Wal-Mart: Smile Gun Buyers, you are now on Candid Camera!!

[lazs2]

There are three or four gunshops in a 25 mile radius.   They are overpriced.   I buy my reloading components online. 

I did not want to drive 15 miles both ways to get a buttpad that I will not use again much if at all and.. pay twice as much for than I paid at walmart.   I went early and there was no crowd and then I self checked out.. all in minutes and off to the range.   I see young mothers going in.  They do not have a lot of money.  They put up with the service and such to provide a little more and better for their family.

When walmart came it increased the city budget and everyone got a raise instead of the predicted cut.

I got no problem with walmart.   it is competition that needs to happen.

lazs

[Toad]

Cabela's films all transactions too. They may not have a camera in your face at the register but they have you on camera somewhere during the process, probably several times in fact. Everything in the store is on film from some angle almost.

The camera at Walmart isn't about Walmart robbery, it's about ID after the fact. If someone goes and buys a gun then shoots up the local gun free zone target and gets away, good ole Wally will have a wanted poster for the local boys in blue.

I think they're hoping to soften their image as an evil gun seller by being proactive in the trackdown/prosecution phase. It's a bunch of bull as it's proven that an overwhelming majority of gun crimes are committed with illegally obtained weapons, so Wally's photos would rarely if ever be of any help. It's a PR move that is all sizzle and no steak but it plays well with the uninformed masses, the puppets of the mass media.

[Toad]

BTW, Laz, I wouldn't spread it around that your buddy transacts at your house. BATF rules require sales to be on his premises with some exceptions allowed for gun shows.

[lazs2]

The actual transaction does happen at his house.   He delivers the gun to me.   

lazs

[Coshy]

The biggest gun store in my area has no security cameras of any kind installed.   

Which store is this?

[mbailey]

The biggest gun store in my area has no security cameras of any kind installed.   For security, all of the store's staff wears handguns on their hip.   They have never suffered an attempted robbery, after being in business for 24 years.   There are 4 employees working in the store on weekdays, and 5 on Saturdays.

In contrast, all of the Wal-Mart employees are unarmed.

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I work part time at a gun store / indoor range. While we do have security cameras thru out the range and gun store. Nothing is more effective than seeing us ( employees ) walking around the store with firearms on our hips. ( as a side note many of my co workers are Law enforcement professionals)
We all have stations in the store when someone comes in that looks "less than honest" and have all worked out our areas of egress and shooting lanes.
While a life is not worth anything merchandise in the store, we figure our lives are.

As far as security systems we have panic buttons that will instantly summon local law enforcement. Its good to know that Brinks Alarms company is there, but personally i think that my cocked and locked Kimber is much more of a deterant.

[LTARGlok]

I wouldn't be surprised. But it's cheap, I don't have many choices in Cook County and the ammo is better than I am with a pistol, for now. For self defense I have a box of Federal hydroshocks on hand or comparable for the .357s.

I'm not a big fan of Wal Mart for a variety of reasons (quality, crowds and poor service), but being able to buy ammo a few blocks from my home and still be in Cook County gives me at least some sense of satisfaction that Daley hasn't quite won just yet. In an odd way, having it available on the shelf at a major retailer is a plus in this case.

Charon

Are you unable to buy ammo mail order where you live?   I buy quite a bit of my ammo mail order now. 

I know that a number of cities in California have banned mail order sales of ammo, and that there is a bill in the state legislature that is pending to totally ban all mail order sales of ammo.   But I have no idea what sort of restrictions you may have in Cook County.

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[LTARGlok]

Lasz, how close is Dixon to the Bay area?

The vast majority of California is now anti-gun, and it is getting worse all the time state-wide.

That is one of the reasons why even though I am a 5th generation native born Californian, that I no longer live in the state.

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[LTARGlok]

Which store is this?

Everyone here who is local to our area knows the store well.   We don't have that much of a selection to choose from.   They have the biggest ad in the local Yellow Pages too.

They are the gun store that runs all of the radio ads that you hear on 1120 AM in the early afternoon.

I actually have no objection to security cameras themselves.   It is only Wal-Mart's new policy of keeping archives permanently on file.   That is going overboard, in my opinion.   And will do absolutely nothing to really help fight crime. 

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[Charon]

Are you unable to buy ammo mail order where you live?   I buy quite a bit of my ammo mail order now. 

