Stopped at Cabelas to pick a birthday gift for my son this evening. While there, I saw the following...

1) At the used gun rack, there was a kid about 10 years old handling a shotgun by himself. Not bad in and of itself, but he had it shouldered and was tracking his younger brother with it as he ran through the store. No one said a word. Speechless.

2) Walked past two guys looking at red dot sights. Sales guys had to the 'minute' rating of the sight had nothing to do with how accurate it would make the gun. Seriously. These two were arguing with him saying that 1 minute dot would make any gun shoot MOA. I guess I learned something new?

3) Guy in the archery department was asking for "a stock to turn his 'campound bow' into a crossbow." After he left, the guy at the archery counter said it wasn't the first time he'd heard that request.

Where do these people come from? smh

I thought you just turned it sideways, gangham style and poof, crossbow.

Cabela's just opened here about 2 weeks ago.

It's killing Gander (not necessarily a bad thing as they still don't get it with their prices).

That said - the 3 times I've been to Cabela's in the last 10 days - staff has been EXCELLENT, knowledgeable, place is well stocked, clean and it's been a great experience.

Rather shocked I didn't recognize any of the people at the gun counter from other places - dunno where they got them all.

I will say I have heard some idiocy but it's been 100% from the customer side of the counter. (stories about super secret Ruger Mini-14's that were military sniper grade)

Agreed teal. I'm a Cabelas junkie.....stores, online, whatever. I know how my wife feels in the mall!

Jerry has them @ Hickory Creek Inc http://drawloc.com/

[url=http://drawloc.com/content/line-draw-loc-trigger-slow-motion][/url]

Good gear and people.

We're getting a huge Cabelas. As I understand, the first store in the Southeast. Estimates are that upwards of 30k SE folks will travel to this store on a monthly basis.

Big news for the upstate. Now, I just need to fully move from Virginia to SC so I can enjoy it.

Morons, they're everywhere.

Yep there is a device for holding draw......them customers aint ad dumb as ya think

Interesting device. I have seen similar draw tools before. I don't think that was quite was this guy was asking for though.

Yep. The employees at this one all seem to be top notch. Felt for some of them. It has to be tough to deal with that level of idiocy daily.

We have a couple in Canada now too. One of them happens to be in Edmonton, which is only a couple hours away. I was there a few weeks ago after I dropped the wife off at the airport, and decided to see what they had for interesting firearms.

They had some Kimber Montana's on clearance,but only 30-06's left. I was talking to the gentleman behind the counter about maybe wanting a sheep rifle, something light and accurate. He told me he had bought a Sako TRG in .338 Lapua for sheep hunting. He explained that this allowed him to shoot to 2500 yards,but speculated that it might be hard to find a sheep at 1500 yards or better. Apparently you can't shoot a sheep closer than that with that particular rifle...anyway,I asked if he had anything like a .260,maybe a nice .257 Roberts or similar. He said all the sheephunters now are using the .270 WSM. He did show me a Sako A7,which didn't look too bad,so I guess it wasn't all bad.
The rest of the staff I've actually found slightly better than average for these types of stores.

I had to correct 2 young teenage girls who were having a quick Draw contest with Glocks at the gun counter. Of course had fingers on triggers entire time when drawing and pointing at each other . I was nice and offered tips on safe firearms handling

Chewed out the guy working behind the counter who was watching. I think he was Xmas help.

seeing scit like this almost makes me support mandatory courses for firearm ownership.

But JG, are you a REAL Cabelas junkie? Do you get the hard-copy master catalog in the mail? Cuz I did. .

And yes, my wife was able to figure out just why...!

Bob

So did you say or do anything about the above?

Yep. Went over to the kids parents that were on the other side of the rack looking at other guns. Pointed it out to them. They seemed to get the point, but barely spoke any English. Either way, they got the kid to put the shotgun back in the rack.

Yes, you do!
The nice thing about our Cabela's will be that Twin Peaks and Chuy's are across the street with Palmetto State Armory (18-lane indoor range) behind that.
There's plenty of shops close by to keep the wife busy too.

