Some Stats - Gross sales of Hunting Rifles and Shotguns - a snapshot

I can guess what store this is.

Funny because at the one I worked at we sold a lot of Axis as well but the tikka was the most popular "step up" rifle. Brownings and Weatherbys both sold well though. I worked there early in the 783's run and never saw one sold, to be fair I never sold a model 70 or 700 either, it seems if people wanted to spend a lot of money they would get a Sako.

Guessing our store had a few more brands than yours because for .22's we sold a lot of CZ's and 10/22's. Browning BL-22's were a rare sale and I think I only sold one t-bolt ever, which is a gun I would love to try.
 
hawk-i said:
I bought a SPS stainless before xmas for 489.00 from a site sponsor...it functions as nice as my 1980's BDL's....I'll take a stainless over a blued barrel everyday of the week!

I've also recently bought both an Axis and 783.....I consider all my rifles as tools for a job.

Don't really care what the others have to say about these rifles, they work great for me.:)
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#1. I wouldn't give a damn about my opinion either

#2. thats a much more reasonable price for an SPS vs the usual not too far from an ADL/BDL 700. If that were the reg. SPS price my opinion would be very different

#3. a stainless SPS makes much more sense to me than a "blued" since the finish is one of it's major issues.

#4. budget rifles ARE tools imo so can't fault you or anyone else there.
 
galamb said:
And this is where I think Savage has the advantage over Remington.

If you come in with 400 bucks you are looking at an Axis, American, Patriot or 783.

If you have 500 or 600 then I can show you a model 11/111, an XPR and even a A-Bolt III.

Add another hundred bucks an now we are getting into 11/111 heavy barrels, some model 25's the synthetic Vanguards, some Thompson Centers, Rugers with Redfield glass installed, but I still can't sell you a Rem.

Then as we hit/go a little over 800 bucks when I can start handing you a Model 10, a Walnut stocked Vanguard II and even a blued T3 you are now also at the point where you can pick up an SPS - not the stainless mind you.

So if you are a Rem fan and you don't want the 783 you better have close to a grand (with taxes in) to pick up their "next most economical model".

And I'm not arguing that say 850 bucks is a lot for a rifle. It just isn't. Yes, a lot of money to some but I don't take the attitude that "I can't afford it so it MUST BE OVERPRICED".

I own few different Vanguard II's.

My synthetic was just on 600 bucks when I bought it. I spent just under 800 for my Sporter and I "can see" that a decent walnut stock, with checkering and forend piece as being "worth almost 200 bucks more", more "premium" materials do cost money. Then my laminated stocked model was 900 bucks (in 2015 conversion dollars) which if bought at the same time as my sporter would have come in at/just under the sporter price.

I guess I'm saying that I just don't see the "asking price" in some of the offerings when, from handling them, they certainly weren't putting a lot of some "craftsman" time into the production compared to other offerings at the same price point.

It's that market in the 500 to 700 buck range - just a step up from "entry level" that has (currently) a huge void and that's where I believe more of those plastic stocked rifles should fall.
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Well stated Graham. This is exactly as I see it from the purchasers side.
 
Claven2 said:
Personally, I really like the newer CRF model 70's. It's sad if they are not selling,
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I'm glad you brought that up. The only reason I am lurking around the sporting rifles forum today is that I am looking for some evidence that the current iteration Model 70 is actually available in Canada. I see some models on Winchester's website but a search of P&D, Prophet River, Frontier, Al Flaherty's, Wanstall's, Wholesale Sports and LeBarons websites turned up exactly ZERO Model 70 rifles for sale. Ellwood Epps is the only Canadian retailer I can find with some in stock, they have a whopping seven. If the stats we have been shown here don't show many Winchester rifles sold I think it's because no Winchester rifles are available for anyone to buy, in any practical sense.
 
It is hard to find a new Winchester Model 70, I was looking for a featherweight in a particular caliber for a few months. Couldn't find anything, was told maybe next year. Finally found one just before Christmas at a smaller shop in Alberta, they still had a good selection of calibers. Guess what they got in and as form this thread, never did sell that well.
 
