Wal Mart Guns

How would you rate Wal Mart Guns

  • Total voters
    157
I bought a box of ammunition from Wal Mart once..was vaguely offended when they typed some information off of my driver's license into their computer..I don't buy anything shooting related there anymore
 
Its possible that Walmart might sell a gun with different specs. That would mean that they have to retool the line to make these WalMart Runs or have different assembly line all together. Or buy cheaper parts from another manufacturer. I just dont see that for most brand name firearm manufacturers. Since most of the stuff are what I call the plain jane lower end models.

What WalMart does do is tell seller is how many units they want, the reatil price of the units, models, and what they will buy them for, the delivery time. its up to the seller to sharpen the pencil to figure out how to do it.

Without sales figures its kind of hard to figure it out. Most of the stuff Wal-mart sells on the shelf is the lower end models. You can special order firearms form thier supplier catalog and pretty much get what you want. When you do that I dont see any significant savings because you are ordering one at a time instead of by the railroad car full.

for the record I have not purchased any WalMart Firearms....
I have seen the catalog you can order from and the prices.
 
If for no other reason than from a liability standpoint, does anyone really think that a firearms manufacturer would sell "seconds" or otherwise inferior products through Walmart or any other retailer? Walmart is a massive corporation with unbelievable purchasing power due to its size. Big buying = lower cost. Lower cost = lower prices. Unless it's a special model (gun, refrigerator, stereo, whatever) specifically made for the seller, the product you get at Walmart or any other retailer is the same as the one you get in any other store. There are some instances such as those already mentioned where the item is specifically made for Walmart or whomever. But in such cases, it will NOT be the same model as the one you buy elsewhere. I have a Ruger Mini-14 which was purchased from Walmart. It's the exact same gun as though I'd bought it at a lgs. The old "Walmart sells inferior guns" story has been around for ages.
 
I think they're comparing parkerizing against a rich, deep, lustrious, charcoal bluing..a composite stock against a beautiful walnut stock and so forth Raveneap
 
The guns from Wally world are made by the gun company not walmart so they should be good working guns without any problems.:). But the guns they have could be made by better compinies like Browning instead of mossberg but the guns they have should get the job done. But they do have very good guns like a Henry:D
 
I have a hard time believing that a company such as, say, Remington would have two different production lines, with a 'standard' 700 ADL, and a 'Walmart' 700 ADL. Yes, Walmart only sells the cheaper model types (from what I've seen), but they are the same cheaper models that you would find at Big 5. Does anybody have any actual evidence that Walmart guns are structurally inferior?
 
yea i thanks all!:D i just needed to hear it because i special ordered an 870 from walmart and then after i ordered it i thought to myself, maybe that wasnt a good idea. but after hearing all this i guess im ok
 
Wal-mart buys their guns from the same distributors that the local shops do. Maybee the walton special comes from rem. Look at their special order book one day and you will see the distributor the guns comes from.
 
Walmart less quality? Possible.

As a retired mechanical engineer who spent years in manufacturing (engineering, production, quality, plant manager, etc.) and a reasonable amount of metal working training - I believe it is possible, and even likely that WalMart firearms could be of lesser, but necessarily bad, quality.

All the talk of re-tooling, separate production lines, etc. are not probable scenarios. HOWEVER, all that a reputable manufacturer has to do is open up dimensional tolerances and acceptance criteria a bit, to enable safe and functional weapons of lesser (but safe and reasonable) quality to ship out the door at a lower price/cost.

WalMart has a horrible reputation for beating up most of its suppliers for the rock bottom price. WalMart has the volume and purchasing power (I've heard that WalMart may be more than 50% of some firearms manufacturers total output for a given firearm in a given year). So when it is balls-to-the-wall price negotiation time, one way to offer ole Sam W. a lower price would be to open up specs and tolerances to enable faster output, greater (acceptable) product volume and less cost/price.

HOWEVER, we are talking about explosions (gun-go-bang) and potential human injury or fatality - not to mention ensuing legal and very large financial liability. So the drop-quality-lower-price game has to be carefully played - but it CAN be played.

Clearly, WalMart has sold some less-than-premier weapons from a given firearms manufacturer: the Weatherby Vanguard (made by Howa, Japan) sold exclusively by WalMart for many years.

I've also noticed the stocks and finishes of guns in WalMart display cases (I check out the firearms every time I go to WalMart) sometimes LOOK slightly inferior to a same-model new weapon from another dealer.

All that said, I'd buy a firearm from WalMart. I have yet to hear of credible evidence that WallyWorld firearms FUNCTION unacceptably or unsafely and on a given model new firearm WM prices are very hard to beat.
 
