Powder and Primers @ Cabela's

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Ever since they merged with *ss Pro Shops, their pricing has been sky high on reloading stuff and they took away our 5% discount for LEO, military and veterans. I tried to get them to price match some Sierra bullets that everyone had on sale but the manager said they don't match sale prices, looks like I won't darken their doorstep again. Luckily we have a huge gun show here next weekend and I can generally find what I need at a decent price.

Nothing like Dick's/Field and Stream. They just built a brand new one about 5 miles from my house... but I find it quite unlikely I'll ever walk in the door. The same distance is an Academy, or Cabelas a little further.
 
Hi...
I live a little over an hour away from the Hamburg, Pa Cabela's. I am in York County near the Susquehanna River.
I have been to that Cabela's many times and have bought a lit if stuff there. Since the merger with BPS, I haven't bought a single thing. Prices have been raised, the bargain cave is gone and selection is more limited.

I can get better deals of primers and powders at the LGS in my area. My son does better on bullets by buying on line. I can always do better on cases by buying on line than any LGS unless they are giving a really large discount on sale.
 
It's a sad situation when two big companies become one and seem to think that they can do whatever they want and we'll just cave in and pay their ridiculous prices. Look what's happened to Penis Sporting Goods, (oops, I mean Dick's) when they moved to the left to be more politically correct, serious shooters don't go there. I wonder if the same thing will happen to BPR/Cabela's.

Oh, and don't you just love all the trigger locks now? I guess they didn't want to shoot themselves in the foot but they're doing it anyway, just not with a gun.

Rant over - maybe. I wonder if any of their management ever reads stuff on the internet.
 
Ever since they merged with Ass Pro Shops, their pricing has been sky high on reloading stuff and they took away our 5% discount for LEO, military and veterans. I tried to get them to price match some Sierra bullets that everyone had on sale but the manager said they don't match sale prices, looks like I won't darken their doorstep again. Luckily we have a huge gun show here next weekend and I can generally find what I need at a decent price.
Yes, I agree. Before the merger, there was a fair chance that there would be a "store" sale item that was priced good that made it worth while for me to stop and walk thru the department when I was close to the store, but that seems to have also gone away.
 
Cabelas here in Dayton has powders for $32 on average which is way too high for me. I either wait until free hazmat online or I go to Fin Feather and Fir in Ashland, Oh where powder averages $20 per lb.
You’ve had a fairly unique experience at the Dayton Cabelas...unless there’s a different store than Centerville. I’ve never paid more than $26.99/lb, and that was for HP-38. CFE-Pistol, A1680, and CFE-BLK all cost me less. I think the IMR powders May cost a bit more...so let’s assume that’s all you buy.
 
The only thing I would buy in Cabella's was the S&B primers when they went on sale for $19.99. Since they don't carry them anymore, I have no use for them..... I also would go the the Hamburg store....but not anymore.
 
I've discovered a little tactic that takes the sting out of paying Cabela's prices: their gift cards are sometimes available on EBay for 80¢ on the dollar. Whenever I find them I buy a few fifty dollar cards for forty bucks a piece. That makes Cabela's prices quite a bit closer to what you can find online. If you're lucky enough to also find something you need on sale the combined savings are pretty attractive.
You used to be able to get these on a regular basis. It made their everyday prices competitive with online pricing. Then sometimes they'd put stuff on sale like Hornady bullets for 20% off. You could combine this with the discounted gift cards and get some killer deals. Same thing for items in the bargain cave that were already discounted. Getting another 20% off made for some crazy deals.

Since Bass Pro took over I haven't seen the 20% off gift cards on eBay, the bargain cave was removed, and I've yet to see any decent sales on much of anything. You can still buy discounted gift cards on reseller sites like Raise, but usually you can only get 9-10% off. It's usually not worth it as their prices are so high that that still doesn't make them competitive.

I went from buying a lot from them to rarely shopping there. The closest one is about an hour away, and I stopped by today as we were in the area and the girlfriend wanted to look for something. Walking through was just depressing considering how it used to be. Prices were insane on almost everything. They did have more powder and primers than the last time I was in there, but the prices were insane. They also had very few boxes of 1000 primers. The had one CCI SP, one SR, and one LP. That was it for the 1000 round boxes. These were priced at $33 per k, which isn't that great. What they'd do is instead of stocking the 1k boxes, they'd split most of them up and were selling the 100 round packs for an inflated price.

New and used gun prices were insane. For example there was a used Ruger SR9 for $430 in the gun library. You can buy these brand new for under $300 online. Used Ruger single six's were $599. 5.56 ammo was $53 per box where as PSA sells the exact same box for $42 (on sale for $39.99 often) with free shipping on 2 boxes. Those are just a few examples, but almost everything was priced like that.

I really just don't get why anyone shops there anymore. Bass Pro really ruined the store.
 
The only thing I would buy in Cabella's was the S&B primers when they went on sale for $19.99. Since they don't carry them anymore, I have no use for them..... I also would go the the Hamburg store....but not anymore.

Those S&B primers for less than $20 (I think I recall getting some for $18.something at one point) were a screaming deal.

I'm not aware of anybody else coming close but I haven't looked in quite a while.
 
Markr6754, that was an average price. Didn’t mean all of them are ~ that price
No problem. In any case, I’d love to get some cheap powder without wiping out savings on shipping and Hazmat. Shoot me a note next time you’re running to Ashland...I’ll split the gas with you.
 
