doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Cabela's Gun Room Pricing

I like my Uggie Grade I just fine, but I think the boys at Cabela 'a Anchorage are a bit off on the price with this one:

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Ugartechea-SxS-12-GA/1887074.uts?Ntk=GunLibrary&searchPath=%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch.cmd%3Fform_state%3DsearchForm%26N%3D0%26fsch%3Dtrue%26Ntk%3DGunLibrary%26Ntt%3DUgartechea%26x%3D-738%26y%3D-52%26WTz_l%3DHeader%253BSearch-Gun%2BLibrary&Ntt=Ugartechea

It sure looks like a grade I from LCS, which retails for $1700. Every one I have ever seen from their store has a 14 1/2" LOP, so this one may have been custom ordered, or obviously came from a different importer. Still a much inflated price. I have a sidelock I would sell for half that. Maybe they looked up a AyA 4/53 by mistake?
CHAZ

I've seen things wildly overpriced, wildly underpriced, accurately described and described with major flaws not disclosed...I suppose that is what you get with such a big organization.

We focus on a very narrow slice of the overall gun business, with our love of doubles (particularly sxs). Given the number of Cabela's stores, they're not going to have someone who knows a whole lot about sxs in each Gun Library. But they do have some guys, scattered throughout their entire operation, who are pretty good. And the better GL managers will consult with those with more expertise when they have questions.

All that being said, I agree with the assessment that some stuff is significantly overpriced, but there are also some very good deals. If you go to their website and look through the total inventory of European shotguns, you can always find what look to be some very good deals.

Sometimes, even their experts are off target. Several years ago, I was working on a trade for a very nice Ithaca Classic Doubles 20ga. My "trade bait" included a very nice BSS Sidelock 20ga. The guy said he'd have to make a call on that one. So he comes back 5 minutes later and tells me they'll allow me $2,000. I ask him if he made clear to the "expert" that the gun in question was a sidelock, not a 20ga Sporter or something like that. Said he had. Well, we did the deal . . . but they did not get the BSS Sidelock. A few months later, I was in the Scheels store in Omaha. They had a nice Ithaca SKB 20ga with a fair price. Asked them if they were interested in giving me the gun plus $ for the BSS Sidelock. I walked out the door with the SKB and a check for $3,000. Not that the Scheels stores are always that good, but it does show that--like the old song says--you'd better shop around.

Deals are where you find them. Shopping at Cabela's has been very good to me.

Each "Gun Library" is sort of a law unto itself. I have personally visited five different stores and, while they are similar in appearance, they each seem to operate differently. What also matters is the day of the week that you visit: Most of their staff are part timers; so if you deal with Joe on Tuesday and go back on Friday, Joe may not be there. Ditto the "manager".

That said, I have made at least a half-dozen deals with their various Libraries and feel satisfied with the results. But you must understand the vagaries of the different stores and do your homework well. Depending on how they operate, the Library "manager" can be a sticking point. It is not unusual to find a used gun grossly mis-priced, and once it is done it is very difficult to get them to adjust it. They depend heavily on blue book pricing and some of their staff are confused when a weapon is available in many models. Once a mistake is made they are loath to correct it. I suspect there is an Accounting Dept. somewhere that scares the h*** out of the department manager.

My guess is that the situation quoted here is one of those mistakes.

One of the things I enjoy about collecting European shotguns is that the market is fairly inefficient, meaning it is often possible to get very good deals in the secondary market. Because so many higher grade European shotguns were/are custom made, there can be a lot of confusion about makes, models, options, quality and values.

In my experience, one way to get the price changed on a Cabela's gun is to have it sent to another store "for inspection". I have a very nice Ferlib that was firmly priced in one of the Texas stores and shed about 15% of that amount on its trip to Pennsylvania. Pretty good return on a $25.00 shipping fee.

Lack of knowledge is a double edge sword. I have seen the staff hold fast on a price three or four times the real value based on some notion that they know more than the bluebook, all the selling prices on the net and common sense. I do enjoy watching those guns remain up on the web site for several years not selling.

On the flip side I recently bought a Remington Model 12 in Remington 22 Special. That make two of them now I own. This one was sitting on the bargain rack outside the gunroom. There were two of them on the rack and mine was an honest 90-95% gun the second one was a 50% gun with honest wear. Took the best one into the gun room and talked to the staff. The more they talked the less it seemed they knew. I asked them if they had any ammo on the shelf? They checked, nope. Can you order it? Again they checked, nope. So you have a gun with no bullets and no prospects of getting ammo in. One of them suggested I could always reload rare calibers. True rocket scientist that one was.
I pointed out that no one reloads rimfire ammo. Oh he said I forgot that. Again true rocket scientist that one was.

So it came down to price and I made an offer. They laughed at first, paused and asked me if I was joking. Why I asked, you have a decorator item, not a gun. No ammo, hard or impossible to find ammo and no prospect of reloading ammo. The boss went into the backroom and came out a few minutes later and accepted my offer. Did the paper work, gave them a little money and bought another gun.

Before I left the gun room I looked again at a Remington 1894 AE that they have had in the case for going on four years. Still price at three times its real value. That one they refused to budge on price when I first saw it and still do. Anyone want a polished parts gun, with a split and cracked stock and pitted barrels for almost a grand more than it is worth I know right where to go.

Another tip: Get to know the guys in the GL who can actually DEAL. That is, take trades, accept or reject offers, etc. I've never lived all that close to a GL. But when I'd spot something of interest on their website, I'd call, inquire about it, and if it was still interesting, I'd ask them to hold it for me. Then, if I wasn't speaking with one of the guys I knew and had dealt with, I'd ask when Joe or Tom were scheduled to work. That's when I'd make the trip to take a look and maybe make a deal. Same story if I had a gun shipped from a distant store to a closer one. If you have to drive some distance, no use wasting the trip.

The fact that they now have so many more stores with fewer interesting sxs in any one store means it's a good thing they'll ship from one to another. Agree with the above that spending $25 to take a good look in person is worth it. Of course you can buy and return if you don't like it, but you'll be out the shipping which will be more than $25. They used to ship for free between stores, but $25 isn't unreasonable IMO.