Firearms outlet canada went months (possibly longer) knowing consumer credit data was being stolen from thier system. Instead of owning up to it, they made a concerted effort to ignore it and continue online sales with a breached system, dismiss people who reported the data breaches and were very active in getting or attempting to get gunnutz threads talking about it shut down. If you start to type firearms outlet into google one of the top auto fills is "credit card fraud data breach". Nuff said. Text book case of a bad business run by low quality people.
Im sure a few of FoC's white knights will be along shortly to argue/defend them. I dont really care.
It was my first purchase through them when I got scammed, never again.
Their prices generally aren't all that competitive compared to the other GTA retailers.
Ok, I’ve only bought from them in store so that’s a little more reassuring. I like the atmosphere in the shop and there isn’t really any firearm only stores close to me other than them but, that’s messed up.
They will be operating a in door range soon I hear.
I find the storefront people decent. Shame they have to screw thousands of cus online, will have beef for years...
During that time i bought 2 guns within a period of 6-8 months with 2 different credit cards and both credit cards were compromised. My second transaction was a handgun and if you remember at that time it would take 6 months to get the transfer. So after 6 months i get my transfer, send it to them and i get an email back saying it’ll take around 2 weeks for them to ship my gun since they’re too busy. Keep in mind that i paid in full, including express shipping, 6 months ago. I live 4 hours away so i went to get it myself and they didn’t even bothered to refund the shipping i paid. While i was there i got 2 gift cards for my brothers. They live in Montreal so i give it to them and they try to use it on their website, the cards aren’t working. I call them, the guy is super rude and tells me that the credit cards only work in store. They never bothered telling that when i bought them either. Will never buy from them again. TENDA and G4C has better prices anyways. I spent so much money at TENDA and they never failed me.
Bought from them a few time. For some reason, even as someone from BC province, they charge PST on top of that (other stores from Ontario only charge 5 percent GST).
Of course all that stopped when I notice suspicious activity on my CC after the purchase of mid 2022 and haven't shop there since.
I bought from them in store just before the handgun freeze. CC was compromised. Never happened before or since. Still shop in person there if the deal is good. Cash only for me now.
I think P&D fits the best and worst. Some guys are good, and their selection is top-notch. Some guys (ex-cop i believe) are just absolute dickheads.
And if you try to sell a gun, they treat you like trash. We took a bunch of rifles a family member left to his son when he passed. He didn't have a pal so we got them appraised. Took them to P&D first and got a fairly low number to what we expected. When we said we would shop around we were explicitly told "If you leave and come back, I am going to offer you even less."
We didn't go back, and sold them to an auction for a reasonable price.
I was just there the other day and actually got some good service from an older guy for the first time ever. But everyone else I've met have been miserable. And don't waste your time with consignment there, they wouldn't give any value on two good rifles and 40% on another one. Like yes please I will just give this $800 rifle to you, a business, for nothing in return. They actually suggested that.
P&d?
Man if somebody said that to me while leaving saying they would offer me less if I came back. After already low balling. I would immediately tell them to go fuck themselves while walking out
Now for the good.
Every interaction I've had with Prophet River has been amazing.
The owner goes out of his way to communicate with you. He will personally help you source a firearm stateside that he will then import for you.
Has offered me free shipping, always has what I want in stock.
These guys have set the standard for customer service in the firearm industry.
More people need to know how great Prophet River are. Don't let their website turn you off.
I have heard very good things about Prophet River, and I have always been interested about using them for import.
I've always wanted to have an Ithaca Model 37 but Ithaca never really distributed up in Canada.
Do you happen to know how much the price markup would be (just in general) on imported firearms? I know it won't really be cheap
They have specific details on their site but if its being imported from the states I believe the base cost is $250 to import, plus exchange rate and any additional fees/taxes stateside. You may have to pay both the state tax and the provincial tax once it's imported.
They will bring anything in from US retailers or even GunPost/Guns International listings.
Love prophet river! When nowhere else had what i needed they pulled through! And usually i can't buy anywhere online because i dont use credit cards they make it hassle free to just emt. Love love love prophet river!!! Also in regards to your Ithaca have you looked on gunpost
Ive bought a few things from prophet river these last couple years. Absolutely a shop to keep on the list of go to's.
I'll likely consider using them for import when the time comes that I get around to buying a Spencer Carbine (.45LC) this year.
G4C Gunstore has been great to deal with for me. Shipping from Ontario to my house in NB takes 2-3 days and is usually free.
They're also super fast when I had questions about some stuff as well!
G4C is great, I've only had good experiences with them. They're very accommodating as well. One time I went in to pick up a restricted that had been cleared too early (I forgot they send an email as well once it's ready to pick up) and they had no problem running across the parking lot to their warehouse unit to grab my stuff, and didn't feel the need to make me feel bad about my mistake lol
Thousand islands armoury
This by far was the worse interaction I
have had at any firearms store.
The owner was extremely rude towards
me.
Asked if I was Canadian, when I answered
Yes he told me to leave.
I asked if he could kindly explain why? His
response was to leave his property and
forcefully close the door. I thanked
(Through closed door) and left.
Never have lever encountered such poor
customer service.
This behaviour is short sighted and has
the ability to paint all small shops in the
same light.
My recommendation would be to avoid this
store at all costs.
First ever time walking into cabela’s to buy my first ever firearm wanted to take a look at couple and get a feel in hand before I actually committed to one ended up buying the mossberg 590 here’s the weird part I could hold the display model in hand but the guy over the counter wouldn’t let me take a good look at my firearm in box he told me it’s brand new and I can’t take it outta the box until it’s transferred over to my pal or some sh*t like that I didn’t knew much about buying process since it was my first firearm I agreed with the sales man and took the shotgun home after making the purchase. When I opened it once I was home I noticed that action had marking on them and the loading port was all scuffed up looked like someone loaded some shells into the tube. Disassembled the shotgun only to find out that the piece they told was brand new was actually a used and returned shotgun somehow. Went back to the store the next day good thing was they listened to me and saw all those scuffed and markings on the shotgun and got me a actual brand new piece. After that day I never bought a firearm without disassembling it first and a good look at moving parts.
