• If you enjoy the forum please consider supporting it by signing up for a NES Membership  The benefits pay for the membership many times over.

online gun sales

wjsmall97

NES Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2009
Messages
1,065
Likes
288
Location
S.E, N.H.
Feedback: 1 / 0 / 0
Anyone familiar with online gun sales. I was told that I could find henry rifles online for about $500. I am looking for a .357,.44 mag or a .45 colt. Not looking to buy until after the new year, but looking for prices now.
 
Anyone familiar with online gun sales. I was told that I could find henry rifles online for about $500. I am looking for a .357,.44 mag or a .45 colt. Not looking to buy until after the new year, but looking for prices now.
you're not one of those skinflints we're always seeing posted about here, are you now?
 
Anyone familiar with online gun sales. I was told that I could find henry rifles online for about $500. I am looking for a .357,.44 mag or a .45 colt. Not looking to buy until after the new year, but looking for prices now.
No. Even used in those calibers you won't find that price for Henry. You may get lucky and see a little below $600 (like I did). Even if you do find one for $500, shipping and transfer fees are going to bring that up. Then dealing with the transfer agent who will be like "I could have gotten you one of these for $XXX, why didn't you just call"....
 
The person that said it was at Wal-Mart complaining about their price on the Henry rifle,saying he could get it for $500,so I asked him where, and kind of surprised him,and didn't get where he said it was.
I didn't think there could be that much difference,when comparing the group price here and also looking at,gun broker.
Thanks
 
The person that said it was at Wal-Mart complaining about their price on the Henry rifle,saying he could get it for $500,so I asked him where, and kind of surprised him,and didn't get where he said it was.
I didn't think there could be that much difference,when comparing the group price here and also looking at,gun broker.
Thanks
To confirm, you need to get a second opinion from the UPS driver. Jack.
 
No. Even used in those calibers you won't find that price for Henry. You may get lucky and see a little below $600 (like I did). Even if you do find one for $500, shipping and transfer fees are going to bring that up. Then dealing with the transfer agent who will be like "I could have gotten you one of these for $XXX, why didn't you just call"....

Only if you have a shitty transfer FFL. Mine would never do/say that.
 
You can look a grabagun.com which is sometimes cheaper. No sales tax, flat shipping of $9. But, then you also pay a transfer fee. So even with no tax, shipping + transfer fee often equals the retail price at your local FFL. And you do want your local FFL to stay in business to sell you other stuff and support the 2A right?

A Henry Big Boy isn't going to be less than $700. $500 is one of the .22lr models if you are lucky.
 
Only if you have a shitty transfer FFL. Mine would never do/say that.

Depends on if they are saying it to be helpful or to be a prick about it. In one case some referalls I made, the inbounding FFL got my
friend a deal that was better than the remote's deal (it was puds or some shitbird online dealer like that) and it actually saved him some cash.

-Mike
 
Depends on if they are saying it to be helpful or to be a prick about it. In one case some referalls I made, the inbounding FFL got my
friend a deal that was better than the remote's deal (it was puds or some shitbird online dealer like that) and it actually saved him some cash.

-Mike

Agree. It's hard to read tone in a post. I "heard" it in a prick tone; it could have also been said in a helpful tone, like "Hey, let me know next time, and I might be able to save you a few bucks."
 
Like others, I'll generally search locally first. If I can't find it locally for the same (take into account sales tax if buying local vs. transfer fee+ shipping+ wait time buying online)I have zero problems buying online and transferring locally. I use MFS because they actually have good hours and have had several items transferred in that they couldn't match. No issues or complaints. If they did come back after confirming that they will accept the transfer with a better price for their in stock gun (not a match but perhaps a lower price based on what their customers can get it for elsewhere) I would actually thank them and consider it.
I will say if I get something online and transfer in store I will generally pick up something (ammo, mag, spare something) in their store as well.
 
Last edited:
You can look a grabagun.com which is sometimes cheaper. No sales tax, flat shipping of $9. But, then you also pay a transfer fee. So even with no tax, shipping + transfer fee often equals the retail price at your local FFL. And you do want your local FFL to stay in business to sell you other stuff and support the 2A right?

A Henry Big Boy isn't going to be less than $700. $500 is one of the .22lr models if you are lucky.
Really depends. Everyone's just gotta do the math and factor in convenience. I've had purchases where online was much cheaper and ones where it would have been a wash. Case in point, a popular MA FFL was selling a "not rare, not common" rifle for $1500 whereas an online vendor had the same for $1150.

