What are some firearms inconveniences/problems you have often - Business Idea Brainstorming

[Jessesky]

In this pandemic, it has sparked myself to seek other sources of income. I.e. becoming an entrepreneur.

They say every great idea solves a problem. So here I am conducting a little market research.

What are some issues or inconveniences you often have relating to firearms. It can be something as big as issues with the industry, or as small as xyz widget doesn’t work well.

I’m sure the birch wood casey shoot n’ see targets were created because many people had trouble seeing their groups, as do I!

Let’s hear your complaints!!

*This however is not intended to be a gripe about legal things you dislike about the firearms industry.

 

[HB]

Make an app that finds ranges. Many times Google or similar searches will only list indoor ranges or exclude public unmanned ranges.

An Armslist type app.

A tackle rep once told me lures are not made to catch fish, they are made to catch fishermen.

 

[aarondhgraham]

Start a business something like shipmygun.com,,,
But make it actually usable unlike the one Buds Gun Shop started.

My LGS is a pawn shop,,,
When he finally twigged on the idea it worked,,,
He ships handguns for a lot less than the $70.00 charged by UPS and FedX.

I have considered getting my FFL when I retire,,,
Just so I can ship handguns in cheap prepaid boxes through the USPS.

Aarond

.

 

[cslinger]

I have a problem not having enough money to buy more guns ........ what can. You do for me?

Seriously though I think shipping is probably the biggest hassle for a lot of shooters. Good place to start.

 

[unspellable]

Several times in the last 20 years I have bought Bertram brass alleged to be 400-360 Purdey (Bertram calls it "thin rim") at fancy prices only to find it utterly unusable due to incorrect dimensions. Don't know why he never corrects this. I'd like 400-360 brass with the correct dimensions and at a reasonable price. There a quite a few so chambered rifles out there.

 

[BBarn]

It seems most of the major companies manufacturing reloading tools make hand primers, but all of them seem to have major drawbacks. I think there is an untapped market for a good hand priming tool (with primer tray).

The original Lee Auto Prime with the round tray was easy to use and well liked. It's only issues were it was prone to breakage and it required special shellholders. Many accepted those drawbacks because they were offset by the low replacement cost and low cost of the shellholders. Lee dropped that design in favor of a "safer" design less prone to multiple primer detonation. Unfortunately, the replacement (and subsequent replacements) were harder to use and tended to flip primers over or onto their sides in the priming process.

Other hand priming tools suffer from problems as well. With some, it's very difficult to swap shell holders and/or primer sizes. With others the hand effort is high and tiresome or they are ergonomically poor.

In short, none of the hand priming tools with primer trays are very good products and there are plenty of customers looking for a nice one.

 

[herrwalther]

Make an app that finds ranges. Many times Google or similar searches will only list indoor ranges or exclude public unmanned ranges.

Piggy back on this idea, a field on the app that shows how big the range is. If someone is driving out to a range on an app to site in a hunting rifle won't be happy to find a 15 yard range expecting 100.

 

[mjsdwash]

aftermarket case feeders for the Loadmaster and LNL presses
powered trim die for rifle loading. Like the Lee Quick trip, but useful.
A chamfer tool that does both sides at once, really can't understand why this isn't everywhere.
A pilot cutter for primer crimp, like the lee trimmers.

 

[BBarn]

A chamfer tool that does both sides at once, really can't understand why this isn't everywhere.

I have an older hand crank Lyman tool that does that. However, it's really hard to get the adjustment just right, and it needs to be re-adjusted each time you change calibers. I find it easier to just use the double ended type (one end for the inside, and the other end for the outside).

I suppose if you could come up with a design that was quick to adjust, it might be nice.

 

[Rembrandt]

Grandparents farmed and were members of a CO-OP, owned by other member farmers to get better buys on seed, fuel, and chemicals. Wonder how something along those lines would work for gun owners and shooters?

 

[Good Ol' Boy]

If you decide to carry ammo dont price gouge.

Better yet start a ammo company to add to the supply.

 

[mjsdwash]

I have an older hand crank Lyman tool that does that. However, it's really hard to get the adjustment just right, and it needs to be re-adjusted each time you change calibers. I find it easier to just use the double ended type (one end for the inside, and the other end for the outside).

I suppose if you could come up with a design that was quick to adjust, it might be nice.

an internal type cutter inside an external cutter, spring loaded. Would cost about $4 to make.

 

[1KPerDay]

Start a business something like shipmygun.com,,,
But make it actually usable unlike the one Buds Gun Shop started.

My LGS is a pawn shop,,,
When he finally twigged on the idea it worked,,,
He ships handguns for a lot less than the $70.00 charged by UPS and FedX.

