We have a smallish Cabelas in my town (Grand Junction Colorado). I stop by the Gun Library from time to time to see what cool stuff they have.

Lately I haven't been seeing very much. Yesterday I went in and they had a shelf of Hi-Point pistols! Right there in the lighted, glass encased, wood cabinets where one would expect to see old Smith's or Colts.

Used and new Hi-Points in the Gun Library? Is this just a matter of the local store having low inventory or is the new ownership trending away from the Gun Library quality feature?

I'm curious about this as well.I was wanting to use my points but it seems they are not carrying used guns anymore. Is that true?

I wander the Glendale Arizona gun library and noticed similar. I asked the salesman and he said when low on guns they move the regular used guns and new guns in to fill empty spaces. Expensive handguns at the gun counter they may only have one in stock so it stays there. Cheap handguns they have many in stock so they are used to fill in.

M

Is Cabelas part of Bass-Pro now. They closed the Fine Gun room in many stores many years ago.

Does Bass Pro have a fine guns room? I was lead to believe that they would honor the Cabelas points.Anybody know?

The gun libraries have gone downhill for awhile now.

The reasons:

1.) When Cabelas was preparing to IPO that cut wages and hours. Most specifically, they gave the older team members almost no hours so they could have the $11 an hour workers on the floor and not the $24 an hour senior team members. Thus, the skill of the gun libary buyers went down.

2.) In response to point 1, Cabelas kept buying junk guns for too much money. They were fools. They didn't give them basic necessities like wall thickness and bore diameter gauges. They didn't know how to read proof marks. They didn't know how to identify pinned stocks, bad drops and cast, and many other factors that effect gun value. They would also use pricing from blue book on fine guns out of ignorance. (e.g. buying a large ring mauser for a price that actually was referring to a single or double square bridge magnum of a best English finished mauser...$10,000 error)

3.) Now awash in bad guns at high prices with underskilled staff, they went into plans to be acquired by Bass Pro. During that timeframe they were buying no fine guns to maintain cash while trying to dump old inventory to reduce liabilities for "toxic assets". This screwed up the market and the respect of the gun libary further.

4.) Under BPS rules, they got rid of the layaway program and employee discount programs. This was a way to get rid of overpriced guns as the team members were frequent buyers of guns under layaway and discount plans. Thus, more guns sit.

5.) Under BPS rules no guns get discounted until under ownership for 6 months. Thus, atrophy occurs on inventory and they rot.

The only play left (and I capitalized on it recently) is to look for the right gun that was way overpriced and retailed at the WRONG Cabelas. (e.g. A magnum safari rifle being sold in New England...it'll never sell at any price) Look at the guns that have sat for $10,000 for two years or more. I bought a $9000 gun poorly advertised in the wrong location that was marked down to $4500...I bought it for $2000.

But those deals are going away as the fine gun inventory continues to fold because they cannot manage the organization effectively, buy correctly, or advertise appropriately. Those final liquidations on really old, overpriced or poorly localized items will be the last deal to be had there.

A lot of bad choices at the management level for sure. I would love to cash in my $1000.00 of points before they go away.The fine gun rooms are my primary interest. Looking for a S+W mod. 57 or an early Colt Woodsman.

Cabelas has gone down hill over the last 10-15 years. Prices there are ridiculous and when it comes to trying to find any reloading/shooting item that isn't run of the mill variety, I have much better luck at the small local gun shops.

Bass Pro is even worse than Cabelas IMO. It definitely seems to be a race to the bottom.

What a shame when ineptitude seems to be the new order of the day.

I spent some time in the Bass Pro Shop just north of DFW the first time I flew into Texas, and it had a horrible redneck Nascar vibe, nothing at all like the Cabela's we visited in Fort Worth on that trip. Somewhere I have a photo of my daughter, Ellie, then a Baylor undergrad, swinging one of the infamous Sabatti doubles in the Gun Library. Back then they had knowledgeable buyers who were pretty good at low-balling sellers and adding quality guns to their inventory -- which was actually interesting.
I believe Rookhawk's thoughtful analysis is very close to the truth.

Bean counters running the show now. Beginning of the end.

I recently purchased a barely used SAKO Bavarian from a Cabelas Fine Gun Room. I was able to combine points from Bass Pro and Cabelas so as to take home the nice rifle with no out of pocket cash.

