The special order person at the Walmart nearest me said that they only special order things they usually carry.

Am wondering if their limited selection is nationwide or if it depends on what vendors they use in a given area, or ...?

Anyone know?

I think it depends on the area the store is. I know they have a basic inventory, but the stuff they carry in the sporting goods section can and does vary. In Anchorage Alaska for instance the gun section is as big as many big gun stores where as in Lewiston Idaho it's much smaller, though has a fair selection of both guns and ammo.

In Lewiston they have an order booklet for guns that is pretty comprehensive and you can order a wide variety of guns they don't carry in stock. I've never ask about ammo as I reload.

Time to start stuffing your own cases LBR, you'd be surprised at how much more you can shoot for the same shooting dollar. Get one of the new Lee hundred buck loading kits, a set of dies for each caliber you own and some powder, primers and bullets. Anyone here that reloads would be glad to walk you thru the learning process and there are some great CD's available from folks like RCBS that take you thru from start to finish.

I sure managed to get that off topic quick, sorry.

Bob, I figured as much. Thanks for the report. I'm still shooting .22 bullets, but when I get the mega-gunpowders, I will put my toe in the water of filling those cases myself.

I'm sure I'll be asking questions on that, too.

I'm still happy shooting .22s. I've got to make up for not having had a BB gun or a .22 as a child. I'm not in a hurry for the big stuff. I'm enjoying learning about sites and triggers, and breathing, and follow-thru. Now, if I just had the eyesight of thirty years ago....

Thanks again for your post.

I love shooting the 22's. Been doing the shooting thing now for near 50 years and spent a bunch of time shooting NRA competition. I still try to put a 500 or 550 round brick of 22's thru the pistols, revolvers and rifles every month. My son and two grand daughters are sure willing to help me do that.

Sadly it's no longer $10.00 bucks a brick now from Walmart and when I was in there last week it was almost double that. Even if you are a big bore shooter though the inexpensive practice a 22 rimfire gives you is a great learning tool. With the low recoil and cost there's no better way to perfect your shooting.

I sure know what your saying about the eyesight, but I'm going to keep at it til it gets to dark to see that target in the middle of the day.

I've got a CZ 452 Lux 22 rifle with one of Erik Brooks trigger kits in it. It breaks at 1.5 pounds just like ice and is scary accurate. It wears a 2.5 to to 10 Weaver Classic scope and is such a joy to shoot. Here's a pix of it.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Preditor%20masters/CZ.jpg

For handguns I shoot a Ruger Target auto that Clark gunsmithing worked over. It has his trigger and sear and it also breaks at 1.5 pounds. It's a great shooter, but probably the handgun I enjoy most is a little Rossi 4 inch stainless double action six shooter. It's accurate, light enough to carry in the woods and just plain a hoot to shoot.

Here are my two babies.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Preditor%20masters/MarkII.jpg

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Preditor%20masters/Rossi1.jpg

I don't have any expensive guns, but found this old Ruger #1 a few years ago. It's got some of the prettyest wood I've seen on a factory rifle in a bunch of years.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Preditor%20masters/Rugerstock1-1.jpg

Bob, those are nice guns. Hope your Ruger shoots well, too. It does have a pretty stock.

I just bought ammo at Walmart. Here's the scoop:

Federal, box of 550, .22LR was $13.47
Winchester .38 Special, 130 grn. Full Metal Jacket, Target/Range, 100 round value pack was $29.97
Winchester .380 Auto, 95 grn. FMJ, Target/Range, 100 round value pack was $31.97
Remington .357 Magnum, 125 grn, semi-jacketed hollow point, 100 rounds was $44.88

plus 6% more for county taxes.

I do buy Winchester .22 LR and CCI CB Shorts there, too.
Haven't tried the Federals yet. The big stuff is a present for the man who gets home-made cookies, too.

Thought you all might like to compare the prices at your local Walmart.

The price of bullets makes shooting my air rifle more attractive. But, I do so like my Winchester.

