What guns would you sell? (If you ran a gun shop)

[ColinJ]

I was chatting to an outdoor/country gear shop owner who wants to apply for a registered firearms dealership.
He’s currently quite niche, only selling Harkilla, Pilla and Swatcom.
He asked me, if I was opening a gun shop, what brands would you sell?
Here’s my list, but what would yours be, if you wanted to make money? There’s little point in stocking lots of exotic calibres because you’d rarely ever sell any. For example, my ‘go to‘ rifle is a 6.5x55, but I wouldn’t sell them in my shop, because so many more people are buying Creedmore’s.

Shotguns: Beretta, Browning, and maybe one Turkish brand, Yildiz or ATA.
Calibres: 20b and 12b. (I wouldn’t bother with 410 & 28b, purely on a volume basis)
Rifles: CZ, Sako, Tikka, Blaser.
Calibres: 17HMR, .22LR, .243, 6.5 Creedmore, .308.

That’s it.

 

[enfieldspares]

I wouldn't sell any. Any means having stock and at present that's bad business. The money IMHO is not there as the market is awash with secondhand guns.

 

[Pedro]

I think that’s not bad choices. You’ve got to go with good sellers and in that regard you’ve got to have Beretta and another good make, along with a cheaper option for shotguns and your rifle choices are good. As for clothing and accessories, unless he wants to go into it big style, a lot of stuff is bought online now, so he’d have to be a bit canny there to make anything much. Probably the same with accessories.

Bear in mind with firearm sales, simply going off certificate numbers, the volume sales will be with shotguns.

 

[Will the chippy]

Depends on the mark up/ profit you can make and the deal you can do from the distributor.
Bergara orH owa
Tikka
Yildiz
Browning
Beretta
Hornady or sako for ammo.
Hull or gamebore for cartridges
22lr 17hmr, 223, 243, 6.5 creedmoor 270, 308
Depends on your local market are deer numerous in you area? Many game keepers? Is there a target club nearby? Do many folk reload?
Hornady, Sierra, Barnes and viht powders.

 

[stevec]

I think unfortunately Colin is right. The money is probably in high volume trade of standard things.

I suspect that I would go out of business quickly selling interesting (to me) things.

I think there is a gap in the market for Sabi rifles. From what I have seen, they are very well made and reasonably priced.

I would also like to sell smartened up Zasatavas with a nice stock and tidied up action, but there is probably little demand when competing against Tikka / Blaser etc

 

[Donkey Basher]

Unless they've changed their business model GMK require all retailers selling their brands to hold quite a significant amount of stock which could have a significant impact on cash flow & profitability.

Personally I'd shy away from holding stock of new guns & look to sell only good quality high end secondhand examples at sensible prices.

 

[trickie]

I’d include air rifles AA, HW and a cheap Turkish option. JSB plus 1 other decent option and a cheap pellet. Hawks scopes and drop ship the rest.

Air rifles and a good intro that could drive other custom moving on.

 

[Liveonce]

He will only get to sell the brands that allow him to open an account, so if already a gun shop in the same area they will just say no.

A good friend now departed who was a gun smith once said to me

do you know how to make a million out of selling guns? ………… start with two million

RIP Chris ‘O’

 

[alberta boy]

The more successful gunshops here make a substantial percentage of their profits by selling used rifles . I frequent a number of thriving outfits that sell nothing but secondhand firearms . Most of the better shops also have good scopes , a lot of aftermarket accessories and reloading supplies available as well . I've purchased a number of firearms over the years because I was there to buy reloading components and they happened to have a rifle/ shotgun I couldn't live without . That being said , I have no idea how the UK market works and would be hesitant to suggest a business model for your part of the world . I have found that the broader the appeal , the more profitable your business will be however .

AB

 

[cjm1066]

Ask me the guns I own and use and it's easy to list them.

In business, availability, market preferences, margin, support and clients, master them all and you make a profit.

 

[JH83]

You’d be about right on what you would intend to sell. Browning/beretta and sako/tikka dominate the UK market to a huge extent. I think a really good quality range such as Schultz and Larsen or Anschutz might do ok if marketed well but it wouldn’t be big business by comparison.

Gun shops make a couple of hundred quid on a new gun, at best. I have some mates in the trade and they get folks indignant that they don’t do them a discount-which would essential mean they hand them the gun at cost . They make the money on clothes and PX.

 

[Klenchblaize]

If it weren’t for Copper & Creedmoor I honestly don’t see a need for anyone to purchase a new rifle in 2023.

K

 

[Greener Jim]

I'm not saying it would be profitable but I'd do rifles chambered in wildcats and odd stuff, but sell the rifles with dies, formed brass if required, moulds, bullets etc. So anyone who reloads anyway can just jump in with minimal fuss.
Get some interesting rifles out in the field again

 

[enfieldspares]

If a person had the courage to do do it there's a need perhaps for a modern C B Vaughan or E Whistler. These were pawnbrokers, effectively, but of guns. Which is why back in the day if you had any gun and wanted a label for it you couldn't go wring with a C B Vaughan label.

 

[Overlay]

I was chatting to an outdoor/country gear shop owner who wants to apply for a registered firearms dealership.
He’s currently quite niche, only selling Harkilla, Pilla and Swatcom.
He asked me, if I was opening a gun shop, what brands would you sell?
Here’s my list, but what would yours be, if you wanted to make money? There’s little point in stocking lots of exotic calibres because you’d rarely ever sell any. For example, my ‘go to‘ rifle is a 6.5x55, but I wouldn’t sell them in my shop, because so many more people are buying Creedmore’s.

Shotguns: Beretta, Browning, and maybe one Turkish brand, Yildiz or ATA.
Calibres: 20b and 12b. (I wouldn’t bother with 410 & 28b, purely on a volume basis)
Rifles: CZ, Sako, Tikka, Blaser.
Calibres: 17HMR, .22LR, .243, 6.5 Creedmore, .308.

That’s it.

I would add 17 H ( poss) & 22 hornet and 222 definitely

 

[nun_hunter]

It's a good selection of licensable items from new. Anything decent quality 2nd hand would be good as long as there was a decent mark up on it.

Where most gun shops let themselves down is a really bad online presence for all the non controlled items and no up to date stock list.

There is no reason why a gun shop shouldn't have a website and sell online too. If you're going to the expense of having a premise to pay for them you should be selling online to further your reach and compete with all the online sellers, eBay, Amazon etc.

 

[Greener Jim]

It's a good selection of licensable items from new. Anything decent quality 2nd hand would be good as long as there was a decent mark up on it.

Where most gun shops let themselves down is a really bad online presence for all the non controlled items and no up to date stock list.

There is no reason why a gun shop shouldn't have a website and sell online too. If you're going to the expense of having a premise to pay for them you should be selling online to further your reach and compete with all the online sellers, eBay, Amazon etc.

McAvoy guns are terrible for this, everything is on their site but none of it is linked to actual stock levels

 

[Deermanagement]

Paintball

 

[Overlay]

McAvoy guns are terrible for this, everything is on their site but none of it is linked to actual stock levels

if you want a long wait - go shopping for a blaser barrel in 22 hornet, some say all items in stock - in reality 61/2 months wait for blaser to make one to special order. that doesn’t say that on the website
it’s my only gripe is I wish some gunshops would only advertise what they actually have in the shop

 

[viking90]

I'd be setting up to replace Valmont firearms since he lost his RFD. By that I mean the hard to find surplus stuff and spares, going section 5 and running a gun butchers shop selling deacts would make money to.