I have come to the conclusion that guns in the South are way overpriced.

[Guest TankerHC]

When I was in Michigan the last time I remembere seeing 10+ ruger 10/22 for 175 or less, all in great shape. I was telling the guy behind the counter that I could not find a deal like that in TN. I told him that I have not seen one for less than 200 used. He lauhed and said it would be hard to sell that here because they sell the new ones for $190. I was amazed at some of the prices. I was not aware that I could buy a rifle out of state and not have to transfer it to a FFL. I might have to pick up some stuff next time.

There is only ONE real difference in buying out of state. Before you buy, you tell the dealer its an out of state purchase, when you hand your ID over they will know anyway. But its good business and a courtesy. When the dealer calls in the 4473, he will tell the person on the other end everything he does for anyone else but adding "This is an out of state purchase". Nothing else different.

[LI0NSFAN]

There is only ONE real difference in buying out of state. Before you buy, you tell the dealer its an out of state purchase, when you hand your ID over they will know anyway. But its good business and a courtesy. When the dealer calls in the 4473, he will tell the person on the other end everything he does for anyone else but adding "This is an out of state purchase". Nothing else different.

My vacation just got expensive.

[Smith]

The internet has really brought prices competitive. Some dealers, like Buds, work off of volume and make very little profit on an individual gun. That is fine when you are moving 100 units of a given gun every month. For the local guys that is near impossible and so the "profit" will be greater to cover the lack of volume. I say "profit" because it is not really profit. It is covering expense. Buds for example has 3 guys handling internet sales and turn incredible volume so their pricing and cost are much less than local shops. I know at our shop we can beat Buds on some things and some things Buds sales lower than our distributor cost and we work off of 14 distributors. It is a difficult game and some stores work harder at it than others. Academy is another that we beat on 95% of normal stocking stuff. They will sell some stuff at a loss because they do it in volume ala Sigma's.

BTW - CDNN is not a good comparison because they are a distributor that sales direct to the public. It's hard to compete with that and many dealers don't like them for that practice.

As far as manufacturer direct some of the manufacturers are ridiculous in their buy in demands. Benelli for instance, insist on a 15k worth of product buy in and they essentially get to pick what you get. Most local guys can't do that to get one m4.

As far as markup, folks talking about 30-40% is crazy talk. Competitive pricing stores are happy to get in the 10-13% range. A lot are lower and very few are higher. I can tell you that most things we can be competitive with.

As far as buying out of state, when you add transfer and shipping we still usually beat them on like guns. Tax is usually the difference and there is nothing we can do about that till they change it. Not advocating for that just figure they'll find a way to not loose that money.

Just a little insight from one store.

Edited July 22, 2012 by Smith

[Dolomite_supafly]

Your OP made it sound like you were just going up and buying guns, no mention of doing the paperwork.

Also, please highlight where in my post I was wrong.

Dolomite

[Guest TankerHC]

My vacation just got expensive.

The other thing Buds has going for them (Other than great contracts with Manufacturers) is, with the exception of one store and range they have, everything is drop shipped. Nothing is stocked. Again, for buying out of state, with the exception of handguns, there is no shipping or transfer fee. That is, if your physically buying out of state. But if your buying out of state, not physically the only other way is online (Or maybe through a gun mag), and other than places like Buds (Who usually dont charge for shipping) yes, you will pay for shipping, transfer and sometimes evening a handling fee.

[Guest TankerHC]

Your OP made it sound like you were just going up and buying guns, no mention of doing the paperwork.

Also, please highlight where in my post I was wrong.

Dolomite

OK, first. It is NOT illegal to buy a handgun, face to face, out of state. Yes, handguns must be shipped to YOUR FFL in YOUR STATE for transfer. However, you made it sound like if you buy a handgun out of state your going to prison. You DID state that, but there is also the part where your making insinuations that I was conducting business illegally. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Second. Your post "And if he is taking a trip every month or two to purchase firearms out of state he is in for some serious problems if caught. That is unless he is transferring every one of them and if that is the case the deals are not that great of a deal".

You don't have to transfer rifles and shotguns, the purchase process is the same, under the same Federal Laws nearly anywhere you go. As far as making a trip every month or two, you can go to any state any time you please and purchase whatever you want (Last I heard it was still a free country, at least for now). Here is your statement "That is unless he is transferring every one of them and if that is the case the deals are not that great of a deal".

Oh yes, they are that great of deals.

Third. You seemed to insinuate (And my apologies if I took this wrong) that I was conducting business or the dealer/FFL was conducting business illegally. ie. "Or maybe the dealer let one of the cousins buy it then the OP took possession of it. Or maybe the dealer had no clue the OP was from out of state but I don't think that is the case because they haggled the deal"

[Dolomite_supafly]

We have both become victims of our own vague statements.

