Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Cross Border Shopping Rant

I am one of the few Canucks that doesn't live within 100 miles of the border and would love to get a trip once a year down south to soak up some sun and maybe get the cheap Zeis binoc's for 1/2 of what Zeis will sell to us even when the buck is par BUT.........................I am sick and tired of seeing an endless stream of lower mainland BC and southern Ontario types (on TV) who seem incapable of buying even a jug of milk on this side of the border. The few guys I know up north that might spent lots of time in Alaska are quick to be Canucks as soon as a Doctor is required. OK. Am I just jealous or WTF?

tangozulu:
I'm hoping here that other than being miffed at the cross border Canucks that this finds you doing well this afternoon.

I'm taking a break from working on a friend of a friend's .30 Gibbs and have to put some parts into a Cooey 64A after that. Both less than noble projects to be sure, but I digress.

My guess is that many of the folks head south to gas up as well, since they are at $4.07 this morning for 1 US gallon in Oroville and we're $1.48/ liter this morning here and in Penticton. If my math is correct that's $1.85 per US gallon difference, so on a fill it might make $40 savings.

Then too, milk, cheese, chicken and turkey are typically half price there as compared to here - so a quick grocery run to Ben Prince's in Oroville after or before hitting the Quick Stop might save another $40-$50.

I can't say how things are going in the Lower Mainland, but if we're lucky enough to still be working here in the Okanagan, we surely haven't seen any pay increases in the last half decade or so.

With everything else going up except wages, a lot of folks can stand to save $100 here or there.

Now to be clear, we've not been down stateside since last summer and when we go it's usually for a weekend at very least. We are close enough that theoretically we could head across the medicine line too, but who has that kinda time, you know?

The girls like to shop in Spokane as they hit different stores than we've got up here or in Kelowna. They tell me the prices aren't much different than they are up here, but the selection is different.

Anyway, that's just one guy's thoughts and theories on the subject TZ and as per usual I'm quite likely out to lunch on this topic too.

All the best to you and yours up in the north country TZ.

Dwayne

Thanks Dwayne,
My parents are retired and in the OK and I know things are tough for sure. I was just watching the news on the bridge collapse on I-5 and it seems to be all about the broken pipe line to cheap shopping instead of the miracle that no one died.
We pay and pay and I know all to well about lack of selection living up north. Heck Kelowna shopping is like disney land to those north of 60. I have 2 daughters just like you and I make a fairly good income but live paycheck to paycheck. My truck is a 1989 4 runner and we have a 2008 minivan for the family.Don't smoke and the few beer cans in my fridge are starting to rust. No cell phone. I Havent had a vacation in years and bought my last gun 20 years ago. We pay 1000 dollars a month to heat the house and winter seems to be about half the year now adays.
Anyways I am certainly trying to do my bit for my fellow Canucks by buyin beef/milk and cheese at home. (What would happen to our economy is no one shopped at home) No time to even get that moose that was easy before the girls arrived. (Lets no forget Canadian beef is being discriminated by us wholsalers due to the labeling issue.)
I too need a good shopping trip down south just think we need to keep it in perspective some time.
Pretty sure I'm just jealous.
cheers

Nothing ignoble about a bit of gunsmithing, Dwayne. You can go back to work on the Holland & Holland double after you've finished helping your friend out.

Tangozulu, I'm one of the thousands of BC'ers who do live near the border and regularly travel across the line, but in my case it's to visit my gf, who's a prof. at WWU in Bellingham.

Possibly you're a bit jealous but I do sympathize with your complaint. I know the locals are ticked about Canadians descending like locusts and clearing the shelves of flats of milk and such at Costco, and I can't say I blame them, although I can't figure how people can stand queueing for hours at the border. It's all VERY good for business, of course, so instead of say, limiting quantities to something reasonable (for non-locals anyway) Costco is planning to open an even BIGGER store- right across from the Fred Meyer on Bakerview Road. The chaos will undoubtedly be even worse than it currently is.

I don't shop much for food etc., except for a couple of specialty items such as McCann's Irish Oatmeal, (mmmmmm!!) which Trader Joe's sells for about 60% of what it costs up here. For shopping the big draw for me is the superb Hardware Sales (hardwaresales.net) in Bellingham, which puts every other "hardware store" I've been to to shame. And I do order from US suppliers (and Amazon) quite a bit. In fact, tomorrow I'll be driving down to stay for 48 hrs. to get my $800 exemption on a tractor attachment (48" yard rake/scarifier) coming from Everything Attachments in N.Carolina. Free shipping within 1000 miles, and only $150 extra to Bellingham. I couldn't find anything like it around here. Now if it weren't for all those silly ITAR restrictions, I could order all sorts of firearms stuff, too

Having a "second residence" in the US comes in very handy. Having my gf there is even better. As hickock45 ("your internet shooting channel") says, "Life is good."

