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photon guy

Many of the good gun shops in NJ have closed down

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48 minutes ago, 9X19 said:

Ok, lets go back again...I used to buy my fishing gear at Hermans Sporting Goods. A few executives left there to start up The Sports Authority, who were actually pretty good for a decade or so. They used to even sell handguns there. They went downhill quickly when they stopped selling handguns, and then long guns a few years later.

Yes Sports Authority was a good chain and they even sold handguns in NJ at one time. Too bad they've closed down. Now we've got Dick's in its place which Im avoiding right now.

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1 hour ago, TokenEntry said:

 

Is this the same Edelmans that was in the movie "The Survivors? with Robin Williams and Walter Matthau?

 

Yes, at least the same company anyway. It was a chain that had stores in NY, NJ and PA. I'm not sure what location that scene was filmed at, but I do remember they also filmed route 80 in Morris county in that movie.

I bought my first gun from the Wayne store.

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2 hours ago, 9X19 said:

Yes Sir, I remember them too. What most  people don’t know is that Leslie Edelman who owns Kimber, is the very same guy who owned Edelmans.

Send it to Smith. You’ll get it back by the time we have a Republican Governor again.

nope...its a Bangor Punta gun.....no lifetime warranty from S&W on it

 

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NJ Armory, five minutes from Middlebrook in Warren, is a nice sized forearms shop.   Lots of nice used guns.  Reloading supplies as well.

RTSP is expanding.  Adding a second range and store in Union.

Many very good FFLs as well.

Since original poster hasn't be in NJ for some time (by the sounds of it) they obviously don't know where to look or go.

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1 hour ago, 9X19 said:

I thought S&W still had their lifetime warranty, but it was only good for the original owner.

Smith's lifetime warranty is by year...back in the 80's (when I bought the M-41), S&W was owned by Bangor Punta and did NOT have a "lifetime warranty" on their firearms.  They go by serial number, so unfortunately, its a non-starter. It's already been to Massachusetts and back. 

As discussed in another thread, after 50,000+ rounds down the pipe, I've essentially worn-out the barrel (the breechface-rifling still looks mint!) and slide.  I forget their estimate to replace them, but it was in the $400-600 range, and for that I can buy a brand-new Ruger (or 2!).

I may get it fixed someday...I do occasionally check ebay and gunbroker for a replacement barrel & slide.

 

  

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On 4/16/2018 at 7:26 PM, TokenEntry said:

Greg at Jersey City Armory had the best prices around compared to most NJ FFLs in the 90's. He had a website and could probably order what you wanted if asked. No retail store front as he worked out of his home and you would have to schedule an appointment for pick up. Unfortunately, the city hassled him so much that he moved out of state. Purchased my Benelli M3 from him, 300.00 cheaper than what other places were asking for.

Regards,

TokenEntry

I bought a Sig 225 from Greg back in 98 or so for about 400 dollars.  His basement was like a gun warehouse with an incredible variety of merchandise.  Greg told me that once in a while he would fire one or two shots in his basement to try out a handgun.  His own indoor range without ventilation of course, lol. 

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Ed’s gun shop in Deptford closed. Great spot and one hell of a gun smith. The state did that trick where they didn’t give a court date to renew the ffl and it forced him to close


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See my post above. The attached building has opened as another gun shop.


Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk

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1 hour ago, kman said:

The pistol range in the back of Ray's was like $12 or maybe even less for an hour of shooting...no forms to fill out either...and there was never a wait, even on the weekends.  Nice old fashioned range.  That place was great.

There were good things and bad. Single RSO, not the greatest  lighting, and pretty poor ventilation to name a few of the negatives. I doubt they did regular maintenance on the range. It must have been a nightmare to clean up before they leveled the building.

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I used to like going into rays, his used inventory was great!. You don't get to see or feel when buying online! Miss that about the older FFLs.

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48 minutes ago, xXxplosive said:

I was the RSO sometimes in the evening as I worked in the store part time....they cleaned the lead out every other day, swept up the brass every morning .....not many problems back in the mid 70's.

I’m talking lead abatement, filter maintenance etc.. could be wrong. I just remembered that the air circulation was pretty bad. I too worked there for awhile. It was a great place with a ton of history.

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I liked Ray's Sport Shop.  

Some bad mouth the range but you have to remember in the Union/Essex/Somerset area it was the only indoor range area at the time.