It's funny how they probably sold a pile of those S&B primers, so what do you do? Get rid of them, of course. Don't want people coming in the store for great deals, now do you, and that is what I would do, as I have never had any problems with those primers, and would pick up other things I needed, as I was there, but not anymore.
 
The Tulalip WA. Cabelas is about ten miles from our house. I use to buy several used guns thru the Gun Libary. Then when Ass Pro bought the out four of the five guys that I became friends with quit.
They ended lay away on guns. They cut the used gun invetory down to abot a 1/4 of what it use to be.
I take my eight year old grandson shooting every weekend and he shoots fifty to a hundred -38/357, fifty 44spl/44mag and a hundred 223.
They use to have a decent sellection of bullets for 38/357, now they only carry Lazer Cast in the 500 packs.
They use to carry Berry, Rainer and a couple of other brands.
Very low volume of primers, some times none.
They have empty powder containers out on the shelf and they need to go.in the back room for what you want. I needed apound of Varget. I told the clerk what I needed and got the eyesbin the headlight look. I gave hi tje empty jug off of the shelf. After waiting fifteen minutes for the powder I took off and drove the thirty miles to the Everett WA. Sportsmans Warehouse for it.
I very seldom shop at calelas any more.
I keep track of what I spend on my firearm hobby in a notebook. I average over $4,000 a year and Cabelas use to get a majority of that $4,000.
Now they only see a small fraction of that money. Now I take the 30 to 40 mile trips and shop at several small semi loal gun shops and Sportsmans warehouse.
I did sent a nasty gram to the Ass Pro Shops headquarter over a week ago and never got a reply.
 
It's funny how they probably sold a pile of those S&B primers, so what do you do? Get rid of them, of course. Don't want people coming in the store for great deals, now do you, and that is what I would do, as I have never had any problems with those primers, and would pick up other things I needed, as I was there, but not anymore.

S&B decided to get out of the primer business.
 
Just visited my lgs in Wendell, nc last week. Hardly anyone in there so I got the chance to touchy feelly several 9mm handguns. They’re usually busy so it was very pleasant.
But just the same as last 3 visits (within a year) -no spp!
I have another lgs in Greenville and another in Jamesville both NC I haven’t had time to try yet due to my work load.
Any suggestions from the forum on lgs in eastern NC for powder/primers.
 
I went up to the Huber Heights Gander Outdoors store yesterday. They do not have a large section for reloading, but I manage to pick up something to advance my various firearms passions nearly every trip. This is a bit of a must as they are about 30 miles from me.
Anyway, I picked up a bottle of CFE-Pistol for $22.20. I joined their Good Sam program a few months ago, and the coupons and discounts I’ve received have already paid for the program. The reason I went up yesterday was to use a $15 off $75 purchase, which they send out several times a year, as well as nearly weekly 20% off coupons.
They had an 8 lb jug of Universal for $160 that I almost bought...but as I’ve never shot Universal I didn’t want to commit to such a large purchase.
While they don’t have the selection or variety of a Cabela’s, they’re becoming a favorite place to stop in, and especially whenever I’m up that way. My favorite purchases to date were a couple of Anderson stripped lowers I picked up for $30 each....should have bought more.
 
So we are traveling north this weekend for a family reunion and an intention of mine was to stop and visit Recobs Targets to pick up reloading supplies. So once again I did a quick search of Cabela's website for primers and still All are listed Out of Stock in Illinois and Wisconsin on their website. Also a quick notice that those Out of Stock Winchester primers are listed at $34.00 per k. At Recobs they are $29.19 k... Also checked a couple of powders and all were listed at least $2.00 per pound less. The AA#2 was over $4.00 cheaper.

So the intention is that since I will be there and it is about a 2hr. trip normally I will be stocking up on about a 1.5 year supply. Even if this only lasts 1 year it will be worth the trip.

Cabela's can go Bite themselves!
 
While I love going to Cabelas its almost an hour drive for me each way and I find the following:
Has some powders usually inventory is an issue but when they have good stock the price is usually too high.
Primers - last I was in there they broke down the cases of 1000 and were selling them as sleeves of 100 for $5 - also way too expensive.
It would be nice to have a store with the capabilities of there selection but they always seem to be picked through and too expensive.
Best part is when they have a sale their prices are actually more competitive.
 
I went up to the Huber Heights Gander Outdoors store yesterday

I was there Saturday and picked up a Nikon Pro Staff for my AR in 7.62x39. Their powder prices aren’t too bad but they don’t have anything I use. Headed up to my hometown this weekend and will be stopping at Fin Feather and Amur in Ashland if you need anything. PM me what you’re looking for in powders and primers.
 
I used to go into a Cabelas town about once a month on business and I always stopped in and picked up a few lbs of powder and maybe some primers if and when they had Federal in stock. Pricing wasn't too bad especially for the convenience and sometimes I would up buying some other stuff just because it was there and wasn't worth the little difference to order online. Then the merger came and prices went up almost immediately and inventory dropped way off. I started using Sportsmans Warehouse. Pricing is not terrible and on some things actually pretty good. A lot of times they will have Cast Performance lead bullets on sale real cheap and I'll buy several thousand. What I really like about SW is the Columbia SC store usually had a great inventory and selection of all brand of powder and its priced within reason. They are also one of the only local places where I've found Federal SP Primers in stock most of the time. Yes they are a little pricey compared to online buy they have them and I don't have to worry about being home to sign for a hazmat order. Won't need to go back for a while. I found a nice load of Federal primers at a gun show last year and bought all of the SPP they guy had for 25 per k. I think I've got around 15-20 k stockpiled now so I should be good for a while.
 
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