Stuart

Stuart;
Thanks for the pleasant thought on the Holland & Holland, though I've got to admit that I've passed on jobs on rifles worth much less than an H&H because I know my limitations and don't want to bubba anything that isn't already that way.

Hopefully I don't come across as a rimfire snob when I say that Cooey 64's and the old Lakefield Mossberg semi-autos that had the curved magazine have given me more fits over the years than all others combined. That is trying to get them to run without jamming and hit something while not jamming.

Anyway, I do think that I've got the 64A working now and although it won't be driving tacks it appears to be "minute of beer can" at least!

The Gibbs is built on a P17 and has sentimental value for the owner, so I'm just doing a minor bit of tuning on it and then will help him work out some safe hand loads for it.

I really like the P17/P14 actions for their brute strength and functionality. In fact I've got one sitting in the safe - along with a bolt from both so I can go either a magnum case or '06 case.

I keep on thinking that I need to build a .375 H&H or something similar - you know for the rouge alligators that'll be moving up to your neighborhood when the global warming kicks in.

All the best to you folks Stuart and good luck with your new tractor attachment too.

Dwayne

Funny even Amazon sets up a special Canadian division with pricing just for us and it's all the disscontinued and low budget stuff they couldn't sell stateside. Wouldn't even sell their tablet to Canadians. Go figure?
BTW, I happy for you that there is no border to love.

Well, a man has to dream.


Now if I could only get my Mk. VI .455 Webley to do that. At present it barely meets its design spec, which was "minute of Bosche." But I think it can do better.

Those P14/17 actions are excellent, if a bit heavy- although that makes them ideal for the big bruisers. There was a guy on CGN a few years ago who was selling a .505 Gibbs on a P-14 action. In fact, I think "505 Gibbs" was his online name. Funny, I think he disappeared after he sold the rifle. Must have been one of those "men with only one gun" we've been told to be afraid of.

I have a very nicely sporterized P-14 in .303 Epps that I need to get out shooting again. Picked it up years ago from a local fellow for $150!

Sadly, the Canadian Amazon is but a pale shadow of its US counterpart.

As to "no border to love", I do have to deal with the border but fortunately I can pretty much pick and choose when I travel and thus avoid the big lineups. However, with the sequestration** in the US, I suspect that the border services may get cut back. Already I see that the lineups, even at the sleepy Huntingdon/Sumas crossing, are getting worse, which may however also be due to the onset of summer. I'll be filling out my NEXUS application next week.

(** Where DID they come up with that term/euphemism? I can't help but think of the old Army line that runs "Why call a spade a spade if you can call it a manual earth-restructuring device?")

tangozulu - I used to live 14 blocks from the border and I crossed it 1 time per week or a little less frequently. Guess how much I was paying for a 2lb block of Tilamook Cheddar? When on sale, only $4.99 but regular price was $5.99 to $6.99 - the same amount of Armstrong or what have you was $11-$12. You know how a bottle of Yellow Tail wine costs about $14 here? Well there I paid $8.99 - for a 1.5L bottle!

Heck, even CANADIAN canola oil was much cheaper there than here. I saw some research a while back that tried to address the question of why companies charge so much more for things in Canada than in the States. Do you know what the short answer was? "Because we can".

OK OK, Rub it in.

Mmmm... Tilamook White Cheddar...good stuff. 5.99-6.99? That must have been some time ago. I just bought what they (jokingly) refer to as "Extra Sharp" (ie = Armstrong 2 year-old!) and it was $12.99 at Fred Meyer. Still, it's very good cheese and cheaper than its Canadian equiv.

As to Canadian goods being cheaper in the US than here, when I shot my Chrony a year ago (DON'T ASK!) I found I could get it cheaper in the US than here in Canada. Go figger.

Would you happen to have a link to the "Beacuse we can" research? Might be useful to have on hand.

I have not been across the border for 15 years or so and seldom ever did go during the 30+ years I have had my main base in the Lower Mainland. When, I was still living in my hometown, some 50 miles from the border, I think I went to Spokane once in my adult life.

I knew many a union man and union woman, who would rave about US foreign policy, about US domination of Canadian industry and about how OUR tax-funded healthcare, etc, was SO superior to the Yanks...and would cross the border to buy anything they could twice a month..........