My son and I go to town to buy a couple of bricks of 22’s. We try to keep a good supply in our inventory because we shoot a lot of them. Part way through the store I spot the sunglass rack. Son helps me pick out a cheap pair like the one I recently broke. Good. Onward to sporting goods. We see what we want locked in a glass case. No clerk in attendance. We look at some other stuff and wait around. A clerk shows up and gets the 22 ammo out for me. I ask if he can ring up the sunglasses as well. “No trouble” he says. “Is this ammunition for a rifle or a handgun?” he asks. I say that it depends on what I feel like shooting at any given moment? He insists that I must answer. I tell him to make it as easy for himself as he can. He replies that if it is for a handgun, I must be “escorted” from the store! So I replied that it was for use in a rifle. Puts it all in a sack and son and I are on our way.

Leaving the store, an alarm goes off? A guy walks up and asks for my receipt... It’s in the sack and I handed it to him. He “scanned” it and tells me it was the sunglasses. He hands it back to me and says I can go.

Out in the truck I look at my receipt. Sunglasses aren’t on it:confused:?
Back into the store we go.

Same guy spots me and I tell him my intention to pay for my sunglasses. He points to customer service.

A bunch of ladies visiting. One notices me and asks to help. I slide the contents out of my sack and this gal came un-glued :eek:(insert picture of Fred Sanford having “the big one” here). I got her calmed down and explained my situation. She sold me the sunglass’s for about 6 bucks (were about $12 regular) and we are good to go. Whew! Now you all know why I don’t go to town much.

Back on topic:
I did not see a large selection of ammunition at this particular Wal-mart. They did have a good quantity though. Mostly shotshells and the more common rifle calibers.

Cheezywan

sounds like somebodies a well treated man.. cookies an ammo too..
the ammo seems about the same as around here..

Cheezywan, I don't go to a couple of other Walmarts in the vicinity due to the frame of reference of the employees.

The one near me, thank goodness, has many older employees working in the automotive department. They don't know anything about what's in the ammo case. They seem to be glad to leave the automotive section for a few minutes and like to make a bit of small talk. It doesn't matter to them what I buy, or how much. They never ask impertinent questions or say ridiculous things.

I went through a ridiculous, insane episode at another Walmart. I went in to buy Daisy .177 pellets for my air rifle. A young girl, who was scared to think for herself, made that shopping experience, shall we say, most unpleasant.

I now buy my ammo, and my little pellets, at the Walmart where the clerks aren't a problem.

The selection of ammo is better at the range, but more expensive. I needed to buy some ammo as a present for a friend today, and was doing some research.

Too bad all Sears "ain't what it used to be". My father bought his .22 bullets there when I was a child.

P.S. Forgot to add that the boxes of shotgun BBs, is that what they're called, are all lined up on shelves with the plastic air soft BBs. The air pistols are now locked in a glass case. Only the air soft pistols and air rifles (for BBs and pellets) are on the shelves.

From talking to one of the sporting goods clerks I know there I get the feeling that Walmart is edging out of the guns and ammo business. Have a feeling that they would be happy if their clerks didn't have to handle anything more lethal than rubber ducks and blow up swimming pools. Shame, lots of hunters in this area of Idaho. They do sell a pile of fishing stuff.

I've bought a few rifles there over the years, the last one a Mossberg 835 camo turkey gun and by the time I was done it involved three clerks, two managers and an escort to the front door. So far ammo has been no problem, but I've never understood the need for an escort as Walmart is the only store I've ever been it that does that. Haven't bought any guns at Kmart though. Our only Kmart is about about out of business.

They seem to have plenty of Ammo on hand. It's going to be interesting to see what happens when they put the new store in across the River in Washington. Their closing the old store in our Twin cities of Lewiston, Idaho and Clarkston, Washington and putting a new Super Walmart in next to Costco just across the river in clarkston.

Walmart couldn't buy enough land in Lewiston to build the bigger store. The one major landowner wanted to lease the property rather than sell and so they bought in Clarkston. He did the same thing to Costco and made Clarkston a mint in taxes. Now Walmart is going thru the same thing.

I know there is a lot of controversy over buying at Walmart, but it sure makes my dollar stretch a ways compared to some of the other stores. I do like keeping my 22 ammo stocked up and that's the place to do it where I live.

