Anyone been to fsguns lately?

[greencobra]

....but the great deals are the ones that go fast....

i've gotten some great deals on used stuff. the trick is be at the door when they put the key in the lock in the morning. my last "deal", over a couple years ago, was a as new ruger 8.5" redhawk for what i thought was too good to be true money. what i didn't know was factory .44 ammo came with it. carl came out of the back with a box. several boxes of ammo. it was different manufacturers. each box had one round that was shot. little did i know that in the next year the ammo would be worth more than the gun. i reload my .44's so i still have it. but the deals are there and sometimes there's wiggle room, they will call the owner if an offer is made. and it's a good place to consign because of his traffic volume.

 

[CStirling8011]

Supply and demand. I don't see how FS is different than any other ffl right now. There is a mark up on everything currently. 100% or 200% mark up on stripped lower receivers is pretty common. If you want something in this state you have to pay for it. I bought a p365 xl from bass pro for about $100 cheaper than I had seen listed at any local gun shop this past week and it was sold out within a few hours of being available online. It is what it is.

 

[drgrant]

Right. I have no dog in this fight, and it's fun to bust on the big guy in the room.

But in this situation Carl has three choices: 1) turn them away, 2) try to convince them their price is "unreasonable," or 3) put it on the wall listed at price plus fees. FS is one of, if not the largest volume dealer in MA. 1 and 2 both risk alienating customers, potentially reducing his future throughput.

Besides, his warehouse space means a couple guns sitting on the wall until somebody's ready to part with the dough costs him almost nothing - especially right now, when stocks are low everywhere. It means he has product when others don't. This makes his ROI higher relative to one of the little shops at the Mill, for whom space is at a premium and uninformed walk-ins are less frequent.

It's a lot simpler than that, the two demos that make up about 95% that walk through the door there are like this upstairs:







Or like this.... AKA, the guy that cuts open the toothpaste tubes when it gets to the end so he can get out the residue thats left over. I don't really have a good graphic for a flint though, maybe this?




It's kind of ironic because the latter will not even look at the consignment trash (and it is a mountain of overpriced trash)
but they are there to get their $25 off a new Shield or whatever.

It sucks that there is a mountain of overpriced consignment trash in there but AS A BUSINESS MODEL it makes sense particularly given the
buyer demographics.

 

[Paul455]

If you don't like FS, don't go there......simple.

I have bought a few guns there and they treated me right.

 

[Garys]

I've started dialing the phone at 8:59 so that I could be the first person to call when I spotted something on their website. They're pretty good at putting something on hold... if they can locate it. The last gun I bought was a Mossberg MC1sc with night sights. It was used and listed, but when I called the guy couldn't find it. Since I had to be in the area, I just swung by for a look. It was there and I snagged it.

Other than that one time, every time I've called they've put a hold on it.

You can get some good deals, but you have to be quick.

i've gotten some great deals on used stuff. the trick is be at the door when they put the key in the lock in the morning. my last "deal", over a couple years ago, was a as new ruger 8.5" redhawk for what i thought was too good to be true money. what i didn't know was factory .44 ammo came with it. carl came out of the back with a box. several boxes of ammo. it was different manufacturers. each box had one round that was shot. little did i know that in the next year the ammo would be worth more than the gun. i reload my .44's so i still have it. but the deals are there and sometimes there's wiggle room, they will call the owner if an offer is made. and it's a good place to consign because of his traffic volume.

 

[drgrant]

Supply and demand. I don't see how FS is different than any other ffl right now. There is a mark up on everything currently. 100% or 200% mark up on stripped lower receivers is pretty common. If you want something in this state you have to pay for it.

Not really, but OK.

The stuff people are griping about here has nothing to do with ECR/covid bs, etc. Most of the new pedestrian shit, they are in line with the average floor price. The onsignment rack has been an overpriced dumping ground probably going back to 2013. It's not the shops fault, its just the demo of the people buying and selling.

 

[Mesatchornug]

Not really, but OK.

The stuff people are griping about here has nothing to do with ECR/covid bs, etc. Most of the new pedestrian shit, they are in line with the average floor price. The onsignment rack has been an overpriced dumping ground probably going back to 2013. It's not the shops fault, its just the demo of the people buying and selling.

But Mike, I bought this LE-trade-in Gen2 G19 at this very shop for $800 in January 2013. Are you really telling me massive inflation, panic buying, and its general collectable nature haven't driven it up to at least a G-note by now? Cripes, it's a genuine preban Glock!

 

[greencobra]

this is the last thing carl needs now when we're in the xmas season, having to shut the doors. and especially on a sat. i almost went over last week to check out ammo for a friend.

 

[drgrant]

this is the last thing carl needs now when we're in the xmas season, having to shut the doors. and especially on a sat. i almost went over last week to check out ammo for a friend.

dude hes not suffering, and most of his base literally has never been inside another gun shop. they will just come back when he reopens.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

A good friend put a pristine HK91 with a bunch of mags up for $3999 at FS. It was on the high side, but the gun was in perfect condition. We're talking about an anal retentive owner who I expect uses a jeweler's loupe when cleaning his guns. It sat for a good while, but he eventually got his price.

