How much do gun shops make?

[Soldier415]

[glockman19]

Bear,

Pot, this Kettle, how are ya ?

First, I'm NOT singling you out. Originally Posted by glockman19 View Post
Let's face it your prices just suck on your guns and ammo too Truth as a defense

Do I make my money by running the place? NO My name is not on the deed, but my livelihood is still at stake. It's a job, you're an employee, (nothing wrong with that). You brought it up.

Forth, Sounds like a threat to me. Thanks for putting it in writing and posting it. anytime, IMHO not very bright.

And Finally, YES, I always inquired to prices of guns I was looking at when I was a member of TFL and you were always more expensive. Your Reloaded Ammo is More expensive than Factory New loads, and I'll keep my brass thank you.

I will give credit where credit is deserved. Your Owner/Employer is a good guy. A Fair and equitable businessman. He compensated me, you do the math, to the tune of 500 rounds of 45 ACP, apologized and refunded my membership after the Egregious behavior by other TFL Employees at another location.

Finally to all other Dealers & FFL's I feel for your margins. I think you should all get together and do Co-Op buys to get better prices, that you can pass along to customers and increase margins. If you could even get LEO pricing @ $389 a gun and sell it for $450 you're still making more dollars on the sale and passing along a better price to the public.

[Paratus et Vigilans]

Wow . . .

Everyone is always absolutely convinved that the OTHER guy is making a pile of money and getting rich.

Unless the "other guy" is Bill Gates or Rupert Murdoch, you're wrong. Sorry.

Just the humble opinion of one who has to bring the expectations of his clients, and his potential clients, back to earth on a regular basis.

[Soldier415]

*Ahem*

[Mac]

....

[OpticsPlus]

Trust me, we did not get into the gun business to be millionaires lol. Like others have said your dealers who buy a few at a time are getting them for $440ish, if Glock makes them for $75 (which I highly doubt the do) your local FFL is not buying them for that cheap though. With Online sellers (Yes like us) you have to markup your products less and less because you always find it cheaper. Hell our prices are low but we have seem them go for less than we can purchase them for.

[QuarterBoreGunner]

The money is in used guns.

Maybe once upon a time.
But with the internet and so much information as to the real value of a prospective seller's used gun, not so much anymore. When a seller can go online and see, for example, on GunBroker.com or GunsAmerica that a similar gun, in the same condition is selling for X and the dealer tells him it's worth X minus, the seller feels slighted. But what's the dealer to do? The idea is to make a profit, keep the lights on and pay the employees, plus be able to have a slight margin to purchase new stock and so the cycle goes on and on.
But if the dealer buys the gun for what it's really worth, then he needs to mark it up to an unrealistic value to make a little money. This tends to put off prospective buyers.
Therefore consignment sales is where it's at now. I'll take 20% of whatever it sells for and I'll do my best to get you the most for it, 'cause a better deal for you is a better deal for me, right? That way no one feels cheated or low-balled.

[xenophobe]

To the consumer, it doesn't matter what it costs a manufacturer to make a gun... it doesn't matter what jobber price the wholeseller gets, it doesn't matter what price they sell to the gun dealer... It matters that the gun dealer can mark up a firearm enough to actually make a profit, not just stay in business.

A retail store has a LOT of bills they need to pay. More bills than a lot of other types of businesses... and you think insurance, rent, PG&E and other bills are easy?

There just isn't the markup in firearms that there is in any other sector of retail sales. Pawn Shops, Groceries, Clothing and Furiniture... they all have higher average profit margins...

As for used guns... a dealer doesn't make as much as you would think a lot of the time. To get used guns coming in, we often have to pay top dollar, or the seller will just take his guns elsewhere.

[PIRATE14]

I would love to second you on thoughts of putting local shops out of business and staying off the internet deals, However i live in San Diego, So I know of no shops here willing to sell nor transfer me a say a SAIGA, Vector AK, AR, other than a Bushy Carbon 15Ca(Junk in MHO), AR-15 mags, and only one shop who will sell me an over priced OLL with only one choice. Stag (Which i am a fan of and did buy one from him) but stil need to drive to SFV for transfers and yes thats two trips there and back as we know. If there were options here in San Diego I would agree with your post but to my knowledge there is not, so the internet is a must for me.

So you haven't seen my new store post.......

Now back on topic......

[RELOAD243]

Let's face it your prices just suck on your guns and ammo too. I've bought and seen Glocks for $430 in group buys. Try reading.



I'm simply quoting from an article where Gaston Glock was quoted as saying his cost to produce one gun was $75. The article was from Forbes Magazine.

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2003/0331/064.html

Yes $430. and the most I've paid is $550 for a Glock 19 with night sights NIB 2 mags, case.

Sorry disappoint you guys:

"These days Glock GmbH has an estimated $100 million in sales, two-thirds of it from the trigger-happy United States. A gun that retails for $500 can be manufactured for $75, and the company has a pretax margin nearing 60%, estimates John Farnam of Defense Training International, a LaPorte, Colo. small arms instructor."