And that's just SOME of the reasons I avoid public shooting ranges like the plague. My buddy's call me and say: "hey we're going to the ****** *** shooting range this weekend, you down?". My response is NO THANK YOU, BE CAREFUL. There are TOO MANY stupid people in this world, I'll be damned if I'm going to sit 3' away from them while they "play" with firearms.

On the topic of gun handling in public places, I have NO PROBLEM calling out stupidity if I see it. I consider it a public service for the rest of us.

Compound bow into a crossbow? Hilarious! Never heard that one before. I DID have a guy tell me the other day: "I never clean my guns, because it will ruin the rifling, and all that cleaning fluid will gunk up the firing pin". I just nodded in agreement and went on with my day. YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID! -tom

Absolutely. That's why I have my own range and pick the public ones that I use very carefully.



Me either. It is a little trickier when it is a kid, that you don't know, in the presence of their parents. I was firm about the fact that he needed to put the gun DOWN NOW, but did not know how they would react. They were standing in front of a sign that clearly stated that kids should not be handling the firearms. I don't know if they couldn't read it or didn't care?

In defense of Cabelas, that store was a madhouse last night. There was no way that they could have someone there just policing the used rack.

never been sure, but wish they would go back

I Guess a consequence of Firearms going �mainstream�

Still, no excuse for the 10 year old at the gun rack.

Snake

I spent six long years working the gun/reloading counter and have an endless number of such stories.

A guy who wanted a pound of Bullseye for his .30-06 ammo "cause it's the fastest powder and I want my bullets to be fastest."

A face-tatted gang member who pointed and clicked a rifle at his buddy then - like all gang perps - denied doing anything.

A "secret reviewer" lady who asked absolutely stupid questions about trapshooting, and then gave the store a bad review in her magazine because I smelled a rat and told her her questions were dumb.

Many, many more...

Geeez! What do you guys expect.....Dave freaking Petzal and John freaking Barsness behind the counters selling these guns?????

Walked into a local sporting good store a couple of weeks ago there was a couple ahead of me, so stood back to watch the follies, the owner wasn't there and there was a kid working the store. Any way I believe they had never handled a firearm before much less a hand gun. They wanted a gun for I guess personal protection at their home. The kid behind the counter reached into the gun case pulled a pistol out and handed it to the customer without opening the action or removing the magazine and the customer then proceeded to paint the kid and me with the pistol. Needless to say,I gave the kid a quick gun safety coarse on the proper handling procedures of handling a gun before presenting a firearm to a customer. I later reported the incident to the owner of the store and what I did to rectify the problem.

I love the mounted animal displays...
but the prices leave me in shock.

Apparently you've never been in a Gander Mountain.

We find the Cabelas stores to be a real compliment to our avocation.

The fabulous diorama, architecture, and incredible size of their stores are like nothing before!

They have far more guns than any other gunshop that I have ever seen. And more supplies also!

Buddy used to run the archery department at our local sporting goods store. A customer brought back his bow because it wasn't shooting well. Upon taking it out of the case, it was obvious that all the metal components were rusty, even though the bow was not that old. Turned out that the guy was pouring water on it before each shooting session or hunt because there was a sticker on the upper limb that said "No Dry Firing". Buddy was speechless. He had one other guy come in with his bow in similar shape, except his strings were shot. This guy just left his bow hanging on a hook up in his treestand for the entire season. Less gear to carry in and out each time....

I believe we are getting one in Bristol[Va] as well. BP is coming to Bristol[TN].

Cabelas is indeed an awesome store. W've got a BassPro nearby, but it isn't quite in the same league.

Where is this store located ?

Granted some of the prices can give you sticker shock, but there are a lot of real good merchandise at real bargain prices. When visiting your local Cabelas look for closeout items a lot of these items are really marked down and are quality items, or at least it's that way at the Lacy,WA store.

The E. Hartford Cabelas is where we shop most often. We have been in the ones in N. Dakota and PA also.

Cabelas is like a rifleman's mall. Never has there been such a huge impressive place.

My wife likes Cabelas also!

I hear that so does my wife. She has no problem going there at check out time there is always a few surprises in the cart that I didn't put in there.

