What's up with todays' gun shops?

[Boone66]

My local scheels used too keep a 700 BDL on the shelf in a common caliber. Usually a 30-06, 270 or 7mm magnum. They also frequently had a new M70 there, either wood or synthetic, and a wood savage.
Now good luck finding anything that isn’t a bergara or CA ridgeline.
I will add that this after (amd before too) the assault weapons ban, there are no ARs on the shelf, period.
Just a sign of the times i guess.

And the fact that Remington was sued into bankruptcy.

 

[Philip Glass]

Where I live everything is 90% black guns and pistols when I go into the shops looking for USED hunting rifles. They all have new rifles for sale with 99% camo synthetic stocks and many seem to have a SMALL handful of bolt action rifles but half of those are WW2 military rifles. Try and find ANYTHING .338 and up is useless. What has happened? I ask this question to find out if this is a Nationwide trend here and/or in other countries? I guess I'm just fu***** old. LOL

It is true in general but our local shops still have a large selection of bolt guns.

 

[skydiver386]

As others have stated, it's supply and demand.

Most of us on this forum enjoy what is now classified as "Fine Guns".
Two really nice gun stores in my State where nary a black gun will be found.

Jaqua's Fine Guns

Sporting Firearms in Southwest Ohio | Country Attic Treasures

Southwest Ohio’s Largest Selection of Sporting Shotguns, Rifles, and Handguns Country Attic Treasures is Southwest Ohio’s best resource for any of your sporting firearms needs. We pride ourselves on […]

www.countryattictreasures.com

There are plenty of others like this, you just have to look.

 

[JimP]

Years ago I subscribed to a number of gun magazines and when they went away from the hunting/target type of rifles and pistols to nothing but black rifles and semi automatic pistols I made the decision to leave them.

The gun shops are no different, they are selling what people want to buy and right now hunting rifles are far down the list.

 

[dogcat1]

Too many options.... There are over a hundred manufactureres. Mostly black guns.
Sporting guns drop as a result. I have stopped going to gun shops and started going to online gun sellers - MNR Custom Rifles, Champlin, and others to find the very nice used customs and upscale guns.

 

[flying sailor]

Pretty much the same in the mid west. However, visiting gun shows thru out the state can turn up some fine hunting rifles that people no longer use. Visit the shows and bring home a "stray".

 

[Saul]

The only upside I see to all of this is that many no longer know the value of their used gun inventory and just want to move anything with wood or blued steel as quickly as possible.

 

[deewayne2003]

The plastic guns are cheaper for generations that have less money, consider this.

Generational Wealth Gap: Millennial vs Boomer Wealth Gap

Did you know: Millennials are the least wealthy generation? Learn more about the generational wealth gap between Boomers and Millennials here.

trustandwill.com

 

[PARA45]

I believe this is something happening all across our country.

My son showed me a synthetic stocked rifle, and he was raving on how beautiful it was, blah, blah, blah. I stopped him and asked him if a rifle from the same manufacturer was different than his, and he said "well, no". So, I said to him, exactly, they are the same synthetic stock, and everything else. A rifle with a wood stock, will be different to every other rifle from the same company because not two pieces of wood are the same. He still didn't get it, so I quit trying to explain to him. But I did say that the day I leave this planet, I will give my wood stocked rifle to those who appreciate them. He didn't like my reply.

 

[Green Chile]

As much as I like guns, I equally dislike walking through the average gun store. I don't even go in them...just drive right past. They don't have what I'm looking for and my skin crawls when I hear many of them giving advice to customers. I'm glad they are around and in business but I'm not their market focus.

When I was collecting various things, I would walk through just to see if something was on the bottom shelf but usually not. I feel the same about most gun shows. I can walk through one quickly and not spend a dime. However, get me into some special shows like Beinfeld in Las Vegas and I slow WAY down.

 

[Saul]

I believe this is something happening all across our country.

My son showed me a synthetic stocked rifle, and he was raving on how beautiful it was, blah, blah, blah. I stopped him and asked him if a rifle from the same manufacturer was different than his, and he said "well, no". So, I said to him, exactly, they are the same synthetic stock, and everything else. A rifle with a wood stock, will be different to every other rifle from the same company because not two pieces of wood are the same. He still didn't get it, so I quit trying to explain to him. But I did say that the day I leave this planet, I will give my wood stocked rifle to those who appreciate them. He didn't like my reply.

Appreciation for fine classic guns should be the new paternity test.

 

[BeeMaa]

As much as I like guns, I equally dislike walking through the average gun store. I don't even go in them...just drive right past. They don't have what I'm looking for and my skin crawls when I hear many of them giving advice to customers. I'm glad they are around and in business but I'm not their market focus.

