Prophet River Firearms - the definition of what a firearms store should be.

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This week I ordered a like new rifle that was on consignment at Prophet River, along with some brass, dies, and mounts. Clay ensured that it was packaged and shipped out within an hour of me ordering it. He also was able to tell me the history of the gun.

I received the gun the next day as promised. Upon opening the box I was ecstatic at how pretty the wood was on the gun and the condition of it, except for one thing: the stock was touching the barrel near the fore-end tip. I surmised the reason for the fellow selling the gun after firing no more than a box of shells was the accuracy was probably erratic. I took pictures of the rifle as I was doing the "dollar bill test" to show Clay where the contact was being made. I fired him off an email and waited for his response. After a brief discussion, he suggested if I want to keep the rifle, I could find a gunsmith to do the repair and he would pay for it. This discussion was not combative or heated like you would have to get with any number of retailers to get them to do anything. This was the solution offered by Clay. One email outlining the problem and a two minute discussion.

This is the second rifle I have purchased from Prophet River in the last four months. Both were outstanding, but this one had the obvious potential to be less than satisfying. It was anything but.

I cannot overstate how quality of an operation Clay has going. IMO, Prophet River is the premier firearms dealer in Canada, and I would strongly urge everyone to consider them for your next firearm related purchase. A businessman like Clay deserves the support of our community.

I would be interested in hearing others' stories of their experience at this fine operation.
 
I have popped in there many times on my way through town, an hour later after some chit chat and a tour of the shop I had to run and I didn't even get a chance to look at the guns.... very much. A very friendly crew in the whole store easy to visit with and lots of knowledge. I need to go there on a day off so I can actually have time to buy a gun.
 
ace7038 said:
I am glad you got along well with them. I did not have such a satisfied feeling when I dealt with them.
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Sorry to hear that but it is very very rare from my multiple and other member experiences with them. Clay always goes out of his way to make customers happy regardless of issue. In fact over the past few years they earned my business and now rate on the top of my go to list now for firearm purchases over Epps which I have been dealing with since the 60's and still pleased with BUT.

When talking the larger canadian shops probally not too many I have not purchased firearms from in the past 50 years with 100's of firearm purchases and it is clear to most Clay's team is the best of the best out there today especially if one starts comparing shops. Some pretty poor ones out there now
 
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Yesterday again Clay and i did exchanged some emails for a mega 4 items move and we both agreed on good conditions in calm and respect, that was concluded to a done deal....Awsome piece of business... In my book that is... JP.
 
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Clay and the gang are in the top 3 shops in Canada to deal with, I have bought used guns, custom ordered Coopers , and new production firearms and accessories with stellar service. I work part time for a local gunshop, and know how business works, and I recommend Prophet River to many friends.
Dale Z in T-Bay!
 
ace7038 said:
I am glad you got along well with them. I did not have such a satisfied feeling when I dealt with them.
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I had a shotgun exported from the U.S. I always used Leroy's Big Valley Gun in Glasgow, Montana to do this. Leroy got the gun and gave it to Clay to take back to Canada with him (not what had happened in the past he had always shipped them direct to me) Leroy called me, told me the gun was not on the way, I paid him. 4 weeks later I get thinking, where is my shotgun so I gave Leroy a call for the tracking number and he says I'll call you right back., He does and he told me to call Clay as he had sent it with him and he had shipped it to m from Canada. I called him and left a message on his phone. The I called Leroy back and asked him exactly why Clay had my shotgun. Leroy explained to me that this was a cheaper and faster way to get the gun to me, or that had been their plan but he told me obviously it wasn't. I always had the gun from Leroy in less than two weeks, one time even in 3 days if you can believe it! So I call Clay back and a girl answers the phone says she will find out for me. The she calls me back and says that they will get the tracking number have to go through some paperwork or something to find it. So I am not sure who this girl is so I call back again and ask to speak to Clay, as I read on here how all who deal with him like him and he is a fast shipper. I could not get them to answer the phone and when the girl does twice again she says he is busy, I ask can he call me back hen he is not. The next day I get a message from them (I operate a lot of heavy equipment and did not hear my phone ring) with the tracking number. I come to my house to check on where my gun is and low and behold the tracking number says it has just been dropped off at the post office about 10 minutes before I got the message from who ever the girl was.
I had a shotgun that got damaged coming from Leroy in the past and I waited for the gun to get to me before going any further with it. It did arrive without damage. I called Leroy back and told him what was up and how I felt about it taking so long. He said he understood. I even called to talk to Clay after a week or so to see if he would come to the phone and just say 'hey I am sorry I forgot all about your gun or I left it behind the seat in my truck or what ever but he would never talk to me on the phone, always busy. If he would have explained to me what had happened I would feel a lot better. Any man who screws up and won't admit it is no one I want to do business with. And as for who the girl is that runs the front of the phone for him, she could have said he won't ever speak to you and/ or she could have had him call me back, I left at least 6 messages for him over a period of a couple days.

