Hey, ya'll
I just placed four orders with parts/ammo suppliers and thought I'd let you know my opinion of each:
All of the orders consisted of SKS ammo, parts and accessories. I would have preferred placing one large order with a single vendor and saving on shipping costs but no vendor I found on the WWW had consistently low prices or a complete availablity of parts/stuff.
The Sportsman's Guide - order placed 6/10/03 order received 6/13/03
This was an order for ammunition only. I checked prices locally, then checked ammo/shipping costs from several online vendors including the Ammunitionstore.com and Cheaper Than Dirt. TSG beat all the ammo prices and shipping prices - I was able to get 5K of Wolf FMJ ammo for 86.02/1000 delivered but I had to join the Buyer's Club to do it. even with the $30 cost of the Buyers Club, the price was impossible to beat. I would have been very happy to order parts from them as well but their selection is practically nonexistant. The web site works well with the ability to place and track orders. Overall grade B: - Lack of parts availability combined with the Buyers Club cost kept this from being an A grade. I don't understand making me buy a membership just to get a price break. This was almost a deal breaker for me - I don't shop at places that make me pay to shop - I almost didn't shop at a place that makes me pay for a price break - it seems too much like a kickback to me. I've already recovered most of the cost of the membership though and I'm sure I'll place at least one more order with them before my yearly membership runs out.
TAPCO - order placed 7/11/03 order received 7/18/03
TAPCO has the most user friendly website for placing and tracking orders of the three sites I ordered from. I was able to place the order, know the exact cost including shipping and track the shipment. The price of accessories like sight tools and stripper clips was very reasonable but they didn't have many spare parts available and I was able to beat most of their prices on parts at both SARCO and Numerich. Everything I ordered was delivered in a single (heavy) package in a week. Overall grade: B - if they had had more parts available and slightly better prices on them, I would have given them an A.
Numerich Gun Parts Corporation - order placed 7/14/18 received 7/18/03
This website is a great reference site for figuring out what part you need. They have parts for hundreds, if not thousands, of guns and they have them catalogued in a logical, easy to use manner. Their prices on the few parts I ordered from them were competitive and they were the only online vendor I could find that had the fixed 20 round mag available. All the website clarity that makes placing an order so easy is unfortunately nonexistant once the order is placed. After the online order was placed, a line of text came on the screen stating that my order had been placed and that I would receive a confirmation email stating that my order had been received and another email when the order shipped. I received neither. I was very happy to get the parts vial regular mail only four days later but I was not expecting delivery because I was unable to track the progress of my order on the Gunparts website and would hesitate placing a large order with them because of this. Overall grade B: the lack of tracking really bugged me - other than that, I have no complaints.
SARCO - order placed 7/14/03 received 7/18/03
Sarco has a very basic website that does not allow the electronic placement of orders. They do list nearly every spare part I wished to order so I gambled with placing the order via telephone. Umm, this outfit must be a lot smaller than the size of their ads in Shotgun News would seem to indicate. My order was taken by hand by a very nice lady over the phone. Since she was writing everything down by hand, I had to give her every piece of information- ie. product number, description, quantity, and price - for every item on my list. Had the order been filled in full this would not have even been an issue but the website lists a 10% price break for orders over $100 and since I was close to that, I added a couple of items to get the price break. SARCO's lack of a computerized inventory system kept the lady from knowing that the extra items I ordered were out of stock which dropped be back below the $100 threshold without me being aware of it. Had I known, I would have ordered some extra parts that were in stock. Overall grade C-: If I need spare parts in the future, I'll look at their website to see if they've updated it but I doubt I'll place another order with them until they advance to the information age.
I just placed four orders with parts/ammo suppliers and thought I'd let you know my opinion of each:
All of the orders consisted of SKS ammo, parts and accessories. I would have preferred placing one large order with a single vendor and saving on shipping costs but no vendor I found on the WWW had consistently low prices or a complete availablity of parts/stuff.
The Sportsman's Guide - order placed 6/10/03 order received 6/13/03
This was an order for ammunition only. I checked prices locally, then checked ammo/shipping costs from several online vendors including the Ammunitionstore.com and Cheaper Than Dirt. TSG beat all the ammo prices and shipping prices - I was able to get 5K of Wolf FMJ ammo for 86.02/1000 delivered but I had to join the Buyer's Club to do it. even with the $30 cost of the Buyers Club, the price was impossible to beat. I would have been very happy to order parts from them as well but their selection is practically nonexistant. The web site works well with the ability to place and track orders. Overall grade B: - Lack of parts availability combined with the Buyers Club cost kept this from being an A grade. I don't understand making me buy a membership just to get a price break. This was almost a deal breaker for me - I don't shop at places that make me pay to shop - I almost didn't shop at a place that makes me pay for a price break - it seems too much like a kickback to me. I've already recovered most of the cost of the membership though and I'm sure I'll place at least one more order with them before my yearly membership runs out.
TAPCO - order placed 7/11/03 order received 7/18/03
TAPCO has the most user friendly website for placing and tracking orders of the three sites I ordered from. I was able to place the order, know the exact cost including shipping and track the shipment. The price of accessories like sight tools and stripper clips was very reasonable but they didn't have many spare parts available and I was able to beat most of their prices on parts at both SARCO and Numerich. Everything I ordered was delivered in a single (heavy) package in a week. Overall grade: B - if they had had more parts available and slightly better prices on them, I would have given them an A.
Numerich Gun Parts Corporation - order placed 7/14/18 received 7/18/03
This website is a great reference site for figuring out what part you need. They have parts for hundreds, if not thousands, of guns and they have them catalogued in a logical, easy to use manner. Their prices on the few parts I ordered from them were competitive and they were the only online vendor I could find that had the fixed 20 round mag available. All the website clarity that makes placing an order so easy is unfortunately nonexistant once the order is placed. After the online order was placed, a line of text came on the screen stating that my order had been placed and that I would receive a confirmation email stating that my order had been received and another email when the order shipped. I received neither. I was very happy to get the parts vial regular mail only four days later but I was not expecting delivery because I was unable to track the progress of my order on the Gunparts website and would hesitate placing a large order with them because of this. Overall grade B: the lack of tracking really bugged me - other than that, I have no complaints.
SARCO - order placed 7/14/03 received 7/18/03
Sarco has a very basic website that does not allow the electronic placement of orders. They do list nearly every spare part I wished to order so I gambled with placing the order via telephone. Umm, this outfit must be a lot smaller than the size of their ads in Shotgun News would seem to indicate. My order was taken by hand by a very nice lady over the phone. Since she was writing everything down by hand, I had to give her every piece of information- ie. product number, description, quantity, and price - for every item on my list. Had the order been filled in full this would not have even been an issue but the website lists a 10% price break for orders over $100 and since I was close to that, I added a couple of items to get the price break. SARCO's lack of a computerized inventory system kept the lady from knowing that the extra items I ordered were out of stock which dropped be back below the $100 threshold without me being aware of it. Had I known, I would have ordered some extra parts that were in stock. Overall grade C-: If I need spare parts in the future, I'll look at their website to see if they've updated it but I doubt I'll place another order with them until they advance to the information age.
