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Gun shops...who measure up to the late Ray's Sport Shop

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reflection off the cases
Most don't even bother with the dowel which I think is a better way to display the items.

 

Not when the dowels are oriented at 90 degrees to front of the case and the firearms are all vertical - think of books on a bookshelf, that's how they are packed in there.

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reflection off the cases
Most don't even bother with the dowel which I think is a better way to display the items.

 

Not when the dowels are oriented at 90 degrees to front of the case and the firearms are all vertical - think of books on a bookshelf, that's how they are packed in there.

 

That is asinine. It would only make sense if customers selected their handguns solely by girth. Place the dowel through the trigger guard and lay the gun on its side. Rotate it so at's at a slight angle to the front of the case, and you can fit a hell of a lot of guns in a case and still identify what they are.

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Not when the dowels are oriented at 90 degrees

 

That is asinine.

 

I'd suggest getting a clarification before coming up with a somewhat hostile rebuttal.

 

Most shops don't bother using dowels, which is a better way to display. Dowels allow a more three dimensional view to the item.

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Sorry if I worded my response offensively and/or didn't explain myself well. It wasn't my intention. I meant to say that it is not effective to display guns in such a way as to prevent the viewer from identifying it (i.e. using a single dowel for all the guns to create the "books on a bookshelf" look). The only way it would make sense is if purchasers were only interested in seeing the rear profile of the gun (almost never the case I imagine). The individual dowel method (one per pistol) allows a more three dimensional view of the gun, but of course does not allow as many guns to be displayed in a case. There may be other methods of display that give as good a picture and take up less real estate. I just don't know of any.

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Well that was a little harsh. I think Chris almost had the concept, but he was thinking of a single dowel through all the trigger guards. My fault for not explaining it better. In that a picture is worth a thousand words...

 

displaye.jpg

 

The dowels are mounted in a board that goes across the front of the case (thus obstructing the front view) - the barrels are placed over the dowels. All you see through the top of the display case is the top of the gun. Plus there are several rows, top to bottom. Horrible display.

 

Adios,

 

Pizza Bob

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I would drive down to Ray's which is about 45 minutes from my house to look at handguns and use the range. They did have a great selection and its nice to have the ability see how a gun points in your hand after doing my due diligence on the internet and reading reviews online. With that being said, I would never buy a handgun there b/c they were overpriced, and some of the staff was rude and/or ignorant. Thats a recipe for disaster when running a retail small business. They stayed in business b/c of volume but I wouldnt recommend any of my friends to do their gun shopping there.

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With that being said, I would never buy a handgun there b/c they were overpriced, and some of the staff was rude and/or ignorant.

 

I understand this feeling, and I'm not criticizing.

 

However, in my opinion, I am willing to pay more to a store that is willing to put out the capital to have an enormous selection of product. Many people shop locally, and then buy on the web, or from a discount store, and this is one of the reasons local stores go out of business, or don't carry a lot of inventory.

 

I am willing to pay more to a store who is willing to show me a big inventory. (I feel this way about NJ Firearms Guild; when I bought my Kimber they have over 10 Kimber 1911 models, including 5 or 6 custom shop models. I paid perhaps $100 more than some other stores, but I was able to compare, in my hands, 10 different versions).

 

I used to do a lot of auto racing, and the same thing happened with helmets. The few local dealers that would carry a bunch of models of racing certified helmets (with Snell SA certs, not the Snell M motorcycle certs) in different sizes had a terrible time with window shoppers. Guys would come in, try a bunch of models and sizes, and then go home and order the helmet over the internet. Eventually it became hard to ever try anything on, because no one stocked anymore.

 

Finally, the racing community realized what was happening, and now when a newbie asks on a forum where to buy helmets, we tell them who has them in stock, and tell them to spend the extra 10% and buy where they tried them out.

 

I understand that for many, saving a few bucks is really important, and I respect that, but for me I'd rather support a local dealer who is willing to keep 200-500 handguns in stock so I can try them out, and then I'll return the favor by spending a bit too much.

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With that being said, I would never buy a handgun there b/c they were overpriced, and some of the staff was rude and/or ignorant.

 

I understand this feeling, and I'm not criticizing.

 

However, in my opinion, I am willing to pay more to a store that is willing to put out the capital to have an enormous selection of product. Many people shop locally, and then buy on the web, or from a discount store, and this is one of the reasons local stores go out of business, or don't carry a lot of inventory.

 

I am willing to pay more to a store who is willing to show me a big inventory. (I feel this way about NJ Firearms Guild; when I bought my Kimber they have over 10 Kimber 1911 models, including 5 or 6 custom shop models. I paid perhaps $100 more than some other stores, but I was able to compare, in my hands, 10 different versions).

