Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Where You Purchasing Your Guns?

I do like to support my local gun shops, however, they don't always have what I am looking for or their prices are higher than I would like.

I've been buying online from Buds Gun Shop (https://www.budsgunshop.com) for at least 15 years or longer. Was in the market for a 10mm to replace a Colt Delta Elite that a buddy wanted more than me. So I've had great luck with S&W Performance stuff and decided that a MP2OR would be an excellent solution.

Buds had one last week so did the deal and it arrived yesterday. Couldn't have been easier. My local FFL dealer couldn't believe what I paid for it - about half of what the Colt sold for.

Buds is highly recommended!

I've bought from Buds before. No complaints. I buy from lots of different places, mostly into older stuff now. Local auctions, Gunbroker, pawn shops, used rack in several area stores

Always local - except for 1, my Montana I bought from Whittakers. (CMP M1 and M1911A1 don't count)

My go to places today are Kentucky Gun Company or the Gun Dock (also in Kentucky). Pricing is usually the best around (not always) and they do not charge sales tax for out of state deliveries. Shipping is very reasonable and no charge for using credit cards.
They sometimes drag their feet on shipping times.

Wherever is the cheapest for the same product.

Prefer local if they have it, mainly Sportsman's Warehouse and Impact Guns. Their retail price might be a touch higher than an online store but you get free shipping to the local store if it's not in stock and no FFL fee so their OTD price could be several bucks lower than ordering through an online dealer, especially if that dealer charges sales tax. Sportsman's also offers a 5% military/veteran discount so that helps a lot.

Used to buy from a local guy who had "okay" prices but offered a 3% discount for cash. Since he got successful he no longer offers the discount and now wants near MSRP for everything, so quit buying there.

Whittaker's, Grabagun.com and EuroOptic are some online dealers I've ordered from, Grabagun especially has a good stock with decent prices and generally low shipping.

For used guns I still look to gunbroker but added costs can vary a lot there - automatically add state sales tax + their 1% "compliance fee", then shipping if the seller charges it, then some percentage for using a credit card, then an FFL fee at the end of the process. A $600 good deal can quickly turn into a $700 not so great deal. Sellers offering free or cheap shipping and no credit card fee definitely get my attention.

I've bought many from GrabAGun over the years. Great prices.

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I strive to obtain new firearms out of some guy's trunk in the Lowes parking lot but that is not always feasible.

There is a difference between purchasing and gittin...

Used to be very loyal to a local shop.
Terry was a smart man, taught me a ton. Without him it's doubtful I would have tried handloading. He closed, and has passed.


No one around here deserves my loyalty, our interactions are transactional. If they can give me a good price, I buy. If not,
they earn $25 doing the transfer.

As I really don't buy new firearms it's generally one of my LGS's, pawn shops, sometimes on a forum and, just this morning, a M700 Ti from the local Bass Pro.

From a guy named Bubba. We meet behind the local Schitt & Git.




Sorry, had to do it for the feds watching.

Family Firearms in Troy Alabama, Buds, Kentucky Gun Company, Larry’s Pistol and Pawn in Huntsville Alabama, Smokey Mountain Guns, consignment guns from Bullet & Barrel in Huntsville AL. Been treated well by all.

That’s how I do it. I rarely buy new guns.

Since I discovered this search engine site, https://gun.deals/ it's been my go-to for finding the best price. From there I can decide if I want to buy it from 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. cheapest- or from somewhere else entirely, but at least I'll know how much I'm getting screwed by doing so.

A little tip about the site, the search feature sometimes seem a little quirky, BUT if you cut & paste the SKU or UPC number, (sometimes just the model number will even work) from the manufacturer's website and put that in.. it works perfectly!

Another hint, sometimes you can get it to find other things besides guns. I just entered the UPC of a knife and got it to work.

I try to find used things locally that show up. Sometimes it works and I get some solid items

Have not seen that search engine before. But when I used it, Buds was not listed and was $40 less. Hummm

Healy Arms Tempe, AZ

I nearly always buy locally, but then again, "local" for me, means Whittaker Guns, Kentucky Gun Co., Bud's, and others that are based nearby. I HAVE ordered guns thru Grabagun, and Rural King, but no other online entities. No need to do that, because we have so many excellent shops here in Kentucky, and I sorta live in the middle of them all. I'm on good terms (I think, anyway) with all those shops, and can get them to get me whatever I want, for the most part.
Some of them are pawn shops, my most recent new gun (S&W FPC) came from a pawnshop 4.4 miles down the road from me. I had it within the week of mentioning I wanted it.

They can't get me stuff, if the makers are slow to produce them, of course, and my expectations are reasonable, but if it's commonly available, I can get it pretty quick.

New: Online

Used: Online, LGS's, and Pawn Shops.

Local 7% tax makes it harder to jusify buying local.