Interesting numbers and follow-up discussion. Thanks for posting. :)

You said "We only sell non-restricted firearms and do not carry Milsurp's of any description."
Is that due to some philosophical belief? Or just about offering what your market asks for?

And do you do any internet mail order sales?

It seems to me that the black rifle crowd cannot spend their money fast enough, and to a lesser extent, the MilSurp gang. (That would be me)
If you were to sell black and milsurps by mailorder, you might see those numbers change a lot...
 
Some more follow-up information.

Only sell non-restricted for a couple of reasons - we get 100% corporate support (as far as billing/other logistics) if we stick to non-restricted. If we add restricted, then we would have to do all the leg work including the licence upgrade, finding a wholesaler etc on our own and eat any/all costs involved in doing that - ok, not the end of the world, but maybe not worth the hassle in small market - then the added storage, handling etc = not worth it in "my" opinion and I'm really the one who bends the "owners" ear - he doesn't hunt, shoot and couldn't tell the difference between a 12 gauge shell and a 30.06 round if I stuck it on his desk.

Why no Milsurp (and more reasons not to sell restricted) - although Milsurps sell very, very well at other stores, I personally decided not to carry these at all. Why? not philosophical and not that I think they are scary or would scare away customers or any of that crap - it's a much more selfish reason.

SFRC is about 20 kms away and they are king of milsurp/restricted's in the area.

They are also where I get my loading supplies from (powder and bullets) "personally" - so I have a vested interest in them not only staying in business, but doing better (like they recently just started carrying Nosler bullets) - and there is no way to compete with them in that market, so no sense wasting any time trying to steal a few buck here or there. There is room for both of us and we target different segments of the market.

No, no internet sales - would violate corporate policy.

Mail order would technically be "ok" (actually it would be Purolator :) - we have a chain of custody agreement with them and wouldn't have to leave the building to ship), but again, since we can't advertise you would have call and then we would work something out almost like a private sale - might sound cryptic but because of corporate restrictions that's how it would have to work - we are "geared" to have customers "walk in and shop".

Now, for the Win 70 lovers, yes, they are wicked difficult to get a hold of. Why? because Browning Canada, who handles Winchester rifles just doesn't bring many "extra" rifles in. If I want model 70's for 2016 I better have already ordered them (which I did, but only a handful - no demand). Browning puts together all the orders (like right now/Jan) and in turn puts in their order to the US - then we wait.

Also, what you see on the US website is not what the Canadian Product catalog looks like. We don't see half the models they have in the US. For 2016 (going from memory here) in the M70's I could get the sporter, the featherweight, or the Alaskan.

The Ultimate Shadow line is either being discontinued or it will not be shipping to Canada in 2016 - whichever is the case it's not in 2016 Canadian buyers catalog.

Looking at my "availability list" from back at the end of November, Browning had a total of nine (9) model 70's "in stock" at the eastern Canada warehouse. Think about that for a moment - they had 36 Browning A5, 28" barreled 3" shotguns alone, but a total of 9 model 70's in all calibers.

Now, sometimes Browning can/will bring in something only available in the US (I got a few Shot Show specials that were only going to be available in the US), but that was only because I gave my rep a list of about a dozen models that I would be interested in and just asked for "whatever he could get" - think I ended up with three or four rifles as a result - so not something that I could say "yes we can probably scratch one out".
 
Thanks for the info.....it is always good to hear and understand things from the retailers point of view....
 
Hi mxzx440. Saw this thread today and wondering what little shop in Alberta did you find the Model 70s? I'm in Cold Lake
And have been searching for a while with no luck.

Would appreciate any leads.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but your store is a Canadian Tire is it not?