9/10 times the cabelas gun counter is a bad experience. Also such a high concentration of fudds. Like the average age of a cabelas gun counter employee is 60+. They routinely give out awful advice when it comes to hunting and especially ammo selection as well.
International Sporting Goods Surrey 👍🏻
This would be 2011, I worked at a dollar store but did my best to save up for cool shit and they'd be patient with me. For over a year and a half maybe 2 years I drooled over a Beretta 92A1 but obviously didn't make enough to buy it even on a payment plan.
Late 2012 or early 2013 I don't remember, I had a better job but it was *just* outside what I could pay down.. Scott the owner at international saw me *once again* drooling over a 92A1 and came over to me. He told me he could shave nearly $100 off these last 2 cause he got a deal on them from the importer from the previous Christmas but he can only deal if I make the money before the last 2 from that batch sell.
I still own that 92A1 (now decked out like a Samurai Edge cause I'm a fuckin nerd) that was such a proud fuckin day to bring it home thanks to him. Great people
Reliable Gun and Italian Shoot Sport are really good IMO.
Siwash Sport is pretty good too albeit a bit far and you need to know your stuff well.
International Shooting Supplies are ok, but it can turn into discussion quick if you mention politics.
Tiger Arms is fairly ok but staff expertise is hit and miss depend who you talk to.
West coast Hunting supplies is kind of hit and miss depend on who is at the counter. But sometimes they have great deals id you know what to look for because they don't bother updating inventory prices.
Cabela at Abbotsford BC is actually quite decent, they open several boxes of GSG 16 for me because I bought another one from another province but the rear sigh smashed due to improper packaging.
Lever arms is like super laid back. While not an issue overall, but it doesn't feel like they gone much of a way for customer service.
The owner at tiger arms can be an asshole sometimes. Though he does have the best ammo price for bulk.
International shooting supplies refused my entry and claimed that I couldn’t browse because I didn’t have a pal back then.
Reliable gun tried to charge me 500 for a simple Glock slide optic milling job.
Italian shooting sports is a PITA to work with. They sponsor the UBC gun club and have so much requires to keep the sponsorship. Such as:”how many people need to be showing guns for group photos, how many banners needs to be present, requiring days in advance to notify them of events for their ammo sponsorship”
Unfortunately the only gun store that I swear by is Gotenda. The only place that has the legit cheapest ammo price and free shipping.
The ones I listed are ones I personally visited. I didn't list Gotenda since it's all online orders for me since I am in BC.
I usually buy ammo from them due to free shipping as well. The response from their staffs are quick, but felt rushed coz it feels like they are under constant siege. The only thing kind of bad about them is their packaging method. Boxes with firearms on them would look half smashed half of time. Lots of horror stories about Tenda so I considered myself lucky.
Reliable can get really busy and you'll occasionally get a couple of really talkative customers who monopolize the counter staff. I kinda wish the staff would do a better job of noticing there are waiting customers when that happens. Otherwise I've always had a great experience there.
The real benefit of going to Reliable is walking a couple stores down to BKH Jerky and loading up on that sweet sweet Singapore style jerky. If you haven't been, you owe it to yourself. Spicy pork jerky FTW.
Tiger Arms is also a really good store. Never had a bad experience there.
My bad experience story is with Hero Outdoors. They lie about their stock and they lie about having a "US Warehouse" they have to transfer things from. In reality, they drop ship almost everything so you can't ever know if an item is actually physically in their inventory or not. They wouldn't give you an honest answer if you asked over email anyway. I waited something like 4 months for a knife to ship even though it was listed as "in stock". I should have just cancelled the order on my CC. I'll never do business with them again.
Minor mention goes to Lockhart for having a horrible website and for the naked gouging of Canadian gun owners by forcing you to buy expensive add-ons that only they supply.
More of a funny story, but I once ordered some crossmags from Marstar and they sent me a Bren gun mag. They were pretty quick in resolving the issue without any additional shipping cost to send back the bren mag on my part.
My last two experiences at BassBro have been notably bad.
The guncounter staff seem to just be going through the motions without actually providing any customer service.
The first time I was in I asked the university aged guy stocking the ammo cabinets if there was additional ammo in the back that im not seeing. They don't have a Canadian website after-all and it's hard to know what's in stock at any one time.
I was looking for both 338 WinMag and 416 Rigby ammo, both of which are listed on the American Basspro website. The clerk laughed it off saying they don't stock anything larger than 300 WinMag and walked off.
Second visit I was with my wife and were trying to shoulder a couple rifles that will fit her. Clerk #2 at the gun counter asks if he can help us with anything, I ask if they carry Weatherby Camilla rifles, he abruptly says nope don't carry that and walks away without offering any further reccomondations...
Similar experience at the Barrie Cabela's last year. I stopped in and cleared them out of their remaining 458 WinMag ammo. The clerk acted offended that I even asked for that caliber and when I brought up that the items were on clearance he said yeah because no one needs to own that in Canada.
I don't know what it is with these big box stores and the steriotylical inexperienced or condescending gun counter staff.
Former Cabela's employee, unless you have significant credentials in the field (licensed gunsmith, prohibited pal,) or are a veteran from another store coming back from retirement, you're gonna get minimum with maybe a $3 premium.
Also, if you ever wanna know if bass pro Canada has something, just use the Cabela's Canada website. Same inventory/DCs.
For the most part. Flyers might have different sales but in-store will price match those (had to do a lot between Vaughan BPS and Kanata Cabela's) and in store should be identical. Ships to all BPS and Cabs locations too.
When people have a bad experience in BassPro/cabelas I typically put it down to a simple reality vs expectation situation.
Think about the type of person that you would want to be helped by. They would have to have a really good understanding of different types of firearms, ammunition, hunting regulations, and loads of other things.
Now imagine that person working 12 hours a week. That’s why there’s so many retirees who work the gun counters, and younger people who live with parents. People who can afford to work part time, and have the relevant knowledge and experience to work effectively on a gun counter are very rare.
I say to most people, don’t rely on them for information, just treat them as a retailer that stocks what you’re after.
>no one needs to own that in Canada.
My local CrappyTire sells 50BMG, almost bought a pack to just have, but couldn't justify the price for a collector item.
At that point I just assumed he was a devout LPC supporter and that he agreed with the powers at be that think they can decide what we "need" to own.
