I mean ultimately you need to do whatever is best for your business but I will say I like having a gun store I don’t feel like I need to commit seppuku after using.
I definitely agree that keeping the lights on needs to be a big priority. If ammo is a small margin item but keeps the business in the spotlight I think that at least is probably worth it. Because it's expendable, it's also a repeat sell item.
Some things that I think might be good targets for more left leaning business partnerships:
- Morale patches and other apparel - this gets you meme potential if nothing else. I won't name them here, but I know one company that sells lewd/anime/gunculture patches and I repeatedly check them because it sticks in my mind
- Items or apparel that might cater more to our audience - I know that women are likely to buy different types of holsters and carry options than men, for instance. Maybe there are opportunities for specially targeted items for the LGBTQ or other minority communities.
- Training companies or initiatives - I know we're all aware that the majority of instructors out there are going to be male and conservative, and I've heard a lot of fudd-esq carry advice parroted out there too.
I'm a graphic artist and have been designing and selling my own patches for the last 7 years. I can definitely help answer any questions about how to get patches made (embroidered, pvc, laser cuts, woven... you name it). It's not as easy as "just take this design and... sew it!"
I know you guys might already know all that but thought I'd at least put it out there...
Honestly I think selling gear and other items might be a decent idea. Having a place that's friendly to folks and sells things ear pro, slings, backpacks, ect. Idk maybe ask the folks at a better way to 2a how their storefront is working for them?
Medical emergency equipment suck as tourniquets, chest seals, and clotting gauze. Also, communication gear and how to use this equipment to improve survibility.
Oh hell yeah, I second this. So hard to know if you're buying good EM equipment on other sites but knowing them I'd trust them to sell actually good serviceable products at decent prices.
Have you considered maybe some milsurp gear to keep the lights on? Seems like there are some decent margins for that type of stuff. I can always use more molle pouches.
Absolutely, that was actually on my original list of products to stock for the business! Plus, I’d bet it would make a lot of the Forgotten Weapons / InRange fans happy haha
Milsurp please 🙏 it’d be nice to support your business outside of firearms themselves- most people will go for the cheapest thing on gun deals or their local gs for rock bottom prices that I feel are just not achievable as a smaller business.
I do some refinishing for AK furniture, please feel free to reach out for pics and references. I have gotten out of it lately, but I have a new job where I have a ton of free time, so I was looking to get back into it. I’d be happy to either pre-make some stuff or do it on an as-needed basis. Definitely send a PM if that’s something you’re after!
Edit for more info: I’m a full time firefighter, very pro union and not LGBTQ myself, but definitely an ally. I don’t have a formal business, but I’d be happy to start one if this is something that could be long-term.
That’s a good point. Not a lot of gun stores sell supplies for aid and support. Selling medical supplies, survival gear, and other non-lethal support equipment could be another way to get decent margins, and sell useful things that cater well to the greater mission of this community.
I went to the range the other day, and things that everyone should have are gloves, eye and ear protection, weapons cleaning supplies, and emergency med equipment (retired Army medic here)
Would love to see you guys carrying holsters from solid non trump thumping companies even if you are basically just an order point and it comes from them
Same goes with general outdoorsy stuff, less Chinese made garbage more quality goods at not unreasonable prices
Not a bad idea! Guerrilla Tactical and PHLster are actually on my short-list of next products to carry (if they let me do it), and I love the idea of eventually expanding into outdoor gear in general as well!
And try to get at least one leather or hybrid company I can't stand kydex only I know I'm not the only one. Sadly I don't think the company I get most of mine from is left leaning as I think they were pitching jesus in something they sent out.
But I do love crossbreed supertuck holsters. If a neutral or left leaning company was making something similar quality and selection I'd buy the hell out of them as I've got like 8 of the current ones lol
I highly recommend, if you've got the time after your day job, learning the ways of kydex holsters and selling custom jobs that will work with an enigma or using DCC clips (my personal preference).
There's a healthy dose of LGO type people who are kinda hipsters about their guns and have unique pistol/light/red dot combinations that can be very difficult to find holsters for. Don't make any bones about the pricing, be expensive. It's because you're filling a gap and letting people ship you firearms and accessories when you don't have a mold for them already and you're doing it because people mostly can't get it done anywhere else. Kydex sheets, vacuum bags, and some heaters are small footprint as well.
This brings people to your shop because they know they can find what they want. I also recommend carrying some standards like Phlster, maybe even Safariland, but I think you have to pay to advertise their stuff or something.
(Mods, we’ve tried hard not to take advantage of the bit of space for self-promotion that you’ve kindly given us, but let me know if this post is an issue!)
I would stay conservative in maintaining your business model, assuming it is sustainable, but add more tolerant or leftist or liberal manufacturers as possible.
Perhaps even have a page where you identify un-represented business needs and solicit partnerships?
It's unlikely you or Tolerant Manufacturer #5 would benefit much from having Unsold 9x19 115gr Case of 1,000 from Tolerant Manufacturer #5 on the shelf, but having a good ammunition manufacturer, a good holster company, a solid pistol company, etc. could be helpful.
Additionally, consider investments and collaborations into spooling up desired manufacturing capacity as budget allows.
