I wonder who would sell a Milsurp to Cabelas Gun Library?

Mountain

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Not me...

Before selling a nice all matching 40's K31 to another NESer, out of curiosity and the fact that I had a discount coupon & gift card, I toted the K31 to the Berlin Cabelas gun library. If a reasonable trade, there were a couple bolt actions I was interested in.

Took them forever to round up a guy to take a look. Younger guy who was apparently the supervisor said they really couldn't offer much because they had a bunch of K31's coming in and just didn't need the inventory. Even when stating I'd be trading towards something else, he said best he could offer was $200-$250 "because of all the rifles coming in from Century...".

So I picked up on that and said, "Hey, that's great- I'd be interested in a late production shooter grade. When are they coming in?"

"Well, ummm, ahh, I really don't know- they are supposed to be coming in the next week or two".

"Can you check and confirm the shipment? I'm definitely interested. Who can I call to follow up?"

"Ummm, ahh, just call the store and ask for the gun library. I really don't know when exactly they will be coming in and exactly how many will be allocated to our store..."

LOL, such BS. In the last two months they have only had a K11 come through the door. I live close and have checked regularly.

I can totally understand a retailer wanting a decent margin on something, but offering ~30-40% of the going price on BunGroker combined with a BS story is nuttin' but SNAKE OIL.

[bs]

Some deals can be found there if you keep an eye out for something they have somehow under-priced. I can't imagine ever selling something to them.
 
At best most places will give 70% max then adjust for condition from there. Kittery used to offer 12% more for in house credit.
 
At best most places will give 70% max then adjust for condition from there. Kittery used to offer 12% more for in house credit.

And that would be reasonable. Thought I'd give folks a head's up about Cabelas' silly offer.
 
Trade value aside, it is what it is type of thing but once the bullshit story came out I would have called them out on his bullshit story.
 
Should contact that young guy’s supervisor to see if he was truthful. He needs a lesson - for his own benefit!
 
I like Cabelas and have bought a few guns there but the gun counter is definitely hit or miss.
 
Trade value aside, it is what it is type of thing but once the bullshit story came out I would have called them out on his bullshit story.


It was more fun to indirectly call him out by wanting 'in' on the supposed shipment of K31's. I was half serious, half enjoying watching him try to BS his way out of it. Also, at that point I had no expectation of any offer that would be remotely interesting to me.
 
I went to the Berlin Cabelas to buy a headspace gauge set last weekend and couldn't find one anywhere in the reloading area.

So I asked one of the employees and he didn't know, so he asked a couple others and not one of them even knew what I was talking about.

This, and your story, is what you get at a big box store, that also sell guns. Most employees there probably aren't gun guys which you are more likely to find at a LGS. Those that are most likely are just Fudds.
 
I went to the Berlin Cabelas to buy a headspace gauge set last weekend and couldn't find one anywhere in the reloading area.

So I asked one of the employees and he didn't know, so he asked a couple others and not one of them even knew what I was talking about.

This, and your story, is what you get at a big box store, that also sell guns. Most employees there probably aren't gun guys which you are more likely to find at a LGS. Those that are most likely are just Fudds.

I never seen headspace gages at either Cabela or Basspro in Foxboro.

Usually retail stores do 50/50, cost of product they sell is 50% as a rule of thumb.
 
And that would be reasonable. Thought I'd give folks a head's up about Cabelas' silly offer.
Then 200-250 was what you would get.
What did he tag your rifle for at condition
Kittery flat out told me 70% is the max your going to get for 100% condition rifle now if your rifle is at a real world condition of 80% you lucky to get a 50% trade in value with your K31s running $500 buck or so your got a offer right in line with most every place I have traded with. Only one gun I did well on was a performance center 1911 guy must have wanted or knew someone wh did. I lost $125 trading it 2_years old.
 
I'd decline but would not take issue with a straight up low offer. Low offer plus BS story not OK in my book.

And yes- NES classifieds are much better for both sellers and buyers. Excepting the endless bumps of overpriced stuff by the usual suspects, NES classifieds are a great resource.
 
I thought I read on gun boards that cabelas actually buys a lot from century. I bet century has bulk packages they sell to these dealers. Century did get a tom of stuff from samco global auction plus what ever else they import.
The last 3 K31 I seen had the CIA import stamp.

Before I could get a offer in my friends mother brought all her husbands guns to cabela in ME they bought everything she had and she said they missed her husband value by about 15% she just wanted to dump them
 
An older guy I had talked to on a prior visit said that they'd pay decent money for a K31 because they always sold quickly and their prices were going up.
 
A gun shop is never going to give you a ton in trade for guns. This isn’t exclusive to Cabelas.

Plan at most shops on getting half of what the gun is worth.

Find me a gun shop that pays you in trade anywhere near what a gun sells for used and i’ll show you a shop that will quickly be out of business.
 
That "Library" is a joke. It's more like a museum attraction. Most are old lever western assault rifles with John Wayne engraving.

Once an Arisaka in the cabinet. No Jap ammo in the store and for the asking price for the T99 ground mum , no dust cover could get two T99s.

Never saw any centuries.
 
I guess the guy was telling the truth. They came in today to the store.

No kidding? Too late for tonight's dinner but there's always tomorrow to eat some of this:

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Though in my defense it was nowhere near a couple weeks and if they had made a fair offer mine would have been long gone. Worked out better to sell within NES anyway.

Late last week I did see a a very nice Arasaka there. Not cheap but one of the best I have seen in a long time.
 
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