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Smith & Wesson shooting range closed?
- Thread starter RichM
- Start date
I'm quite disappointed with the way they handled this. Us with active future course registrations should have been proactively notified. There's still no indication of the status on their websites either.
I'm just glad they hadn't charged me for it yet so there's no refund to wait for.
I'm just glad they hadn't charged me for it yet so there's no refund to wait for.
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It's tough to make $$ with a rental range + store, especially when the store has to operate under pricing constraints that preclude it from being a real competitor in the marketplace. Handgun prices at the S&W center always seemed higher than those at the better gun shops, most likely because S&W either had an internal pricing structure where the "sold" themselves the guns at an artificially high internal transfer price and/or did not want to get a reputation for undercutting their dealers. On the various times I was there, I never saw a gun actually being sold - it was more of a "showroom" where you could see everything before going to your local dealer for a better deal.
Part of the "alignment" issue would be deciding what that center is supposed to be - a separate profitable business; a training facility that rents range time on the side; or a promotional activity that is not expected to operate as a profitable business unit.
Part of the "alignment" issue would be deciding what that center is supposed to be - a separate profitable business; a training facility that rents range time on the side; or a promotional activity that is not expected to operate as a profitable business unit.
turbo38gn
NES Member
Not wanting to disagree with you Rob, but I believe your assessment is off . I frequently visited the range and store, almost daily. I have purchased many guns and the pricing is quite competitive with surrounding dealers and at times better. I know that for a fact. As for it being a showroom, if that was all it was, I'm not sure who all those people coming in and leaving with the guns were.... but I watched a pretty steady stream of guns being sold almost everytime in there.. I'm strickly talking about the Retail Store, no idea on the cost effectiveness of the range, my guess is the overhead far excedes the income.. I am also quite sure there is a lot more to the story of what happened to close the Center down.. but I ain't going there..
Seems to me the store and range are more a promotional activity. The LTC classes at $100 a person must be money makers, when I took mine the class was full and I had to wait months to get in one. 30 students is $3000, pay the instructor $300, looks like a good $2700 for one classroom for the day.
Tin foil hat on: Maybe the first step in moving out of MA with the whole operation.
Tin foil hat on: Maybe the first step in moving out of MA with the whole operation.
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turbo38gn
NES Member
I agree with ya there.... definitely a promotional facility. I believe S&W is one of the few if the only major player with such a place.
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Jack, I tend to agree with Rob on the pricing, at least based on the small amount of experience that I have personally had there. I tend to be a fairly tight budget with regard to my firearms hobby (mainly because my wife is NOT a "true believer" yet), so price shopping is a big part of the picture when I "need" to acquire new hardware, or even ammo for that matter. I have noticed that on average, I could save $50, or more on most firearms by going to some of the stores in our immediate area. I do believe that Rob's point about not underselling their retail distributors is the main reason for this, though. They tend to price their stuff at, or close to actual MSRP, where the individual FFLs are free to make whatever margin they feel works for them, as in the example of Gun's Inc. that we were talking about last week. If you think about it, if S&W treated their store at sort of an "Outlet" shop with low prices, they would lose their entire dealer network because they couldn't compete with the relatively low margins they work with.
Unless you are getting coupons, special discounts or something, no it's not competitive, not anywhere near competitive. Prices are frequently $50-$100 over the "MA street average. " You must not have shopped around very much. Either that or the "surrounding dealers" really sucked.
The only time the SSC has ever been competitive on gun prices is when a discount is in effect or under a period of weirdness in the gun economy- for example, for a short period of time it was easier to buy an AR15 at S&W during Obamascare, because even though the prices were higher, they had them in stock and they were sometimes even lower than what the gougers were getting for Bushmasters.... and you got a better rifle to boot.
-Mike
That range offered visitors, especially from outside the US, the opportunity to shoot usually for the first time ever. I've seen fellas and ladies, all dressed in business attire, visiting the range with someone familiar with the setup, being instructed about how they would handle the firearms. Many were from the Asian countries. There was always a huge smile on their faces as they were getting to do something that none of their compatriots would ever get to do and there were a lot of photographs. Too bad that option won't be offered again......at least for now.
