearms AND stay on top of the regional market, or you can get burnt. That's alot of work, and it's easy to make the wrong call. You could take in a milsurp thinking it's worth a great deal, just to find out it's run of the mill. Then you can't unload it without taking a hit. Some milsurp reference info is few and far between. Just try to get information on the characteristics and production history of the Czech VZ-52 and 52/57 series of rifles - not much out there.

A side note: I love seeing the average, everyday Mosin-Nagants on the auction sites with "RARE 91/30 rifle" in the listing. Yeah, like they only made about 50 million of them....

One of the big things is that milsurps aren't for everyone. You have to try to stock what the majority of your customer base wants if you want make a living. In most cases, that's shiny new pistols and evil black rifles.

My 2 cents..

*

 

[strangenh]

In my travels I have found Gun shops generally fall into 3 categories[...]

4. 'Cop shops'

As in, "Medium rings? I think you need to go to a sporting goods store, there."

 

[Karl]

I have yet to encounter any anti-milsurp shops, but I imagine USMA-82 is correct. It hard to know the story behind milsurp gun and, for the wise milsurp buyer, this is where the best deals are.