I have considered getting my FFL when I retire,,,
Just so I can ship handguns in cheap prepaid boxes through the USPS.

Aarond

.

i agree this is probably a large hassle and concern for many consumers. I’ve personally avoided shipping my guns for work or repair simply because it’s a PITA. Shipmygun should be your “how not to do it” model. IMO

 

[Ohen Cepel]

Lots of work out there reaming cylinders as Ruger tends to make (45LC especially) all over the place. A few guys do the work but aren't well advertised.
Plus, if you're just doing the cylinders I don't think you would need an FFL.

 

[Texas10mm]

aftermarket case feeders for the Loadmaster and LNL presses
powered trim die for rifle loading. Like the Lee Quick trip, but useful.
A chamfer tool that does both sides at once, really can't understand why this isn't everywhere.
A pilot cutter for primer crimp, like the lee trimmers.

There are already aftermarket case feeders for the LnL.
Dillon sells the RT1500 and various trim dies.
Giraud Tri-Way trimmer

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Seriously though I think shipping is probably the biggest hassle for a lot of shooters. Good place to start.

Yep. When I have a gun going in for warranty repair or any service, I get to drive 80 miles round trip to drop it off. It's annoying and I then have to plan other city activities so I'm not just burning up all my gasoline, JUST to drop a gun off at Fed-Ex. Not sure on a small town solution though.

 

[CapnMac]

Make an app that finds ranges. Many times Google or similar searches will only list indoor ranges or exclude public unmanned ranges.

Tricky thing is that the ranges would have to take action to populate such a search.
And, that usually means the range has to pay for the privilege (two line Yellow Pages ad, back in the day was $365yr)

You might crowdsource such a thing (WAYZ style) but you wind up with a GIGO situation, your data is only as good as those reporting it. So, you run the risk of winding up with a Yelp situation, where most of the entries are either by haters or trolls.

There's going to be an issue with a number of ranges being perfectly happy with their present (well, non-plague) traffic, and don't feel they need to attract a larger audience.

Now, if there were some sort of voluntary trade organization ranges could be a member of, that would be an excellent way to get this done. It would want a "back end" where the ranges could post the information they thought important, hours of operation, facilities available, fees, restrictions, etc. Then the front end would sort itself out pretty naturally.

 

[mjsdwash]

There are already aftermarket case feeders for the LnL.
Dillon sells the RT1500 and various trim dies.
Giraud Tri-Way trimmer

your right, but $400 for an on press trimmer that could easily be made to a lower but still usable quality for 1/5 the price would be appealing. I know there are case feeders for the LNL, but I have never seen a simple mechanical one. Do you know of one? I do not love my loadmaster, and am kept from the LNL because of the case feeder costing more than the press. I imagine someone has one, but I don't know. As for the triway, same thing. A $10 hand tool could be made, but a $100 case specific tool thats hard to buy is not exactly what I mean. I did try to buy a triway, but the company is not interested in selling them around here. Ended up with a WFT.

 

[dogtown tom]

Start a business something like shipmygun.com,,,.

Such a business is called being a licensed gun dealer......there are literally thousands in every state.

My LGS is a pawn shop,,,
When he finally twigged on the idea it worked,,,
He ships handguns for a lot less than the $70.00 charged by UPS and FedX.

He ain't the only one.

I have considered getting my FFL when I retire,,,
Just so I can ship handguns in cheap prepaid boxes through the USPS.

You business plan is shipping guns for others?
Why wait until you retire?

 

[Zerodefect]

Reloading presses are a bit expensive for what they are. Heck, reloading seems a bit expensive. The numbers aren't working out well enough for me to commit to it just yet. Saving $0.04 per round of .40SW? Ain't enough.

Bolt action rifles should be able to switch to lefty in less that 10 minutes. Bench rest, a backwards rifle works better for me.

DAA mag pouches are out of stock again!

 

[Zerodefect]

It seems most of the major companies manufacturing reloading tools make hand primers, but all of them seem to have major drawbacks. I think there is an untapped market for a good hand priming tool (with primer tray).

The original Lee Auto Prime with the round tray was easy to use and well liked. It's only issues were it was prone to breakage and it required special shellholders. Many accepted those drawbacks because they were offset by the low replacement cost and low cost of the shellholders. Lee dropped that design in favor of a "safer" design less prone to multiple primer detonation. Unfortunately, the replacement (and subsequent replacements) were harder to use and tended to flip primers over or onto their sides in the priming process.

Other hand priming tools suffer from problems as well. With some, it's very difficult to swap shell holders and/or primer sizes. With others the hand effort is high and tiresome or they are ergonomically poor.