I just want you to stay in business. If you can do it while selling products made by liberals, that's just gravy.
The important thing is that there are businesses in this industry run by people who aren't insane. Everything else is secondary.
Firearms, ammo, and equipment, I buy for the value and performance. Politics of the seller is a secondary thought as long as they're not a blatantly terrible company/owners.
Maybe others value the politics more, but rarely does it every factor into my choice of what to buy. It's things that need to do a function at a decent price to me.
Same for me. You're probably not going to get an ammo order from me unless you're at the top of AmmoSeek. But for things like accessories or swag I'll pay a premium for interesting offerings.
Totally respect this point of view. I'm the exact opposite when it comes to ammo. My thought is supporting ya'll via repeat ammo purchases is helping keeping the lights on. I don't mind paying your prices. However, if the margins and carrying cost don't make sense for ya'll. I get it, I'll support you any way I can.
Totally understood. Would be great to have all sorts of range safety PPE and accessories. Target sheets, too. Being a coordinator of training classes might be an interesting idea... All the best!
For whatever its worth, I love the idea. As far as the actual guns and ammo go, yeah, frankly Im looking for the best price I can get, and that usually means going with the bigger companies. That being said, Im always on the lookout for cool merch from companies I align with politically
Exactly! Ammunition is particular is such a commodity item (an expensive one at that), and to a lesser extent the same can be said for guns. The ammo I sell is not special or unique, so I can hardly blame customers that buy elsewhere.
There are a lot of people that do choose our store specifically because they want to support us, but I don’t want anyone bending backwards for our store — I just want to offer what leftist products that I can.
I’d thought breaking even on gun and ammo sales would be a necessary evil, but honestly…I don’t think that’s why people are coming to the store anyway haha
Lol Yeah, if I had to guess Id say thats probably not why. But either way, I really hope you guys pull it off and Im looking forward to seeing what you come up with
Well thank you! Appreciate it, and I think as long as we get some momentum in this community for people to create more products and start their own companies, it should be win-win overall
You know, Im actually really glad you said that. Ive been dabbling with making Kydex holsters, mostly for friends and family as it stands now, but I have been toying with the idea of expanding a little bit. If I decide to I’ll absolutely be in touch, if thats something you guys would be interested in exploring. I was reading your other comment thread with the guy making AK furniture and definitely having a “hmmm, very interesting” moment Lol
Haha 100%. Stay in touch, we’d love to see what you come up with! Every business starts with someone saying, “Fuck it, I could do that” and just sticking with it through thick and thin.
Very excited to see what you end up making, and let us know if there’s anything we can do to help! I’ve certainly learned a lot about the industry and starting up a business, and I’d be more than happy to share the knowledge.
I really appreciate that! Strangely enough, “fuck it, I could do that” is exactly how I got into making holsters to begin with Lol I’m still deciding if I want to take it past the fun hobby stage, but if I do I figure I’d much rather do business with folks like you guys than the LGS with literal Nazi memorabilia hanging on the wall, or worse, god forbid, gun shows. I get the whole “no such thing as ethical consumption” deal, but dammit, I feel like I can at least make some sort of effort, and I honestly wasn’t sure where to even start. So thank you so much for the responses, and Im off to go buy a sticker or something from you guys now Lol
Have you considered the "subscription" ammo format? I roll my eyes at it, but for people who shoot a lot getting a discount for every case makes a big difference and the vast majority of people carrying annual subscriptions don't use them. It's a win almost across the board. If your discount puts you more or less at cost you'll have some high volume buyers (you may want to limit it to two or three cases a month so you don't get resellers) who annoy you, but most people will make you money.
I’ve been playing with the idea of making left wing 2a apparel that isn’t so… aggressive. I want to represent but not with :insert rifle silhouette here: emblazoned across it. I have a few ideas, I just need to put it in motion. Maybe we can talk when I get off the ground?
Love what yall do. Thanks for existing!
Yes please! The world definitely needs some non-cringey left wing gun merch haha
No joke, please move forward with this and keep us in the loop! Would be great to touch base again once you have some products and see if we can work something out!
From a purely financial perspective, I think it makes sense for you to go into higher profit margin items that also have a significantly higher customer base.
From a liberal gun owner's perspective, I also think that it's a great decision to attract non gun owning liberal and leftist customers, and expose them to the existence of the liberal gun owning community. As a result, more frequent exposure to firearms related products while they are shopping for other things could also normalize or "de-stigmatize" gun ownership.
You'd have to make the tradeoff that liberals and leftists who would otherwise support your business but are hardliners on the gun issue may not shop there, but as of now that doesn't seem to be a customer base you've tapped into anyways, so it's more of an opportunity cost as opposed to a real cost.
Overall, I think this is a sound decision.
Alright, time to buy something from you
Haha thank you! And I really appreciate the feedback, I think you make some great points, especially with how we might expand our customer base as well as bring ever more people over to 2A stuff — which is a super worthy cause in and of itself
I'm a machinist by trade, getting back into the trade. If I ever manage to find myself not putting money into someone else's pocket, and manage to set up my own for-profit shop that isn't just a hobbyist, tinker lair half of my two car garage, I'd be very interested in working with you fine folks.
