I've been to many local gun shops including Midwest, GAT, Megasports, R Guns, Cabelas and a few smaller establishments.IMO, customer service and prices goto Midwest hands down. That being said, I've not experienced "terrible" CS from any of the other places.

To start off, I was excited that I was going to have a close place to shoot rifles at. It took me about 15min to get to Gun World when I got there I couldn't wait to check everything out. They don't have a huge selection yet and I can understand since they've only been officially open for a few days. First thing I noticed is that almost every gun has no price or the price on the opposite side of the card. This is obviously used to make someone handle the gun before seeing the price. In the case of Gun World, I can see why they do this. If I saw the prices I would not ask to look at anything there. The few guns I handled where outrageous. As an example, they had a beat up Type III Colt 1903 for over $900. You can get those online or at other local shops in the same condition for $450-$600 with an original magazine all day long. I don't even want to know what the prices are of the older guns in the center case closest to the door.

My next disappointment was the employees. The guy I asked about the 1903 obviously didn't know what it was. He also seemed bothered that he had to go get the keys on the other side of store to open the case. If they don't start putting prices where people can see them, they better get used to it. Well, I checked it out, looked it over well, handed it back to him and said " hm that's pretty nice, I'll have to think about it." He looks at me while holding the gun up with 2 hands and says "DO YOU WANT IT!?" This time I said "No". I asked him if he had certain other models in stock of other guns and his answers pretty much told me that he didn't even know what gun I meant when I said a brand & model.

My Dad was with me and he's over by the case closest to the door. He was standing there for about 10min while 3 employees where chatting away with a guy one case down. One guy finally comes over and my Dad asks him to check out a GP100. He looks it over then asks what I thought. The employee asks if I have a FOID , I give it to him, he hands it back and I start checking out the gun. While checking on the gun my Dad asks if its used or new. The guy had no idea, but by the amount of burn marks around the cone, I would say used. I proceed to check the timing like I and many others do when looking at a revolver. Cock the hammer and hold it back while pushing the trigger, let the hammer down gently and wiggle the cylinder. I did this for every notch and put it back on the counter.

My Dad then asks to see the S&W 686 in the same case. I ask the guy this time if it's used or new and once again he has no idea. I don't know about other on here that went to Gun World, but I started to get the feeling that they had used and new guns all mixed together with no organization on type,make or model. My Dad checks out the 686 and then again asks what I think. Now this one was defiantly used. Not a big deal since it's a Smith but I once again check each cylinder notch for timing issues and before I could even get to the 5th chamber, out storms a grumpy old man that I can only guess is the owner.

He says " You can't do that!" I look up and say "can't do what?" him "You can't be rotating the cylinder and cocking back the hammer! You'll put a ring on the cylinder and it'll reduce the value by half!! You can't go doing stuff like that if you don't what your doing!!" Right then in my head I was thinking "this guy can't be F'ing serious." He then gives me this $#!+ look, so I put the gun down and say" okay fine" and walk toward the entrance ready to leave and before I get 1/4 way to the door he goes "That's right!!" in a cocky BS way.. I turn around and he's frantically telling the employee that was originally helping us how people can't manipulate the guns because it puts wear marks on them and reduces the value. Less than a minute later me and my Dad leave. While we walk to the car, he had the same comments about the whole thing as I did.

I don't know about you guys, but I check out a gun before I buy it, especially if it's used. A revolver will always get some type of ring on the cylinder just from normal use. I've checked out revolvers from every other gun shop and they know exactly what I'm doing when I check for the timing and they never say a damn thing about it. I'll also rack the slide on a semi-auto to check to see how loose the slide to frame fit is and to check out what I can on the inside. Midwest will even let me take the slides off of brand new or used guns as long as it dosn't require a tool.

Basically what I get out of it is, they want you to buy a gun without knowing the price or at least not know the price until it's in your hand, you cannot manipulate any gun in anyway to see if it functions correctly considering popping out the magazine, rotating the cylinder, racking a slide or flicking a safety on and off will all cause some sort of metal on metal contact and "devalue" the gun by their estimate of 50%.

