Its getting hard to get powder and primers locally. I am in Georgia and the closest place is the perry sports center but I have been there three times and they didnt have to powder I needed and they are only carrying winchester primers. I just wish midway carried primers and powder because they do have good service. I have never had to return anythingso I wouldnt know about that. The hazardous material charge should be lower too.

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Originally posted by popenmann:
I hate shipping charges as much as the next guy, but I've learned to make buying decisions based on total price including shipping. Midway is seldom the cheapest but they have little odds and ends that are hard to find elsewhere, so they get some of my business.

In defense of Midway's "fair and honest" shipping charges, I can vouch for the fact that most mail order companies lose money on shipping (ebayers being an obvious exception). For example, I charge $6 for shipping on orders under $100. Sometimes the postage only costs $3.85, and no doubt the customer thinks "Aha, he's gouging me on shipping." Consider that I also have to pay for the shipping box, the label, the plastic bags, peanuts and bubble wrap, and tape. I have to type up and print out an invoice. On international orders, I have to fill out a customs form and sign my life away. I have to make a trip to the post office and stand in line (thanks to 9/11 the postman will no longer pick up packages unless I schedule a pickup and personally hand the package to him, so he can look me over and verify that I am not a terrorist). Then there are the times that postage costs substantially more than my flat $6 fee, and I eat the cost.

All I'm saying is, Midway is not ripping you off, even though it may seem that way when you only consider the cost of postage.

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Yep! I ship stuff. Sometimes you can't charge enough to pay for the time it takes packaging. Yet alone the time spent ORDERING all the shipping supplies. Almost makes it not worth it.

I don't complain about shipping charges anymore.

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Originally posted by ned:
I love midway! If you have a C&R they give you dealer pricing. I place my orders on Monday and they arrive in Houston on Wed. Never a problem. Who cares about shipping charges when your sales tax is over 8%.

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Me too. When I compare Midway's prices, with my discount, I have to buy from them. I would really like to buy from Midsouth, but they will not honor my C&R, thus I don't give them any of my business.

Rick

Hmmmmm? I have ordered from them before with no problems. I would not accept B/O unless they pay for the shipping.

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Originally posted by Chasseur:


Agreed on Sportsman's guide, had a guy on the phone when I was making an order that was a real ass. Never order from them if I can help it.

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About 10 yrs ago, I worked briefly at the Sportsman's Guide, for a part time job. Thought it would be a good place to get in on some good deals early, before it hit the streets.

I saw how it was ran internally. I quite in 2 weeks and would never do business with them, regardless of price.

Read into that, what you want to.!!

Cheers
seafire

Dont like shipping charges?? Dont move to Alaska!! I have been paying for you lower 48rs shipping from midway for the last 8yrs ( free except AK & HI) Midway still gets my $$$

Have fun!!

I agree with the guys who buy by price. I use Midway (never had a need to return anything), Grafs, Mid-South, Natchez, and occasionally Cabella's, Lock Stock and Barrel, and Sportsman's Guide. I look for specials and strike when the iron is hot. When I REALLY need something I always use Midway cuz I get it in two days. Grafs is the one i use for normal stuff when delivery time is not critical.

Midway and Midsouth. If I order on Monday, the little brown truck brings me my goodies on Wednesday. I do order RWS brass from Natchez from time to time. $16/box for 9.3x64! Hard to beat.

Here is a hint for Midway. If you see something you want but don't need immediately, put it in your "wish list". Their computer system will send you an email when it is on sale.

I did that with a couple of Pachmayer pads, and saved some real money when the went on inventory reduction. Not the usual "you save $1.27 off the regular price".

I have used Midway for over 10 years. I am happy with there service, even on returns have not been a problem. I like Grafs as well too.