I'm lucky in that I know some of the staff that work in the gun department, but they sure expect a lot of their low paid clerks. They've got them jumping thru the dangdest hoops to sell a product that most sporting goods stores sell every day without any problems and still meat all state and federal regulations. Oh well, job security.

Several of the Walmarts in the Denver area have dropped their gun sales entirely and are pretty low on stock of just about everything hunting. They do keep a basic supply of handgun and rifle ammo. They are still cheaper than the sporting good stores though.

I used to not be able to imagine being able to get reloading supplies from Walmart as some people have mentioned here. That is until I went to the Walmart in Salida, which is in the mountains. I finally saw one that still carried firearms and had a small selection of reloading supplies.

22LR in the bulk packs can vary store to store in the same area, by a few dollars, at least it can and does so some extent in this area. No idea on other ammo as I reload all that.

I've bought firearms at Cabela's, Scheels, Gander Mountain and Sportsman's Warehouse all of which proceeded to escourt me to the front door when the transaction was completed. When I asked one why this was done got the standard "our insurance carrier requires us to do it".

Once while shopping in Cabela's I spotted an old military rifle that my nephew wanted so placed it in my cart. About half hour later some silly half wit assistant store manage walked by my cart and went ballistic. Said I couldn't have the rifle in the cart like that for unspecified reasons. I retorted that if that were the case then how come they were on the floor within easy reach of the customers? Had it not been for the shells and other items in the cart (nearly thousand bucks worth) I'm sure I would've been escorted out the door at that point.

Needless to say my dollars spent at Cabela's has dropped to almost nill since that encounter--both for clothing (high profit item) and firearms and related equipment.

The special order person at the Walmart nearest me said that they only special order things they usually carry.



they could hardly call that special order.

You might try their online Guns and ammunition page. I couldn't find the ammo part of it, but you may be able to. If you find what you want, order online if possible.

The ONLY thing that I buy at walmart is Federal 550 round value packs. I worked at this particular walmart while I was in college unloading their trucks from 4pm - 1am, a shift that encompassed two other regular shifts, so I got to know a lot of good people. Even so, I only go in the automotive door, I buy the ammo and I leave out that door. I got carded once, the lady said people under 40 had to be carded when purchasing ammo. I thought it was quite funny that she had already asked for my ID when I used my debit card... I try to buy about 10 boxes at a time so I have plenty.

If you go through a lot of .22LR, I'd highly recommend the Civilian Marksmanship Program, they sell ammo at no profit, so they keep prices very low, only problem is you have to buy quite a bit at once.

Slim60, I do try. I think men need us to be as dear and soft, and all things nice, as possible. Men have challenges to face nowadays that just weren't there a generation ago. I'm good at the cookies, haircuts, and all those old-fashioned things. But, knowing enough to buy the right ammo--whew-that took a little research.

HPDrifter, I told the clerk that special order means something not on the regular list. I got one of those "automated answers".

I'm grateful that most of the clerks are grey-haired and don't get fazed by someone of their generation buying bullets. I try to be esp. friendly to them. You have to swallow a lot of pride to work there.

Mattsbox, thanks for the idea. I'll look into the Civilian Marksmanship Program and see what's what.

I've noticed a substancial drop in the amount of ammo and guns that my local WalMart's carry (in VA). I recently saw one store, that previously had two revolving gun racks - not having a single gun (nor the racks). When I asked the clerk if WalMart was getting out of selling guns, she told me "Eventually... we just backed it off so that only 23 stores will be carrying guns." When I asked her "23 state-wide, or country-wide", she didn't know.

I know there is a difference in what ammo certain ones carry, because the one that was 3 miles from my house didn't carry any .40 pistol ammo, but tons of 9mm. The one that was 10 miles from my house, in another city carried a bunch of .40 pistol ammo, as well as the 9mm... but no shotgun ammo at all.