I don't think their gun prices were any higher than anyone else's.  Their inventory was vast.  Not only in guns but accessories as well.  You need an expander ball for your 9.75 mm Karkenfarker dies?  Ray's had it.  Ammo and holsters for anything.  Small part for your revolver?  Also in stock.

I became acquainted enough with Dwight the manager for him to know me by name.  I never spent a lot of money there but have no complaints about the staff.

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Another place long gone is Austin Behlert's Custom Gun.  Austin started working out of his garage in Cranford (?).  He opened the shop on the Boulevard in Kenilworth and later on in Union when he needed more space.  He wound up in PA later on.

Austin was a master pistolsmith.  He built chopped 1911s and S&W M39s.  This was well before Colt Officer models and other compact and subcompact semiautomatics were made by manufacturers.  Austin built 9mm Chief Specials well before S&W.  His work obviously showed manufacturers it could be done and there was a market for it.

Austin built the best PPC revolvers too. Austin did an action job with a 6 1/2 pound trigger.  Guaranteed to set off any primer.  I find it amusing when I see some kitchen table pistolsmith bring up their revolver with a 4 1/2 pound trigger. Have they discovered some unknown law of physics that Austin Behlert was ignorant of?

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Yup......Austin was great., Lehigh Ave. in Union...he did an Armaloy finish and trigger job for me on a Custom Model 19 ....don't breath on the trigger in the cocked position...talk about a pistol smith. There was also a fella working out of his home just across the street from Austin, his name escapes me but he had major metal working lathes and machinery in his basement....he did some rifle work for me back then also.

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2 hours ago, xXxplosive said:

Yup......Austin was great., Lehigh Ave. in Union...he did an Armaloy finish and trigger job for me on a Custom Model 19 ....don't breath on the trigger in the cocked position...talk about a pistol smith. There was also a fella working out of his home just across the street from Austin, his name escapes me but he had major metal working lathes and machinery in his basement....he did some rifle work for me back then also.

Armaloy!!! The original hard chrome.  I knew the guy who had the Armaloy franchise for NJ.  He had his shop on Elizabeth Avenue in Linden.   It was through him I first met Jim Cirillo when he was still with NYPD.

That M19 must have been slick with a Behlert trigger job and Armaloy.

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The action on my 19 is unreal.......met Cirillo with another fella myself at Ray's one evening...didn't know him  at the time but listened to him tell a story about a big fella who took a 12ga. slug CM in a supermarket robbery and ran out of the place with Jim on his tail....guy dropped on the sidewalk. Wished then I knew who he was as I do today...

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3 hours ago, xXxplosive said:

Yup......Austin was great., Lehigh Ave. in Union...he did an Armaloy finish and trigger job for me on a Custom Model 19 ....don't breath on the trigger in the cocked position...talk about a pistol smith. There was also a fella working out of his home just across the street from Austin, his name escapes me but he had major metal working lathes and machinery in his basement....he did some rifle work for me back then also.

I lived on lehigh!

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On 4/16/2018 at 6:39 PM, photon guy said:

Yeah its a bummer. Ray's was pricy with their guns, they were perhaps even more pricy, or at least just as pricy with guns as Cabela's in Hamburg PA but they had a really good range 

I don't know about their range being very good. It was extremely dark, but I could live with that. However when I went and redeemed my hour of free range time, I noticed my booth had MULTIPLE bullet holes in the SIDE walls of it, coming from the booth "next door" - yeah, no need to be around people that fire perpendicular to the backstop....multiple times....:lol:

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On 4/18/2018 at 0:51 PM, xXxplosive said:

Yup......Austin was great., Lehigh Ave. in Union...he did an Armaloy finish and trigger job for me on a Custom Model 19 ....don't breath on the trigger in the cocked position...talk about a pistol smith. There was also a fella working out of his home just across the street from Austin, his name escapes me but he had major metal working lathes and machinery in his basement....he did some rifle work for me back then also.

Are you thinking of Fred's Gun Shop?

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33 minutes ago, xXxplosive said:

Hmmm.....Maybe, he was across from Behlert on Lehigh Ave. in a split level house....when you walked in he had a Bazooka on the wall.....?

Then there was Joey K's in Perth Amboy....did a job for me as well.

Unless there were 2 Bazookas on Lehigh, that was my Dad's shop.

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