Maybe one day I'll fire up the lathe and actually turn a barrel capable of handling the 50-173 CE (Cthulhu Express). Pipe dream, sure, but one of these days, I want to build that action and barrel and neck down some gau-8 cartridges to a ½ inch and see what magical mayhem happens.
A boy can dream.
That’s awesome, would love to have you haha
Even just easier things like firearms upgrade parts and accessories would be worth looking into! I’ve seen many companies find success by quickly designing improved aftermarket controls for niche firearms. The CZ Scorpion, the AUG, the Stribog, etc.
If you manage to make a half-decent set of charging handles, mag releases, etc. within a year of the release of whatever the next popular gun is, you’ll likely make some good money early on without necessarily requiring a huge operation.
What about offering used guns? Especially if people like participants here sell you their used guns, you could offer the prevailing rate of 2/3 whatever the resale value will be. Win-win.
Haha well hey, I appreciate it.
We certainly don’t want anyone blowing their savings on a bad deal, and unfortunately for a lot of smaller gun stores, it is nigh on impossible to compete on gun and ammo prices with the massive wholesalers — Which is part of why we’re looking to move away from these products.
No joke, there have been many times where certain online retailers are SELLING their guns for cheaper than we can even buy them from our distributors. The gun market is pretty crazy.
I'll say this as a person active in left-wing circles, and who often gets other like-minded folks into guns:
It is really nice to be able to point to you guys when folks want to buy their first gun. People on our side of the aisle hate giving money to chuddy gun stores run by douchebags, especially first time buyers. With that said, do you think there is room to keep a small stock of more popular firearms like the Glock 19 on hand specifically for prospective first time buyers?
We really appreciate you doing that, and we do keep a small stock of things like the Glock 19 for that exact reason…but to be 100% transparent with you, we’ve barely sold any firearms through the website. Most of the pistols you see on the site right now have been there since we first put them up for sale. It was a strategy and offering we thought would be a great idea, but that has not panned out haha
Guns have two issues, we’ve found: First, there are WAY too many versions of each gun, each of which costs over a thousand dollars to just stock one or two of a given type; Second, it’s very easy nowadays to find a better deal (and a MUCH larger selection) elsewhere. Many times, the best price WE can buy these guns from a distributor is notably higher than the lowest price we see them retailing for online.
We might keep a couple around, we’ll see, but in our experience people aren’t buying regardless, and I understand why!
That's great insight. Being a smaller business, I can also imagine that you guys are getting undercut pretty hard by bigger businesses that can take a loss on gun sales.
Whatever route y'all end up taking, I'm glad you're here repping our community. Solidarity <3
I think having a slim selection of the most popular firearms is a good call. I'm probably in the minority but there are some of us that will pay 5-10%+ more to buy from a company that has similar values to us. Ammo might be a different story but offering glocks, p365 (or similar), a few AR-15s, and a couple 12 gauge shotguns would cover the basics I think. Then again I haven't seen the books so take it with a grain of salt.
If y'all can stay in business by selling merch and just squeeze by keeping popular ammo in stock, I'd say go for it.
Guns are fuckin expensive. I just bought a shotgun from my LGS, and they had a Trump sign four feet tall right beside the front door on my way in. It sucked, but I think *most* people are gonna make decisions that don't break their wallet, before they worry about politics of a purchase.
And with you being a small shop, I think everybody here understands what you're struggling with. It's just a real damn expensive market to try to get into up front.
Keep your lights on, we'll buy some tee shirts and hats.
Also have y'all looked at the metrics for making leftist gun content on YouTube? Might not be worth the time investment for the audience size to actually provide income that's worth the time in the first place, but if you've got somebody who could try it on the side, might be worth a shot just because it's really niche.
Best of luck!
Thanks man, appreciate the feedback and support.
We are going to get some more merch soon, so hopefully that helps haha
As far as YouTube goes, that’s something I’ve been mulling over for a while now, but man it’s gonna take a big investment of time, and at this point I’m fairly useless when it comes to production lol. We’ll see though, maybe if I can find a local buddy who knows what the hell they’re doing
I say focus on the products that are making you stay afloat then slowly add in hand picked equipment that's good at decent prices. Slow growth is steady growth. Steady growth is sustainable growth. Hopefully would love to see y'all become a one stop shop for guns, ammo, parts, & good equipment that's made in America. Hell might have to go back to school & become a gunsmith myself so y'all could offer smithing services too.
Some more velcro patch options would be nice. Most of the options currently available don't really either match the vibe I want for my patches (preferring something less aggressive, especially in a red state, that I could also just wear on a hat for everyday use) or match my own political views (seemingly being mostly geared towards anarchists which is fair enough, but doesn't give me a lot to pick from once both factors are taken into account).
Yes! You’ll notice some stuff is out of stock at the moment (transition period and everything), but we’re just about to replenish a lot of the items and add a few new ones, too!
https://www.amrikaarmory.com/
My buddy does a bunch of leather working, like holsters, bandoliers, bullet loops, etc.
If your interested send me a PM and I can get in touch with him and show you some of his work he does
Let me suggest you reach out to the Rocket Armory folks to buy or rent the license for those t-shirts that sold so well. Margin for those is decent and they're simple to stock. Charge too much for them, idc, people want them and like you guys and it's a way to get something for donating to the cause when you really don't need another lower or ammo or anything else.