I use Midway all the time and have a hard time feeling sorry for anyone who complains about their shipping costs. Try living in Canada. 8-15 dollars shipping is a far cry from the mark-up we have to pay on our reloading supplies as it is (IMR powder-$32-34/pound Lee bullet mould $35, Hornady 30cal bullets $29). I live 15 mins. from the US border and have my mail delivered to a town there. So the money I save on the products more than makes up for the shipping. I also like how they typically have very good discriptions and pictures with each item- helpful when you've never used something before.

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Originally posted by jorge:
I like Midway. Thier prices aren't the best, Graf & Sons is generally cheaper, but like my learned friend Terry B says, their service is FAST! G&S is painfully slow. With Midaway, if I order on a Monday or a Tuesday, I have it by Friday. Graf's takes upwards of two weeks to ship. They do need to improve their return policy though. jorge

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Really?? I ordered some bullets from them on Monday Jan 31, at 8 AM, and the bullets were here on Wednesday, Feb. 2, around 3PM.

I prefer to buy in this order.
Midsouth - lowest total cost for most orders and a wide product selection. Few to no Wilson hand tools though.

Midway - Decent prices and a wide product selection. Few Wilson tools. I try to buy only on sale. Bullet casting stuff is expensive compared to other sources.

Grafs - Fair prices and good shipping but no bullet casting stuff and no Wilson stuff.

Lock Stock -Fair prices and has a full Wilson line.

Natchez usually has the best price on Williams receiver sights.

F&M Reloading - The best prices for casting tools when they have what you want.

Well, thus far, I have ONLY ordered from Midway, and the reason is their large selection. Thus far, on the items I wanted, they were either the only ones carrying it, or the cheapest over all.

And I have had a return, no problemo. One email, got an RMA, and got the swap done in like 6 days. My bad for clicking on the wrong part number, so I was not too upset that I had to pay for shipping.

One thing I don't like about Midway is having to pay for shipping on back ordered items. If they haven't got it when I order, I think they oughta cough up the shipping $$$.

Primers & powder would be nice from them, but they have about the best selection & prices on rimfire ammo.

I have a $350 order pending from them, I am just waiting for two items to be in stock, then I will buy. And the shipping is $22, but I have two 1,000 bullet boxes in the order, so it will be purty heavy.

One thing I think ALL online sellers ought to do is offer USPS shipping on heavy, small items like lead bullets. The USPS will ship up to 70 lbs for $7.70 if it fits in their boxes. A company I recently emailed about this said they would not ship via USPS, but via FedEx at $19.95... the same 50 lbs of lead shot shipped via USPS would be only $7.70. *sigh*

Wholesale shipping across the country is ~$.50/pound
Retail shipping across the country is ~$1/pound

Midway shipping half way across the country is ~$1.50/pound.

Midway pays no more than wholesale, and probably less, so the majority of Midway's profit selling to those with a C&R is due to the mark up on shipping.

But to the rest of us, the bulk of the profit is on the raping we recieve on the price.

I bought from Midway for years. Then unannounced,they changed their policy that "free"shipping was no longer included. "Free"shipping? Get real,we all knew it was included in the price. Larry Potterfield made the statement that it was his decision to make--it is his place--take it or leave it he is off to safari. Very true it is his place. But the folks that had stuff on backorder would now pay shipping. Whose fault was it that the stuff was not in stock? Certainly not the customers. Who paid? The customer. Very chintzy. If they are that chintzy,you can be assured they will not be easy to deal with when there is a problem. Potterfield will continue his safarais,but not with my help.

I would have posted this morning, but for some reason 8 hrs flew by without me noticing it. I was either abducted by aliens, or I was hypnotized by RonsGuns avatar.

Anyway, now that I can type again, I love MidSouth, and use Cabelas if I only need one or two bullet items, because Cabela's charges shipping by dollar amount I can get lead sent cheaper than if they were charging by weight.

I'm happy with midwayusa prices.I also buy from natchez.

I get a C&R discount at Midway was well. It's about like their retail sales prices every day.

