What pistols to stock, new dealer

As many others have suggested:
Glocks, XD's, M&Ps, Taurus, S&W both pistols and revolvers, Springfield 1911s, Browning Buckmarks, and Browning Hi-Powers. CZ's, FN's, variety of Ruger revolvers and pistols, Hi-Points, RIA 1911's, Beretta's, maybe a couple of Sigs and H&Ks.

But I second the idea to go for the medium price range for the majority of your stuff.

Good Luck!
 
Right now, today? Any and every pocket gun in .380 and as much 380 ammo as you could buy, cheaper 1911s like Citadels and RIAs, Glock 17s and 19s, Mossberg 500s and Remy 870s in home defense setups, Keltec PF9s, lower end ARs like Olympic Double stars etc..
 
Not

Interesting what is Not on people lists.
Only saw Beretta mentioned above once.

Can't say I ever cared for them much myself, but I would have rather expected there would be more love for them.
 
Glock pistols, Ruger .22's, LCP, LCR, Kel-Tec (various) for starters. Buy as many good and popular guns as you can so customers have choices. I would not put a lot of money in a few relatively expensive guns. Get vendor support kicked in so you have some signage and freebies to reward buyers to help create a positive atmosphere.
 
Thanks for all the comments. Does anyone know which of the many wholesalers, offer the best price structure for an upstart shop? I am sorting through all the different ones, of course none of them offer pricing examples save you first establish an account with them.

Had my visit from the alphabet gang today, so all went well and I should be good to go just after the first of the month. :D
 
I would suggest the CZ line - high quality/price ratio.

Then again maybe I'm just biased...I own way too many!
 
I would also throw in to have at least 2 or 3 FNP-9, -40, and -45's in stock only because they are really hard to come by, at least everywhere I've been they are.

Also CC is getting bigger everyday so a few inexpensive .380's can't hurt.
 
What I would say is the best dealer in my area told me they sell the most hi-points. They said they also love to sell them b/c they statistically get very few complaints. They didn't have numbers but everyone behind the counter agreed had no more complaints than any of the major manufacturers.

I go there quite a bit and was looking at shotguns, so I don't think it was much of a sales pitch.

LCRs are still pretty hot.

I sort of doubt you will sell many high dollar guns from stock. People just look at them. When I want a higher dollar gun I want an exact model. If you have something close I don't care. I want you to order me the exact model and I have usually shot it somewhere already.
 
This is not the 'what is the best pistol thread' just what has everyone seen flying off the shelves...
Click to expand...

Bingo! Yer a smart man. The first rule of sales is to sell what sells, not what you like.
 
In Colorado

Here in CO, CCW permits are flying off the shelf so guns you would think of as a CCW weapon seem to sell well here. Ex: Ruger LCP, LCR, S&W J-frames, compact Glocks and compact Tauri seem to move quickly off the shelves of my local gun stores.

FWIW, a couple of my area indie gun stores seem to have conceded the shotgun and long gun market to Wal-Mart, Dick's, Bass-Pro, etc. The indies carry handguns and tactical weapons that some of the general public may find offensive (pun intended). Local Dick's and Wal-Mart don't carry handguns at all. I think Sports Authority is out of the firearm biz here in CO.

+1 to the comment that the indie shop needs to carry ammo, holsters, maybe grips and improved sights, and anything else you can think of to increase margins by customizing the gun.
 
Let me comment here on the single action revolvers, leverguns and other "cowboy action shooting" stuff: to really attract that scene, you need to first UNDERSTAND that market and second, stock a solid range of the accessories. You need at least a passing familiarity with what's competition legal in both guns and accessories. If you do those things, there's huge money in that and related fields like civil war re-enactment and the like.

If you don't do those things, don't bother. With the caveat that some SA revolvers are more "hunting guns" (Freedom Arms, Ruger's adjustable-sight SAs, etc.) and ditto leverguns (Marlin Guide Gun in 45-70, the various 30-30s, etc). Most SA revolvers and leverguns these days get sold for CAS/SASS sports but for sure, if you're going to be selling "hunting stuff" depending on the local market, some SA/lever pieces will fit.

You might be best off picking one or maybe two main "specialization areas", such as:

* CAS/SASS

* Hunting

* Personal defense/CCW/"tactical".

* Shotgun sports/birding

There's others (benchrest rifles, muzzleloader folks, etc) but the numbers are much smaller and they're more likely to mail-order.