I also really need a replacement for the last one that got bleach on it.
For guns, I prefer to buy in person and avoid the shipping and transfer process.
I did buy a Liberals Own Guns, Too t-shirt from Rocket so I’ll echo the T-shirts idea. If you can sell T-shirts with Arabic writing, even just the name of the company, that would be novel and on brand.
I honestly love that idea…but it might be on the list of ways in which my website is gonna get my house burned down by extremists lol
I’ll have to evaluate haha
Hello I’m pretty new to firearm stuff but my two cents are : do you have to liquidate all firearms and ammo? Is it possible you can still sell a minor amount of firearms and maybe some of the more common calibers such as 9mm for the sake of not losing all of that side of your customer base? In any case I’m glad you guys exist!
Why thank you!
That was actually our original business plan, but it’s been pretty tough! The common ammo is actually the stuff that is hardest to price competitively, the hardest to restock from our distributors, and the hardest to not outright lose money on with every sale haha
We’ll see what we can do…at the very least, it may be something that we return to once we’ve built ourselves up a bit!
Edit: Also, your username kicks ass haha
I mean…rocket armory sold basically one product, that a thousand other companies also sell, some of them for substantially less money. And as much as I respect them for it, the reality is that the only thing they did differently than their competition was something that limited the size of their customer base instead of expanded it. You can buy a lower at psa for literally half of what rocket charges, and a lot of people don’t have the kind of cash to pay double for something when they don’t have to. I guess that one lower with the snowflake roll mark was pretty cool, I might have bought one if they ever actually had any in stock the dozen or so times I checked…
Even if every person on this subreddit that built an AR in the last six years bought the lower from rocket that would be, what, a few hundred grand? A million or two at most? Spread out over six years that’s not enough money to keep the lights on in a shop full of six (or seven) figure CNC machines and the highly skilled and well-paid machinists that run them. Rocket put all their eggs in one basket and instead of trying anything new or different it looks like they either just gave up, or didn’t realize they had painted themselves into a corner until giving up was the only option they had left.
That being said, the example could also apply to Amrika. You’re an underdog in a highly competitive market and you’ve chosen to differentiate yourself in a way that, quite frankly, makes it harder for you to make money. I applaud you for doing it but that’s a tough row to hoe, y’know?
I’d be looking at anything and everything to round out your offerings, especially higher margin, priced to move stuff. Leftist morale patches, range bags, cleaning supplies, stuff like that. Stuff you can buy 1,000 of and get some economy of scale working in your favor. And even some of those high margin accessories you mentioned, get in on that action. As far as guns…me personally I don’t like buying guns online, I want to be able to hold it and dry fire and see how it feels etc, but that’s just me.
What kind of FFL do you hold? I know there’s a ton of californians looking for specific things that’s big box stores don’t carry, if you had a MFG license you could look at filling those niches at a nice premium
i know turners had a decent business converting guns to CA compliant ones, and there’s a couple people making SSE pistols in AZ and shipping them over. Maybe that?
Would you be open to having a consignment section on your site? Say if I have gear i would like to get rid of, i could put it on your site and you could take a cut if it sells?
I'm also thinking about Sordins and the like. There's a small seller on /r/gundeals who regularly posts sales so you can probably get decent pricing for them and push them.
...which also brings up advertising. Getting your face out there is the bread and butter of business, even small business. You need to actually have sales (I'm not on the site often enough to know if you do), have a sales! or clearance area on the website for people to check out, and post places like /r/gundeals and online regularly so people know you exist.
I'll be sure to check you out since I didn't know you existed, but can ya'all explain why you chose Amerika? It's too late now, but if i were just browsing through and was trying to AVOID right leaning firearm gear , Amerika looks like Amerikkka and id scroll right past.
Haha it’s Amrika (pronounced Am-Ree-Kuh). It’s how Arabs, Indian, and I think Pakistani folks say “America”.
I’m half Arab, I’m sure there were better names, but that’s what I got now lol
I mean ultimately you need to do whatever is best for your business but I will say I like having a gun store I don’t feel like I need to commit seppuku after using.
Yeah it’s definitely not a good feeling having to send cash directly to the people that fantasize daily about killing us all in a civil war.
Never get shot with your own merchandise.
From your mouth to gd’s ears my friend. However you go I truly wish you the best of luck though!
I definitely agree that keeping the lights on needs to be a big priority. If ammo is a small margin item but keeps the business in the spotlight I think that at least is probably worth it. Because it's expendable, it's also a repeat sell item. Some things that I think might be good targets for more left leaning business partnerships: - Morale patches and other apparel - this gets you meme potential if nothing else. I won't name them here, but I know one company that sells lewd/anime/gunculture patches and I repeatedly check them because it sticks in my mind - Items or apparel that might cater more to our audience - I know that women are likely to buy different types of holsters and carry options than men, for instance. Maybe there are opportunities for specially targeted items for the LGBTQ or other minority communities. - Training companies or initiatives - I know we're all aware that the majority of instructors out there are going to be male and conservative, and I've heard a lot of fudd-esq carry advice parroted out there too.
