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Guns of Walmart

10K views 31 replies 22 participants last post by  zamboni 
#1 ·
I was in my local Walmart today and in the sporting goods department the have a huge selection of AR type rifles. They had Colt, Sigs, DPMS, S&W'S... The prices were lower than several of the larger local gun shops. They had a Sig M400 for $890, several hundred less than the local gun store (not wanting to debate the evil WM vs the mom and pop here please). I was at the largest local shop, Shoot Straight, and asked about the price difference. They claimed it is not he same gun. I told them it was an M400 with no different markings than the one in their store. The clerk told me "yes on the outside, but it is different on the inside" with lower quality parts. Now I do recall that Beretta made a shotgun, the 391 vs 390, for Walmart, but this is a Sig M400 not a 401 or something like that.
What is the deal here? The M&P looked identical to everyone I have ever seen as did the Colt. Are these the same guns or is the clerk correct that they are lessor quality? I have a hard time believing that a M400 with no special markings is not the same as the M400 in the gun shop. How would you ever be able to tell the difference with a resale?
 
#2 ·
One of the WalMarts near me has a simillar selection, it made me happy. The local WalMart sells .50 cans full of .223. Dont remember the count or how much it cost but it seemed reasonable.

Speaking of the Sig AR, I know its WalMart but the one they sell near me is decked out with MagPull MOE furniture and was in the $900 range. Seemed kind of cheap for a Sig but I dont know anything about their rifles. Im assuming we might be talking about the same one. Ive heard of WalMarts namebrand electronics not being the exact same as if you bought them elsewhere, could it be the same deal here?
 
#4 ·
Being as large as Wal-Mart is they will go to a manufacture and offer to buy a product with a much smaller markup then buy several trucks of that product. They then take the products to a distribution center where it is warehoused before being sent to the individual stores. The mom and pop stores cannot afford to buy in such quantities and have to rely on getting merchandise from wholesalers or distributors who each add their own markup.
 
#5 ·
It sucks to pass up that kinda savings but I think I would rather put something on layaway at my LGS and just be patient.
 
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#6 ·
walmart sells lots of things at cost, knowing well you will buy other things while you are there. i read an article some where about this. in fact they sell some things below cost. when you deal in this much volume you can afford to take a hit in one department knowing across the board profits will be up. i doubt the internals are different on that gun.

so...if you want to buy it, buy it. you will not be contributing to the problem unless you pick up your groceries and some "bargain" dvd's while you are there. buy the one item, and leave. you'd actually be hurting them.
 
#7 ·
I watched an MSNBC special on WalMart once. Not that it took some rediculous media outlet for me to figure it out but I like how they admitted to putting common items like milk at the back of the store, to get people to see what they dont need.
 
#11 ·
Every grocery store does that...haven't you noticed how they spread out the "staples" to make you walk around the entire store...it's standard marketing.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
 
#9 ·
If the firearm doesn't have a different model number, I would be willing to bet it is the same rifle. I doubt a manufacturer would cheap up the internals and list it as the same firearm model. This would cause quality control conflicts that would be difficult to track.

I have no issue with Wal-Mart. When you are a new family starting out, filling an apartment or home, supporting new kids, Wal-Mart makes life easier by making common goods more affordable. I hear a lot of people bash other people for supporting Wal-Mart, when they themselves use the internet to bust prices of local "mom & pop" stores.
 
#10 ·
Your local store buys lots of things in small quantities from a distributor that needs to make money, too. Walmart buys a small selection in huge quantities, likely directly from the manufacturers. Plus, why wouldn't the clerk try and slam their direct competition?

Guns and ammo are the only things I buy at Walmart, but even then the local guys have more variety for a similar price.
 
#12 ·
I have to agree with you discoboxer. I would much rather support mom and pops businesses but WalMart is much more convinent in the ways you mention. Until you get to checkout and dispite the hundred or so employess roaming aimlessly theres only two registers open with lines to Timbuktu. And of course none of thoes roamers are ever in their respective department if you have a question.
 
#17 ·
That is pretty much my though as well. No firearm manufacture is going to compromise quality and dump lessor quality guns on anyone. I would like to believe that reputation is everything to them.
As to supporting mom and pop, hey WM has 10's of thousands of employees that have families to feed just like mom and pop and as far as i can tell is an American company. Most local stores I see sell the same not made in the US products that every retailer does. I prefer made in the US products but they are few theses days regardless of where you shop. That said I am happy to pay less, however, the only things I buy from WM are ammo and auto supplies like oil and other fluids.
 
#15 ·
It's been a while since I've seen a Walmart that sold guns.. sucks, I could of saved about $200 buying my M400 there. To me, that's a significant saving. I support the free and open market and will buy things for as cheap as I possibly can, sorry mom and pop shops. The guy at the LGS was just trying to get you to not by from the big, ever so evil Walmart he probably shops at himself.

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#16 ·
Don't everyone assume that Wal-Mart has the cheapest ammo. Recently when at my Local Gun Shop I found a box of the same ammo I had just bought at Wal-Mart, and it was actually a few cents cheaper at the Gun Shop. The owner told me that they now do a bulk buy with a association of other smaller gun shops to keep their prices down. That's where I'll be getting all my ammo from now on.
 
#19 ·
The clerk told me "yes on the outside, but it is different on the inside" with lower quality parts
haveing managed a gun shop for 3 years, let me tell you this.. every time you hear a gun shop tell you "gun X from walmart is cheaper because its a sub-grade.. blah blah blah.."

thats code for "we cant buy it as cheep as walmart because they buy in bulk so we will tell you its junk so you will buy from us"....
 