Better learn to read, the article says "an instructor in colo says it cost $75 to make" and he does not say where he came up with that idea...

[CRTguns]

You're nuts.

Glocks may indeed have a *raw* cost of materials of $75 to mfgr. What about direct-to-item labor? That's probably $10/gun alone for mfgr, testing, bo...............fair amount per handgun for tying up a big chunk of cash in inventory -- the distributor can often make a bit more than the dealer on a gun sale.

that's funny- Even Bill says so. I though I was going out on a limb saying something negative about "Glockman's" own reality.

Maybe Glockman should change his name... to something like malicious gun-related-rumor-man. Maybe.


I heard he was an *********** or something- and there's ****** of him *****************************. And he ******** his ******right out the window while driving on *************.
And he's got an ****** who can ********* any day of the week. So*******************************************. AAAAND he ********************************************.
With all due respect.

[radioactivelego]

Glocks cost around $75 to manufacture. Add a 250% markup to retailers & LEO and the price comes to about $190. Add the Retailer markup of 250% and you get somewhere around $465.

If you were able to machine illegal aliens out of scrap 6061-T4 then maybe it would cost that much.

It's the distributor that marks the **** out of the guns. Easily 30-50% of the final cost can be had in distributor fields depending on the brand.

[M5police]

I havent seen a single dealer in CA sell a Glock for $475.00 or so. Everyone is in the high 520s and even 600 for a Glock. Distributors such as RSR and some other ones sell it to dealers for $440.00 plus shipping unless you are LEO then its around 380 or 390 I dont remember under Glocks LE/Military discount program. Most places outside of CA mark up their guns 25-50 bucks depending on the dealer, but here it seems like going rates can vary all the up to a hundred bucks or more. This of course Iam referring to bay area/large city prices. Im sure prices may be lower in the stix.

And for everyones information. I remember 7 years ago when a Federal Inspector from the Dept of Treasury had his issued Glock 17 with night sights stolen out of his truck. Dont ask why he put it in an unlocked glovebox. The Treasury department charged him $250.00 to replace his firearm. Now they wouldnt have done that unless they can buy the gun at that low ball price that civvies cant.

[tenpercentfirearms]

Finally to all other Dealers & FFL's I feel for your margins. I think you should all get together and do Co-Op buys to get better prices, that you can pass along to customers and increase margins. If you could even get LEO pricing @ $389 a gun and sell it for $450 you're still making more dollars on the sale and passing along a better price to the public.

You might feel my pain, but you don't understand the gun business. Why do you think it is that not a single wholesaler in this whole country sells Glocks for anything less than $440? If they do, they will not wholesale Glocks anymore.

Do you think authorized Glock LEO dealers can just sell their guns cheaper? No. All Glock LEO orders require mounds of paperwork and they can only be sold to LEOs, not anyone else.

Glock very carfully controls the pricing and you can't just make a "co-op" and get Glocks cheaper. The only thing you can do as a dealer is join in on the Glock Stocking Dealer program and get them for $405 once a year. Last year I bought 5 or 10 this way. The limit is 15 guns. This year I will buy 15 without hesitation.

Guys who offer Glocks for $440 are either whole salers or people who work for free. My Glock price is currently $550. It costs money to keep them in stock. If you want to go find one somewhere else, that is fine. There are always plenty of customers who will come in and spend the money at the shop. It really, honestly isn't a big deal. You could probably even ask for a few bucks off or order a lot of guns for me and I will cut you a break. I don't take any of this gun business too seriously.

[Moonclip]

Well we sell 35,000 rounds of that "over priced" ammo every week. You should come down and get some. DO NOT attempt to single me out for having high prices on guns. All of the retailers that have chimed in this thread have been right along course with what I said. If you want to continue a delusional Jihad against myself and my business you will not enjoy what happens. See how it feels.

Anyway, if you were buying guns in group buys that are going for less than what it costs me to buy one, good for you. Hey you should try going to B & B or Pony express and look at some of the new models. OH THATS RIGHT, YA CAN'T DO THAT ANYMORE BECAUSE THEY'RE GONE.

I also don't shoot at firing line range as IIRC it is $18 to shoot if you don't buy thier ammunition which I consider expensive. People buy firing line ammo because of this or beacuse they are casual occasional shooters that don't really keep up with what ammo can be purchased or reloaded for. Also I have had issues with attitudes of some of the help at the HB location so I'd rather spend elsewhere. And B&B closed for many reasons besides internet competition.

And believe me, as long as guns are allowed, there will be someone in business to supply them, kind of a survival of the fittest thing. Turners seems to survive even with all the internet competition. If your business can't compete or be inovative to prevent it???

In bear308's defense I was involved the an indoor range before also and I feel your pain. Believe me people, no ones really getting filthy rich in that industry generally. It's hard to in whats essentially a hobby business.