When I lived in MA, Four Seasons couldn't touch the selection or price of one pistol I got online. Othertimes it's within $50 or so; in that case, go local.

As for the Henry, looks like based on a very quick search, I'd run me $691 out the door - $663 + $8 shipping + $20 transfer. Under $700, but just barely. For comparable prices, I'd buy local.
 
You can look a grabagun.com which is sometimes cheaper. No sales tax, flat shipping of $9. But, then you also pay a transfer fee. So even with no tax, shipping + transfer fee often equals the retail price at your local FFL.

Really? Your local FFL is often just $29 ($20 transfer and $9 flat shipping) over than the best price you can find online? I call BS.

And you do want your local FFL to stay in business to sell you other stuff and support the 2A right?

Not really. Free market giveth, and the free market taketh away.
 
Agree. It's hard to read tone in a post. I "heard" it in a prick tone; it could have also been said in a helpful tone, like "Hey, let me know next time, and I might be able to save you a few bucks."
reminds me of the guy we all have encountered at one time or another. you know, the one that says, as you're showing them your new toy you paid 600 bucks for and he tells you "why didn't you say something, I sold one last week for 300." don't ya just love 'em?
 
Keep being a skinflint and you won't have any local FFLs anymore or they will all charge enormous transfer fees.

Right. Because where a demand exists, no one ever steps in to provide the supply. And competition never leads to lower prices. Shitty businessmen have been using that specious argument since "that there internet-thing" was invented by Al Gore.
 
Lets say you purchase something on grabagunfor $560. Shipping is $9 and say the transfer is $25. Thats $594 total.

If you buy something local for $560, MA sales tax is 0.0625% which adds $35 with no transfer fee, so total $595.

So anything with a cost > $560 grabagun is cheaper, < $560 local is cheaper. Whether its worth the hassle depends on how much youre saving obviously. On a $700 gun, youre saving < $9 going with grabagun. On a $1000 gun, $28 saved. ($1000+tax=1062.5 vs $1000+$9 shipping+$25 transfer=1034)

Everybody's different, but I'd rather put a few extra dollars in a local guys pocket and walk away with a new gun right then and there than have to order, wait and in the end, save just a few dollars. Bigger the purchase, the bigger the savings, but I cant afford big purchases so its irrelevant, lol.
 
You can try Gallery of Guns Genie.
www.galleryofguns.com

Gallery of Guns is a retail store front run by Davidsons the distributor. Dealers who are customers of GofG get to set prices with Davidsons shipping to the dealer and you picking up from your local dealer.

Davidsons is a tier 2 distributor with bad pricing and a bad shipping policy. If the gun is coming from Davidsons then you are over paying for it.

Talk to your LGS. If you dont like the price, talk to another LGS. In the end, you have to do business with a LGS if only for the transfer, so you might as well start there.
 
Lets say you purchase something on grabagunfor $560. Shipping is $9 and say the transfer is $25. Thats $594 total.

If you buy something local for $560, MA sales tax is 0.0625% which adds $35 with no transfer fee, so total $595.

So anything with a cost > $560 grabagun is cheaper, < $560 local is cheaper. Whether its worth the hassle depends on how much youre saving obviously. On a $700 gun, youre saving < $9 going with grabagun. On a $1000 gun, $28 saved. ($1000+tax=1062.5 vs $1000+$9 shipping+$25 transfer=1034)

Everybody's different, but I'd rather put a few extra dollars in a local guys pocket and walk away with a new gun right then and there than have to order, wait and in the end, save just a few dollars. Bigger the purchase, the bigger the savings, but I cant afford big purchases so its irrelevant, lol.

Whoa! You're assuming the price online and at the LGS are the same. Now do your math when the online price is almost 30% cheaper than the LGS. See how that works out for you. In July, a local gun store quoted me a price of $569 for a S&W M&P 2.0 Compact 3.6". I paid $429, shipped, from Smoky Mountain Guns & Ammo. (A little more patience would have gotten it from Sportsman's Outdoor Superstore for $399 shipped, but I wasn't patient.) $20 transfer. How does your math hold up now?
 
i've bought one gun out of state, i mentioned it in a recent post. i wasn't price shopping, i had no luck finding it local and for some reason, no one wanted to take the time to locate one. even my go to shop wasn't interested hunting it down. and where i'm a regular, they all know if i walk in the door looking for something in particular, i'm not kicking tires, i'm ready to buy. i have been called a valued customer in some places. ;)
 
Back
Top Bottom