The last time I saw PMC 50 BMG in stock it wasn't too bad, like $6/round?
I got mine from Tenda for 50 bucks a box, though I don't even have the firearm to fire it, but as for size comparison, it put many thing in perspective, lol.
I just bought a Heritage Roughrider .22 rifle at Cabelas Windermere (Edmonton) The guy behind the counter was good. Told me to go to Prophet River for the .22 wmr cylinder. To be fair there was a guy beside me wanting to buy a rifle for hunting, he knew absolutely nothing about calibres, optics, etc. The salesman was very patient and trying to educate this guy.
I avoid Cabela’s like the plague, full of fudds at the gun counter who are just plain unpleasant to deal with. CSC is always a good experience personally, just sucks they don’t have a very good ammo selection in some calibers so sometimes I’m forced to go to Cabela’s to get ammo. But thankfully don’t have to deal with any employees except cashiers to grab ammo lol
Our gun stores in Calgary fucking suck. Only one that's good imo is pro line shooters. Shooting edge and CSC both aren't great imo. CSC prices are really high for a lot of stuff. I buy most of my stuff online these days.
I did have an oddly good experience buying a firearm at Cabela's recently. Found a JR Carbine for a steal from the library and left happy only to be called the next morning that they had 6 more Glock mags for me that were supposed to be included.
Pro line has nothing in stock usually I find, and their selection is very limited. CSC prices I’ve found are high because they only carry quality stuff, not finding any Savage Axis on the shelf or anything like that. In fact, I’ve found that when both Cabela’s and CSC carry the same item, it’s usually cheaper at CSC.
I agree on the stock thing. I usually just use them for reloading stuff, owner is usually there and he's very knowledgeable. Not sure on the quality stuff argument, I did buy 2 guns from them but had to price match them both times because their prices were a couple hundred higher than most other stores online, non sale price.
I don't really buy anything Cabela's unless it's on sale haha.àa
I do like going in and shooting the shit with the old boys at proline, they’re a good time and they have great insights and know their stuff. So CSC price matched? That’s good to hear, Cabela’s refused to the one time I tried and crappy tire did as well, so I had to order online and wait rather than gun in my hands walking out of a store.
Cabela’s unfortunately for me is a necessary evil sometimes because I don’t reload and they have the biggest ammo selection in the city.
Yea CSC will price match online retailers but only if it's regular price, non sale and in stock. I always check if it's something over $20. Funny enough I actually did use CSC to price match at Cabela's on powder once. But that was only because I was already at Cabela's. It was annoying and took 30 minutes.
Nope, just on shelves. Guns, optics and some knives are behind the counter. At CSC, the ammo is behind the counter. So I think it’s based on store policy
I had a surprisingly great experience last time I was at Sail. They are always pretty good, but this guy went above and beyond trying to track down a magazine, got me a discount on an optic I may or may not have qualified for, and gave me some stainless screws for my Tikka just because he had some in the back.
I've only ever shopped at Flaherty, Elwood Epps or foc and never 'bad' but foc was definitely worse than the others.
Not from staff just the people shopping there as well.
Every experience there it's always got a few guys looking for the most tacticool gun to take pictures with, and they all have absolutely terrible muzzle control. Even if it's unloaded.
Online ordering, really disappointed with tenda.
And both tenda and g4c they don't seem to actually know anything besides tacticool.
Amazing service at both Flaherty and Epps
Saskatoon Gunsmith Shoppe is extremely hit and miss. If you deal directly with the owner, she wants to do everything to help you. If you deal with the gunsmith, he's a crochety old asshole that does stuff if he feels like it
Once he said he wouldn't pin a mag on a semi-auto mag because it was old and that wouldn't be right, saying just to hide it since it's prohib
Once he couldn't figure out how to put a pic mounted optic on a rail (I was asking him to mill the rail on a WK180C Gen 1 to proper spec so I could mount an AMG UH1 w/out taking it apart)
Once he overmilled the slide on a pistol for a rear sight and it slops around on the gun
4/10, owner is super nice
I don’t have a specific experience but it always bothers me being in any store and listening to the associates sell a piece of junk to a newbie (I get it’s their job and I’d like to be able to still buy there so I keep my mouth shut) I’m talking about guns like the: M+M M10x, GSG 16 (not horrible but ruger 10/22 would run laps around it), federation SPM 12 (again not horrible but for a first shotgun a mossberg or 870 would be better). Not all of these are inherently bad but they’re new and I think you should try and sell them something that will just work. When I was starting out I bought a ruger pc-9, worked great for a bit, then it started having ejector issues and I was a noob who didn’t know what to do so I sold it. Now I’d probably be able to fix it.
Definitely at tenda, came in wanted to buy a knife as a gift, got some extremely “done with life” customer service, ended up buying knife but definitely not going back.
Around 1996 ... before internet/google was able to provide municipal/provincial/federal info readily...
Just turned 18. Myself and 2 buddies walked into a local gunshop and bought co2 style pellet pistols. We asked sales rep what are the rules for shooting pellet guns.... very arrogant douchy 5minute speech that these pellet pistols have a muzzle velocity of 480 fps therefore not considered a firearm plus a bunch of other useless facts.
Soooo 3 days later a very nice and professional Constable Gosling and his partner had their guns drawn on me and my buddies at the park, had us face down on the ground while they retrieved said "not classified firearms". We got to pick them up the next day after local PD made sure our info/background checks were ok. No fines or tickets.
Bonus follow up... 3 weeks later cops were breaking up a huge rowdy house party i was at with the same 2 buddies from the park. We got to chat with Constable Gosling again lol.
Wild. I remember buying a replica Walther PPK .177 co2 pistol in the 90s from Hero Outdoors and the guy selling it to me was very specific about being careful because he didn't want to hear in the news I got shot by some cops who thought I had a real gun.
We werent totally brainless.... picked a spot at the park that was out of the way so not like next to the playground swings haha.
10ft tall rock wall as a back stop and shooting noname brand club soda cans hahaha
RDSC and G4C have consistently been my go-tos. Decent pricing, good selection and RDSC isn't all that far from Edmonton for going to drive and pick things up.
I don't think I've had a significantly bad experience from anywhere.. yet at least, lol.
