WOW! JUST WOW! Wal-Mart surprised and astounded me!

[Griff]

Kinda off topic... but;

I'm on a quick trip up to Portland, Or. Gettin' paid to drag an empty trailer up to a new customer? Priceless and profitable. To top that, tomorrow I pick up a short load from ID to Vancouver, WA add to the profit margin! Anyway, I left TX on Friday evening and noticed that night that my flashlight was dead and no spare batteries. In addition, my back-up external harddrive was acting up.

So... I planned a stop at Wal-Mart. Missed the one I meant to stop at in Dumas, TX... then didn't see the one outside Denver on I-25 til it was too late. So... I decided to stop at the one in Laramie, WY. The batteries I use are generally kept in the Photo Dept... but both racks were out. And Wal-Mart doesn't carry the brand of flashlight I use anymore... but I went over to Sporting Goods just on the chance.

As I perused the shelves... what do I come across? A whole 4' segment of shelving dedicated to reloading. Oh sure, there were gaps... but, there were dies, bullets, powder, manuals, presses and a number of accessories. I picked up a new primer setup for my Rock-Chucker (I purchased used off E-Bay several years back), the new Hornady manual, but dern it... they were out of #14 Shell Holders! I wanted to pick up a spare!

Yep, finally found the batteries up near the checkout counter! And a new 1.5 Terabyte external backup drive! Data storage? I got data storage, 1.5TB external... and after reformatting, the old 500GB drive works grand, a 120GB solid state internal and a 500GB primary drive!

But really... that reloading section at Wal-Mart astounded me!

[vancelw]

Most of the Walmarts I've been in in MT, WY, SD etc have reloading, although limited. I tend to buy a lot of reloading stuff in MT (no sales tax).
What astounded me was when the Miles City MT store got rid of their guns!? Never thought I'd see that. I think a lot of the smaller stores were having problems with FFL employees (not enough or not trained well enough) and I've heard since then that a some of those stores are slowly adding guns back.

I'm also surprised to hear how many black rifles (AR types) WM is selling nowadays. I was in ours last week and the gun rack was half bare. They will have fun collecting them all. Not gonna happen.

[pshort]

Howdy,
The local Walmart guy talked about some reloading stuff as well.
(Here in Little Falls, MN)
We'll see what happens. It'd be nice to see primers and powder at least.

Paul

[Don McDowell]

It's weird to see a Walmart without reloading supplies....
Was in the one in Cheyenne the other day and they had at least a 1/2 dozen AR's in various configurations in the rack

[RIHMFIRE]

that confirms it...our walmarts suck....
all we have is ammo and the spattering of accessories
and hunting stuff......and tons of fishing...itf Florida...
area manager is an idiot....female too

[nemhed]

While our Walmart doesn't carry any reloading supplies, they have several AR-15s and Mini-14s in the rack, plus they sell a bunch of AR accesories. Go figure!

[Sixgun]

Whoa! Griff, you sound very excited! Well, you should be. The Walmarts around here in "gangland" don't even carry knives or duct tape.

All that fancy computer talk is over my head.

On an even brighter (for you) side is the fact that you will be gettin' 6 and a half miles per gallon instead of 5 for carrying an empty/half load. And to think, you want to blow that extra profit on a #14 shellholder. You finally giving up on the 30-30 for a 45-70? --------Sixgun

[jnyork]

Wyoming Walmarts I have been in have always carried reloading stuff and guns, whole wall full of AR types last time I was in about a month ago. The one I always shop at in Riverton is run by a young lady who speaks gunsnammo fluently and is very helpful.

Some of you may be surprised to learn that Walmart is the nations leading firearms retailer.

[Griff]

And to think, you want to blow that extra profit on a #14 shellholder. You finally giving up on the 30-30 for a 45-70? --------Sixgun

Nope, my .40-90SBN uses the #14 also. I have one out in the reloading shop... but took one off thhe Lee Handloading tool to decap some .45Colts and set the #14 aside. "Aside" is apparently a big space!

(I had to call my son to make sure I was usin' the correct 'puter terms)!

[Rusty]

If anyone is looking for a Wal Mart there is an app you can get on your Droid called tools for truckers that will search your area and tell you where the nearest one is. It also does other things but that's the topic.

I noticed several years ago WMs in GA had a much better outdoor section than our's in Fl. Oh well.

[Dave B]

I wish Wal-Mart would surprise and astound us and will talk Winchester into manufacturing their leverguns in the USA so they can sell for less than the ones made in Japan.

Dave B

[damienph]

I am just glad that our closest Walmart is selling guns and ammo again. For over a year they had quit selling guns altogether and had very little ammo selection. Now they carry a better selection of long guns (only) and more ammo than ever. Reloading supplies would be great but I am not holding my breath.