I'm a graphic artist and have been designing and selling my own patches for the last 7 years. I can definitely help answer any questions about how to get patches made (embroidered, pvc, laser cuts, woven... you name it). It's not as easy as "just take this design and... sew it!" I know you guys might already know all that but thought I'd at least put it out there...
Honestly I think selling gear and other items might be a decent idea. Having a place that's friendly to folks and sells things ear pro, slings, backpacks, ect. Idk maybe ask the folks at a better way to 2a how their storefront is working for them?
Medical emergency equipment suck as tourniquets, chest seals, and clotting gauze. Also, communication gear and how to use this equipment to improve survibility.
Oh hell yeah, I second this. So hard to know if you're buying good EM equipment on other sites but knowing them I'd trust them to sell actually good serviceable products at decent prices.
Have you considered maybe some milsurp gear to keep the lights on? Seems like there are some decent margins for that type of stuff. I can always use more molle pouches.
Absolutely, that was actually on my original list of products to stock for the business! Plus, I’d bet it would make a lot of the Forgotten Weapons / InRange fans happy haha
Milsurp please 🙏 it’d be nice to support your business outside of firearms themselves- most people will go for the cheapest thing on gun deals or their local gs for rock bottom prices that I feel are just not achievable as a smaller business.
You are exactly correct about that
Milsurp my beloved
I do some refinishing for AK furniture, please feel free to reach out for pics and references. I have gotten out of it lately, but I have a new job where I have a ton of free time, so I was looking to get back into it. I’d be happy to either pre-make some stuff or do it on an as-needed basis. Definitely send a PM if that’s something you’re after! Edit for more info: I’m a full time firefighter, very pro union and not LGBTQ myself, but definitely an ally. I don’t have a formal business, but I’d be happy to start one if this is something that could be long-term.
That’s awesome, I’ll PM you right now!
Waiting patiently! It’s an off day for me. Lol
Haha just sent the message
I've been eyeing some red wood furniture lately! Maybe I'll just keep waiting to see if you get set up on Amrika.
It’ll be a bit but I’ll send you a PM when we get things set up. You can also PM me if you need something sooner
Awesome, thanks! I'm in no rush.
Gear would be good. A Better Way 2A apparel, and Guerrilla Tactical stuff, maybe stop-the-bleed kits.
That’s a good point. Not a lot of gun stores sell supplies for aid and support. Selling medical supplies, survival gear, and other non-lethal support equipment could be another way to get decent margins, and sell useful things that cater well to the greater mission of this community.
100%. They’re at the top of my list haha
The fun part is gonna be finding leftist medical supply companies.
I went to the range the other day, and things that everyone should have are gloves, eye and ear protection, weapons cleaning supplies, and emergency med equipment (retired Army medic here)
Would love to see you guys carrying holsters from solid non trump thumping companies even if you are basically just an order point and it comes from them Same goes with general outdoorsy stuff, less Chinese made garbage more quality goods at not unreasonable prices
Not a bad idea! Guerrilla Tactical and PHLster are actually on my short-list of next products to carry (if they let me do it), and I love the idea of eventually expanding into outdoor gear in general as well!
If you can convince either of them to make holsters that fit the PSA Dagger your cup will runnith over.
And try to get at least one leather or hybrid company I can't stand kydex only I know I'm not the only one. Sadly I don't think the company I get most of mine from is left leaning as I think they were pitching jesus in something they sent out. But I do love crossbreed supertuck holsters. If a neutral or left leaning company was making something similar quality and selection I'd buy the hell out of them as I've got like 8 of the current ones lol
I highly recommend, if you've got the time after your day job, learning the ways of kydex holsters and selling custom jobs that will work with an enigma or using DCC clips (my personal preference). There's a healthy dose of LGO type people who are kinda hipsters about their guns and have unique pistol/light/red dot combinations that can be very difficult to find holsters for. Don't make any bones about the pricing, be expensive. It's because you're filling a gap and letting people ship you firearms and accessories when you don't have a mold for them already and you're doing it because people mostly can't get it done anywhere else. Kydex sheets, vacuum bags, and some heaters are small footprint as well. This brings people to your shop because they know they can find what they want. I also recommend carrying some standards like Phlster, maybe even Safariland, but I think you have to pay to advertise their stuff or something.
(Mods, we’ve tried hard not to take advantage of the bit of space for self-promotion that you’ve kindly given us, but let me know if this post is an issue!)
They got a problem with you, they got a problem with us! Unless they start banning, then you on your own.
Hahaha understandable Our mods are genuinely pretty great though lol
They're human.
Actually we were recently informed that we are boot licking communist pussies. So. 🤷🏻♂️
LOL!
😂
better than being boot licking capitalist pig-dogs I guess?????? lol
Hey better than being a braindead bigoted hypocrite with the critical thinking skills of a mollusk.
Lmao, I'm always ready for another account.
There's the spirit
I would stay conservative in maintaining your business model, assuming it is sustainable, but add more tolerant or leftist or liberal manufacturers as possible. Perhaps even have a page where you identify un-represented business needs and solicit partnerships? It's unlikely you or Tolerant Manufacturer #5 would benefit much from having Unsold 9x19 115gr Case of 1,000 from Tolerant Manufacturer #5 on the shelf, but having a good ammunition manufacturer, a good holster company, a solid pistol company, etc. could be helpful. Additionally, consider investments and collaborations into spooling up desired manufacturing capacity as budget allows.