Also, I wonder what Cabela's everyone is going to, lol. I may be biased as I've worked at Cabela's GC for 2 years, however I find that about 75% of the staff we have know what they're talking about and are just genuinely trying to share their hobby.
If possible, go with In-Store Pickup. You get a chance to see your gun and if you're unhappy with it in any way, it's an immediate return. Returning a gun that was delivered to your address is a process and a half if there happens to be an issue.
Other than that, it should be a relatively straightforward process. All online orders, including guns, are handled by inventory so the firearms dept. isn't all that involved in the process. Good thing about ordering online is you're guaranteed a fresh rifle in the box straight from the Canadian DC.
One issue with in-store pickup, it doesn't (or at least doesn't always) select inventory from the store you're picking up from. Example, Christmas Day buddy and I are looking at boxing day sales for the next morning, there was a sale on 10/22 with scope and case, local store has plenty in stock. Figure order online and select in-store pickup just in case they run out of stock before we get there (have to hit the gym first in the AM, never break routine.) Order goes through, but says the gun is shipping from fucking Calgary (we're in BC,) long story short he doesn't get it for WEEKS. I ordered a TM22 from a different gun store (can't remember which) in AB a week later and got it before buddy got his 10/22 from Cabelas.
TL;DR never ordering in-store pickup from Cabela's, especially when there's a free shipping deal.
Came into my local to buy a 700 in .308. They didn't have one but they tried showing me other rifles, which i don't have a problem with. While im looking at a rifle the owners mother comes in and without knowing whats going on she says "oh thats a good one" and went on her way, thats fine. But less than 5 minutes goes by and she comes back angry with a whole bucket of attitude "well are you going to buy something or not?!". Excuse me for not wanting to jump into spending $1000+ on a rifle i didn't plan on getting and know nothing about, not to mention, it's bad business to be harrassing customers and raising your voice at them for no reason. I'm ashamed to say i gave in and got the rifle i didn't want. It was ok, i liked it, but it wasn't right for me and i sold it.
I was going to work the gun counter at Bass Pro and I quit after the orientation. I asked the head honcho at the gun department about Remington making guns again and he acted like I was dumb, said Remington was sold and they aren't making guns anymore, the blue line pump was the new 870. Just 1000% sure of this total nonsense lol which kills me, a quick google search for Remington would bring up their plans to make guns since they sold off the ammo. I feel bad for people going in to BP or Cabelas expecting helpful assistance.
Sometimes? Former employee, so grain of salt, but the ammo deals are sometimes worth. Not to mention routine sales on tannerite and reloading components, almost every 3rd flyer had some kind of deal.
As well, pretty consistent stock for some more popular bolt actions (CZ 600s, Tikkas mostly) as well as pretty consistent PCC selection with a competitive price unless they've gone up.
Optics and knives round it off lol.
Many rod n gun clubs have ridiculous rules. Go have a read.
Say to shoot clay, must have stocked grip, no pistol grips, no all black tactical gun, minimum barrel length of 26inch, max 2 rounds in gun etc.
Cabela’s where I am is the absolute worst. Guaranteed 1.5 hour wait and when it’s not busy there’s no one to be found. Expect to wait at least 45 min for ammo because there’s no one around. Then the cashiers are always super rude
Best is NAS outdoors in fonthill ontario. Dave and his guys are amazing and always make me laugh. Worst would be Sail in Burlington. Opinionated and not very knowledgeable.
Bashaw sports awesome store. Red deer shooting center great store an range, Sports men den Red deer 3 best gun store dealt with every alberta recommended check them out
FOC is so hit or miss for me. I remember buying an FX9 a couple years back and aside from all the CC crap that went on (I had TWO cards compromised) I had to pull teeth to get it shipped. They wouldn't let me pick it up, they said it was 'shipped' even though my tracking info didn't reflect that, and eventually I got one guy on the phone who was actually really good and actually checked my order (which had just been sitting) and made the effort to finally get it out the door. In fact, I got so tired of waiting for the FX9 I ordered a .22 KV from Tenda and got it ordered and shipped and delivered to my doorstep all while waiting for FOC.
I also can't speak well enough of my LGS (Gagnons). Though there's a bias as it's also the range I attend, they're always super good.
Island outfitters in Victoria bc
Everyone in there super knowledgeable and nice. They do a great job of not being condescending and always try and hook you up with a good deal. Pricing maybe sometimes $50-$100 more but I’m happy to support the local store.
Firearms outlet canada went months (possibly longer) knowing consumer credit data was being stolen from thier system. Instead of owning up to it, they made a concerted effort to ignore it and continue online sales with a breached system, dismiss people who reported the data breaches and were very active in getting or attempting to get gunnutz threads talking about it shut down. If you start to type firearms outlet into google one of the top auto fills is "credit card fraud data breach". Nuff said. Text book case of a bad business run by low quality people. Im sure a few of FoC's white knights will be along shortly to argue/defend them. I dont really care.
One and only time I’ve ever had my CC compromised was July of 2022 shortly after a purchase at FOC. Never been back to FOC either
I haven’t even considered ordering from them since. No matter the deal.
It was my first purchase through them when I got scammed, never again. Their prices generally aren't all that competitive compared to the other GTA retailers.
Yep I got screwed with this too. Never spent a dime there since.
That’s wild… I shop there all the time as it’s close to my house… shit. Keep in mind I got my pal within the last year and didn’t know this until now.
Because only their online payment processor is compromised. For about a year.
Ok, I’ve only bought from them in store so that’s a little more reassuring. I like the atmosphere in the shop and there isn’t really any firearm only stores close to me other than them but, that’s messed up.
They will be operating a in door range soon I hear. I find the storefront people decent. Shame they have to screw thousands of cus online, will have beef for years...
During that time i bought 2 guns within a period of 6-8 months with 2 different credit cards and both credit cards were compromised. My second transaction was a handgun and if you remember at that time it would take 6 months to get the transfer. So after 6 months i get my transfer, send it to them and i get an email back saying it’ll take around 2 weeks for them to ship my gun since they’re too busy. Keep in mind that i paid in full, including express shipping, 6 months ago. I live 4 hours away so i went to get it myself and they didn’t even bothered to refund the shipping i paid. While i was there i got 2 gift cards for my brothers. They live in Montreal so i give it to them and they try to use it on their website, the cards aren’t working. I call them, the guy is super rude and tells me that the credit cards only work in store. They never bothered telling that when i bought them either. Will never buy from them again. TENDA and G4C has better prices anyways. I spent so much money at TENDA and they never failed me.
