"Gun Shops"

[Brian Williams]

"what makes a great Gun Shop"

We have a thread about your favorite gun shop but what makes it that way.


I was just thinking that one of my favorite shops is John's Gun and Tackle Room in Easton Pa. It is probably no bigger than 20' x 30' but it has character and a character, John. He answers the phone with a gravelely with one word "John". He has had some great prices and is willing to shoot the breeze with just about anyone. there is stuff piled all over, I called him and asked if he has a peep sight for a 1894 and he said "just a minute----......"





about 2 minutes later " yeah I have one, it is a lyman some guy wants 25 bucks for it." there are scope covers laying around old "gun rags", beat up holsters, slings, reloading stuff, ammo, but the guns are clean, well oiled, wiped down, and well taken care of.
oh yea there are some old fishing lures around and some other fishin' junk but mostly gunstuff.


What do you think of as the ultimate "Gun Store" and why????
I prefer just guns and ammo, but what do you like in a shop.
Sporting goods type,
guns & fishin stuff,
just guns and ammo with a few holsters and reloading,
Hunting supplies,
accuracy stuff.

 

[Don Gwinn]

Dad used to have a shop a lot like that, Gwinn's Guns and Tackle. It was half of our garage out behind our house on the very edge of Virden, IL. The location probably didn't help, but the house had been paid for for about 10 years, so it was cheap. We built the shop room ourselves and it was quite different from your average shop. I don't know about PA, but around here, gun shops tend to be dark. Dad's was light and airy even though it only had one window to keep the insurance company happy. Dad tried to stay as close to Wal-Mart on prices as he could and get by on service and knowledge. It didn't work. In retrospect, I think he was too fixated on competing with Wal-Mart; there was no need to go head-to-head with them all the time, but shotguns and huntin' stuff, plus fishing tackle, were what he knew best. He didn't have much interest in handguns or high-powered rifles, and that probably hurt him because he wouldn't have had to butt heads with Wal-Mart on those. We probably should have been shooting ISPC and Highpower matches to learn about those parts of the business and branch out, but it didn't occur to him at the time (I was 10-13.)

 

[Don Gwinn]

Sorry, you asked for the ultimate shop. Around here it would be Capital City Shooting Supply. It's one half of the Bullet Express Range, which is nice, and they carry a good variety of ammo and reloading supplies, which is nice. They're just about the only game in town for things like bullets, bulk powders, primers, etc. Got a little table and chairs where the old timers can sit and shoot the breeze and you can stand around and listen. And they're around the corner from a high-quality gunsmith and shop specializing in match pistols and M1/M1A rifles.

 

[Brian Williams]

Your Dad's shop sounds like it was part of what I think is a Great shop. The Range /shop sound good also.

I personally would like to see a nice gun shop with an all-around mix of handguns, shotties, rifles and a good supply of ammo, and gun accessories, maybe with a nice range. There are to many sporting good supply houses around here but not enough good shops or ranges.

 

[JohnKSa]

Let me think...

 

[BlkHawk73]

Used to have a shop like that around here too. Was is a fellows house. One room of the house was for rifles, another shotguns, bookshelves were for handguns. Kitchen cabitnets were for ammo and such. It looked as though, well...take an entire gun shows contents, purt them in a house, shake the house up and voila! The fellow knew exactly where everything was though...by serial number! Prices were good and conversation was better. If you needed a box of say, 35 Wheelen ammo, he'd buy a 1/2 case or more in case you needed more later. Yup. Ed was an alright guy. Was in his late 70's or early 80's but sharp as a tack. passed away at Christmas time. The entire contents & house went up in flames. Ed died in the blaze in his sleep.

 

[Pappy John]

Perfessr, since you're in Lancaster I'm sure you've been to my favorite before...its Shyda's over in Lebanon. Lots of stock and good prices. Nice people too.