Rimfire Central Firearm Forum banner

WalMart 17hmr ammunition is second quality?

15K views 41 replies 32 participants last post by  DRob 
#1 ·
Gents of the forum.
I went to a local gun store today ( first time there) I asked if they had 17hmr on hand. He brought Hornady 17hmr 17grn vmax the price for a box of 50 is $17.80.
He then asked how many boxes I needed? I told him that I thought his price was pretty high since I can get the same at Wally World for $11.50 per box.

He became pretty flustered and angry with my comment about Wally World pricing of 17hmr .
He said the ammo at Wally World wasn't the same and they sold floor swept up 17hmr that is why the 17hmr is cheaper. The 17hmr he sold was factory first with better quality control.

Your thoughts please. Is there any truth to this ?
 
#37 ·
Late to the party here.

I help a friend from time to time at his gun shop and I see the prices that the suppliers charge for firearms and ammunition. It's pretty bad when the price he pays is the same or more than some large chain stores sell their wares for. Volume, volume,volume.

Kind of like when I was in the auto dealership parts business for close to fifty years. When we as parts managers would complain to our district parts sales managers how we as auto dealers representing the brand would buy spark plugs and filters at the same price as the nationwide chain auto parts stores would sell those same branded parts in the identical boxes for. The factory reps would say "Just buy boxcars loaded with those same spark plugs, oil and air filters like they do and I'll get your store the same pricing."

On the "floor sweepings", some parts countermen and managers over the years would play the "Those are seconds, factory rejects" game. We all knew better but some of us would be truthful and say "You should see what we pay for them" and let it go without resorting to lies.
 
#39 ·
I would not return to that shop again. Any dealer that has to be dishonest to sell product doesn't know how to treat people. He hasn't figured out that volume beats mark up every time! If he was a dollar more than walmart you might not have even bothered buying ammo there. If he is more than five dollars a box over on rimfire he is pushing his luck with the customers.
 
#41 ·
The Walmart ammo and rifles are the same quality as any ammo or rifle of similar model at any store/source. Walmart and other large buyers may specify a particular set of features but they do not specify that they be sent floor sweep or left overs or specifically request junk rifles of lower quality. In fact, there is every reason to believe that if the manufacturer was sorting quality, that Walmart, a large customer, would get the best and that Bob's Overpriced Gun Sales, a small customer, would get the worst.

Walmart might do something like, Mr. Marlin/Savage/Ruger/etc., we would like to purchase 5,000 units of XX model and we want a synthetic stock, a scoped package and we do not want the AccuTrigger or some other feature thus allowing them to provide value packages that might not be available at smaller retailers. But the quality is the same. CCI does not have a Quality Knob with a vernier of Poor, Good, Really Good and Perfect that they set at each order, oh, this order is for Walmart, hey, Joe, turn the Quality Knob down to Poor please!
 
#42 ·
Yup

The Walmart ammo and rifles are the same quality as any ammo or rifle of similar model at any store/source. Walmart and other large buyers may specify a particular set of features but they do not specify that they be sent floor sweep or left overs or specifically request junk rifles of lower quality. In fact, there is every reason to believe that if the manufacturer was sorting quality, that Walmart, a large customer, would get the best and that Bob's Overpriced Gun Sales, a small customer, would get the worst.

Walmart might do something like, Mr. Marlin/Savage/Ruger/etc., we would like to purchase 5,000 units of XX model and we want a synthetic stock, a scoped package and we do not want the AccuTrigger or some other feature thus allowing them to provide value packages that might not be available at smaller retailers. But the quality is the same. CCI does not have a Quality Knob with a vernier of Poor, Good, Really Good and Perfect that they set at each order, oh, this order is for Walmart, hey, Joe, turn the Quality Knob down to Poor please!
About as well explained as could be. A great example is the famous "Walmart Special" 10/22 which was only available at Walmart. Thus the name. I'm glad to have one. They're no longer available as far as I know. It was discussed here https://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87292
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top