I've worked in sporting good stores and heard first hand from brand name reps that Walmart guns are not the same. Shotguns do not apply to this as much as rifles. But as to rifles, Say Remington is going to cut some 270 barrels. Well they might reem 10 barrels before the reem begins to ware or dull out a bit i guess you could say, than they might cut say 10 more barrels. Well the first 10 with a new reemer are cut clean and rifling is perfect. Well the next 10 the rifling does get cut quite as perfect. Well those last 10 will goto Walmart. Or say they have some just a bit out of there prefered dimensions, they goto walmart, or stocks that fit a little to tight or etc. Not to say you cant buy a rifle from walmart that shoots good. I know the Weatherby and Savages you buy are the same, but say Winchester and Remington send rifle that arent quite to par for dealers.
 
I do know for a fact that the weatherby vanguards are different, the difference is about $100 and the bolt lugs as well as the stock. My local ffl was pissed because everyone would come in wanting to match the wal-mart vanguard price and he cant, so he does some researching and finds out that the above i mentioned are different from the vanguards at the distributor, in fact he cant even get the wal-mart vanguard from any other place than wal-mart which makes sense because wal-mart has the right to sell that particular gun.
 
Beaver396, have you or anyone else contacted Weatherby to confirm this? Seems very unlikely, and also seems like some total BS that a local gun shop would feed people.
 
Walmart sells QUALITY stuff?

The only line longer than the check-out line is the RETURN line at our super center.
Stuff I stupidly bought before learning better: 3 different drills, 2 TV sets, 1 Food saver sealer, 4 Floresuent light fixtures, 1 Ruger 10/22 rifle, 2 spoiled Pork roasts(2 different times), Oranges so dry you couldn't get juice from them, 1 Vacuum cleaner, the list goes on.
Just like most of you guys, it's the only game in town and I am forced to shop with them or drive 50 miles to go some where else, but don't kid yourself, just because something is mass produced on an assembly line, doesn't mean that the manufacturer can't cheapen it up considerably.
Companies use to throw 2nds away or take them apart and fix them before shipping to a store, and now they have an outlet to get rid of them for a profit.
Companies do research on you daily and they know that , for the most part, you probably won't take the time and trouble to return something for less than $20.00. If you buy a "High End" product, they also know you probably didn't hang on to the sales ticket, and around here, if you don't have the sales ticket you will not get to return it.
Don't mean to sound like a stick in the mud, and I still shop with them, but if I am going to buy something that HAS to be right when I get it home, I drive the 50 miles and buy it from someone I trust.
 
Very interesting discussion....suggest that this be moved to general for additional input, as it applies to both shotguns and rifles. I'd sure like to get the bottom of this unanswered (satisfactorily) question. Are they or are they not identical?
 
I have already posted at length the damage you do to the 2A, America and the sport by supporting the likes of WalMart. Just do a search for Wal-Mart and see what comes up.

Yes, you get second rate stuff at Walmart. This is the same as the second rate Windows and Toilets that you get at Home Depot. The box stores set the price and tell the manufacturer to meet it. They do so by cutting costs and selling 2nd tier product to the box stores.
 
OK, OK, I think this is all a bunch of hype. C'mon people, what we are talking about with walmart are simply economics of scale. Walmart can get really low prices on guns because they buy a TON of them. That is why the real bargins at walmart....the case guns, are so much less then others. Have you looked at the order catalog? The special order guns are much more in line with most gun stores prices.

Here is the deal. walmart can afford to only make $5-$10 a gun because of BULK. Also, the are betting that while you are in the store you will buy other itmes that they do make more money on. I worked at a large grocery store (Kroger's) when I was in College. Our sale paper items...well, some we actually LOST money on. It is a gamble you make that while people are in the store they will buy something that you do make money on. Ruger or Remington, Or anybody else, doesn't lower there standards...they just make lkess on the guns they sell to WM. If you are a manufacturer, you will easily take less per gun for a large quanity deal because in the long run it is money in the bank.

I think we are looking for the proverbial "boogeyman" here. We are trying to jkustify our spending $20-$30 more for the same gun at the local store. I do that with the simple ideas of service and my love of small business. But there is nothing wrong with wal-marts goods. It is simply economics of scale. I will say that I am sure there are things in the store that are of lesser quality but I do not think that applies to the guns. Or ammo, as I DO buy ammo there for plinking and it is just as reliable and functional and effective as any I bought elsewhere.

My local dealer can get me guns (from at least one of walmarts distributers) for only a $1 or two above them on special orders. They can because the store sells more then firearms, so it doesn't have to make a living with just gun sales.

This said, I do not own a walmart firearm. I prefer to support the locals (and I generally get better service, although that is not always true). But I have in the past and it was exactly the same as anything from the local gun store. JUst large scale purchasing power at work.
 
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