Last week, Insty posted a link to Amazon.com which featured riflescopes.
Now I am not having a dig at him — I suspect that he has little control over what gets punted on his site anyway — but if I’m going to buy gun gear, I’m going to buy it from a place that sells gun gear like scopes: Midway, BassPro/Cabela’s, Europtic, SWFA, Brownells, you know the type, and not from the owner of The Washington fucking Post.
Here’s my reasoning (apart from the political aspect of it): to Amazon, gun gear is no different from kitchenware, clothing, curtains or DVDs. It’s just another product category among a zillion. They’re the Wal-Mart of online shopping. But to an operation like Midway, SWFA or Brownells, gun gear is their bread and butter: lose it, and they are seriously weakened if not ruined.
And lest we forget, scopes are a big-ticket item with a decent profit margin, which is especially important now that the gun gear emporia are suffering shortages of one of their bread-and-butter lines: ammo.
So while I clicked on the link at Instapundit — as I understand it, he gets a per-click consideration from Bezos — that’s as far as I was prepared to take it. No way no how would I ever buy a scope from Amazon; not when I have SWFA and Europtic (which is where I get almost all my scopes, by the way).
So there you have it: look, but don’t buy gun gear from Amazon. Stick to books, DVDs, kitchenware and all the other crap they sell; but keep getting your gun gear at places to whom your bsiness means more than just dollars.
The comments about people getting counterfeit scopes (see Eotech reviews) from Amazon are enough to dissuade me.
I bought 2 scopes on amazon in the past 3 years and got lucky both times. They lived up to my expectations, were a few bux less expensive than elsewhere and the shipping was free and fast. And, if the scopes were not as expected they would have been returned-exchanged hassle free.
I’m building a brand new Ruger 10/22 right now and just yesterday, yes Sunday, amazon delivered the Magpul Hunter X stock in FDE for it. A bunch more parts will be arriving this week and I intend to zero this thing next Sat or Sun.
I have done business many times with all the others guys and if their game was up to snuff like amazon they could get ALL my business.
If you want counterfeit Chinese junk, may as well shop Wish.
Bought a Redfield (Leupold) 2-7 X33 from Amazon last year. They were the ONLY ones who had the duplex reticle model in stock. I have never owned a Redfield, and wanted to get one before the name goes away completely. Last word is that Leupold is still making them.
I am getting fed up with the knock-off crap I am getting from Amazon. I will use the as a price check most of the time and buy from a real retailer or wholesaler.
This is apparently a well-known issue with Amazon. If you sell on Amazon then Amazon will monitor your sales and if you start selling too much they’ll start selling the product themselves, thereby cutting you out of the loop and making more money.
Ordered a 1200-rd case of IMI 5.56 55-grain ammo from Midway, it arrived in four days (MO to NV), just ordered another in 62-grain, and it shipped same day with a four-day window. The price is more than I wanted to pay, but even my distributor can’t get me (an FFL) any 5.56, and hasn’t been able for 4-months.