Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Wal-Mart Gun Closeouts

Thanks to the OP. There's some screaming deals out there.

Very early in the thread I visited my local Wally World and spied a couple of Vangards in the case a 243 and a 270. Of course there's no employees in that quadrant of the store. Bought my cat litter and left.

I was a bit hesitant to go look again after hearing about Czeck22 [sorry spelling] luck in finding deals.

Used the search engine for WW and it showed nothing in stock so I assumed they had been purchased.

After I did my chores this morning-took till noon I checked Brick Seek again and saw the same 2 Ruger Minis in So. Reno so I figured I would give it a try.

I thought I would try my local WW first and low and behold but only once I got a Asst. manager to scan them I grabbed both the 243 and the 270 @ $249 apiece.

Then off to the Damonte Ranch store for a Mini 14. Brick Seek showed 2 of them before I left and if you've purchased a firearm at WW in these parts you know everything goes slow-mo.

Get to the next store and find a guy who's been traversing NW Nevada buying stuff all day @ WW's waiting on his purchase of a Mini. At this point it had taken 2 hours. Reason given-computer problems.

So we talk about the great deals and he tells me he got a 243 and a 308 with fantastic wood in Carson City and was finishing off with the mini.

Once the other guy got his Mini the gun counter gal started to look to see if she could find the other MIni. I could've used a sundial to time the glacially slow progress but they did find the other Mini.

After getting another Asst. manager to pull it out of the dark recesses of the store I started the paperwork to purchase the gun. While waiting the clerk and I notice 2 cracks in the stock. There on both sides of the trigger guard with one going to the wrist. Not wanting to drive 85 miles round trip to the closest store with a Mini I told them I would buy hoping to get some help from Ruger or just buy another stock for it but would appreciate a discount.

They agreed it would be easier to do that and knocked off another 10%. Got it for $359. Happy happy.

Nice work!!!

They aren’t stocking any according to the guy that sold me mine, they only have the ones on display. He said they got 1 in each caliber and that’s it.

What's the SKU for a Mini-14?

Wish I knew. Does anyone have a list compiled of all the SKUs?

Hey czech the sku off my box is 73667605801. Its for the mini with a wood stock.

Brickseek shows there may be one on 7th St. and in Lemmon Valley along with the WW on Market in Carson City. Also still shows 2 in Fernley.

Got the lowdown from the folks at Damonte WW that the one on Kietzke had a bunch of Vangards and the price was lower @ $240.

Hey I also have to mention along with the replies of the other new Vangard owners. The triggers are the bomb.

These are the best triggers I've felt on Vangards or Howas including the new 2 stage on the newer Howas. Will not need to order a Timney.

Im from PA, but that SKU doesnt show up at all. But 17200884 does in most of the zip codes off the top of my head.

17656099 is showing up here as the Savage Axis 308. 17656101 is 30-06 Savage Axis. And 104852656 Savage Axis no caliber.

These guns being sold are from actual in store inventories which will no doubt differ from store to store. As late as Sunday morning, several stores near me still had more than one of several different Vanguard models and calibers. Those showing limited quantities with 0 in stock only had the one in the gun case. I know for a fact that one of the stores near me has sold 4 Mini-14's in the past few days at the reduced prices. They now have none in the store. A store down the road maybe only had 1 when this sale started. As a result, what the sales guy told you might apply to his store - if he really knows - and it might not apply to a store just down the road somewhere based on their normal thru the door traffic. As you can see from reading this thread, some stores don't even know whats in their back room and don't want to find out in some cases. Hence some guys ask and go away shaking their heads. That is simply poor local management.

The thing that some are missing is that Walmart corporate HQ can see real time inventories at literally each store in the US. Some are large market stores and some are small market in terms of actual traffic thru the doors. As a result, one store might stock 100 "widgets" while the next store might only stock 50 of the same widget at a time. Knowing what is in an individual store inventory wise in real time is how they are able to correctly restock individual stores with truck shipments made up of all items of all kinds sold in individual stores from a common warehouse. Hence, lets say the "Monday truck" inventory being delivered at one store will be different from the "Monday truck" deliveries at the next store down the road, and so on. Inventory on all items in a store is real time or as close as it can be when checked by HQ sales/stock personnel. And with what they are doing, don't expect a store to get new stocks of rifles Monday unless a warehouse that supplies that store also has excess inventory that HQ wants moved. By now their low prices - and with the word out among consumers - they are probably close to balancing everything to where they want inventories to be before newly purchased merchandise comes into the Walmart supply chain and is moved to individual stores. Simple corporate marketing strategies at work. As an aside, each item you pay for at the register is deducted from inventory in that store at the time of sale. The chip based cash register does that in the background.

Don't confuse this with what happens in a store when an employee has no idea what is going on. A knowledgeable Walmart floor employee is a rare breed.......... On Friday when I bought a Mini-14, the Asst. Store Manager of a large market store was not aware that guns were on sale until he literally scanned a few stickers in their sale rack. As to your success if you make the drive tomorrow, I have no friggen' idea. And a phone call to that store might yield you absolutely nothing in terms of the real facts or you might get the absolute truth. Who knows until you try?

And no........ I don't work for Walmart, but I am damn sure that they do employ common corporate marketing strategies and techniques aided by modern computer and communication capabilities. And that in no way infers that any individual store floor employee, even some with the label of manager, can find his or her butt at any time during their shift without help.

Same here. I had to drive to the Mechanicsburg Walmart which is an hour away. I called first.

The triggers are awesome.

I've been telling you dumb schits to buy Vanguards/Howa's for years. I guess they just needed a $249 price tag to get you to bite.

Picked up a 243, I’m confused on everybodies good trigger reports. The on I got is horrid. 2 stage and then it breaks once without Going off then about another 3 pounds of pressure and it goes. I guess I’ve been shooting jewels and even Timneys to long. Everything else seems fine but I im going to not start at the start and see how it goes.

They're adjustable.

I picked one up in .308 and it is a lot better finished and the trigger is light years better than a 30-06 Vanguard I have from 15 years ago or so. My only gripes are that it is heavy and I don’t really see the point in a 24 inch barrel in a .308. I’m thinking about putting it in a Basner and cutting the barrel to 20 or 21 inches. That would be a very nice rifle for about $600.

I love a two stage trigger. Take it over the hump, refine the sight picture, then break it. I understand people have difficulty getting used to that and try to treat it as one long squeeze.

Grabbed a 243 just minutes ago. Will be the first Howa I have owned and worked with.
The price was too good to pass up.
GreggH

I've owned a few Vanguards over the years and all have been excellent shooters with good barrels.

I have noticed that they are by nature heavy rifles with triggers that one has to get used to as others have stated. This generally comes from people who are huge single stage fans. Vanguards have beau coup "creep" or take-up for those people. For others, they are "good triggers". I've always been happy with them but I wouldn't want one on a bench rifle. They are fine for a hunting rifle as they can be made to be consistent with a bit of work.

I used this sale as an opportunity to buy what I knew from experience would be a good rifle for a grandson who will soon be of hunting age. He already shoots 22LR and a 243 Vanguard will be a good reliable first gun for him.

.

Yeah get what you are saying about trigger. Have been switching my Remingtons
over to Trigger Techs so this is definitely a different gig. I will have to play with it
before I decide if the trigger stays.
GreggH