 

I used to do a lot of auto racing, and the same thing happened with helmets. The few local dealers that would carry a bunch of models of racing certified helmets (with Snell SA certs, not the Snell M motorcycle certs) in different sizes had a terrible time with window shoppers. Guys would come in, try a bunch of models and sizes, and then go home and order the helmet over the internet. Eventually it became hard to ever try anything on, because no one stocked anymore.

 

Finally, the racing community realized what was happening, and now when a newbie asks on a forum where to buy helmets, we tell them who has them in stock, and tell them to spend the extra 10% and buy where they tried them out.

 

I understand that for many, saving a few bucks is really important, and I respect that, but for me I'd rather support a local dealer who is willing to keep 200-500 handguns in stock so I can try them out, and then I'll return the favor by spending a bit too much.

 

 

Those are my sediments exactly and the reason I was so so sad to see Ray's close. For me, browsing Ray's was the classic "kid in a candy store" analogy. That gun room was a real place to be. It had atmosphere and was busting with guns and shooting supplies from all walls and aisles. From the weird main entrance and long hallway just to get in, to the creeky stairs going up with the bell to announce your presence at the top, the place had character. I'm a young guy, but from the moment I first walked into that place as a kid I knew it was a throwback to a different time. Now days I go to Cabelas once or twice a year. I first went for the "experience" (which it is), but now I go because it is the place where I can get my hands on things....lots of things. Internet opinions are no substitute for my hands on impressions.

 

Regarding the gun staff at Ray's they were not that bad. There was one guy who just had an abrupt personality. Apart from him I remember a few gentlemen there who spent lots of time with me going case to case so I could handle pistols. I would tell them up front I wasn't buying that day and there were more than happy just to talk all-things-guns while I tried on gun after gun.

 

And I too was more than happy to pay a bit more. To have the vast selection, to be able to hold things in my hand, and frankly to keep money in the community and particularly in an old school brick and mortar sportsman store. The internet has ensured that we can research guns 100x more thoroughly than ever before. We have the unfiltered opinions of a million Jon Doe's (for better or worse) to assist our decision as well. And while the internet provides for competition which allows us to save money on our gun purchases, it comes at the cost of the demise of places such as Ray's. What we have left are the little guys, who the market ensures will stay little, and the giants such as Cabelas, Bass Pro, Sportsman's Guide, etc who as national and regional companies, together with the internet, ensure charismatic days-of-old stores such as Ray's have no place anymore.

 

I know its simply a matter of the times, but I for one am sad at the loss of such cool places.

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I would never buy a handgun there b/c they were overpriced, and some of the staff was rude and/or ignorant.

 

I heard this from my own people more than once. The uniform area staff were the worst imaginable but they had everything needed in their warehouse so many but kept quiet and dealt with it.

 

Some of the sales staff in firearm's were said to be rude. I dealt with one or two and never had that issue. But I expected my people to be treated at least with respect when I was spending twenty thousand or more a year. Add to that many of our employees used them for required departmental purchases. the problem was that few dealers had a law enforcement dealership privilege. The other option was Lawman's. After one guy drove an hour and a half one way to find NIC's down it was back to Ray's.

 

One area that I couldn't fault them for was as a source of information. Ray's son-in-law had contacts everywhere and could get things done few others could do. It would still be a active store today except Ray didn't like what the new owner had planned and walked out of the deal. He certainly didn't need the money.

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I remember going to the old Ray's when it was on the other side of Rte 22. It was a lot smaller and was mostly guns and accessories. For those of you who don't know that place burned down and it was quite a fire. Regardless of what kind of insurance coverage he had you have to give Ray credit for starting all over again and on a bigger scale.

 

He was high priced but there's few places I've been with the selection and stock Ray's had. Need dies for some oddball caliber? Ray's usually had them. Need 50,000 rds of 40 S&W? Pull your truck around back.

 

I became well acquainted with Ray's son in law and a few of the staff and can only say good things about them. rscalzo is right about the connections Ray's son in law had and knew people in just about any line you can think of and was always willing to share info.

 

I went to Ray's for nearly 40 years. In all that time I only bought two guns there and got good deals on those. Most of my personal purchases were accessories, ammo, or reloading stuff. I worked most of my career for a federal agency so our guns, ammo, and a lot of other stuff was issued centrally. I only spent a few thousand dollars of the agency's money a year at Ray's but they always treated me good. They even offered to loan equipment at times to try out knowing I couldn't buy it there.

 

There were many times I'd be in the area and stop in to see what was new and bs if they weren't busy.

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