My last fiasco with WalMart came when I was buying a Remington 597 .22 rifle. I wanted one with the camo stock, and according to Remington, that was a WalMart special run only... so I couldn't find it anywhere else (I looked too). When I went to fill out paperwork, they told me they couldn't sell it to me because I had a FL drivers licence, and FL was one of the states on their chart that they weren't allowed to sell guns to people (in VA). HUH??? They showed me the chart. There were about 5 or so states on there in green that were marked "Do not sell". I responded that I was in the Navy, showed them my military ID, and asked what I was supposed to do. The store manager was called, and I was told that I had to go get a copy of my orders, saying I was stationed here. WHAT??? I stopped by Bass Pro Shops on the way home and asked them about that rule. Never heard of it. They would be glad to sell me one.... but all they had was that grey stocked version. So, I drove home, got on my computer, printed out a copy of my orders from BUPERS online, and brought them back. Then they started whining that they weren't "certified" orders. I walked out of the store, my friend (also in the Navy) took blue ink, signed his name to the top, and wrote "Certified to be a true copy" underneath. Went back in (3 minutes elapsed time), and they sold me the gun with a smile. What the H***???

A few months later, I purchased a Springfield XD40 tactical from another sporting goods store. I asked them about the "FL" thing too. They looked at me like I was crazy and said "I have no idea what you are talking about... you're military... you can buy it".

All the best,
Glenn

Glenn, glad your friend "certified" your papers. It's hard to imagine how much the "I just work here" bureaucratic mindset can be so much the norm now. It's always so refreshing when someone shows some initiative and signs of real thinking. 'Tis rare in a store clerk. There is a great deal of that communist "one size fits all" thinking at Walmart, and everywhere these days.

I don't know why stores have such arbitrary rules. There seem to be more and more of them.

It's hard to imagine how much the "I just work here" bureaucratic mindset can be so much the norm now. It's always so refreshing when someone shows some initiative and signs of real thinking. 'Tis rare in a store clerk. .

I would imagine the average Wal Mart clerk needs that job badly enough to not want to risk losing it by being "creative" when it comes to the store's rules and regulations.

Ken, I agree. We all have to gather straw and make bricks.

It is the way those rules are kept, and the disrespect for the customer that is so irksome. And to not be willing to think about why the rule is there, its purpose, its consequences, its morality, etc.

How nice it is to go to a shop where the employees enjoy working there and meet the customers as fellow human beings. That's one of the reasons I buy some things at the range. The fellows there have such a good time showing what's in the shop, explaining, demonstrating, just talking shop, telling about their shooting. It's nice to find a place like that. There is a hardware store here that comes close to it, but not quite.

I buy my produce now from someone not too far away. It works on the honor system. You bring your own bags and egg cartons. The vegetables taste great and it's a lovely experience.

Takes a bit of looking, but the Mom-and-Pop shops are definitely worth finding.

LBR,
That was the part I left out about the "certified". I had asked, right before leaving the store, "WHO has to certify them?". The clerk shrugged and told me "Anyone who can verify they are correct, I guess". So, in keeping with that employees request, I had my friend, who could verify that they are correct, since he knows where I am stationed, sign them for me. He was actually standing there right beside me in the store when I went back in to get it. I almost had him do it right there in the store, but didn't. Then, as we were leaving the store, he was the one who said "Hey, I can verify their accuracy, right?" :D Ha! Guess that's why we are friends - we think alike.
All the best,
Glenn

Glenn, thanks for the chuckle. I'm glad you all thought of that.

From talking to one of the sporting goods clerks I know there I get the feeling that Walmart is edging out of the guns and ammo business.

Several of the Walmarts in the Denver area have dropped their gun sales entirely and are pretty low on stock of just about everything hunting. They do keep a basic supply of handgun and rifle ammo.

I've noticed a substancial drop in the amount of ammo and guns that my local WalMart's carry (in VA). I recently saw one store, that previously had two revolving gun racks - not having a single gun (nor the racks). When I asked the clerk if WalMart was getting out of selling guns, she told me "Eventually... we just backed it off so that only 23 stores will be carrying guns." When I asked her "23 state-wide, or country-wide", she didn't know.


Same thing happened here, one Eugene store and the Springfield store no longer carry guns, I asked the question and was told by the clerk that 1000 of the 2500 stores were going to keep the gun sales, that was a couple of years ago, and since the ammo on hand has dropped by over half and the price has DOUBLED!
Ammo can be purchased at the local BiMart for the same as Wally World, but selection does vary slightly