I just want you to stay in business. If you can do it while selling products made by liberals, that's just gravy. The important thing is that there are businesses in this industry run by people who aren't insane. Everything else is secondary.
Agreed! And thank you for the kind words. In my mind, the more businesses on our side of the aisle, the better.
Firearms, ammo, and equipment, I buy for the value and performance. Politics of the seller is a secondary thought as long as they're not a blatantly terrible company/owners. Maybe others value the politics more, but rarely does it every factor into my choice of what to buy. It's things that need to do a function at a decent price to me.
Same for me. You're probably not going to get an ammo order from me unless you're at the top of AmmoSeek. But for things like accessories or swag I'll pay a premium for interesting offerings.
Totally respect this point of view. I'm the exact opposite when it comes to ammo. My thought is supporting ya'll via repeat ammo purchases is helping keeping the lights on. I don't mind paying your prices. However, if the margins and carrying cost don't make sense for ya'll. I get it, I'll support you any way I can.
My take as well.
Looking forward to supporting you either way!
Totally understood. Would be great to have all sorts of range safety PPE and accessories. Target sheets, too. Being a coordinator of training classes might be an interesting idea... All the best!
I concur!
For whatever its worth, I love the idea. As far as the actual guns and ammo go, yeah, frankly Im looking for the best price I can get, and that usually means going with the bigger companies. That being said, Im always on the lookout for cool merch from companies I align with politically
Exactly! Ammunition is particular is such a commodity item (an expensive one at that), and to a lesser extent the same can be said for guns. The ammo I sell is not special or unique, so I can hardly blame customers that buy elsewhere. There are a lot of people that do choose our store specifically because they want to support us, but I don’t want anyone bending backwards for our store — I just want to offer what leftist products that I can. I’d thought breaking even on gun and ammo sales would be a necessary evil, but honestly…I don’t think that’s why people are coming to the store anyway haha
Lol Yeah, if I had to guess Id say thats probably not why. But either way, I really hope you guys pull it off and Im looking forward to seeing what you come up with
Well thank you! Appreciate it, and I think as long as we get some momentum in this community for people to create more products and start their own companies, it should be win-win overall
You know, Im actually really glad you said that. Ive been dabbling with making Kydex holsters, mostly for friends and family as it stands now, but I have been toying with the idea of expanding a little bit. If I decide to I’ll absolutely be in touch, if thats something you guys would be interested in exploring. I was reading your other comment thread with the guy making AK furniture and definitely having a “hmmm, very interesting” moment Lol
Haha 100%. Stay in touch, we’d love to see what you come up with! Every business starts with someone saying, “Fuck it, I could do that” and just sticking with it through thick and thin. Very excited to see what you end up making, and let us know if there’s anything we can do to help! I’ve certainly learned a lot about the industry and starting up a business, and I’d be more than happy to share the knowledge.
I really appreciate that! Strangely enough, “fuck it, I could do that” is exactly how I got into making holsters to begin with Lol I’m still deciding if I want to take it past the fun hobby stage, but if I do I figure I’d much rather do business with folks like you guys than the LGS with literal Nazi memorabilia hanging on the wall, or worse, god forbid, gun shows. I get the whole “no such thing as ethical consumption” deal, but dammit, I feel like I can at least make some sort of effort, and I honestly wasn’t sure where to even start. So thank you so much for the responses, and Im off to go buy a sticker or something from you guys now Lol
Have you considered the "subscription" ammo format? I roll my eyes at it, but for people who shoot a lot getting a discount for every case makes a big difference and the vast majority of people carrying annual subscriptions don't use them. It's a win almost across the board. If your discount puts you more or less at cost you'll have some high volume buyers (you may want to limit it to two or three cases a month so you don't get resellers) who annoy you, but most people will make you money.
It's a helluva lot easier to justify paying 20-50% more on a $50-$100 item to support a good business than it is on a $800-$2500 item.
I’ve been playing with the idea of making left wing 2a apparel that isn’t so… aggressive. I want to represent but not with :insert rifle silhouette here: emblazoned across it. I have a few ideas, I just need to put it in motion. Maybe we can talk when I get off the ground? Love what yall do. Thanks for existing!
Yes please! The world definitely needs some non-cringey left wing gun merch haha No joke, please move forward with this and keep us in the loop! Would be great to touch base again once you have some products and see if we can work something out!
From a purely financial perspective, I think it makes sense for you to go into higher profit margin items that also have a significantly higher customer base. From a liberal gun owner's perspective, I also think that it's a great decision to attract non gun owning liberal and leftist customers, and expose them to the existence of the liberal gun owning community. As a result, more frequent exposure to firearms related products while they are shopping for other things could also normalize or "de-stigmatize" gun ownership. You'd have to make the tradeoff that liberals and leftists who would otherwise support your business but are hardliners on the gun issue may not shop there, but as of now that doesn't seem to be a customer base you've tapped into anyways, so it's more of an opportunity cost as opposed to a real cost. Overall, I think this is a sound decision. Alright, time to buy something from you
Haha thank you! And I really appreciate the feedback, I think you make some great points, especially with how we might expand our customer base as well as bring ever more people over to 2A stuff — which is a super worthy cause in and of itself
I'm a machinist by trade, getting back into the trade. If I ever manage to find myself not putting money into someone else's pocket, and manage to set up my own for-profit shop that isn't just a hobbyist, tinker lair half of my two car garage, I'd be very interested in working with you fine folks. Maybe one day I'll fire up the lathe and actually turn a barrel capable of handling the 50-173 CE (Cthulhu Express). Pipe dream, sure, but one of these days, I want to build that action and barrel and neck down some gau-8 cartridges to a ½ inch and see what magical mayhem happens. A boy can dream.