As to great deals going fast - that's why the used gun page hs a checkbox to select only recent (<=5 days) or very recent (<=2 days) listing.

It means he has product when others don't.

It's also a matter of being well capitalized and fast turns. You can do a lot better when you order rounds from your distributor by the million or guns by the hundred.

 

[AHM]

... in this situation Carl has three choices: 1) turn them away, 2) try to convince them their price is "unreasonable," or 3) put it on the wall listed at price plus fees. FS is one of, if not the largest volume dealer in MA. 1 and 2 both risk alienating customers, potentially reducing his future throughput.

Besides, his warehouse space means a couple guns sitting on the wall until somebody's ready to part with the dough costs him almost nothing - especially right now, when stocks are low everywhere. It means he has product when others don't.

Dafuq?
Two years ago, it felt like B&K in Natick (for one)
had more used guns on physical display than Carl did.
Let alone Collectors.

(I'm not bitching about "no selection".
The next used gun I buy will be my first).


I haven't been in those stores since the Antifa/BLM/Biden* PSH Gun Run,
so I don't know what their current inventory levels look like.

But Carl had such little room for display of consignment guns,
that he would have incurred a significant opportunity cost
if he dedicated precious rack space to some overpriced gun
that wasn't going to sell at the consigner's asking price.

I may be all wet on who had how many consignment guns on display,
but FS floor space is the opposite of the Matrix Arsenal.

I'd never assume that sucking for dedicating rack space
to displaying some overpriced garbage was all upside.

 

[Mesatchornug]

Dafuq?
Two years ago, it felt like B&K in Natick (for one)
had more used guns on physical display than Carl did.
Let alone Collectors.

(I'm not bitching about "no selection".
The next used gun I buy will be my first).


I haven't been in those stores since the Antifa/BLM/Biden* PSH Gun Run,
so I don't know what their current inventory levels look like.

But Carl had such little room for display of consignment guns,
that he would have incurred a significant opportunity cost
if he dedicated precious rack space to some overpriced gun
that wasn't going to sell at the consigner's asking price.

I may be all wet on who had how many consignment guns on display,
but FS floor space is the opposite of the Matrix Arsenal.

I'd never assume that sucking for dedicating rack space
to displaying some overpriced garbage was all upside.

The last time I went to FS might have been for a transfer on a private sale from the classifieds here. Suffice to say, it's been a while. I guess I could have been clearer that I was imagining a virtual wall, WRT consignment stuff, i.e. the website...

 

[AHM]

The last time I went to FS might have been for a transfer on a private sale from the classifieds here. Suffice to say, it's been a while. I guess I could have been clearer that I was imagining a virtual wall, WRT consignment stuff, i.e. the website...

I have from time to time browsed the online database.

(When Carl had a Flag Day revamp of his IT infrastructure,
I even gave him a bug report or two about teething pains).

I soitenly ain't complaining that overpriced consignment guns
"obscure" the bargains on his web site.
Not whinging about significant opportunity costs on that medium.

 

[EJFudd]

What the Hell does Carl know about running a successful gun shop?

I'm sure it's just dumb luck that he is the top seller in the state by a wide margin... right?

 

[drgrant]

What the Hell does Carl know about running a successful gun shop?

I'm sure it's just dumb luck that he is the top seller in the state by a wide margin... right?

Maybe I missed something but when did anyone in this thread say it wasn't a successful gun shop?

 

[Dench]

Right. I have no dog in this fight, and it's fun to bust on the big guy in the room.

But in this situation Carl has three choices: 1) turn them away, 2) try to convince them their price is "unreasonable," or 3) put it on the wall listed at price plus fees. FS is one of, if not the largest volume dealer in MA. 1 and 2 both risk alienating customers, potentially reducing his future throughput.

Besides, his warehouse space means a couple guns sitting on the wall until somebody's ready to part with the dough costs him almost nothing - especially right now, when stocks are low everywhere. It means he has product when others don't. This makes his ROI higher relative to one of the little shops at the Mill, for whom space is at a premium and uninformed walk-ins are less frequent.

When I was gearing up to move I was selling a lot of my guns that were either preban, or I didnt want.

NES does one thing, and thats add the laughing emoji thing to WTS adds. A bunch of mine got them due to high prices. Were the prices high? Sure. Did all of my stuff on NES sell for the high prices? No.

I brought the rifles that I couldn't sell on NES for my price to the local FFL. I jacked the price up even more, and in these 3 cases, sold the guns for more at the shop on consignment with the fee factored in than I would of got on NES. it was pretty slick.

Sure, people on NES are gun savvy and know prices, demand, etc. However, people who go into shops may have some extra cash to spend, and may not know where to find X model elsewhere. In in those cases, you can get some pretty high prices going.

I sold my Dench Mosin with I think 3,000+ rounds through it for a shit load of money.

 

[Len-2A Training]

I had a G23 listed here for what I thought was a reasonable (for MA) price. It had been professionally Cerakoted and all internals replaced by a Glock gunsmith. There was no interest.

I brought it to a So. Shore shop to put on consignment and offered to buy it outright for more money than I had listed it here for. I also sold a handful of other handguns thru him on consignment.