Trust me when I say I know the laws. I may have been a bit vague in what I said but not for one moment am I ignorant when it comes to firearms laws.

Dolomite

[ShamGlock]

Good Lord the things people pick to get butthurt over on here. Lighten up Tanker all you had to say was that you were having them shipped back to your FFL. Everyone that has made their way to this forum knows the deal from there.

[Guest TankerHC]

Sham, thats the point. Other than one handgun, they werent shipped to my FFL, they dont have to be. And the insinuations were there, that I was conducting business illegally. That is a serious insinuation. And I would also like to point out that my OP had absolutely nothing to do with Gun Laws, it was concerning prices of firearms in other states. Someone else brought up the accusations/insinuations. Im sure you would have just ignored it.

Edited July 23, 2012 by TankerHC

[Guest TankerHC]

BTW, Im not "Butthurt" as you put it.

[Guest TankerHC]

BTW again, when I move to TN in 6-8 weeks, and complete the building of my range. Your all invited to come over and camp out and shoot. Even if you do make me "Butthurt". lol

[DaveTN]

BTW again, when I move to TN in 6-8 weeks, and complete the building of my range. Your all invited to come over and camp out and shoot. Even if you do make me "Butthurt". lol

What part of Tennessee? I’m not big on camping out, but I have to say I have never had the opportunity to camp out on a gun range. Interesting possibilities.

[Guest TankerHC]

What part of Tennessee? I’m not big on camping out, but I have to say I have never had the opportunity to camp out on a gun range. Interesting possibilities.

Ill be moving somewhere in the Chattanooga area. We have appointments to look at two homes and property the 3rd week of August. One sits on Watts Bar Reservoir, 7 miles from Spring City. Has 20 acres. Sits on the deep side (Thats what the seller told us yesterday, I had thought Watts Barr was deep all over). The other one is near Crossville, with 6 1/2 acres that backs up to the Cumberland National Park.

My wife likes living in subdivisions for some reason. Nice neat cookie cutter homes on a lake, like we do now. Im not really into moving into another one(im sick of Homeowners Associations) but about an hour ago she said "What if we get the house I want, and you just buy 20 acres and do whatever you want with it, I dont care about land. My answer to that was "Ummmm.....YEA, I can do that".

My intent is to build a walk through pistol and shotgun range and some berms for shooting rifles, possibly out to 300 yards. I can do that on 20 acres. I think I would have problems doing anything like that on that Crossville property. But, were not jumping the gun and were still looking.

[Guest sL1k]

Ill be moving somewhere in the Chattanooga area. We have appointments to look at two homes and property the 3rd week of August. One sits on Watts Bar Reservoir, 7 miles from Spring City. Has 20 acres. Sits on the deep side (Thats what the seller told us yesterday, I had thought Watts Barr was deep all over). The other one is near Crossville, with 6 1/2 acres that backs up to the Cumberland National Park.

My wife likes living in subdivisions for some reason. Nice neat cookie cutter homes on a lake, like we do now. Im not really into moving into another one(im sick of Homeowners Associations) but about an hour ago she said "What if we get the house I want, and you just buy 20 acres and do whatever you want with it, I dont care about land. My answer to that was "Ummmm.....YEA, I can do that".

My intent is to build a walk through pistol and shotgun range and some berms for shooting rifles, possibly out to 300 yards. I can do that on 20 acres. I think I would have problems doing anything like that on that Crossville property. But, were not jumping the gun and were still looking.

Hehe will such range be available to Chattanooga TGO's I'd even pitch in to clear some land for that!

[Guest TankerHC]

Hehe will such range be available to Chattanooga TGO's I'd even pitch in to clear some land for that!

Absolutely. Im not building a range to go out and shoot all by my lonesome.

[Daniel]

Purchase the gun, the dealer ships to your FFL. Ever buy a handgun online? Same thing.

You didn't mention this while mentioning everything else. G2G. I was not trying to call you out btw. Edited July 24, 2012 by Daniel

[Steelharp]

You didn't mention this while mentioning everything else. G2G. I was not trying to call you out btw.

He probably figured most of us were smart enough to know this was a given.

[Daniel]

I figured it would have been mentioned as in "... and I only have to pay a $10 transfer fee + shipping at my FFL."

Edited July 24, 2012 by Daniel

[dlm37015]

yes but sales tax is coming to internet sales very soon sfates are trying to get it started right now

[Steelharp]

yes but sales tax is coming to internet sales very soon sfates are trying to get it started right now

Been in place for a long time; just no one pays attention to it.

[Daniel]

Yep the Amazon thread discusses it. It's not called sales tax but a use tax.