Earlier this week I placed an order for ~$400 worth of merchansise, which included 18 boxes of bullets, ~1000 pieces of brass(including 500 W-W 204 Ruger cases), plus a bunch of odd-n-ends. Shipping the order from MO to OR was $29.00 or there abouts. I'll weigh the box when it arrives and compare it to the commercial UPS rates and see how things work out. My guess is that they'll add about $5 or so for the shipping box and packing materials. Having purchased these same items, this amount isn;t unreasonable.

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Originally posted by HuntR:
Puncher, I just registered at Midsouth's website and requested a catalog, however, I noticed they are not using Secure Socket Layers (https) for their online ordering. That's not good for secure online ordering!

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As soon as I click "checkout" the URL changes to "https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/checkout.asp" and the certificate is verified through thawte until April 2006.

I have bought from Midway for years but I always build a similar order from Midsouth and a couple of other places to make sure I get the best deal.

The solution to these problems is to spend $30 million on inventory after you build your own warehouse and open up your own shipping company. That way you make profit on both ends and won't have to spend 6 hours on the net trying to find the best prices on a bag of cleaning patches.

I buy all my stuff either at grafs (www.grafs.com) or sinclair international (www.sinclairintl.com), and I am really happy with both of them (I buy more at grafs) ...

Thou mine can be a limited opinion since I am not living in the States, so have to deal exclusively with companies with international shipping service

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Originally posted by Will:
The solution to these problems is to spend $30 million on inventory after you build your own warehouse and open up your own shipping company. That way you make profit on both ends and won't have to spend 6 hours on the net trying to find the best prices on a bag of cleaning patches.

This is absolutely correct!!!!!

However capital investment is no assurance of returns on that investment.....One must also be competitive. in price, service, and delivery.

i've never had the slightest problem w/ midway. in many yrs have only returned one item, a set of leupold bases and the pkg was marked wrong (leupold's fault, not theirs). their online inventory has so far been faultless. if it's in stock, it's on my doorstep in 2 days. if it's NOT in stock - and i know that before i click the place order button - then i get it 2 days AFTER it IS in stock. no problem.

I have to say I really like Midway. They have the stuff and they get it out fast. Price seems as good as anyone else and shipping cost usually beats sales tax.

I dont care for Midways "Unfair & Dishonest" shipping charges. I do compare the TOTAL (product & shipping charges) price when ordering from them. Lock, stock & Barrel is also a great supplier that i have purchased from over the years. I order most of my stuff on-line and Midway has the most "friendly" web site, bar none.

I dont know what the issue is regarding Midway's Return Policy as i have returned several things to them with out a problem, one return was last month...

i wish EVERYBODY would get whoever did midways search engine to do theirs. i can find what i want on their site faster than anyone else's. some places i can do better with their paper catalog. and who has sites w/o pics these days.

what kills me, i'll end up w/ a dozen things, check midway, grafs, natchezss, nobody is cheapest on everything. not wanting multiple shipping chgs have to run the whole sequence on all.

grafs, only charging "handling" is cheapest for small orders and takes very little to offset sales tax. natchezss more often has best prices but highest shipping (at least from there to here, midway is closer to me).

i don't get everybody complaining of midways shipping charge. i've never had one more than $10 if ever even that. and you can look right on the package and see how much the carrier charged so you know where the money's going.

i just spend $9.35 (!) to send a can of lincoln logs standard delivery to my grandaughter. they only COST 20. was i think 5# total wgt. wanna blame midway for that?

Ive never had an issue with the shipping charges from Midway. I havnt ordered from them since about last October or so, have the recently changed their shipping price structure. I like the fact that I order from them before 2:00pm, and it is on my doorstep when I get home from work the next day. My beef with them is that I am in Missouri, so they charge me sales tax. For the documentation record, on all of my other mail order purchases, I account for sales tax due later

I just received an order from Dillon today.
"shipping and HAndling $3.86"
The envelope had $1.06 postage on it.