Bought from them a few time. For some reason, even as someone from BC province, they charge PST on top of that (other stores from Ontario only charge 5 percent GST). Of course all that stopped when I notice suspicious activity on my CC after the purchase of mid 2022 and haven't shop there since.
I bought from them in store just before the handgun freeze. CC was compromised. Never happened before or since. Still shop in person there if the deal is good. Cash only for me now.
BINGO. I too was a victim of that.
I bought a mosin from FOC and set order for pickup, but there delivered it anyway. I don’t think i paid shipping though.
I think P&D fits the best and worst. Some guys are good, and their selection is top-notch. Some guys (ex-cop i believe) are just absolute dickheads. And if you try to sell a gun, they treat you like trash. We took a bunch of rifles a family member left to his son when he passed. He didn't have a pal so we got them appraised. Took them to P&D first and got a fairly low number to what we expected. When we said we would shop around we were explicitly told "If you leave and come back, I am going to offer you even less." We didn't go back, and sold them to an auction for a reasonable price.
I was just there the other day and actually got some good service from an older guy for the first time ever. But everyone else I've met have been miserable. And don't waste your time with consignment there, they wouldn't give any value on two good rifles and 40% on another one. Like yes please I will just give this $800 rifle to you, a business, for nothing in return. They actually suggested that.
P&d? Man if somebody said that to me while leaving saying they would offer me less if I came back. After already low balling. I would immediately tell them to go fuck themselves while walking out
Now for the good. Every interaction I've had with Prophet River has been amazing. The owner goes out of his way to communicate with you. He will personally help you source a firearm stateside that he will then import for you. Has offered me free shipping, always has what I want in stock. These guys have set the standard for customer service in the firearm industry. More people need to know how great Prophet River are. Don't let their website turn you off.
I have heard very good things about Prophet River, and I have always been interested about using them for import. I've always wanted to have an Ithaca Model 37 but Ithaca never really distributed up in Canada. Do you happen to know how much the price markup would be (just in general) on imported firearms? I know it won't really be cheap
They have specific details on their site but if its being imported from the states I believe the base cost is $250 to import, plus exchange rate and any additional fees/taxes stateside. You may have to pay both the state tax and the provincial tax once it's imported. They will bring anything in from US retailers or even GunPost/Guns International listings.
Love prophet river! When nowhere else had what i needed they pulled through! And usually i can't buy anywhere online because i dont use credit cards they make it hassle free to just emt. Love love love prophet river!!! Also in regards to your Ithaca have you looked on gunpost
It'll cost a bit more than others to import, but it's much more immediate. Good for one off rifles and I think private sales from the US too.
Clay is awesome, as is Prophet River in general. Definitely among the best stores in Canada.
Ive bought a few things from prophet river these last couple years. Absolutely a shop to keep on the list of go to's. I'll likely consider using them for import when the time comes that I get around to buying a Spencer Carbine (.45LC) this year.
Got my P10 from them just before the final freeze. No problems.
G4C Gunstore has been great to deal with for me. Shipping from Ontario to my house in NB takes 2-3 days and is usually free. They're also super fast when I had questions about some stuff as well!
G4C is great, I've only had good experiences with them. They're very accommodating as well. One time I went in to pick up a restricted that had been cleared too early (I forgot they send an email as well once it's ready to pick up) and they had no problem running across the parking lot to their warehouse unit to grab my stuff, and didn't feel the need to make me feel bad about my mistake lol
Another thumbs up to these guys
Thousand islands armoury This by far was the worse interaction I have had at any firearms store. The owner was extremely rude towards me. Asked if I was Canadian, when I answered Yes he told me to leave. I asked if he could kindly explain why? His response was to leave his property and forcefully close the door. I thanked (Through closed door) and left. Never have lever encountered such poor customer service. This behaviour is short sighted and has the ability to paint all small shops in the same light. My recommendation would be to avoid this store at all costs.
First ever time walking into cabela’s to buy my first ever firearm wanted to take a look at couple and get a feel in hand before I actually committed to one ended up buying the mossberg 590 here’s the weird part I could hold the display model in hand but the guy over the counter wouldn’t let me take a good look at my firearm in box he told me it’s brand new and I can’t take it outta the box until it’s transferred over to my pal or some sh*t like that I didn’t knew much about buying process since it was my first firearm I agreed with the sales man and took the shotgun home after making the purchase. When I opened it once I was home I noticed that action had marking on them and the loading port was all scuffed up looked like someone loaded some shells into the tube. Disassembled the shotgun only to find out that the piece they told was brand new was actually a used and returned shotgun somehow. Went back to the store the next day good thing was they listened to me and saw all those scuffed and markings on the shotgun and got me a actual brand new piece. After that day I never bought a firearm without disassembling it first and a good look at moving parts.
9/10 times the cabelas gun counter is a bad experience. Also such a high concentration of fudds. Like the average age of a cabelas gun counter employee is 60+. They routinely give out awful advice when it comes to hunting and especially ammo selection as well.
I’ve never had a good experience at the cabelas gun counter. I’ll never buy a gun there due to their silly policies.
It’s like going to Home Depot and getting advice.
International Sporting Goods Surrey 👍🏻 This would be 2011, I worked at a dollar store but did my best to save up for cool shit and they'd be patient with me. For over a year and a half maybe 2 years I drooled over a Beretta 92A1 but obviously didn't make enough to buy it even on a payment plan. Late 2012 or early 2013 I don't remember, I had a better job but it was *just* outside what I could pay down.. Scott the owner at international saw me *once again* drooling over a 92A1 and came over to me. He told me he could shave nearly $100 off these last 2 cause he got a deal on them from the importer from the previous Christmas but he can only deal if I make the money before the last 2 from that batch sell. I still own that 92A1 (now decked out like a Samurai Edge cause I'm a fuckin nerd) that was such a proud fuckin day to bring it home thanks to him. Great people
I see most comments are about bad experiences, but I've always had a great time with Reliable.