I hope this makes it understandable, why I left what I said with what I have quoted from my previous post. And a further thought, this is not the first time I have posted this incident here, if Clay wanted to get in touch with me and make me feel better about this he could have sent me a pm or given me a phone call. Yeah, I am STILL UPSET.
 
My father-in-law ordered a 10-22 ruger from them and after a week he called back to find out where it was, after a day of investigating they called him back only to tell him the gun had been shipped to someone else. To make it worse they had to contact the person it was shipped to to get it returned to prophet and couldnt direct ship to him,
then they had to ship it to the correct adress. 2 weeks later he recieved the gun total 3 weeks from date of order.
 
ace7038 said:
I had a shotgun exported from the U.S. I always used Leroy's Big Valley Gun in Glasgow, Montana to do this. Leroy got the gun and gave it to Clay to take back to Canada with him (not what had happened in the past he had always shipped them direct to me) Leroy called me, told me the gun was not on the way, I paid him. 4 weeks later I get thinking, where is my shotgun so I gave Leroy a call for the tracking number and he says I'll call you right back., He does and he told me to call Clay as he had sent it with him and he had shipped it to m from Canada. I called him and left a message on his phone. The I called Leroy back and asked him exactly why Clay had my shotgun. Leroy explained to me that this was a cheaper and faster way to get the gun to me, or that had been their plan but he told me obviously it wasn't. I always had the gun from Leroy in less than two weeks, one time even in 3 days if you can believe it! So I call Clay back and a girl answers the phone says she will find out for me. The she calls me back and says that they will get the tracking number have to go through some paperwork or something to find it. So I am not sure who this girl is so I call back again and ask to speak to Clay, as I read on here how all who deal with him like him and he is a fast shipper. I could not get them to answer the phone and when the girl does twice again she says he is busy, I ask can he call me back hen he is not. The next day I get a message from them (I operate a lot of heavy equipment and did not hear my phone ring) with the tracking number. I come to my house to check on where my gun is and low and behold the tracking number says it has just been dropped off at the post office about 10 minutes before I got the message from who ever the girl was.
I had a shotgun that got damaged coming from Leroy in the past and I waited for the gun to get to me before going any further with it. It did arrive without damage. I called Leroy back and told him what was up and how I felt about it taking so long. He said he understood. I even called to talk to Clay after a week or so to see if he would come to the phone and just say 'hey I am sorry I forgot all about your gun or I left it behind the seat in my truck or what ever but he would never talk to me on the phone, always busy. If he would have explained to me what had happened I would feel a lot better. Any man who screws up and won't admit it is no one I want to do business with. And as for who the girl is that runs the front of the phone for him, she could have said he won't ever speak to you and/ or she could have had him call me back, I left at least 6 messages for him over a period of a couple days.

I hope this makes it understandable, why I left what I said with what I have quoted from my previous post. And a further thought, this is not the first time I have posted this incident here, if Clay wanted to get in touch with me and make me feel better about this he could have sent me a pm or given me a phone call. Yeah, I am STILL UPSET.
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Just to clarify, it sounds like you made a transaction with Leroy, not with Clay, and Leroy made other arrangements with Clay to get you your gun. If that is the case, how do you know what instructions Clay was given, or what labeling was on the package , when Leroy passed the gun to Clay? It makers me wonder if this would have happened, if you had dealt with Clay in the first place.
 
