Is Walmart bending to anti-gunnies

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Mikeyboy

New member
Is it me, or is Walmart bending to the will of the Anti-gun protestors. About a year ago you could have easily bought a Ruger Mini-14 in Wal-mart. Now they don't carry them anymore. Recently I looked at my local Walmart rifle display and it seems they are carrying less and less. All they have is a few single shot shotguns and one deer rifle. Everything else you need to special order thru their website. They are even having problems stocking JHP pistol ammo. Is it just in my area or your Walmart doing the same.

I know, I know, support your local gun store and not some big corporation, but I bought my first rifle (with my own money) at K-Mart when they use to sell rifles, and I remember thumbing thru a Sears catalog and seeing rifles, including M1s for sale (I know I'm dating myself). I hate to see Walmart go the way of K-mart and completely stop selling firearms.
 
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TexasSIGMan

New member
Well, after the whipping they took in California it's not surprising that they would be a bit cautious.

Firearms have to be a small percentage of their business. From a purely business point of view, is the profit made from firearms worth the legal risks?
 
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BlueTrain

New member
Well, I think you're both wrong about Wal-Mart.

First, Wal-Mart pays no attention to protestors. They do pay attention to their customers, however. Beyond that, low prices seem to be all that matter to them and their customers, no matter what it costs.

Secondly, Wal-Mart is supposedly the largest retailer of firearms in the country, according to one source, as well as the largest seller of a lot of other things. However, I think firearms are sort of a seasonal thing to them, and they will have more at certain times of the year. This doesn't mean that it is the best place to buy a gun but they will probably have the best prices for the ones they carry. I mentioned in another posting that I saw a Weatherby in one Wal-Mart.

Quite likely Ruger isn't willing to sell them to Wal-mart at the price Wal-Mart is willing to pay. Patronize your local gun shop rather than Wal-Mart anyway, just on general principles.
 
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Mikeyboy

New member
Bluetrain...you might be right about Ruger.. the last time I seen Ruger retail price for a Mini-14 on there web site I had sticker shock. $800+ :eek: , come on now, I would never pay that much for a Mini (I would just buy an AR). I think Walmart was selling a Mini-14 for around $350.

http://www.ruger.com/Firearms/FAProdResults
 
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BlueTrain

New member
By the way, Wal-Mart is not the first mass merchandiser to have a negative impact on manufacturers by pressure on prices by large scale purchasing. I can't remember the other manufacturer at the moment and probably won't but some was selling 90% of their output to Sears and eventually couldn't make a go of it that way. Or so I was told years ago. Who is missing that was around 40 years ago? It might be a long list.
 
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Majic

New member
To be honest I don't see a lot of Mini-14s anywhere. It was rumoured that Ruger was holding that rifle series when the AWB was about to sunset and whatever happened after that I don't know, but the pickings for Mini-14s and 30s have been mighty slim so it may not be just Walmart. I do know in my area Walmart's gun dispay varies in size due to seasons. You will have quite a few choices come hunting season, but now they are gearing up for fishing.
 
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Barr

New member
I know that Walmart does not carry half the handgun ammo they used to. The two local Walmarts quit carrying .22 Winchester Dynapoint ammunition.
 
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Crosshair

New member
I work at Wal-Mart and we can easily get Mini-14s. We don't carry many rifles on hand, mostly the best sellers. Most of our guns are special order and take a week to get in. We have quite a selection in our catalog.
 
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Crosshair

New member
Mikeyboy

Crosshair, you mean you can still buy a Mini at a Walmart? They are no longer listed on their website.

Bah, the website is crap. I go by our store gun catalog. Only thing we did with Mini's is stop carrying them on-hand at the store since we didn't sell enough of them. Actualy as long as our distributors have it, we can get it. Even if it is not in the catalog. The catalog from last year even listed the Ruger PC9, not in this years catalog though. Haven't checked to see if we can still get it.
 
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detrod

New member
Wal-mart

I bought my mini-14 at the wal-mart (8 months ago)here and they have sold a few since and have one for sale now! I am tempted!!!
 
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Dead-Nuts-Zero

New member
FYI...FWIW

This is a paste up from my W-M 2003 store catalog.

I have not downloaded the current catalog.

Anyone know how these prices compare?

Here is the link for '03

Beware of Falling Prices!

Last I knew it was a week or less to get most anything listed with a deposit. If you don't like it they refund your deposit or apply to another.



4813951 RUKMINI145R-MINI-14 RANCH 223 SS RG 3667601835 537.76
4805258 RUMINI145-MINI-14 STD 223 BL WD 3667601801 459.42
4813944 RUKMINI145-MINI-14 STD 223 SS 3667601805 507.94
4806693 RUKMINI145P-MINI-14 STD 223 SS SY 3667601866 507.94
4806700 RUKMINI145RP-MINI-14 RANCH 223 SS SY 3667601865 537.76
922237 RUMINI145R-MINI-14 RANCH BL WD 3667601817 ASMBY

ATTN: SPORTING GOODS ASSOCIATE:
The assembly item above is available to traited stores via your POS system. If this store is not traited for
that specific item, it cannot be ordered via the Layaway system.
Please call the vendor for ordering assistance.
 
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Erich88

New member
Wal-Mart ain't the only one

Up here in the Northwest there's a chain of stores called Bi-Mart that is set up like Wal-Mart with all the dept's and everything, anyway, I used to always see mini-14s in their display up until about 2 years ago. So I asked the dept mgr if they could still get them and he said something like "Sure we can, out of the catalog, but we just can't put them on display anymore because the upper brass doesn't want to draw any complaints from anyone." HMMM, if that's not bending to pc I don't know what is.:( :barf:
 
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Weeg

New member
I heard on NPR the other day ("The Wal Mart Effect") that WM is the largest seller of guns in the US


.
 
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JohnBrowning

New member
A walmart near me in Auburn Hills Michigan entirely stopped selling guns. Thats probably best, because they are located right by Pontiac Michigan, and as such selling guns was an invitation to get robbed. The other wallmart near me is in a township called New Hudson, it has a bunch of guns, including Mini 14's and 30's last time I was there.
 
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