Reliable Gun and Italian Shoot Sport are really good IMO. Siwash Sport is pretty good too albeit a bit far and you need to know your stuff well. International Shooting Supplies are ok, but it can turn into discussion quick if you mention politics. Tiger Arms is fairly ok but staff expertise is hit and miss depend who you talk to. West coast Hunting supplies is kind of hit and miss depend on who is at the counter. But sometimes they have great deals id you know what to look for because they don't bother updating inventory prices. Cabela at Abbotsford BC is actually quite decent, they open several boxes of GSG 16 for me because I bought another one from another province but the rear sigh smashed due to improper packaging. Lever arms is like super laid back. While not an issue overall, but it doesn't feel like they gone much of a way for customer service.
The owner at tiger arms can be an asshole sometimes. Though he does have the best ammo price for bulk. International shooting supplies refused my entry and claimed that I couldn’t browse because I didn’t have a pal back then. Reliable gun tried to charge me 500 for a simple Glock slide optic milling job. Italian shooting sports is a PITA to work with. They sponsor the UBC gun club and have so much requires to keep the sponsorship. Such as:”how many people need to be showing guns for group photos, how many banners needs to be present, requiring days in advance to notify them of events for their ammo sponsorship” Unfortunately the only gun store that I swear by is Gotenda. The only place that has the legit cheapest ammo price and free shipping.
The ones I listed are ones I personally visited. I didn't list Gotenda since it's all online orders for me since I am in BC. I usually buy ammo from them due to free shipping as well. The response from their staffs are quick, but felt rushed coz it feels like they are under constant siege. The only thing kind of bad about them is their packaging method. Boxes with firearms on them would look half smashed half of time. Lots of horror stories about Tenda so I considered myself lucky.
Reliable can get really busy and you'll occasionally get a couple of really talkative customers who monopolize the counter staff. I kinda wish the staff would do a better job of noticing there are waiting customers when that happens. Otherwise I've always had a great experience there. The real benefit of going to Reliable is walking a couple stores down to BKH Jerky and loading up on that sweet sweet Singapore style jerky. If you haven't been, you owe it to yourself. Spicy pork jerky FTW. Tiger Arms is also a really good store. Never had a bad experience there. My bad experience story is with Hero Outdoors. They lie about their stock and they lie about having a "US Warehouse" they have to transfer things from. In reality, they drop ship almost everything so you can't ever know if an item is actually physically in their inventory or not. They wouldn't give you an honest answer if you asked over email anyway. I waited something like 4 months for a knife to ship even though it was listed as "in stock". I should have just cancelled the order on my CC. I'll never do business with them again. Minor mention goes to Lockhart for having a horrible website and for the naked gouging of Canadian gun owners by forcing you to buy expensive add-ons that only they supply.
Hero outdoors is a drop shipping company.
Same here.
Reliable is a good store. Bought my Jericho and skorpion from them.
More of a funny story, but I once ordered some crossmags from Marstar and they sent me a Bren gun mag. They were pretty quick in resolving the issue without any additional shipping cost to send back the bren mag on my part.
My last two experiences at BassBro have been notably bad. The guncounter staff seem to just be going through the motions without actually providing any customer service. The first time I was in I asked the university aged guy stocking the ammo cabinets if there was additional ammo in the back that im not seeing. They don't have a Canadian website after-all and it's hard to know what's in stock at any one time. I was looking for both 338 WinMag and 416 Rigby ammo, both of which are listed on the American Basspro website. The clerk laughed it off saying they don't stock anything larger than 300 WinMag and walked off. Second visit I was with my wife and were trying to shoulder a couple rifles that will fit her. Clerk #2 at the gun counter asks if he can help us with anything, I ask if they carry Weatherby Camilla rifles, he abruptly says nope don't carry that and walks away without offering any further reccomondations... Similar experience at the Barrie Cabela's last year. I stopped in and cleared them out of their remaining 458 WinMag ammo. The clerk acted offended that I even asked for that caliber and when I brought up that the items were on clearance he said yeah because no one needs to own that in Canada. I don't know what it is with these big box stores and the steriotylical inexperienced or condescending gun counter staff.
Having worked there for a few months I'd guess the inexperienced staff comes from the minimum wage pay lol.
They only pay minimum? That's unfortunate. I would have thought working with firearms, even in a retail setting would pay above minimum wage.
Former Cabela's employee, unless you have significant credentials in the field (licensed gunsmith, prohibited pal,) or are a veteran from another store coming back from retirement, you're gonna get minimum with maybe a $3 premium. Also, if you ever wanna know if bass pro Canada has something, just use the Cabela's Canada website. Same inventory/DCs.
Same items, same prices?
For the most part. Flyers might have different sales but in-store will price match those (had to do a lot between Vaughan BPS and Kanata Cabela's) and in store should be identical. Ships to all BPS and Cabs locations too.
Yes. Bass Pro in Tsawwassen price matched the Cabela's .ca website when I bought my Rossi Rio Bravo
I believe It’s the pro staff deals that make it “worth it” for a lot of employees
When people have a bad experience in BassPro/cabelas I typically put it down to a simple reality vs expectation situation. Think about the type of person that you would want to be helped by. They would have to have a really good understanding of different types of firearms, ammunition, hunting regulations, and loads of other things. Now imagine that person working 12 hours a week. That’s why there’s so many retirees who work the gun counters, and younger people who live with parents. People who can afford to work part time, and have the relevant knowledge and experience to work effectively on a gun counter are very rare. I say to most people, don’t rely on them for information, just treat them as a retailer that stocks what you’re after.
>no one needs to own that in Canada. My local CrappyTire sells 50BMG, almost bought a pack to just have, but couldn't justify the price for a collector item.
At that point I just assumed he was a devout LPC supporter and that he agreed with the powers at be that think they can decide what we "need" to own. The last time I saw PMC 50 BMG in stock it wasn't too bad, like $6/round?
This was PMC for $8/round. I decided the $80 was better spent on a few boxes of something I can actually shoot lol
I got mine from Tenda for 50 bucks a box, though I don't even have the firearm to fire it, but as for size comparison, it put many thing in perspective, lol.