That has only really become an option in the past few months. The county and state attorney generals under Daley command have made a point of hassling mail order gun and ammo dealers over the past decade or so, so it's really hard to find someone to ship to Cook County. You also have to have the FOID card on file and there has been some ambiguity about being present as well that just got worked out late last year, I believe. That's also the main reason I never got a C&R license. They won't typically even ship a bolt action to Cook County even though it is fully legal.

Now, apparently, Midway is shipping ammo to Cook County. I see AIM and a few others are now shipping to cook but not the city. I've looked at their prices and don't see a major savings with shipping charges. My calibers aren't too exotic for pistol - .45 & .38/357 with an oddball 32 Long. I don't shoot enough to where a minor savings per box adds up much. Of course, that and the fact my last formal instruction was in 87 or so in the military helps explain why I suck with a pistol

Most of the rifles I have several thousand rounds of surplus for through CMP and R-Guns which carries a good selection of surplus. BTW they have original, matching but refurbed MN PU snipers in stock now from the Ukraine. I haven't stocked up on pistol ammo because now that I'm showing some more interest in pistols the ammo prices have shot through the roof, pun intended. The Chinese are using a bunch of lead and brass. Rumor even has it that they are breaking down a bunch of surplus for scrap leading to a shortage.

[lazs2]

you guys need to think about reloading.   I can make ammo for less than $5 for 50 that outshoots factory stuff.  I can also make loads you can't get in a factory load.. heavy or light bullets for instance.   I can taylor cast bullets for the bore.    It is also fun to go shooting with people and let em put 50 rounds or a hundred with your gun and say "no sweat.. they don't cost me that much"   

Surplus ammo seems to have about doubled in price.  I had some 8 mm stuff that the primers seemed dead on... like every 5th round or so.   I broke em down and loaded the powder and bullet into a boxer primed case and took em to the range..  they all went off of course but the best thing was the group was smaller. and.. no corrosive primers to deal with.

When I bought my makarovs (for 125 bucks) I bought wolf and barnaul ammo for about $80 a thousand.. now it is more than that for 500 rounds.  good thing I bought a couple thousand.

Been reloading since 73.. it has been a fun hobby.   

lazs

[Jackal1]

Have to agree about that. I miss my reloading time.
Was very enjoyable and interesting when I was doing it.
I try to remember exactly why I got rid of  so much my reloading stuff and so many of my guns I had at one time.
I come up with nothing with the exception of a possible flat line episode.

[Charon]

you guys need to think about reloading.

At some point I certainly will. Right now the time demands are a bit tight and I don't get to the range enough to really see a huge benefit. I am saving my boxer-primed brass though. Even the mixed 2000 rounds of .303 British I got has some boxer primed Winchester (20-25 percent) from WW2 production.

I come up with nothing with the exception of a possible flat line episode.

That is the other concern I would have in the back of my mind, not that commercial or surplus is immune. Last year, a guy disassembled his Remchester into about 7 major pieces and a bunch of smaller ones through a reloading mistake while I was there. Tore up his hand pretty good and nearly injured a few others as some of the smaller pieces turned into shrapnel but fortunately managed to miss the handful of people on the firing line.

[lazs2]

It is good to keep that in the back of your mind... the only firearms destroyed that I have seen so far have been from factory ammo tho..or.. in my case.. a bad lot of powder.   one was remington ought six rounds that injured a guy who works for me.

I load on a single stage press and do every step one at a time.   I don't load 500 rds an hour like the progressives do but I have had a very safe loading experience.   The las thing I do is dump powder and seat bullets.    Pretty hard to overload doing it that way... dump into case.. add bullet and run through press... I usually have about a thousand rounds of various calibers that are sized and primed and ready for powder and slugs.

Time is still a factor..  if you have none then it is not worthwhile to reload.  it takes about an hour for 150 rounds or... three boxes but only half an hour to put primer and bullets.. the last step.. all the steps can be done when  time permits.

lazs

[Toad]

I quit reloading years ago when my recreational time dropped and that coincided with cheap factory ammo. I didn't have the time and the financial incentive to reload was minimal. When you could buy decent trap loads on sale for $3 a box and it cost $2.50 to reload.. heck, just grab a case at Wally's.

Times change; I need to dust off the rifle and shotgun reloaders.

What's the going rate for reloading 50 .45ACP in your neighborhood... break it down, primer, powder, 230gr ball.. I have brass.