A Canadian Tire hardly represents a snapshot of firearms purchasing in the Canadian market. Most "gun people" would never even consider purchasing a firearm at CT, they do their shopping at specialty gun dealers. I love guns, and do alot of shopping at CT, but don't even bother walking down the gun aisles to look at all of the low-end products CT stocks. So no wonder that you have Savage, Remington and Mossberg as your top three... your target market are Savage, Remington and Mossberg shooters.

Edit; I just noticed that this is a resurrected necro-thread... disregard.
 
I bought more used guns then new guns in 2016...same trend I've been on for a bit. I'll buy a new gun if it's on a major sale though....
 
Limited experience behind the counter up until a year ago. My observation, Savage CFs big seller due to price. Ruger American also popular. In upscale models, toss up between Tikka and Browning X-Bolts. Sako 85s on the high end. In .22 LR, Savage, along with Ruger American and 10/22s. Marlin levers rule the 45.70 market, and to some extent 30.30s, Winchester in handgun calibers, and Mossberg some 30.30s. (Nothing wrong with Marlins now, problems pretty much solved. Winchester levers from Japan probably the best quality ever to bare the brand, but pricey.)

Defender shotguns very popular, given the griz population in these parts. Mossberg biggest seller in all scatter guns due mostly to price.

Keep in mind that sales tend to reflect what's on the shelf, and what's on the shelf is driven by sales, chicken/egg thing to some extent.

The market for "cheap" guns, I might venture, is somewhat driven by newbies to the sport...and there's a lot of 'em. Veterans, not so much.

FWIW
 
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hoytcanon said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but your store is a Canadian Tire is it not?

A Canadian Tire hardly represents a snapshot of firearms purchasing in the Canadian market. Most "gun people" would never even consider purchasing a firearm at CT, they do their shopping at specialty gun dealers. I love guns, and do alot of shopping at CT, but don't even bother walking down the gun aisles to look at all of the low-end products CT stocks. So no wonder that you have Savage, Remington and Mossberg as your top three... your target market are Savage, Remington and Mossberg shooters.

Edit; I just noticed that this is a resurrected necro-thread... disregard.
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Hoyt, you bring up a good point. I was not trying to "snapshot" the entire firearms sales in Canada, simply what the "Hunters in Eastern Ontario" were buying. SFRC is just up the road from us and I'm sure their "what sold list" would look drastically different - totally different market.

Really only threw the numbers up since there is so many threads about "what caliber for deer hunting or moose hunting or whatever" to give an idea of who is shooting what in a small sub-market. When I get my year end numbers in this year (2016) I will post them to see if there seems to be any change in the trend - new calibers popping up etc.
 
hoytcanon said:
I love guns, and do alot of shopping at CT, but don't even bother walking down the gun aisles to look at all of the low-end products CT stocks.
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Your snobbery may be getting the better of you here.

CT red stickers guns just like any other item in the store that has been there to long. And they don't just stock axis, american and mossberg. They have M77's M70's and others...which usually stay in the cabinet longest...and in turn get the red discount sticker.
 
cdn shooter said:
Your snobbery may be getting the better of you here.

CT red stickers guns just like any other item in the store that has been there to long. And they don't just stock axis, american and mossberg. They have M77's M70's and others...which usually stay in the cabinet longest...and in turn get the red discount sticker.
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I have NO snobbery when it comes to getting a good deal on a nice firearm... but the CT's in these parts don't carry anything that I would be interested in... an M77 or M70??? Not around here. The only gun I have purchased at CT was a Henry H001T on sale and used over $100 in CT money on top of that... it is still my daughter's favourite rimfire.... the centerfire rifles are all crap... if I am a snob because I won't own or shoot an entry level rifle, well then I guess I'm a snob... but with 30 years of working on H&R rifles, I don't think it applies.
 
The local canadian tire(s) generally sell the bottom of the barrel stuff around here. Axis, 783, Mossberg etc.

Every once in a while they have something interesting though. I convinced my buddy to buy a winchester m70EW .300 win mag that was on sale and a constant temptation every time I went in to browse. One CTC has a browning pump rifle which is rather unusual, another has a bunch of beautiful ithaca shotguns.
 
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