I love Cabelas but not all are great. The one in Lousiville is a sad place. Small and no better than Bass Pro. I would like to see one of the large cabelas.

I've never been terribly impressed with Cabelas. They tend to not have what I want in stock, and the "help" is often not technically proficient.

I had a friend who worked at the Billings store when it first opened; he was given just short of full time so Cabelas didn't have to pay benefits.

Add to this the trophy properties they sell - which are often working ranches subdivided into worthless little ranchettes.

I could give a schit about looking at dead stuff on the wall. I go to a store to buy what I need, and get out as quickly as possible.

If at all possible, I shop somewhere else.

Here is a rifle I got there recently.

It's on a pre-64 M70 action, aftermarket barrel (.300 Win.) and came with a Leupold 2-7 all for only $529!

I also thought it was a nice touch that the Cabela's here had WI replica trophies there, along with a nice ram my old boss had shot. Considering most of the people shopping there aren't local (Cabela's 2 blocks from Lambeau is a double draw - tourist wise) I thought it was a nice touch and appreciated it.

Both of those are some of the best I've heard...

Mine too. We lived within an hour of the Hamburg store since it opened. Now I live at the other end of Pa. I guess I'll have to try the one West Virginia now.

Dale

I was in the Hamburg store last night. I've been working over in Bethlehem for the last few months. That store draws a real interesting mix of people? A lot of Amish and Mennonites, which doesn't surprise me much. The large number of Eastern Europeans and Asians that don't speak much English has shocked me though. Didn't expect that there.

Would that be kinda like a 'blind dog in a meat house'??

Closest store is 254 miles in Reno :-(

No! Just Ernest Hemingway in the African Section, Howard Hill in the Archery Section, and we'll settle for Jack O'Connor in the Rocky Mountain area, and Elmer Keith in the revolver department!!

Hey pard. It's been awhile. We should get together during my next stay.

I just noticed the PSA store the last time I hit Costco. Those guys have done very well. Someone told me the Barrett brothers were part of that setup. That whole Magnolia Park project area is gonna be something else. Seems the only escape is the Paris Mountain side of town and rumor has it that's the next to go totally big box.

Can't wait for Cabelas.

Whitmire, here I come.:-)

I agree, they have become the walmart of the outdoors world. I never could understand how people can order hundreds if not thousands of dollars worth of hunting gear each year. I pop into the one in rapid city once in a while, mostly so my son can watch the fish, on occasion I'll pick up some field points or maybe a lb of powder. last year I picked up a blind that was on sale because I had some gift cards to burn there. there comes a time when you have to ask yourself, how much schit do you need?

I don't know about the rest of you, but I use the same gear year after year.

Elmer is in the Boise store.

Pennsylvania

Im headed to Hamburg Sunday to experience all that joy.

Jump on I 78 east and it's an easy drive to NY/NJ. Head the other way, catch 83 south in Harrisburg and Baltimore ain't far away. Add in Reading, Philly and Lancaster, you've got millions of people within 2 hrs or so of Hamburg.

I've been there when busloads of people are arriving. I'm trusting to memory but I think they said 7 million people went through the doors the first year they were open. With that many, it's for damn sure they weren't all old white guys!

Dale

I've been getting the hard cover "collector's edition" ever since the first one that came out.

I wish we had one nearby; a BassPro about an hour and a half away is as close as it gets. BUT there's always the internet....just a mouse click away.

I bought a Remington 700 Custom from the Billings store over the internet a while back and was thoroughly pleased with the transaction. When I called to give my credit card info, the fellow I talked to made a special effort to ask if I was aware of a slight blemish on the finish that didn't really stand out in their photos. I had seen it but was impressed with their honesty anyway.

I just got done making my shopping kist for cabelas this weekend however i always spend time cruising the used gun racks occasionally an excellent deal can be found. This trip is primarily for goose decoys. 13 dozen just doesnt seem like enough

I generally shop at the Lacey,WA Cabelas as it's close to Joint Base Lewis/McCord so they give a 5 or 10% discount if you have a Military ID, active duty or retired at that store.

Hamburg!

My Dad always said "We should have captured Hitler and sent him to Hamburg...and not given him any snuff!"