In short, none of the hand priming tools with primer trays are very good products and there are plenty of customers looking for a nice one.

Pardon my ignorance. But why do so many reloaders use a handprimer, or deprimer, when the press does it for them?

 

[boom boom]

Pardon my ignorance. But why do so many reloaders use a handprimer, or deprimer, when the press does it for them?

You get better feel for primer seating with a hand primer because a ram has a lot more leverage than a short little hand lever. Some makes of presses also don't feed primers well in their auto feeding so quicker to hand prime than to stop and fix the primer feed every so often. And some folks don't like the slight possibility that a tube full of primers on some presses auto priming systems can go up like a chain firing pellet gun.

I'm one of those that prefers hand priming as I get better feel for bottoming out the primer (almost never had a high primer) in the cartridge primer cup and the old Lee Round hand primers made it easy to load new primers and to make sure that they are upright. I still have two of them as well as an unused newer model.

 

[Texas10mm]

your right, but $400 for an on press trimmer that could easily be made to a lower but still usable quality for 1/5 the price would be appealing. I know there are case feeders for the LNL, but I have never seen a simple mechanical one. Do you know of one? I do not love my loadmaster, and am kept from the LNL because of the case feeder costing more than the press. I imagine someone has one, but I don't know. As for the triway, same thing. A $10 hand tool could be made, but a $100 case specific tool thats hard to buy is not exactly what I mean. I did try to buy a triway, but the company is not interested in selling them around here. Ended up with a WFT.

There are no simple case feeders for the LnL, everyone of them is a kludge. The press wasn't designed to run with a case feeder.

Take a look at a Dillon 650/750. They were designed to run with a case feeder. In fact the "case feeder" parts are all on the press, the only thing you need to add is the collator.

I had no problems purchasing a Tri-Way. I just called them up and ordered it.

 

[aarondhgraham]

You business plan is shipping guns for others?
Why wait until you retire?

Heck yes it's my business plan,,,
And yes, every gun dealer can do it,,,
But most don't want to because they say it's a hassle.

UPS and FedX both require that you use their fastest (costliest) service,,,
This means that you get charged right at $70.00 to ship a handgun for any kind of repair.

That same handgun can be "mailed" through the USPS for anywhere from $8.00 to $2X.00,,,
But you have to be a FFL holder to do it.

My LGS doesn't like to ship guns for people,,,
He says that it's a PITA to maintain his Bound Book,,,
But he finally saw the light and does it because it's proven to be very profitable.

Lots of "kitchen table" gun dealers make a nice amount of money,,,
Simply doing transfers from on-line gun sales,,,
This would just be another cash income.

If I do it at all I'll wait until I retire,,,
Because until then I'm too busy with my life.

Aarond

.

 

[dogtown tom]

Heck yes it's my business plan,,,
And yes, every gun dealer can do it,,,
But most don't want to because they say it's a hassle..

I do 2,000+ transfers a year. I ship out customer guns 4-5 times a week max....and I'm in a city of almost 300,000 with a cool million people within a 20 minute drive of my home.
If all I did was ship out guns for others I don't see that as a profit making venture...the object of this thread.
If you live in a less populated area I don't see where you would get the demand.

UPS and FedX both require that you use their fastest (costliest) service,,,
This means that you get charged right at $70.00 to ship a handgun for any kind of repair.

Yeah, I know. I wrote the "How to ship a gun" sticky.

That same handgun can be "mailed" through the USPS for anywhere from $8.00 to $2X.00,,,
But you have to be a FFL holder to do it.

Really?
Very few handguns fit in a Small Flat Rate Box....its $8.30 postage only.
Most handguns in their factory box require a Medium FRB......$15.50 postage only.
You plan on shipping someones gun without insurance or adult signature required?
Adult Sig runs $6.65
Insurance on a $500 pistol runs $7.10

My LGS doesn't like to ship guns for people,,,
He says that it's a PITA to maintain his Bound Book,,,

He's not the brightest bulb in the box.
It's actually EASIER to maintain the books.....since those shipments are going to another licensee all he has to do is write down the name and FFL number. No 4473, no NICS.

But he finally saw the light and does it because it's proven to be very profitable.

How many is he shipping out for customers each week? I charge my customers actual postage/insurance/adult sig + $10 and I consider it a break even service. If I was doing fie a day, yeah, might actually profit on that.

Lots of "kitchen table" gun dealers make a nice amount of money,,,
Simply doing transfers from on-line gun sales,,,
This would just be another cash income.

No kidding, tell me more.

If I do it at all I'll wait until I retire,,,
Because until then I'm too busy with my life.

I asked because no would should retire planning to invest their time and $$$ in being a gun dealer.
Its a formula for failure.