They either don't realize or don't care about maintaining a customer base anymore. Gun people tend to be loyal to certain places and gun ranges. It becomes a personal thing. Knowing the staff by name and having a good rapport. And then when they go and try to take advantage of their loyal customer base, they only succeed in alienating them. Its happened to me a few times out here as well.
Yep... my local place hasn't inflated their prices, but retailers like Cheaper Than Dirt? I wonder if they are getting some sales backlash now, after selling .22lr for some of the most exorbitant prices I've seen. I hope so- screw them. The weather was great this past weekend but of course I spent most of my time at the workbench. Started on Saturday morning with this maple, cherry, and carbon fiber laminate blank and ended up with a 99% inletted stock for my Suhl by Sunday evening. I gutted out the bulk of the material with a drill press and went in from there the fun way, with nothing more than gouges, chisels, scrapers and inletting black. Next step is shaping. My arms are getting a workout carving this one. Here's a little progress shot: I'm hoping to have it completed in time for Nationals this August. If I could bring it down to St. Louis with me to show, it could pay off big.
Yeah Ive heard the stories of gun shops sending workers to camp out at Wal Mart to snap up any ammo to turn and sell at twice the price, and people were paying. Interesting times.
I know the price on .22L ammo is super high according to the tag, but I haven't found any at any of the wal marts, at either of the Academy's, at any of the local gun shops. I tried to get some to take my nieces out to the range but they got to shoot the AK and 9mm instead. I wish we had the pellet rifle then, it would have been a great alternative for them.
Seriously, ammo shopping no joke. Its cheaper to go out and get some 9mm or 45 depending on what you own. 22 is coming in at extortion prices. High powered pellet guns sound like a lot fun. I would just be too tempted to start shooting it in the house or blow out some street lights. I mean, shit, when I had my airsoft gun laying around, my old roommate and I would just shoot each other with it. Stings like a bitch and leaves tiny welts.
I just stopped by my local gun shop today and they did have .22lr in stock... but it was the already laughably overpriced Eley Match EPS re-sold by Remington at $20/box. I buy the same stuff a couple of dealers for $13-14/box. I had a great time shooting my pellet gun in the basement this weekend... would bet sales on those have been exploding in the past year.
The ctd in Fort Worth here went out of business. None of my friends shop at the one in McKinney due to their gouging. They are the only store in the area to consistently attempt to fuck over their customer base other than the scum bags at the gun shows.
I'm running a little low right now. I like to keep 1000 of each as a baseline, but I haven't been to the store as much as I've been to the range lately. As it stands, I'm sitting at about 800 of 5.56, 750 of 9mm, and only about 600 of .303 british.
Currently, I am have 600 rounds of 45acp, 1200 rounds of 9mm and 1500 rounds of 22lr. I am trying to build up to at least a 1000 rounds of the big stuff and as much as 22lr as I can get. Not much chance of adding to the 22lr at this time.
Remington is moving production of Bushmaster rifles from New York to Alabama: http://blog.al.com/wire/2014/05/new_york_lawmakers_sound_off_o.html They have job openings for the new facility posted on their web site.
I kept reading about everyone posting on the shortage of 22lr and just shrugged. I have plenty on hand and haven't had to shop for any in a while, so I thought it was plentiful around here. I ate lunch near our local Dick's Sporting Goods today, and decided to go in and buy some 22lr just because. There was a sign on the gun counter that read "We currently do not have 22lr and 22 magnum ammo in stock." Strange times.
One of the worst aspects of this happening, is its preventing dads from taking out their younger(say 10-13 year old) kids to shoot. This is the caliber most kids are introduced to when learning to shoot. And to me, theres nothing better than going to the range and seeing a dad and son go plinking for the first time. I remember when my dad took me to the range for the first time. One of the best days of my childhood. You won't see them handing over a bolt action .308 to little Steven so he can learn what a dislocated shoulder is instead of the joys of shooting.
First gun I learned to shoot with was a pellet gun... again I'd bet sales of air rifles have skyrocketed now. Nothing wrong with introducing a kid to firearms with one and simply stepping up to a .22lr when you can in my mind. Color case hardening and nitrue blued parts by Turnbull on a 1911? Yay or nay? Spoiler The grip screws on it are out of timing and IT KILLS ME!
The blue looks kind of cool, but for me it doesn't fit with the rest of the gun, maybe if it was a show piece and it was completely blue.
I want to like it, but true to practically everything Turnbull does, there's something for me to strongly dislike. In this case, it's the bright blue components. I'm a huge fan of traditional bone and coal case colors with rust bluing. The ancillary bright blue parts kill it for me, though. On second look, that case color is either enhanced or done poorly. It should be more subdued for my taste.
Does it shoot accurately and kill as quickly as the exact same make and caliber in a different coloring? If so, I'm all for it. Make my firearm look different. Just don't make it perform worse.
I think there's not much worse than a douche who hands a first time shooter a high power firearm. Typical starting age back home is six or seven and I grew up in an area where it's unfortunately common to 'toughen up' their kid by teaching them with a deer rifle instead of a .22lr. Thankfully, my family was not and I still have the .22lr I learned with. Any kids I ever have will learn with it as well.
No, that gun's pretty damned ugly if you ask me. Like the others have said, the fact that the receiver's been color case hardened, the slide is solid, with the blued parts makes it look like it was cobbled together from a bunch of scavenged or cannibalized pistols. There are so many better ways to make a 1911 look pretty. Edit: Just noticed the bottom of the grip is busted off; this gun actually is a reclamation project, isn't it?