Not complaining.
Dillon had supplies and labor to package it

that's a pity abt the in-state sales tax. when i lived in TN i couldn't get stuff from natchezss for 2 reasons, one was the sales tax and the other is they wouldn't sell to me. they have an exclusion of selling to residents of TN, GA, and AL. sounds strange on the surface but is actually an honorable approach. they have many dealers who buy from them and if they also sold locally they'd be undercutting their own retail dealer network and is to their credit they voluntarily don't do that.

luckily are virtually no mail order places in TX (that i'm aware of) that i can't get by w/o.

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Originally posted by willmckee:
that's a pity abt the in-state sales tax. when i lived in TN i couldn't get stuff from natchezss for 2 reasons, one was the sales tax and the other is they wouldn't sell to me. they have an exclusion of selling to residents of TN, GA, and AL. sounds strange on the surface but is actually an honorable approach. they have many dealers who buy from them and if they also sold locally they'd be undercutting their own retail dealer network and is to their credit they voluntarily don't do that.

luckily are virtually no mail order places in TX (that i'm aware of) that i can't get by w/o.

It's not voulntary, they USED to sell to those three states, but they were forced to stop, since they run trucks in all three states.

Something to do with the law, if they run delivery routes anywhere within the state, they cannot sell via the internet.

At least that is what one of their folks who answered the phone told me when I asked why they won't ship to AL. It sucks, cuz they have good prices on the things I want!

I love buying from midway, every two months, after the 25th of the month. During those few days, you can catch the specials from both months. Being from Kalifornia, I wish I had a place locally to buy at cheaper prices.

I usually only buy the "On Sale' stuff. I have always had a good esperience with Midwayusa.com

Just my opine.

As a rule I buy locally when possible even if it costs me a few bucks.

I have ordered from Graf's, they suck, never again.
Sinclairs, excellent.
LS&B also good.
Mid-South, excellent.
Midway, I have a C&R. Like the price break. They beat their shipping estimate by four days on the last order. But I make absolutely sure I can't get it locally before ordering. I do not like the $4 PITA fee for small orders.

ZM

I've been doing business w/Midway for about 10 years (a lot lately) and have never had ONE problem. Luck of the draw? Maybe, but I've got to go with what works for me. Midsouth has better prices, but a $40 min order. I don't always order 40 bucks worth of stuff. Great when you're buying a scope or something..

Paul, Midsouth did away with the $40. min order when ya order online. If you order less then 20 bucks they have a handling fee of $3.00

I've always had good luck with Midway, and I usually get next day delivery using UPS Ground.

Midway has stopped sending something as stupid as empty brass to a number of states, one of which is Mass. This I know from experience, nothing that can be used in reloading at all. This was done because of a letter sent to them by the Lt. Gov. of Mass. as a suggestion that there may be reprocussions if the letter was not heeded. This is from an employee on the telephone, in answer to the question as to why I could not get brass sent to Ma. Thank God I have since moved to Maine, and other then their taxes life is a lot easier. As it is, I only wanted to order some brass that I could not get from Sinclairs, but I will go without before I order from them again. By the way Huntr where are you located in Maine. I now live in Harrison, on Long Lake. Bob.

I just started buying from Midway a few months back and so far have had real good luck with them. I buy mostly on sale and they did give me a discount on my birthday. But I will check out midsouth and powder valley for sure. It really pisses me off about the charges the Feds have on powder! They couldn't outlaw rifles cases or bullets so the hit the powder real hard! And I will not deal with a rude bitchy woman who doesn't know a 257 magnum from a bull's butt and trys to tell me what I want.

b beyer, welcome to Maine! I'm up in the Bangor area. Maybe that's why shipping rates are so high for me from Midway. Too far too go. Just kidding, I know the difference between what UPS is charging them and what they charged me, even if they don't stamp it on the package anymore. Now you've brought up another strike against Midway. Not sending reloading components to customers in a state because of a request from a commie politician! That's just plain pathetic. You'll can continue to do business with them, but your integrity level will be on par with theirs, IMHO. Don't mean to sound harsh or rude, but think about it!