It sounds to me like your issue is with Leroy< I've been in Prophet River just about every week last few years and know how things work to some extent. Seems leroy sent up a shotgun that was his import and not a Prophet one? So, when it got to Canada they would have no paperwork as to whom it belonged? As far as Clay goes, I've never seen a busier guy, there are well over ten people in the shop working at any given time and yet most everybody wants to talk to the shop owner?
I've imported and bought over a dozen shotguns (and other firearms) there and was happy everr time with the service.

ace7038 said:
I had a shotgun exported from the U.S. I always used Leroy's Big Valley Gun in Glasgow, Montana to do this. Leroy got the gun and gave it to Clay to take back to Canada with him (not what had happened in the past he had always shipped them direct to me) Leroy called me, told me the gun was not on the way, I paid him. 4 weeks later I get thinking, where is my shotgun so I gave Leroy a call for the tracking number and he says I'll call you right back., He does and he told me to call Clay as he had sent it with him and he had shipped it to m from Canada. I called him and left a message on his phone. The I called Leroy back and asked him exactly why Clay had my shotgun. Leroy explained to me that this was a cheaper and faster way to get the gun to me, or that had been their plan but he told me obviously it wasn't. I always had the gun from Leroy in less than two weeks, one time even in 3 days if you can believe it! So I call Clay back and a girl answers the phone says she will find out for me. The she calls me back and says that they will get the tracking number have to go through some paperwork or something to find it. So I am not sure who this girl is so I call back again and ask to speak to Clay, as I read on here how all who deal with him like him and he is a fast shipper. I could not get them to answer the phone and when the girl does twice again she says he is busy, I ask can he call me back hen he is not. The next day I get a message from them (I operate a lot of heavy equipment and did not hear my phone ring) with the tracking number. I come to my house to check on where my gun is and low and behold the tracking number says it has just been dropped off at the post office about 10 minutes before I got the message from who ever the girl was.
I had a shotgun that got damaged coming from Leroy in the past and I waited for the gun to get to me before going any further with it. It did arrive without damage. I called Leroy back and told him what was up and how I felt about it taking so long. He said he understood. I even called to talk to Clay after a week or so to see if he would come to the phone and just say 'hey I am sorry I forgot all about your gun or I left it behind the seat in my truck or what ever but he would never talk to me on the phone, always busy. If he would have explained to me what had happened I would feel a lot better. Any man who screws up and won't admit it is no one I want to do business with. And as for who the girl is that runs the front of the phone for him, she could have said he won't ever speak to you and/ or she could have had him call me back, I left at least 6 messages for him over a period of a couple days.

I hope this makes it understandable, why I left what I said with what I have quoted from my previous post. And a further thought, this is not the first time I have posted this incident here, if Clay wanted to get in touch with me and make me feel better about this he could have sent me a pm or given me a phone call. Yeah, I am STILL UPSET.
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Leroy told me he was working in partners with Clay. All that was needed to keep me from feeling wronged was for Clay to get on the phone to me and say 'Hey we got a little mix up and I am shipping your gun today'. He could have told me what happened after the fact as well. If he had called me rather than have the girl on the phone talk to me, I also would have found out he was in Lloydminister, and had my Dad pick up the gun directly from him as he was at our property just north of there and drive it home to Ontario with him. It all could have been sorted out by a LOT better communication. I was asking questions no one was answering them.

To make this very clear, Leroy told me he was partnered with Clay, and had given him the gun when Clay was down at his place doing other transferring/exporting with Leroy ( I am assuming this was part of the partnership) and he gave Clay my gun to ship to me to save money/time. Leroy was very specific about it, and he told me to call Clay at the number he gave me. I know not who Clay is nor the girl I spoke on the phone to, only who Leroy told me to call. If Clay did not want to speak to me then so be it. I don't have to do business with him and further more when the OP here says he ships fast, not in my case, nor does he talk to me on the phone. I spoke with Leroy about this after I got my gun. He understands my feeling. Also, funny thing of all this is, I contacted Prophet River about exporting the previous gun Leroy did for me, based on all the good reviews I read here on Gunnnutz, and he wanted more money than Leroy charged me.