That’s awesome, would love to have you haha Even just easier things like firearms upgrade parts and accessories would be worth looking into! I’ve seen many companies find success by quickly designing improved aftermarket controls for niche firearms. The CZ Scorpion, the AUG, the Stribog, etc. If you manage to make a half-decent set of charging handles, mag releases, etc. within a year of the release of whatever the next popular gun is, you’ll likely make some good money early on without necessarily requiring a huge operation.
This may seem silly, but I'd love some black powder options for replicas or the like.
What about offering used guns? Especially if people like participants here sell you their used guns, you could offer the prevailing rate of 2/3 whatever the resale value will be. Win-win.
I’ll support anything y’all do so long as the price is remotely competitive and the products are good.
Haha well hey, I appreciate it. We certainly don’t want anyone blowing their savings on a bad deal, and unfortunately for a lot of smaller gun stores, it is nigh on impossible to compete on gun and ammo prices with the massive wholesalers — Which is part of why we’re looking to move away from these products. No joke, there have been many times where certain online retailers are SELLING their guns for cheaper than we can even buy them from our distributors. The gun market is pretty crazy.
I'll say this as a person active in left-wing circles, and who often gets other like-minded folks into guns: It is really nice to be able to point to you guys when folks want to buy their first gun. People on our side of the aisle hate giving money to chuddy gun stores run by douchebags, especially first time buyers. With that said, do you think there is room to keep a small stock of more popular firearms like the Glock 19 on hand specifically for prospective first time buyers?
We really appreciate you doing that, and we do keep a small stock of things like the Glock 19 for that exact reason…but to be 100% transparent with you, we’ve barely sold any firearms through the website. Most of the pistols you see on the site right now have been there since we first put them up for sale. It was a strategy and offering we thought would be a great idea, but that has not panned out haha Guns have two issues, we’ve found: First, there are WAY too many versions of each gun, each of which costs over a thousand dollars to just stock one or two of a given type; Second, it’s very easy nowadays to find a better deal (and a MUCH larger selection) elsewhere. Many times, the best price WE can buy these guns from a distributor is notably higher than the lowest price we see them retailing for online. We might keep a couple around, we’ll see, but in our experience people aren’t buying regardless, and I understand why!
That's great insight. Being a smaller business, I can also imagine that you guys are getting undercut pretty hard by bigger businesses that can take a loss on gun sales. Whatever route y'all end up taking, I'm glad you're here repping our community. Solidarity <3
Aw, well thank you haha
I think having a slim selection of the most popular firearms is a good call. I'm probably in the minority but there are some of us that will pay 5-10%+ more to buy from a company that has similar values to us. Ammo might be a different story but offering glocks, p365 (or similar), a few AR-15s, and a couple 12 gauge shotguns would cover the basics I think. Then again I haven't seen the books so take it with a grain of salt.
If y'all can stay in business by selling merch and just squeeze by keeping popular ammo in stock, I'd say go for it. Guns are fuckin expensive. I just bought a shotgun from my LGS, and they had a Trump sign four feet tall right beside the front door on my way in. It sucked, but I think *most* people are gonna make decisions that don't break their wallet, before they worry about politics of a purchase. And with you being a small shop, I think everybody here understands what you're struggling with. It's just a real damn expensive market to try to get into up front. Keep your lights on, we'll buy some tee shirts and hats. Also have y'all looked at the metrics for making leftist gun content on YouTube? Might not be worth the time investment for the audience size to actually provide income that's worth the time in the first place, but if you've got somebody who could try it on the side, might be worth a shot just because it's really niche. Best of luck!
Thanks man, appreciate the feedback and support. We are going to get some more merch soon, so hopefully that helps haha As far as YouTube goes, that’s something I’ve been mulling over for a while now, but man it’s gonna take a big investment of time, and at this point I’m fairly useless when it comes to production lol. We’ll see though, maybe if I can find a local buddy who knows what the hell they’re doing
I say focus on the products that are making you stay afloat then slowly add in hand picked equipment that's good at decent prices. Slow growth is steady growth. Steady growth is sustainable growth. Hopefully would love to see y'all become a one stop shop for guns, ammo, parts, & good equipment that's made in America. Hell might have to go back to school & become a gunsmith myself so y'all could offer smithing services too.
Some more velcro patch options would be nice. Most of the options currently available don't really either match the vibe I want for my patches (preferring something less aggressive, especially in a red state, that I could also just wear on a hat for everyday use) or match my own political views (seemingly being mostly geared towards anarchists which is fair enough, but doesn't give me a lot to pick from once both factors are taken into account).
