Davidson's Guarantee

[robodeer]

Does anyone have any negative experiences with Davidson's/Gallery of Guns? At face value it seems like a decent deal for guns that have non-lifetime warranties (such as Heritage Rough Riders & shotguns). Any catch?

[slayer61]

I bought a couple of rifles from them this year. The only down side was taking longer to ship than touted on their TV show. Not horrible, just longer than expected based on their claims.

[Baboosh]

It does not have to be purchased from Gallery of Guns, it can be purchased from a dealer who buys from Davidsons. If you want the warranty ask your dealer to order from them.

We had a customer blow up a KSG, Davidsons took care of it no questions.

[ARDude]

Got a handgun thru them this year. Delivery to my ffl was about 3 days. Price was exactly as described, with no hidden fees. Time at my ffl to start dros was about 30 minutes. But, we were talking about guns in general the whole time.
Very pleased with Davidsons. I will use them again.

[bsg]

tagged.

[JDay]

If I'm not mistaken they will replace your firearm with a new one under their warranty instead of repairing it. That's a plus in my book.

[audiophil2]

I had a customer with an EAA with a broken hammer. He was out in IL. All he had to do was take it to the nearest Davidsons dealer instead of me out in AZ. He was given a choice by Davidsons to wait 6 weeks for a repair or pay $12 and have a new gun 2 day aired to the dealer. He paid the $12.

The warranty is not supposed to be transferable but Davidsons only looks up serial number. You could theoretically buy a broken gun at a garage sale and if it had its serial number from Davidsons they will replace it. I've seen badly engraved home job guns turned in for replacement.

Same deal with optics and magazines.

I was one of the first dealers notified that Davidsons will be selling suppressors soon. That will be very interesting.

[tmh1]

In the past Davidson's has replaced a new rifle for me which was a POS out of the box. It was a Mossberg lever action brush gun, and the action was absolutely horrible (and not showing any signs of improving). My local FFL returned it to Davidson's for me (which I'm not sure if all FFL's will do for their customers - some might need to send it back themselves), Davidson's felt that they couldn't fix it adequately so they sent a brand new rifle without any delay or issues.

One other return didn't go so swimmingly well (but I feel that it was probably a very rare occurrence). This was for another lever action (a Browning) which for some reason went out of timing. Once again my FFL returned it to Davidson's for me. After a while we checked on the status of the gun - and got a real surprise. Seems that after their gunsmith repaired it, it somehow got put back into their inventory and was re-sold.

Unfortunately this was a limited production gun, where I had gotten one of the last in their inventory, and Browning was not making any more of them. So they couldn't replace it with a new rifle of like kind.

But... they told my FFL that they would do whatever it took to make it right with me. I picked out another rifle which would be suitable to me (it was just a little higher in price), and they replaced my lost rifle with that one. I ended up very satisfied.

I am not certain but I believe that Davidson's also reimbursed my FFL for the added DROS cost for the new rifles. Once again, it may have been that my FFL just didn't charge me for the new DROS because I have a very good relationship with him. But I know that I mentioned to him that Davidson's should reimburse him for the added DROS, especially for the lost/re-sold rifle.

So while not without issue, I have had excellent experiences with the Davidson's lifetime warranty. To the point where I will sometimes choose to pay a little bit more for a gun to get it through Davidson's with the warranty.

That, and my local kitchen-table Davidson's FFL is so darned convenient to me.

[sealocan]

Although I can't speak from first-hand experience, I remember older thread that interested me because my local favorite local gun store (San Jose gun trader) goes through Davidson's.

and a few other people had positive experiences with Davidson's lifetime warranty and no one mentioned anything negative at that time.

Even if it did cost a few dollars more,which I'm not sure it does, I would definitely go with Davidson's over some of the other (economy - low budget) wholesale firearms distributors, if I have any choice in the matter.

[FF90]

A friend of mine purchases a RI 1911 a few yeas back, plunger tube was not staked properly and came loose, had his ffl send it back, they were out of stock on that model. free upgrade to a better quality 1911, Happy gun owner+

[Wordupmybrotha]

I bought a few firearms through them. GTG.
Just watch out for shady FFLs who charge more than the agreed upon price. The price on the invoice should be final per Davidson's policy. Call the FFL before you use them.

[Fjold]

I've ordered from Davidson's for about 15 years but I haven't had to return anything under warranty.

[CandG]

I've ordered from Davidson's for about 15 years but I haven't had to return anything under warranty.

I've been buying from them too and for some reason I never even noticed that they had that warranty until recently... haven't needed it yet either. Good place to buy a gun that you plan to hang onto forever!

[OttoLoader]

I buy through Davidson's because of the warranty and returns are trouble free. For example some manufactures do not have a warranty and some with warranty require the customer to pay shipping to the repair center. The two manufactures that have good warranty policy and service in my experience are S&W at Springfield MA and Springfield Armory. All others I first check for Davidson's. For example Walther and SIG, I only buy through Davidson's.

Main reason is today's manufacturing methods (tolerance stacking with minimal to no hand fitting) results in a Forrest Gump's mama's situation: Buying a gun is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you are going to get.

[robodeer]

Thanks everybody. Good info.