Looking for a great deal on a firearm, hunting gear, or reloading supplies? Well dozens of vendors nationwide are putting shooting sports products on sale next week, as part of the Black Friday/Cyber-Monday sellathon. But how do you find all the good deals without spending hours surfing the web? Here’s a tip: Slickguns.com has scanned multiple websites, assembling a four-page collection of bargain offers that commence on Black Friday (November 25th). To check out scores of upcoming bargains, visit the Slickguns.com Black Friday Sale Page.
Many of the sale prices are good through the end of the month. At Cabela’s, you’ll find deals on everything from rimfire ammo to Bushmaster AR15s. Gander Mountain has some great deals on firearms, including a special on scope-equipped Remington 700 ADL rifles. November 24-27, the Rem 700 ADLs are just $399.99, including a 3-9×40 scope.
Story tip by EdLongrange. We welcome reader submissions.
A new website for FFL to FFL sales has launched. FFLGunTrader.com is a new web venue where Federal Firearm License-holders (FFLs) can buy and sell firearms and accessories. To participate, both buyers and sellers must have valid FFLs. According to FFLGunTrader.com’s Scott Chatman: “We wanted to create an online marketplace for Federally-licensed distributors and dealers. It is a great [opportunity] for dealers looking to move excess inventory. Plus dealers have the peace of mind knowing that each buyer had to submit to a license check.”
Buyer and Seller FFL Status is Verified
FFLGunTrader.com verifies each buyer and seller is a federal firearm licensed dealer through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms eZCheck process. Buyers and sellers are required to submit the first three and the last five of their license number in order to be approved for the transaction. “We check each buyer and seller to verify that they are licensed and registered to participate in our marketplace,” Chatman said. “If they fail the license check, the transaction is not completed.”
Sellers Pay 3% of Transaction on Sale — No Fee for Buyers
Buyers don’t have to pay for purchasing an item on FFLGunTrader.com. Sellers pay a three percent (3%) transaction fee (due on sale) to list the item on the marketplace to a national audience. For more information about FFLGunTrader, visit www.fflguntrader.com.
We have a very active FREE Classifieds section in our Shooters’ Forum. Our Classifieds are currently grouped into two (2) basic categories: 1) Guns, Actions, Stocks, and Barrels; and 2) Tools, Dies, Optics & Miscellaneous. As our Forum has grown, so have the number of Classified listings. Some Forum members want us to create more Classifieds categories, so it will be easier to locate specific items, such as barrels or brass. Many other readers like the system just the way it is, since they can find a wide variety of items all in one place.
We want your opinion on the subject. Should we create more Forum Classifieds Categories? And should we include a paid section for Commercial listings? That way retail vendors could list new products, special bargains, or group buy offers. Express your views in the Poll below (you can pick more than one answer). If you have specific suggestions, post them in this Forum Classifieds Update Topic.
Starting today (1/1/10), at the request of readers with smartphones, we will offer important news and updates on Twitter. That’s right, you can now get late-breaking firearm and shooting news on Twitter.com. We hope to use this popular service for instant updates at SHOT Show 2010. Follow our Twitter posts (“tweets”) at http://twitter.com/AccurateShooter. You can even have our posts sent to your smart-phone or mobile device. If you have a Twitter account, click the button to be one of our regular followers.
These are tough economic times. We know a lot of folks who have lost their jobs or had their hours cut back as companies slash budgets. There’s a lot of belt-tightening going on as families, across the country, reduce their expenditures. Nonetheless, despite all the cutbacks, Americans are still buying firearms in record numbers. Americans may be able to live without luxuries, but not without their guns.
Over 1,000,000 NICS Checks in August
In August, 2009, Americans purchased over 1,000,000 firearms. According to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), there were 1,074,757 background checks in August 2009, a 12.3 percent increase from the 956,872 reported in August 2008. And so far this year, there have been 9,076,205 NICs checks. Keep in mind that a NICS check may cover the purchase of more than one firearm at a time, so total 2009 gun sales probably well exceed the 9,000,000 mark. If we assume, probably conservatively, that 10 million guns were sold so far in 2009, that’s one for every 30.8 citizens, based on current Census data.
Gun Manufacturers’ Stock Prices Have Tripled Since November
By most indicators, we may be in a major recession, but times are good for the big gun-makers. The stock prices of both Smith & Wesson (SWHC) and Sturm, Ruger & Co. (RGR) have soared since the November Presidential election, reflecting the boom in gun sales. S&W stock, which bottomed at $1.79 on 11/20/08, traded for $5.14 per share on 9/25/2009 — nearly three times as high. On November 20, 2008, RGR traded at $4.52 and it closed at $12.91 this past Friday (9/25/2009). Now, don’t you wish you’d invested in some S&W or Ruger stock last year?
You’d never know it, given the way the mainstream media portrays the shooting sports, but hunting/shooting is more important, from an economic standpoint, than golf, tennis, bike-riding, or just about any recreational sport you can name. Americans spent $4.6 Billion on hunting and shooting sports equipment in 2008, a 16% rise from 2007. Yep that’s “B” for Billion.
According to a new National Sporting Goods Association report, hunting- and firearms-related equipment was the only sporting-goods equipment category to see double-digit sales growth in 2008. Sales rose 16 percent, while overall sporting-goods equipment sales declined 1 percent compared to the previous year. Hunting- and firearms-related equipment ranked second only to exercise equipment in 2008, NSGA reports. Included in the “hunting and firearms” equipment category are rifles, handguns, shotguns, ammunition, airguns, reloading equipment, paintball and cutlery. NSGA reported sales in the hunting and firearms category were $4.6 billion in 2008, up from $3.9 billion the previous year.
In related news, Sturm Ruger & Co. announced a huge spike in its gun sales for 2009. This is probably due to the popularity of Ruger’s new compact handguns, combined with orders for its new AR15 style rifle, the Ruger SR-556 with gas-piston upper. Ruger reported Wednesday that firearms sales grew 94 percent in the second quarter of 2009, compared to the same period last year, and that sales were up 14 percent when compared to the first quarter of this year. Firearms unit production grew 63 percent from the second quarter of 2008.
Call it “panic buying” or the “Obama Effect”, but it’s ironic that the election of President Obama has ignited the greatest surge in guns and ammo sales in recent memory. One firearms marketing rep has suggested, half-seriously, that Pres. Obama should be named “Gun Salesman of the Century”.
A new website for FFL to FFL sales has launched. 
According to a new National Sporting Goods Association report, hunting- and firearms-related equipment was the only sporting-goods equipment category to see double-digit sales growth in 2008. Sales rose 16 percent, while overall sporting-goods equipment sales declined 1 percent compared to the previous year. Hunting- and firearms-related equipment ranked second only to exercise equipment in 2008, NSGA reports. Included in the “hunting and firearms” equipment category are rifles, handguns, shotguns, ammunition, airguns, reloading equipment, paintball and cutlery. NSGA reported sales in the hunting and firearms category were $4.6 billion in 2008, up from $3.9 billion the previous year.