Forgive me for not wanting any involvement with Clay, he may have been in the middle, yes, but he also could have said to Leroy, 'It's your deal, you do it, don't involve me'. Cool with me if he had as I would have got my gun a lot faster.

I appreciate that you all have had a good relationship dealing with Clay. I feel I did not. I am just speaking of what happened when I dealt with him, as are the rest of you. We all have screw ups. We all deal with them in our own way. I run my own business, and I am the one who answers when there are mistakes made, by me, or by my employees. It sucks dealing with screw up, I will be the first to say, but I want repeat happy customers, not ones that don't want to deal with me, maybe just me. Clay, by not wanting to tell me what happened on his end or why the delay or even to talk to me, tells me he is not interested in my business, nor me being a happy customer. Leroy made right with me by telling me it was supposed to save some money and time, and he said it sure didn't in your case. Lessons we all learn. I may have been the first one they did this way or maybe the last I have no idea. I just see that my gun left Glasgow, Montana with Clay 4 weeks before it shipped from Clay to me. That is all I see. I am certain I could walk from Glasgow to Lloyminster in less time...

It is a done deal. We have all spoke our minds on the matter, except Clay never told me what he thinks. Likely he is not happy with me stating what I feel what went wrong, at least I wouldn't even bring it up but when you all say he does great I thought you should know I don't think he does/did in my deal.
 
Big Thumper said:
It sounds to me like your issue is with Leroy< I've been in Prophet River just about every week last few years and know how things work to some extent. Seems leroy sent up a shotgun that was his import and not a Prophet one? So, when it got to Canada they would have no paperwork as to whom it belonged? As far as Clay goes, I've never seen a busier guy, there are well over ten people in the shop working at any given time and yet most everybody wants to talk to the shop owner?
I've imported and bought over a dozen shotguns (and other firearms) there and was happy everr time with the service.
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Have to agree after reading all of the Op's posts. If I add in the shotgun barrels I bought with the additional shotguns that Prophet river had me ship to Big valley after I purchased them state side from various sources I am up around a dozen or so of these US transactions and never an issue since Prophet river took over them
Funny part in all of these I have NEVER spoke to anyone state side at Big valley or Leroy only Clay or lately Melissa who does most of my imports (that girl is who I would have expected to get a call from not Clay) after I purchased an item in the US and started the ball rollling. I have however had items Big river shipped to Prophet river tied up for weeks at customs which maybe could explain the 4 week delay in this case.God knows
Almost sounds like Leroy tossed the gun in with one of Clay's shipments as you say Big Thumper to SAVE SOME MONEY. Reason I am saying that is I never had to pay upfront only after the gun was cleared and in canada ready to be shipped to me

One for the OP I was hatched in the US and still cannot have a gun directly shipped to me from Leroy's legally in Canada so how were you doing it as you say in the past prior to Clay's group getting involved. Just curious
Cheers
 
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3macs1, I have had many things delayed at Canada Customs and U.S. Customs, including myself. I also have purchased more than single digit amounts of fire arms in the U.S. and exported them to here. I have also imported more than 3 times as many to the U.S. from Canada. This is the only time I had any issues, other than a serial number wrong on a piece of import paperwork (which by the way took all of 5 minutes to straighten out, lol). I imagine Clay is what most of the others are saying here. My deal was not to my liking, is all I am saying to those who say his service is A1.

If my Gun sat at Customs (be it U.S. or Canada) a courteous thing to do, to my way of thinking, was say that to me when I called and asked. I had no knowledge of Clay or Melissa in the deal, the only contact I was given was Clay at a phone number and he had your gun from Leroy. I was a little concerned and then get some body else other than the person I was supposed to contact on the phone and then all of a sudden the gun is shipped the next day...just did not sit well with me that no one wanted to explain to me what took so long. Melissa (if that is who I spoke with on the phone) cold also have told me what the hold up was and I would have felt a whole lot better.

Just one of those deals when I think everything that could did go wrong...and no one wants to explain to me what it was that went wrong.
 
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My only problem with Prophet River is that they have such amazing things and I'm such a broke ass. Anyone willing to buy one of those drool worthy full stocked Ruger 22 mags and donate it to a poor but lovable little scamp like me? Lol
 
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