Surplus at Gander Mountain?

M

mp25ds4

New member
hey guys Im considering taking a trip up to gander mountain today its about an hour drive from where i live and I was wondering if they stock/carry military surplus rifles and surplus ammo? In particular im looking for turk, yugo, german mausers and russian and finn mosins. I remember reading about people finding good deals on surplus guns but i cant remember if it was at big5 or gander mountain?
thanks in advance
 
the one in LittleRock has Chilean Mausers in 7x57 for $289... I've never seen a good deal at Gander, but maybe its just my local store
 
Yeah, the one in Joliet, Il has a Chilean Mauser for $350, a chopped up K31 (no magazine, either, essentially a single shot rifle with a hole where and integral mag used to be!) for $350 and a Carcano Carbine (same as the K31, no magazines/clips for it, these use those enbloc clips, right?) for $300. They wouldn't budge on the prices of any of them for me. I was pretty appalled, consider the same Mauser is $100 through J&G, a better condition K31 can be had from Simpson's for $150 and Carcanos are usually dirt cheap. I've heard good things about Gib5's surplus toys, Gander doesn't do any distro for Surplus, so their surplus rifles are usually trade-ins that they paid $50-100 for and then turn around and sell for $300-350. Big5, IIRC, does distro some surplus rifles.
 
well, il just save the gas and take a trip to my one of my local military surplus shops, I can always find something there
 
There is a large gun auction here in Mattoon Illinois on new years day....several surplus rifles .....600 + guns sell in one day. My son and I always go and have a blast looking at the guns and buying our Christmas present !!! Check it out at Bauer Auctions.com lots of pics and a sale bill.
See ya there !!!
 
In Mattoon? I might be interested in that, depending on what christmas ends up like for me. I actually have no idea where mattoon is, I live in Central, Il, how far away would that be from me?

Unfortunately, given the existence of a Big 5 within the OP's driving range, I doubt he'd be able to make it.
 
Firearms are overpriced and so is their their ammo, and no - it ain't just your local store. I will have to say that their sales staff is knowledgeable (at least the ones I've dealt with), however.


mp25ds4
gander mountain?
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I'll put it this way. The last time I was at a Gander Mountain they had one M44, mismatched, that looked like somebody tied it to the back of their pickup and dragged to the store. They wanted 150 bucks. The going rate at J&R at the time was 80 bucks. Guess where I got mine from?

It weren't Gander.
 
Was it Gander? Oh wait! You already said no... damnit, I give up. Your riddles are too much!

Yeah, I really don't like them. They had a Taurus .22 Revolver 990 used for $400. I told them "I can order this from impact for $20 less, new." And the salesman said, "plus a $25 transfer fee," to which I said "so I'd pay an extra $5 for the warranty through taurus AND get a new gun?" his response "but you can buy this one now." Needless to say, didn't buy. Went back a month later, sure enough: gone.

Their new guns are pretty competitive regarding price, but their used aren't. I still just buy from small shops.

edit: what I neglected to mention was that a shop near my apartment had/has a Taurus similar to that one, only with a tracker barrel, for only a few bucks more than Gander wanted for the used 990.
 
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You just have to wait till something come's in at Gander Mtn. they change their stock weekly. The surplus rifles are way over priced, much of what the have on the rack is cheaper at other sport shops cheaper. The used rifles and shotguns are where the payoff is. I have a Winchester model 12 16ga. in layaway right now, the hang tag said Winchester 1300, go figure. I have seen some very good guns go for prices below what you find at the auction site's.
 
The only C&R stuff I've seen with regularity at Gander Mtn. recently are the ubiquitous 91/30s and some of this new batch of Chilean M1895s. I'm tempted to snag a Chilean rifle to go with my carbine.
 
Tamara: you mention an 1895... and actually, that makes me wonder: is that different than the 1908 Chilean? Cause, then I may have to redact one of my prior statements I've made.

Also, are you the one with that awesome blog?
 
Thomme.....Mattoon is in central Ill bout 40 miles south of Champaign....did you look at the sale bill ? I just got on Yahoo and searched for Bauer auctions and it came up.......gonna sell 600 guns in one day.....I have went in the past and it's always a good time....what a way to break in the new year.....looking at all those cool guns in one room....
 
Thomme said:
...is that different than the 1908 Chilean?
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I'm not familiar with any M1908 Chilean Mauser. The M1895 was a small-ring rifle that was pretty much the same as the Spanish M1893. It was replaced by a Gew. 98 clone made by Steyr that was known as the M1912.
Thomme said:
Also, are you the one with that awesome blog?
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Well, I have a blog, yes, although how awesome it is is up to the reader. ;)
 
Woops, I'm sorry, Tamara, I'm mixing up the Brazilian with the Chilean, it's a Brazilian 1908 7x57mm on sale at J&G and a Chilean 1895 (I believe, I could be mistaken) at Gander in Joliet. My bad. Sorry to confuse. And, yes, the Blog's name is right in your signature, how did I not notice that!?

And MillBilly, I'll check that out. It sounds like a great time and it's just about an hour away from me. Edit: chances are, I'll be ringing in the new year with a ton of champaign in Chicago... which isn't going to add up to me making it there by 9am. Have fun, though. Wish I could make it.
 
Thomme said:
Woops, I'm sorry, Tamara, I'm mixing up the Brazilian with the Chilean, it's a Brazilian 1908 7x57mm on sale at J&G and a Chilean 1895 (I believe, I could be mistaken) at Gander in Joliet.
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Most of the Chilean rifles I've seen have been Ludwig Loewes (some even with the commercial LL crest instead of the Chilean,) and I'm assuming any 7mm Brazilian '08s would be of DWM manufacture.

Personally, I'm of the general opinion that a DWM '98 action is worth close to $100 stripped, and if it comes with the rest of the parts of a rifle attached to it for that price, hey, bonus! :D
 
An even better Gander Mountain story. They had a case of used handguns. I was looking at a Ruger SR9(?)/ They wanted 459 bucks for it. The next case over had a brand new one on sale for $439. I asked the guy behind the counter about it and he said corporate set the prices on all the used guns, he could not do a thing about it.

And I see them NIB at auctionarms and Gunbroker for less than $400.
 
not always

Got a FN Israeli K-98 in good condition for less than 200 OTD. Christmas eve.
Present to myself. :) Their stock is thin, but worth a look.
 
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