When I was collecting various things, I would walk through just to see if something was on the bottom shelf but usually not. I feel the same about most gun shows. I can walk through one quickly and not spend a dime. However, get me into some special shows like Beinfeld in Las Vegas and I slow WAY down.

This comment made me think about the last time I stopped into a gun store at random. It’s probably been more than 20 years since I was just browsing through and “looking”.

If I have a specific need and they happen to have it, sure…I’ll go in and have a look around while picking up what I came for. Rarely would I get anything else.

Unfortunately they have become more of my FFL dealer than an actual gun store. I buy and sell over the web so I do NEED that, but not for much else.

 

[Troubleshooter]

It depends. Certainly most stores have gone to tacticool but if you know the area well you can still find the good stuff. Stores with literally hundreds of shotguns from utilitarian to fine, and a fair selection of used rifles as well. Same with gunshows, if you get past the tables of black rifles there are hundreds of older hunting rifles waiting for a new home. Just need to be selective in your venue and persistent in your search.

 

[D.M.V]

A few years ago when I was living in rural northwest Arizona where there's a gun shop on every corner. I scored a lot of beautiful old school wood stocked hunting rifles. I noticed that tread back then. These shops would be full of kids handling Glocks and AR's and the poor ones Taurus's and the universally available bersa thunder and id be over in the corner sifting through the wood. I was happy for this and scored quite a few gems for my collection. I guess the point of the story is it's gotta be the time and place.

 

[Inline6]

The F’N AR happened and it F’N killed the hunting rifle and scope market!!! Now if it’s not tacticool it doesn’t sell to the new gen and all of a sudden a 6.5 Creedmore is supposedly a serious long range big game round but a 264 Win Mag is unheard of WTF!

No sir you are wrong. ARs have been out a long time.

PRS competitions and the Ruger Precision rifle started that slide. Ruger made an affordable rifle that shot small groups the average person could afford. PRS while they don't have a ton of members, a lot of the optic and rifle manufacturers pay attention to the audience. For every PRS member they average 10+ people who want to try it.

If you figure out a way to have Safari match competitions. Grow the sport, the pendulum will swing the other way.

Companies produce what sells, it is nothing against anyone. We are all free to build custom rifles, if that means with our own hands or paying someone else.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

No sir you are wrong. ARs have been out a long time.

PRS competitions and the Ruger Precision rifle started that slide. Ruger made an affordable rifle that shot small groups the average person could afford. PRS while they don't have a ton of members, a lot of the optic and rifle manufacturers pay attention to the audience. For every PRS member they average 10+ people who want to try it.

If you figure out a way to have Safari match competitions. Grow the sport, the pendulum will swing the other way.

Companies produce what sells, it is nothing against anyone. We are all free to build custom rifles, if that means with our own hands or paying someone else.

I must agree. I would guess most gun owners are not hunters, therefore they do not buy hunting guns.

 

[sureshot375]

It's an issue of demand. It's also an issue of production costs and engineering.

My local shops have plenty of bolt rifles, but they are mostly synthetic stocks. Other than aesthetics, synthetic stocks are generally far superior. They are less expensive to manufacture and are not affected by temperature, humidity, and altitude in the same way wood stocks are. With the new pillar systems like the savage accustock, you can have a cheap plastic stock that is very accurate. In short with the modern production rifles you can get a $500.00 rifle that will shoot nearly as accurate as a custom rifle that costs 10x as much.

ARs are popular for hunting, but I would venture to say bolt is still the most popular. I am a fan of the AR platform and think everyone needs to own a dozen or so, but I much prefer a bolt for hunting.

 

[Inline6]

I must agree. I would guess most gun owners are not hunters, therefore they do not buy hunting guns.

Yes sir. It is much more cost prohibitive to hunt now than ever before. That and hunting and shooting skills are just not getting passed down.

 

[Green Chile]

That's an interesting comment...shooting and hunting are vastly different topics. That comment sums up perfectly the difference I feel hanging out with a gun shop or gun range crowd versus a hunting group. I love shooting and do it as much as I can, which is not as much as I would like. However, I approach shooting from the perspective of a serious hunter. I work on my shooting to remove any personal excuses from having a good hunt outcome. I just recently got back from a bear hunt in Canada where half the guys in camp lost their wounded bears...very troubling and it came from the usual crowd in camp that talks a LOT about their skills around the table but doesn't deliver in the field.

 

[Hogpatrol]

With states scrambling to retain and recruit new hunters, many legalized semi-auto for big game hunting so it's more cost effective to buy just one rifle to serve multiple purposes..