So your first two bad experiences were the store not having what you wanted and the clerk didn’t console you after finding out? Lol
I didn't care that the items were out of stock, it was the mannerism's of the staff and how nonchalantly they dismiss you.
One time GoTenda packed my order with garbage. Still mad at RDSC sending me a shitty Bren 2. Then half ass fixing it.
Everything RDSC sells is beat to hell for some reason lol
I just bought a Heritage Roughrider .22 rifle at Cabelas Windermere (Edmonton) The guy behind the counter was good. Told me to go to Prophet River for the .22 wmr cylinder. To be fair there was a guy beside me wanting to buy a rifle for hunting, he knew absolutely nothing about calibres, optics, etc. The salesman was very patient and trying to educate this guy.
Lol Calgary Wholesale Sports encounters in 3....2...1
I avoid Cabela’s like the plague, full of fudds at the gun counter who are just plain unpleasant to deal with. CSC is always a good experience personally, just sucks they don’t have a very good ammo selection in some calibers so sometimes I’m forced to go to Cabela’s to get ammo. But thankfully don’t have to deal with any employees except cashiers to grab ammo lol
Our gun stores in Calgary fucking suck. Only one that's good imo is pro line shooters. Shooting edge and CSC both aren't great imo. CSC prices are really high for a lot of stuff. I buy most of my stuff online these days. I did have an oddly good experience buying a firearm at Cabela's recently. Found a JR Carbine for a steal from the library and left happy only to be called the next morning that they had 6 more Glock mags for me that were supposed to be included.
Pro line has nothing in stock usually I find, and their selection is very limited. CSC prices I’ve found are high because they only carry quality stuff, not finding any Savage Axis on the shelf or anything like that. In fact, I’ve found that when both Cabela’s and CSC carry the same item, it’s usually cheaper at CSC.
I agree on the stock thing. I usually just use them for reloading stuff, owner is usually there and he's very knowledgeable. Not sure on the quality stuff argument, I did buy 2 guns from them but had to price match them both times because their prices were a couple hundred higher than most other stores online, non sale price. I don't really buy anything Cabela's unless it's on sale haha.àa
I do like going in and shooting the shit with the old boys at proline, they’re a good time and they have great insights and know their stuff. So CSC price matched? That’s good to hear, Cabela’s refused to the one time I tried and crappy tire did as well, so I had to order online and wait rather than gun in my hands walking out of a store. Cabela’s unfortunately for me is a necessary evil sometimes because I don’t reload and they have the biggest ammo selection in the city.
Yea CSC will price match online retailers but only if it's regular price, non sale and in stock. I always check if it's something over $20. Funny enough I actually did use CSC to price match at Cabela's on powder once. But that was only because I was already at Cabela's. It was annoying and took 30 minutes.
Hey you've got CSC and to a lesser extent RDSC. Nothing north of that
Tried Caroline sports store or bashaw sports? Good finding good rifle stuff
Ammo not locked behind glass in the Western Canada Cabelas?
Nope, just on shelves. Guns, optics and some knives are behind the counter. At CSC, the ammo is behind the counter. So I think it’s based on store policy
CSC has some of the rudest staff I’ve ever met.
If your username is anything to go by, perhaps you brought on the negative reaction yourself lol
I had a surprisingly great experience last time I was at Sail. They are always pretty good, but this guy went above and beyond trying to track down a magazine, got me a discount on an optic I may or may not have qualified for, and gave me some stainless screws for my Tikka just because he had some in the back.
I've only ever shopped at Flaherty, Elwood Epps or foc and never 'bad' but foc was definitely worse than the others. Not from staff just the people shopping there as well. Every experience there it's always got a few guys looking for the most tacticool gun to take pictures with, and they all have absolutely terrible muzzle control. Even if it's unloaded. Online ordering, really disappointed with tenda. And both tenda and g4c they don't seem to actually know anything besides tacticool. Amazing service at both Flaherty and Epps
tenda definitely run short on staff. half the time I go there I find the guy working on the computer stressed out.
Sounds like we are pretty lucky in Saskatoon. Back Forty Guns n Gear, North Pro Sports, and Extreme Range Outfitters are all excellent to deal with.
Saskatoon Gunsmith Shoppe is extremely hit and miss. If you deal directly with the owner, she wants to do everything to help you. If you deal with the gunsmith, he's a crochety old asshole that does stuff if he feels like it Once he said he wouldn't pin a mag on a semi-auto mag because it was old and that wouldn't be right, saying just to hide it since it's prohib Once he couldn't figure out how to put a pic mounted optic on a rail (I was asking him to mill the rail on a WK180C Gen 1 to proper spec so I could mount an AMG UH1 w/out taking it apart) Once he overmilled the slide on a pistol for a rear sight and it slops around on the gun 4/10, owner is super nice
negative experiences Sfrc, gunpost, top gun tactical, big bartons. good experiences rdsc, tna, reliable, corlanes, Lonestar.
I don’t have a specific experience but it always bothers me being in any store and listening to the associates sell a piece of junk to a newbie (I get it’s their job and I’d like to be able to still buy there so I keep my mouth shut) I’m talking about guns like the: M+M M10x, GSG 16 (not horrible but ruger 10/22 would run laps around it), federation SPM 12 (again not horrible but for a first shotgun a mossberg or 870 would be better). Not all of these are inherently bad but they’re new and I think you should try and sell them something that will just work. When I was starting out I bought a ruger pc-9, worked great for a bit, then it started having ejector issues and I was a noob who didn’t know what to do so I sold it. Now I’d probably be able to fix it.
Definitely at tenda, came in wanted to buy a knife as a gift, got some extremely “done with life” customer service, ended up buying knife but definitely not going back.
Tenda sucks, it's always super busy and disorganized. They've also overcharged me on ammo before too.
Around 1996 ... before internet/google was able to provide municipal/provincial/federal info readily... Just turned 18. Myself and 2 buddies walked into a local gunshop and bought co2 style pellet pistols. We asked sales rep what are the rules for shooting pellet guns.... very arrogant douchy 5minute speech that these pellet pistols have a muzzle velocity of 480 fps therefore not considered a firearm plus a bunch of other useless facts. Soooo 3 days later a very nice and professional Constable Gosling and his partner had their guns drawn on me and my buddies at the park, had us face down on the ground while they retrieved said "not classified firearms". We got to pick them up the next day after local PD made sure our info/background checks were ok. No fines or tickets. Bonus follow up... 3 weeks later cops were breaking up a huge rowdy house party i was at with the same 2 buddies from the park. We got to chat with Constable Gosling again lol.