Believe it or not, some of the customers of one of the above categories may feel sketchy about even walking into a place that does another. Sporting shotgunners are notorious for getting hinky if they see a lot of Glocks/ARs/etc. CAS/SASS too to a lesser degree. Which of these areas are you personally best suited to cover? You CAN try and cover all of 'em but...you likely won't cover them all very well and you risk not covering any well enough.

The other thing is, start thinking in terms of selling complete systems - gun plus holster plus recommended target and "business" ammo (hunting or defense). You might even offer complete packages whereby somebody gets, say, a low-to-mid-range 1911 family for carry and at a discount, a Ruger 22/45 which was designed as a cheap-ammo trainer for the 1911 family. Offer a discount on the whole package, both guns plus holster for 1911 plus a starter ammo set...what us computer geeks called a "turnkey solution" 20+ years ago. And trust me: computer marketing is so much more advanced than gun marketing it's not even funny.

Another thing...some people are going to freak out over ammo costs and rightfully so. Get a cheapo computer, load the following video on it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noFKV8S6cnQ

Show that and STOCK THOSE!!! Sell 'em all day for $25 a pop plus some basic supplies (primers/bullets/powder) for each caliber. People will be more likely to buy the gun if they know they can feed it on the cheap with reloading gear cheap enough to pay for itself in the first 100 rounds. Let 'em buy the first 100 rounds of factory loads and recycle their shells.

Look...think of the term "FUD" - Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt. You want to eliminate those. "Yeah, I got a holster for that thing, several depending on where you want to carry it." "Yeah, I have ammo that'll work great for that size gun." Etc.
 
More like how long are you going to be open and what sort of order and lawaway policy do you have. I have seen gunshops that are not open on the weekend go by by, and I would have bought a Colt Gold Cup at one shop but they wanted 50% down and the rest in 30 days. The old been in business shop I deal with has a 10% down policy with 90 days to pay the gun off. Guess which shop went out of business and which I continue to do business with.
 
Good information offered... thanks!

Now, what about for an online store. What suggestions would everyone like to see? What are the feelings on paying for shipping, vs shipping figured into the price? What about selling then ordering it drop shipped vs actual inventory on hand then shipped?

Thanks in advance!
 
from what i see, and then do not see on shelves at the academy i shop at are:

browning buckmarks, ruger 22/45 mkIII
and 9mm hand guns

i think thats due to people still with the mentality that ammo prices are sky rocketing so we should shoot the cheapest calibers available.

Glock, Beretta, XD, and M&P seem to do alright
 
I would suggest you do a lot more "local" research on what is selling in your area and what your customer base is going to be or you may be in for some lonely bleak days ...... in handguns alone: target shooters, CCW folks, bullseye shooters, etc / age groups / guys looking for something special ( they already have 30 guns ) / etc ... to say nothing of Shotguns and rifles.......

I would suggest you start with a good gunsmith ( not a gun butcher ) ....or train yourself as a "gunsmith" ......maybe deal in used guns ....give "shooters" and "collectors" a reason to come into the shop because from week to week you never know what is there. Stock good accessories / not the junk the big box stores carry ..... Stock a good line of holsters for handguns like Kramer horsehide leather ...let them buy the plastic junk somewhere else ...

Every shop out there stocks all the lower end stuff ....Glock, M&P, XD's ....and you'll lose sales all day long to another shop that is $ 10 less ...or from the internet ... I wouldn't try and get into an inventory battle with shops on the internet ....you want to be different ....and be able to order anything the customer wants, at a fair price .....from Springfield, Kramer, S&W, Wilson Combat, etc ......

But appealing to a customer like me - who has plenty of guns / you need to give me a reason to drop by .....and its not the Glocks, XD's, Taurus ....(gag) stuff that makes me stay more than 20 sec to look around and leave ..... To appeal to my boys / you need some of that stuff .....but not a lot of it.

You might consider getting into reloading presses - good ones, like Dillon / and have somebody there that knows how to run them ...and components bullets, powder, primers .... maybe run a free class / give a $50 discount on a purcahase after class, on same day ....

Get creative / and unique ......not just selling the same old stuff ....( none or little of which guys like me want ...) ... Laugh all you want / but baby boomers have the cash to buy what we want .....

Maybe have a good gunsmith that can "build up" AR's to any configuration the customer wants .....some guys are always talking about rails, pistons, folding stocks ....on their AR's ...
 
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