Maybe their insurance carrier forced them to decide the the training center was more of a liability than the cost was worth. It's too bad. I know I've taken my share of out-of-towners there while they visited, that and visiting the Armory. You may know,too, that the Armory is also in dire straits. I sure hope this isn't the beginning of the end!
Rome
Maybe their insurance carrier forced them to decide the the training center was more of a liability than the cost was worth. It's too bad. I know I've taken my share of out-of-towners there while they visited, that and visiting the Armory. You may know,too, that the Armory is also in dire straits. I sure hope this isn't the beginning of the end!
Rome
turbo38gn
NES Member
Not gonna argue with anyone here, but you're wrong. I bought more guns in the last 2years, pricing local and pricing at the retail store, majority of prices are within 20 bucks, kick in my 10%military discouint and you do the math. There are also occassional deals you have to be around to get... I've gotten several of them. But the bottom line, I HAVE BOUGHT FROM MY LOCAL DEALER WHEN I COULD BUY A FEW BUCKS CHEAPER AT THE SW STORE. I do want to support my local dealer. I'm not saying every gun is in the $20 range differance, but the majoirty of what I have looked at and bought .. that was the case. Also, if you guys are looking at the online SW store prices, those are always MSRP... NOT THE SAME PRICE IN THE SW STORE!!
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I'm not talking MSRP, I'm talking their store price. I've never seen a gun there that was within $20 of the MA going rate for anything. Then again I haven't been there in a couple years so maybe it has gotten better than it used to be, so I could be wrong. I know someone who got a really good deal there, but he also got it as a result of a big discount.
With a 10% discount in play though that's some significant coin, and I can see how that would get you closer.
Well, there is ONE big shop that I bet the shooting sports center could beat, easily.... BASS PRO.
![[rofl]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/013.gif "ROFL [rofl]")
Their gun prices are terrible. -Mike
If S&W is closing up the Shooting Sports Center, I'm feeling betrayed. As an owner & investor living in this anti-gun hell hole of a State this was one of my little happy place sanctuaries.
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I didn't realize that you got the 10% discount for the mil, so that would make a big difference in most cases. Now that I know that, I will make sure you are with me next time I buy something there!
![[wink]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/002.gif "Wink [wink]")
![[smile]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/001.gif "Smile [smile]")
jaypap
NES Member
I called them. The SSC phone says closed for inventory. I called customer service they said as a member I can request a prorated refund or wait till they reopen, if they reopen.
The gentleman on the phone said he had no other information as to why or when it would reopen or not.
He did say if I stayed as a member I would be notified as to the new rules of membership when and if they reopen.
I'm going to send a letter for a refund. If they reopen I will consider joining again until then it's shooting outdoors for me.
The gentleman on the phone said he had no other information as to why or when it would reopen or not.
He did say if I stayed as a member I would be notified as to the new rules of membership when and if they reopen.
I'm going to send a letter for a refund. If they reopen I will consider joining again until then it's shooting outdoors for me.
That one wouldn't have happened.
The Pro was never Mass OK, and from what I understand they have discontinued the Pro.
Because the government is working on making us all felons one law at a time. Don't trust the government to do whats right. The founders were felons to their govt.
If you want to guarantee a slot volunteer to work the match. If you buy enough it may even justify the vacation time.
If you are patient and look around you can find a Pro. I scored a .40 Pro that I plan on using for a Limited-10 gun next year.
Yeah, I was talking about compliance BS. Where have you heard they've discontinued the Pro? They're scare right now because they're made in batches and they're selling the regular models as fast as they can make them. They were similarly scare a while ago and then came back when the next batch was run.
Yeah, that is actually a relatively good price. I guess they brought the pricing down to more reasonable levels. I just know that a couple of years ago it was off the wall in comparison, by like $50-100 over.
Bass Pro probably sells that same gun for $599.
-Mike
