As anyone who lives around the capital region in New York knows, there are several dealers vying for the gun owners' dollars.  One stands out in terms of quality, selection, prices and integrity.  As a result, they have all of my business and I don't hesitate in recommending that people patronize B&J Shooting Supply or purchase from them on their Internet auctions at gunbroker.com.

At the same time, I have grown more than a bit disgusted with another dealer who once received ALL of my business.  We had a falling out when he accused me of spying on him one day to give his prices to his competition.  As if such knowledge were a state secret anyway.  I was there to buy several brands of 9mm, .357, .40 and .45 ammo to test out in my various firearms to see which one would work best for me for IDPA.  The owner of the store started screaming at me in front of other customers that I was spying, as if I needed to spend a couple hundred dollars on ammo to achieve that if it were my intention.  He summarily kicked me out of his store, and I never went back.  He also kept the deposit I had on a pistol, wasn't a lot of money, but it goes to the integrity of the dealer if you ask me.

I come to learn he is bad mouthing me to his other customers saying I am the reason his business is hurting.  As if anyone listens to what I have to say anyway.  No, couldn't be because he treats his customers like crap.  Couldn't be that he has tried to pass off used firearms as new (a customer was actually suspicious of how low the price was so he asked that the serial number be run by a law enforcement agency and it turned up as previously owned, when he went back to confront the dealer he claims he didn't have that firearm).

The decline in his business couldn't be because he sold myself and many others firearms that we later went to trade toward a purchase at another shop and the firearms turned up as missing from that store's inventory.  Yes, the dealer was once partners with the owner of this other shop and quite a few firearms simply vanished when the questionable dealer packed up to head off on his own.

When any businessman behaves in such a way how can they expect to retain customers and how can they expect that tales of their practices will not get around.  In this day and age of electronic communications and commerce does he not realize he is sealing his own fate, or do some people honestly just not care?

If anyone is in the Albany area and needs a reputable dealer, I suggest Brian Oleson of B&J Shooting Supply hands down and without hesitation.  Tell him Michael, aka Hiram, sent you and you'll be in good hands.  There are a couple of other good shops, Pistol Parlor, Nuedecker's, Taylor and Vadney, Zack's and Beecroft.  If a shop's name does not appear in that listing, I would never do business with them, you are of course free to do as you wish.  Caveat Emptor.

I'm not familiar with the other stores you mention, but I have been in B & J. They seemed okay and had a nice selection of stuff, that's the place I usually shop around when I am in the area. They had a pretty cool selection of stuff. Their prices were all fair and some were pretty good. That is the store where I saw the really super ugly Cetme tho-yikes.

The guy yelling at you in the other store is bizarre. I can't imagine someone doing that to me, sounds like he's having financial problems and is losing his marbles. If I saw some gun store owner act like that I would beat feet pretty quickly. A crazy guy screaming and acting like he was going postal in a store full of guns is a show I would not stay to see the end of.

The market takes care of these kinds of guys over time.

Trick, B&T had its problems when this questionable dealer was part of that operation.  Since he left and they became B&J they are top notch.