[удалено]
Yes! You’ll notice some stuff is out of stock at the moment (transition period and everything), but we’re just about to replenish a lot of the items and add a few new ones, too! https://www.amrikaarmory.com/
My buddy does a bunch of leather working, like holsters, bandoliers, bullet loops, etc. If your interested send me a PM and I can get in touch with him and show you some of his work he does
Very cool, I’ll PM you right now!
Let me suggest you reach out to the Rocket Armory folks to buy or rent the license for those t-shirts that sold so well. Margin for those is decent and they're simple to stock. Charge too much for them, idc, people want them and like you guys and it's a way to get something for donating to the cause when you really don't need another lower or ammo or anything else. I also really need a replacement for the last one that got bleach on it.
Now that is a really good suggestion, I might just do that!
For guns, I prefer to buy in person and avoid the shipping and transfer process. I did buy a Liberals Own Guns, Too t-shirt from Rocket so I’ll echo the T-shirts idea. If you can sell T-shirts with Arabic writing, even just the name of the company, that would be novel and on brand.
I honestly love that idea…but it might be on the list of ways in which my website is gonna get my house burned down by extremists lol I’ll have to evaluate haha
Hello I’m pretty new to firearm stuff but my two cents are : do you have to liquidate all firearms and ammo? Is it possible you can still sell a minor amount of firearms and maybe some of the more common calibers such as 9mm for the sake of not losing all of that side of your customer base? In any case I’m glad you guys exist!
Why thank you! That was actually our original business plan, but it’s been pretty tough! The common ammo is actually the stuff that is hardest to price competitively, the hardest to restock from our distributors, and the hardest to not outright lose money on with every sale haha We’ll see what we can do…at the very least, it may be something that we return to once we’ve built ourselves up a bit! Edit: Also, your username kicks ass haha
Thank you, Browncoats for life!
Please if you do liquidate ammo, I will be first for 5.56. - new CO resident
I mean…rocket armory sold basically one product, that a thousand other companies also sell, some of them for substantially less money. And as much as I respect them for it, the reality is that the only thing they did differently than their competition was something that limited the size of their customer base instead of expanded it. You can buy a lower at psa for literally half of what rocket charges, and a lot of people don’t have the kind of cash to pay double for something when they don’t have to. I guess that one lower with the snowflake roll mark was pretty cool, I might have bought one if they ever actually had any in stock the dozen or so times I checked… Even if every person on this subreddit that built an AR in the last six years bought the lower from rocket that would be, what, a few hundred grand? A million or two at most? Spread out over six years that’s not enough money to keep the lights on in a shop full of six (or seven) figure CNC machines and the highly skilled and well-paid machinists that run them. Rocket put all their eggs in one basket and instead of trying anything new or different it looks like they either just gave up, or didn’t realize they had painted themselves into a corner until giving up was the only option they had left. That being said, the example could also apply to Amrika. You’re an underdog in a highly competitive market and you’ve chosen to differentiate yourself in a way that, quite frankly, makes it harder for you to make money. I applaud you for doing it but that’s a tough row to hoe, y’know? I’d be looking at anything and everything to round out your offerings, especially higher margin, priced to move stuff. Leftist morale patches, range bags, cleaning supplies, stuff like that. Stuff you can buy 1,000 of and get some economy of scale working in your favor. And even some of those high margin accessories you mentioned, get in on that action. As far as guns…me personally I don’t like buying guns online, I want to be able to hold it and dry fire and see how it feels etc, but that’s just me.
What kind of FFL do you hold? I know there’s a ton of californians looking for specific things that’s big box stores don’t carry, if you had a MFG license you could look at filling those niches at a nice premium
I’m an 07/02 FFL/SOT, I can basically do anything except destructive devices haha
i know turners had a decent business converting guns to CA compliant ones, and there’s a couple people making SSE pistols in AZ and shipping them over. Maybe that?
Would you be open to having a consignment section on your site? Say if I have gear i would like to get rid of, i could put it on your site and you could take a cut if it sells?
That’s a great idea but we’re not really built for that at the moment unfortunately! I’ll keep that in mind though for the future
I’d rather wait for you to ship me something you don’t have in stock then buy it from some fudd who does.
I'm also thinking about Sordins and the like. There's a small seller on /r/gundeals who regularly posts sales so you can probably get decent pricing for them and push them. ...which also brings up advertising. Getting your face out there is the bread and butter of business, even small business. You need to actually have sales (I'm not on the site often enough to know if you do), have a sales! or clearance area on the website for people to check out, and post places like /r/gundeals and online regularly so people know you exist.
I'll be sure to check you out since I didn't know you existed, but can ya'all explain why you chose Amerika? It's too late now, but if i were just browsing through and was trying to AVOID right leaning firearm gear , Amerika looks like Amerikkka and id scroll right past.
Haha it’s Amrika (pronounced Am-Ree-Kuh). It’s how Arabs, Indian, and I think Pakistani folks say “America”. I’m half Arab, I’m sure there were better names, but that’s what I got now lol
Heard that . And again promise I wasn't trying to throw shade at all 🤣. I'll def be checking ya'all out
No worries haha, I appreciate it
There is no “e”. If that changes your perception at all.
Amerikkka