Favorite online retailer

[myrifleisLapua]

im curious to see wheres everyones favorite place to buy online for shooting or hunting gear , supplies etc. personally I love midwayusa because their 1 week shipping gets here in 3 days and I live in GA. I have had them before tell me at 11pm that they have sent my order out within 3 hrs of placing it . Now I bought ammo before off a online store cant remember who but it took 13 days or so. 4 days to process the card information so that ****ed me off. Havnt bought from brownells but probably will in the future I want to buy a 700 action from them.
got to say I had a good experience with opticsplanet . I ordered a scope but it went of of stock about 10 minutes before I ordered mine and they didn't tell me until I got the backordered email . they were nice and refunded my money no questions asked. I ended up getting a scope from midway lol

 

[MudRunner2005]

Midway or Brownells for me.

 

[MN Hunter]

Midway, Brownells and Cabelas are my top 3.
I had it good for awhile when my oldest boy worked for Cabelas. I can't complain to much as he now works for ATK - Federal Cartridge.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Wideners, Powder Valley, Top Brass, Grafs and Cabelas in that order. I like Wideners because they are Hornady distributors and offer Hornady pills in thousand quantities and Wideners honors my Class 3 license with no hassle.

My three least favorite are:

Bruno's shooting supply (rip off prices at least 10% higher than anyone else), Midway (because of stupid ordering policies) and DPMS because of the red tape you have to go through to purchase full automatic components, even with the proper BATFE license. Last time I bought sub gun components from DPMS, it was a nightmare.

 

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

Brownells hands down!

 

[Outlaw6.0]

Sinclair/Brownells, Grafs, Natchez, Cabelas.

I've spent an ungodly amount of $$ with Midway, I have no problem using them. If a fella uses the discount codes it usually knocks the shipping charges down to normal levels.


t

 

[SidecarFlip]

FYI, all of you take note...

Because I'm an online supplier in a different venue, I watch closely how various online retailers compute end charges, that is, ship cost versus actual shipping and add on's that you can't control....

Quite a few online retailers add extraneous charges that they are pocketing to bloster their bottom line like 'mandatory insurance'. Got news for everyone, all carriers, USPS, UPS, Fed-Ex and DHL all have base insurance on all packages thats built into the ship cost. I deal with them all, I know.

The NRA 'Round up'. I have an issue with that as well, though usually optional, being an NRA member, I prefer to 'donate' directly. What percentage of 'round up funds' actually go to the NRA.

Finally, most online retailers inflate the ship to charges and you have no choice but to pay it. Midway is really good for using 'Reddi-Post' for non haz-mat deliveries. Reddi-Post is USPS cleverly hidden but they charge (to you) the higher UPS rate and guess what, they pocket the difference.

Always look at the bottom line. I realize that some components are 'hard to get' right now, so 'biting the bullet'....' is common, but, take a look at what your final cost is and then make an educated decision based on need versus want.

It's all about making money and ancillary charges are pure profit.

 

[MHO]

Brownells, midway and cabelas.

 

[varmintH8R]

I like Sinclair/Brownells a lot. Their back order policy is great - only pay shipping once. Midway doesn't do that.

I recently bought some things from Grafs, and was really pleased. Fair price, good shipping policy, good selection. They will get more business from me.

I had a similar out-of-stock issue with Optics Planet as described earlier in the thread. Annoying, but not really bad policy or service.

REALLY don't care for Bruno's policies and service.

Best service I've had is from the LRH classifieds. You guys need to sell more of your stuff! Even had a guy ship a second lot of bullets when the USPS lost the first box...

 

[SidecarFlip]

I hear that alot *about USPS loosing boxes and such. Interestingly, I've shipped a couple thousand orders all over the world with USPS and I've never had one shipment 'get lost'. That includes the Middle East and China. I have a lot of customers in Dubai and in Taiwan as well as Japan.

I believe a lot of the 'got lost' shipments were due to improper filling in the blanks. I know Len uses USPS like I do for every non-hazmat and non Orm-D shipment.

One thinng about USPS, they guarantee 3 days, east coast to west coast and they usually do it. The private guys take 5-7 days and the cost is more. My customers pay actual ship costs, quoted on a per order basis, no 'hidden costs'. I don't like that crap on the receiving end (as a customer) or on the giving end (as a seller).

I can even get 4 days to Australia express mail International, about 7 days less than the private carriers.

 

[MontanaRifleman]

I get most of my gun stuff from Midway and have not had any trouble with them yet. Very satisfied so far.

No complaints with any of the others either. Brownells is probably my number 2 go to online supplier.

In the past, Cabella's has been my #1 source for online hunting gear and outdoor clothing. I have had some issues with the quality of some clothing not holding up, stitching coming loose, buttons falling off, etc. I get almost all my gear and clothing locally now and have not done a Cabella's order in several years.

 

[Outlaw6.0]

...
In the past, Cabella's has been my #1 source for online hunting gear and outdoor clothing. I have had some issues with the quality of some clothing not holding up, stitching coming loose, buttons falling off, etc. I get almost all my gear and clothing locally now and have not done a Cabella's order in several years.

It's funny you should mention that. The last few items my father & I purchased through Cabelas was of very poor quality. It's a shame really....


t

 

[SidecarFlip]

We live real close to a big Cabelas store (like 2 miles), and, the wife and I were in there a few weeks ago looking at clothing. Interestingly, the majority of the clothing (hunting camo and regular stuff) was all made in China. In fact, most everything was Chinese or Taiwanese other than hard goods like guns and fishing stuff.

I can go to Wallyworld and get that stuff cheaper, plus, it don't have the 'cabelas' logo stencilled across the front and back.

IMO, Cabelas is taking creative marketing past the point of sanity.

People go to Cabelas for the 'experience'. I don't see any 'experience' there myself. I know the sales staff isn't to versed on what they sell and I know not to ever buy anything in an open box or display model.

One of the group bought a Nikon scope from the showcase (display model) that was obviously returned defective or abused. It would not hold zero which I found out after I mounted it in lapped rings and tried to sight it in. I knew it was a returned scope, it had faint ring marks too.

I think Cabelas policy is to put returned items in the display case, a bad policy IMO

They took it back (a second time) but it should have never been resold. Thats very poor retailing policy.

If it don't come in a sealed box, I'm not interested and that includes firearms.

 

[MontanaRifleman]

I have gotten some really great deals in the bargain cave. About half off on quality fly rods, binos and other stuff.