The ones that REALLY got to me, tho', were the academics, who would rant about many of the above issues and would always come to my small, independent business for DONATIONS for their various pet projects at the local university, college and art school, ALL of which I was FORCED to pay taxes to support.

THEN, every couple of months, they would go to Spokane to buy the products I made my living selling and paid those huge taxes with my meager profits because they were "cheaper"......many of these academics were American "draftdodgers" and a number of British and European immigrants.....but, I was good enough to bum freebies from......

I strongly favour protective tariffs for Canada, also much harsher border regulations/inspections and a Dominion Government policy of "BUY Canadian", with major taxes on items bought outside our borders. I also believe in curtailing union power, banning "public sector" unions totally and major tax breaks for businesses owned by native-born Canadians.

In fact, we need to have the old Dominion cartridge company start up again and lots of government support for this!

Yep, it is simple economics. People may boycott something or buy patriotically for awhile, but the prices Dwayne and Arac have listed will drive consumers overall. A few years ago BCTV did a news story complaining about Lower Mainlanders shopping at places like Edaleen Dairy just over the Aldergrove border, showing prices, etc. Edaleen business nearly doubled!

There are a few items available in Canada that we buy for friends and relatives in the US, but more goes the other direction.

PS, Dwayne, keep me posted again this year about peak cherry season in the OK!

Stuart;
Thanks for sharing the photo of the .303 Epps, that looks like a dandy rifle.

Was is built by Elwood himself? The stock looks like one I repaired that he'd built is why I ask.

On the Mk. VI, I'm going to guess that the trick will be finding a balance between a big enough bullet for the barrel and figuring out how to stick said bullet into the short, thin .455 cases.

If it were my windmill to tilt at, I'd try to slug the barrel to see what it is, then compare that number to the chambers and hopefully they won't be too tiny in comparison.

I'd try to run pure lead bullets for starters though as you won't be trying for magnum velocities with it although before selling the bullet mold I would try some wheel weight too as some barrels are "funny" in what they'll decide to like.

Hopefully that was some use to you sir, good luck on your Webley - the .455's are very cool pieces of machinery.

All the best Stuart.

Dwayne

Okanagan;
Absolutely will do that sir.

The growers have been getting more and more into later varieties too by the way, so it spreads the season out more and they catch the later hot sun to sweeten them up as well.

As always you and your family are in my daily thoughts and prayers.

Dwayne

Dwayne, I have no idea who built the .303. I bought it a few years ago from David Hardy, who was a firearms verifier and PAL instructor here in Mission. I think he's retired in Kelowna now. When I bought it, it was just a regular .303 but I sent it to Epps to have it converted as I had some crazy idea that I might be able to manage a trip to Africa for plains game and figured a .303 would be a suitable rifle with the right loads and bullets. (I also have a nice Husqvarna 9.3 x 57, which would also do.) It was a real steal at that price. All I did was a little re-oiling of the stock. I haven't shot it for some time now but the first time I took it up to the range with the scope (a plain old Weaver 4x) it shot better than 1.5", which made me happy.

I keep fired cases and bullets for all my handguns (for forensic use in case they were to be stolen) and a fired bullet measures about .449. I have some traditional 265 gn. HBRN bullets but I see there's a fellow on CGN who is making other profiles in soft lead (BHN 10) so I've contacted him to get some to try. I've heard that some Webleys shoot better with other designs than the official design. The revolver is in excellent shape aside from most of the external finish being gone. To completely hijack this thread here's a pic:



I guess the only tenuous connection to the thread topic is that you can't do any cross-border shopping with these!

Stuart;
Thanks for the photo - very nice revolver there.

It sounds like you're onto something with the chap on gunnutz who's making bullets.

Again if the mouths of the cylinder are way, way smaller than the bore, then things can be more nettlesome than if not....

Good luck with the Webley and apologies to TZ for the thread hijack.

Oh for the days when we could go down to the White Elephant in Spokane and fill up on reloading supplies.

I suppose even if we could now there'd be no point though. A buddy tried to find some IMR 4831 for me in Kelowna and reported the shelves are pretty much bare with the exception of some 4227!

All the best again Stuart.

Dwayne

No Problem,
Threads aren't hijacked, they simple evolve.
Besides Im gettin over it.
Cheers

We would all be better off if Canadians did their shopping on this side of the border, but money talks.

If money talks, and people abandon their moral obligation, what does that make them? As Winston Churchill told the woman who agreed to bed him for 500,000 pounds but was offended when offered 100. Madam said he, we know what kind of woman you are, we are simply discussing price.