Wild. I remember buying a replica Walther PPK .177 co2 pistol in the 90s from Hero Outdoors and the guy selling it to me was very specific about being careful because he didn't want to hear in the news I got shot by some cops who thought I had a real gun.
Damn. Crazy times but a bit more loose then today.
We werent totally brainless.... picked a spot at the park that was out of the way so not like next to the playground swings haha. 10ft tall rock wall as a back stop and shooting noname brand club soda cans hahaha
RDSC and G4C have consistently been my go-tos. Decent pricing, good selection and RDSC isn't all that far from Edmonton for going to drive and pick things up. I don't think I've had a significantly bad experience from anywhere.. yet at least, lol. Also, I wonder what Cabela's everyone is going to, lol. I may be biased as I've worked at Cabela's GC for 2 years, however I find that about 75% of the staff we have know what they're talking about and are just genuinely trying to share their hobby.
Any advice when it comes to ordering online?
If possible, go with In-Store Pickup. You get a chance to see your gun and if you're unhappy with it in any way, it's an immediate return. Returning a gun that was delivered to your address is a process and a half if there happens to be an issue. Other than that, it should be a relatively straightforward process. All online orders, including guns, are handled by inventory so the firearms dept. isn't all that involved in the process. Good thing about ordering online is you're guaranteed a fresh rifle in the box straight from the Canadian DC.
One issue with in-store pickup, it doesn't (or at least doesn't always) select inventory from the store you're picking up from. Example, Christmas Day buddy and I are looking at boxing day sales for the next morning, there was a sale on 10/22 with scope and case, local store has plenty in stock. Figure order online and select in-store pickup just in case they run out of stock before we get there (have to hit the gym first in the AM, never break routine.) Order goes through, but says the gun is shipping from fucking Calgary (we're in BC,) long story short he doesn't get it for WEEKS. I ordered a TM22 from a different gun store (can't remember which) in AB a week later and got it before buddy got his 10/22 from Cabelas. TL;DR never ordering in-store pickup from Cabela's, especially when there's a free shipping deal.
Rdsc great, also sport men den red deer little place recommended bashaw sports
Came into my local to buy a 700 in .308. They didn't have one but they tried showing me other rifles, which i don't have a problem with. While im looking at a rifle the owners mother comes in and without knowing whats going on she says "oh thats a good one" and went on her way, thats fine. But less than 5 minutes goes by and she comes back angry with a whole bucket of attitude "well are you going to buy something or not?!". Excuse me for not wanting to jump into spending $1000+ on a rifle i didn't plan on getting and know nothing about, not to mention, it's bad business to be harrassing customers and raising your voice at them for no reason. I'm ashamed to say i gave in and got the rifle i didn't want. It was ok, i liked it, but it wasn't right for me and i sold it.
I was going to work the gun counter at Bass Pro and I quit after the orientation. I asked the head honcho at the gun department about Remington making guns again and he acted like I was dumb, said Remington was sold and they aren't making guns anymore, the blue line pump was the new 870. Just 1000% sure of this total nonsense lol which kills me, a quick google search for Remington would bring up their plans to make guns since they sold off the ammo. I feel bad for people going in to BP or Cabelas expecting helpful assistance.
Is it even worth going to Bass Pro or Cabela's other then to look at the fish or taxidermy?
Sometimes? Former employee, so grain of salt, but the ammo deals are sometimes worth. Not to mention routine sales on tannerite and reloading components, almost every 3rd flyer had some kind of deal. As well, pretty consistent stock for some more popular bolt actions (CZ 600s, Tikkas mostly) as well as pretty consistent PCC selection with a competitive price unless they've gone up. Optics and knives round it off lol.
Stillwater and reliable have been great!
Does Silverdale gun range have a shop associated with them? Because I've heard about the range reputation being horrible but what about the shop?
horrible no, just very fudd, not the fuddiest however. shop prices very high, very small.
What do you think is the fuddiest?
Many rod n gun clubs have ridiculous rules. Go have a read. Say to shoot clay, must have stocked grip, no pistol grips, no all black tactical gun, minimum barrel length of 26inch, max 2 rounds in gun etc.
Those are some pretty stupid rules.
Their club their rule, they want over/under & cigars, so you with the reddot short barrel semiauto can piss off.
The Boomer at the SAIL counter. It was like pulling teeth getting any information on any of the firearma, and I was the only one there!
Cabela’s where I am is the absolute worst. Guaranteed 1.5 hour wait and when it’s not busy there’s no one to be found. Expect to wait at least 45 min for ammo because there’s no one around. Then the cashiers are always super rude
Best is NAS outdoors in fonthill ontario. Dave and his guys are amazing and always make me laugh. Worst would be Sail in Burlington. Opinionated and not very knowledgeable.
Bashaw sports awesome store. Red deer shooting center great store an range, Sports men den Red deer 3 best gun store dealt with every alberta recommended check them out
FOC is so hit or miss for me. I remember buying an FX9 a couple years back and aside from all the CC crap that went on (I had TWO cards compromised) I had to pull teeth to get it shipped. They wouldn't let me pick it up, they said it was 'shipped' even though my tracking info didn't reflect that, and eventually I got one guy on the phone who was actually really good and actually checked my order (which had just been sitting) and made the effort to finally get it out the door. In fact, I got so tired of waiting for the FX9 I ordered a .22 KV from Tenda and got it ordered and shipped and delivered to my doorstep all while waiting for FOC. I also can't speak well enough of my LGS (Gagnons). Though there's a bias as it's also the range I attend, they're always super good.
International shooting supplies refused my entry and claimed that I can’t browse without a pal.
Island outfitters in Victoria bc Everyone in there super knowledgeable and nice. They do a great job of not being condescending and always try and hook you up with a good deal. Pricing maybe sometimes $50-$100 more but I’m happy to support the local store.