#21 ·
Now I’m not coming to the rescue of Walmart = WW, by no means!! :duel:

Because I too, have been seeing some enticing pricing there too and, all of these questions and, all of these thoughts, have all crossed my mind too but; read this, think it over, and reflect.

How’s it go …
If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck it must be a duck? Now maybe sometimes this duck might be better then that duck even though these two ducks look “a-like” the same duck because they are of the exact same maker, and the exact same model number. So, to really tell the difference you need too really know about these ducks.

Is it the same with firearms?

Seconds, blemishes, even some bad-batches leave the manufactures. Even some of their internal parts that we don’t see, or can’t see, without a complete strip on top of the showcase, they could be out of spec, or what ever. And if you did or would see um could you even be able to tell if they were, of what ever?

Here’s a thought…
Maybe WW or any other retailers out there are buying all or some of these “five-fore-mentioned” in balk at a discount and then: Dumping um on us?

Now out of those of you whom have jumped on the savings train at WW on firearms: How many of you have had any issues with them, please raise your hands? Now: Those of you whom have had any issues with firearms you bought at your LocalGunStore or anywhere else, please raise your hands? OK: Maybe a few from each group? So what does that prove? Regardless of where you have bought you can still run a risk?

If there was a rash plague of these junky POS guns being sold at WW or anywhere else’s; I do think there would be a ballyhoo of threads posted here and elsewhere alerting us all too become forewarned?

Just as we read about other things like when a new gah-dah-have-it-firearm we have all been reading about for months and, it has been over PR’d by its maker about it for months and, it has finally hit the streets and, people are scooping um up at over inflated prices because, they gah-dah-have-it-first and, it has some serious issues because it was released too soon and, now we have been forewarned now and, it gets shied away from by some, till we start reading good stuff about it.

Or it could be out for years now and, still most of us would not carry it to protect the lives of our loved ones with it. We all read about a few of those all the time.

Walmart, Target, K-Mart < if you still have a K-Mart around, are major known discounted place to shop. That is why we shop there? Too save some money? So most of WW’s ammo down the street from me compared to the other places I buy, it is mostly less expensive at WW so I buy it there. Even when it’s on sale at Dicks, Bass, or Cables, WW still beats their price ... sometimes. So since WW’s ammo is less money they must have it made special for them like their guns? And their name brand sox’s, oil, and other stuff too? Now if you do look at the manufactures numbers on some boxes of ammo at WW they do have a special number on it, and I have heard pray-tell that some do some special balk packaging just for WW?? And also I do see on web sights for some other retailers then WW that they have a “special exclusive just for them from the manufacturers”, someone correct me on this if I’m wrong??? So if true does that make any of it of a lesser quality?

Also, if you check WW’s gun prices and compare them to well known online retailer’s prices, they, WW, are the same or a few bucks less or maybe more. So if the online places are less then your LocalGunStore prices or WW, then they too must be getting the same POS quality as WW? Now what about your LocalGunShow’s, you can mostly get a good price and sometimes a better one, then even online or at WW there too?

So you try to save $$.$$ on sales tax. Or the price is less. Or maybe you have been wanting for that special gun to become available at your LocalGunStore. But, because no one else has it or they can’t get it for you, and you see it at WW and get it for less. Or you buy it online and the actual price is less then anywhere else, but end up paying shipping (which sometimes is free), and that FFL fee which you can’t get around, and add it all up and now it’s more then you would have spent at your LocalGunStore. The best FFL fee in my area is $30.00 and it includes the BGC. I’ve read of some outlandish FFL transfer fee pricing out there though.

So what, and or whom do, and or can, any of us believe? It will all make you crazy if you let it.

All of these just words for thought and refection …….
 
#25 ·
Some manufacturer's DO put out special, cheaper products for Walmart. HP and Compaq computers are a good example. They all have a WM in the serial number, and in my experience, they ARE of lesser quality. Now that doesn't mean they won't work, but I have had significantly more issues with every Walmart computer I ever owned than I do with my current Dell and non-Walmart HP.

The difference here is that ALL of the Walmart specific el-cheapo products have a different model number or serial number prefix. This specific gun DID NOT have that. I wouldn't pass on the gun because I'm worried about it being of inferior quality. I would, however, pass on it because I prefer to buy from my LGS. I like the service that the little guys give, and to me that's more important than saving a few bucks. I'd also avoid buying from the guy that blatantly lied to you about the quality of the gun, but that's just me.
 
#24 ·
The story the OP got from his LGS that the firearm, although the same model, had cheaper parts inside is reminescent of the story I got from our local independently owned plumbing supply businesses when I was shopping for a toilet. I was being told by the plumbing businesses that although an American Standard toilet had the same model number the one at Home Depot (significantly less expensive) was of inferior quality. I ended up getting an email from American Standard saying all toilets of the same model number were of the same quality.
 
#27 ·
They are called "Loss Leaders" - those items at or below cost. Got you in the store, and much like Vegas, will do their darnedest to get your money on the rest.

It would not be in the interest of Colt, Sig, S&W to load up a WalMart with inferior products in the quantities that they do. That would certainly come and bite the company as a whole in the butt.

As stated, they buy in truck load or rail car quantities direct and distribute across the nation. Though I shudder to think what a 25k lot of rifles looks like, with nearly 9k stores across the nation...easy to spread that out.
 
#29 ·
Yup, i just contacted savage about the 230 12 ga defender and was told that its the same exact gun youll get anywhere else. I couldnt see a gun manufacturer risking the safety of families who would depend on these weapons for protection. Thats Inter Ordnances job.
 
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