I'll be honest, I may go twice to shoot my rifles but if the range rules are as neutered as their sales techniques, I think I'd rather wait to shoot my rifle only a few times a year in Wisconsin on a friend's property. All in all, I felt like I was at a gun museum with a bunch of FUDDs behind the counters. I'd rather go to any other store no matter how long I need to stand there to be waited on. It's better then looking at a bunch of overpriced guns that will be handed to me by someone who dosn't know what they're talking about, in a rude manner.

ETA: I also wanted to add that the cylinders where checked out by the employee and myself to make sure it was empty. I also had the revolvers pointed straight down to the ground when checking the timing.

I may or may not go to the range to shoot my rifles. I never got to the range side since I was all ready to leave after the BS from the owner. I'll probably wait until someone posts about the range and rules. If I have to wait 15 seconds between shots, load only so many rounds in the mag or any other BS rules I won't even waste my time. Maybe they have shoe bottoms painted on the floor where your feet go and you can't leave them or an alarm goes off. I know those and many other rules are ridiculous but considering the attitude I saw on my first experience with them, anything seems possible to me. I think without that range, nobody would bother going there.

That's too bad that you had a bad experience with the CS. I have not looked any guns in the cases yet but I have used the range. The range is nice as far as indoor ranges go. I shot my 2 AR's and 2 pistols. they don't allow rapid fire or drawing from the holster, but you can shoot fast, as long as your shots can be counted. I was shooting pretty fast, although not considered rapid fire. I didn't have any problems with the range officer.

Had a very nice experience there yesterday, purchased a Sig 228, and they gave me a decent trade-in $$ for a Beretta Neos I had to sell.

Place was a little busy, and most of the parking spots were filled, but the counter staff were all friendly.

Not the most huge selection of new guns at the moment, but I'm happy with my experience there so far.

Uninformed people are going to get overcharged regardless of what side of the tag the price is printed on.

I think the permitting process w/ Lombard is what took the store a long time to open.

Like I said, their inventory isn't spectacular, and I'm sure I'll continue to purchase mags, accessories, etc., online, but cut them some slack, they've only been open a few days.

No, I don't work there, or have any association with anyone who does.

The high prices, lack of prices on the tags, grumpy attitude towards someone asking to see a gun (mainly because someone can't see the prices) and the owner's uninformed poor attitude has nothing to do with them being open for a few days. There is also the fact that I think this Gun World is the exact same people as the old Gun World, so it's not like they're new to the business. The range is the only plus side to the store and considering its location, you'd only know about it by word of mouth. If anyone asks me about a shop to buy some guns, I obviously won't mention Gun World and would discourage anyone from wasting their time unless they like paying hundreds of dollars over on a gun they can't even inspect correctly.

I'll check out the range some day but it'll still irk me that the money is going towards that grumpy jerk. I wish the range side was independently owned.

Shame. We just had a bad experience at MegaSports, so we were looking for a new shop to do most of our purchases.

Larry

If you had been there back in the day you might see the point. I guess it is one of those "you had to be there" things.

gats prices are high but the service is good.
i have always had help when i needed it there.
range air system could use some work at gat.


megasports has always had good service.
range is clean. during the week it is dead if you go on a tuesday.

RGUNS has pretty good prices on a lot of things.

FWIW, I have never had bad service there and I am not military/ex-military.

I tend to agree. I've never had a problem there myself.

I was in there on Friday. I wasn't all that impressed by the shop but I also didn't handle anything. I did buy ammo and use the range. The ammo was overpriced but I expected that, I would have stopped at Walmart if it hadn't been Black Friday. I though the range was great. Its lots of stall, has better lighting then most, fairly priced, great staff, and has a large quiet lobby. I don't know if I'll ever buy a firearm there but I think it's my new indoor range of choice.

rguns has never done me wrong. they always help me.

the owner is nice to me, never had any issues with his products.

they are one of the few shop i can go to and find ar parts not just guns at the drop of a hat.

this has saved me ass many times in a pinch.



as to gun world range i am shooting there tonight after 5:30 on thursday, all are welcome.
ill be shooting my winchester model 52 bench rifle for a dime group challenge