The used gun business, the used car business, and really any "used" business is and will always be the same.

If you have it and you want to sell it then its worth a lot of money. If you don't have it and you want to buy it then its not worth much.

Its got to be a tough business when you have people coming in all day wanting to sell their guns for big money, and the next day coming in and wanting to buy a gun for cheap money.

Probably a good thing that they are getting away from such a business as it might help save their overall business in the long run.

I always liked the Gun Libraries because you could handle a large variety of guns and once you found the model you liked you could purchase a new one someplace with lower prices than what Cabelas was asking for the used one.

BH63

quote:

Originally posted by BuffHunter63:
I always liked the Gun Libraries because you could handle a large variety of guns and once you found the model you liked you could purchase a new one someplace with lower prices than what Cabelas was asking for the used one.

BH63

The “experts” running the gun library rarely gave me the time of day. They were always goofing off on the internet.

I got some really great deals over the years including my 505 and a pre 64 model 70. Just picked up a supergrade m70 last year. Deals few and far between now and slim pickings. Sad

Seems like wives after the old guy kicked the bucket would dump their collection for cheap and markup was low to keep them turning over. Many tines I passed on a deal only to go back hours or a day later and it was gone( the sister gun to my 505 in 300 H and H comes to mind. Stoooopid!) Had crews that scoured the place regularly I lived 40 miles away but used to make the trip once a week. No more

I don't know if they still have their "Fine Gun Room". I quit looking about a year or so ago as they were always too pricey. I mean above value.

I missed out on a CZ 505 gibbs when Gander mountain was closing...

The fine gun room in DFW still holds nice firearms...The used racks outside of that room are starting to hold the junk Mosin's and other stuff they must have received for a nice bulk discount. Lubbock Cabelas is the same way.

Once Bass Pro took over end of last year they got rid of the Bargain Cave in Cabelas also...

The last time I was in a gun library.

The salesman was adamant that I did not need the double rifle I was looking at.

The gun library in Billings was pretty ho-hum

quote:

Originally posted by Matt Norman:
We have a smallish Cabelas in my town (Grand Junction Colorado). I stop by the Gun Library from time to time to see what cool stuff they have.

Lately I haven't been seeing very much. Yesterday I went in and they had a shelf of Hi-Point pistols! Right there in the lighted, glass encased, wood cabinets where one would expect to see old Smith's or Colts.

Used and new Hi-Points in the Gun Library? Is this just a matter of the local store having low inventory or is the new ownership trending away from the Gun Library quality feature?

I think it is because most employs there wouldn't know a quality firearm from a homemade pipe bomb if they consider HI-Point to be quality!

…...…………………………...... MacD37

I agree Mac. It seems like what we could always find at a Wal-Mart counter; no knowledge of the product. I find this a real personal shame as I have close to $1K in Cabelas points on my card + would like to use them on an early model Colt Woodsman. I had a 1927 model in the box w/ the papers from Colt that I had to sell in the divorce + I would really like another one again.

I was in the Delaware Cabela's about a month ago. They had Mossberg's and AR-15's for sale in the gun library.

I purchased one gun from the Cabela's gun library in Lacey, Washington many years ago. Unfortunately, I paid top price for the used double rifle(more than I should have), but I was younger and stupid and I wanted it bad enough to just bite the bullet. I have been in many of Cabela's gun rooms and have never been impressed overall.

Several years ago you could go to the Cabela's site + click on gun room then fine guns + they had a large listing. I can't find that site anymore. Is there a new way to access it?

Much as many others have said, the deals were better before Bass Pro took over, but I've come to expect that kind of thing under the new management. Losing the bargain cave sucks, though!

I went into our local Cabela's right after the restrictions on our state lifted, and the fine gun room was almost completely empty. I was honestly a little jarred by the emptiness of a once-stuffed room. I asked one of the folks working there what was happening, and they said they were limiting the amount of inventory on display during the COVID times. I'm guessing it was to lessen the chances of some criminal stealing them, but I can't be sure. Their website still lists a pretty decent inventory of guns. I'm hoping once the world gets its act together things will go back to normal.

As an aside, I also remember - fondly - when the Bass Pro in our area had a fine gun room. I think it was called the "Sporting Lounge" or something fancy. The room is still there, but there are silly kayaks or whatever in there now. Shame.