The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Hello
As a fervent lover of all things Mauser, I thought that I would give an Enfield No4 a try and see what all the fuss is about.
I have contacted 3 separate gun dealers on web sites and not one has replied after 4 days.
These are the same people who moan about there loss of business, I put it down to a general attitude within the gun trade.
But now I think I have found the real reason If you ask too many questions such as Bore condition, Muzzle condition, Bolt lock up and face or any other condition related questions they must somehow go into panic mode and must think "Better avoid this one " as he might know something about firearms. Hopefully I am wrong in my conclusions and have just been unlucky, maybe I will get contacted. "Have any other forum members experienced similar gun shop problems" ?

gun dealers or gun shops? if dealers then a lot are part time/occasional players and may not even check their email if they are not actively selling something at this moment, not good practise but that is life! gunshops are a whole different kettle of fish, if they don't answer emails then ring them, if they are a shop they will be open, if you don't succeed then try again, don't forget a lot of them are one man bands or have minimal staff, yes its a service industry, but you have to be realistic and they can only do so much at one time. if they dodge the questions or can't answer them, then you have to make a decision as to whether you wish to deal with them or not.

Its the down fall of many an RFD but there are exceptions and that's where my business goes

I can think of a couple of guns I have found in the last year that were both distance sales and both were badly described to the degree that with a greater degree of accuracy the rifles would have both of easily cleared a fair bit more than the asking price. Basically because they were commission sales and the RFD could not be bothered to include an accurate description or sharp photographs they went for quite sensible money, however it was also a risk in buying them sight unseen.

Equally I had another gun recently arrive where the good points were mentioned and the issues glossed over so now I have a fair amount of unexpected work to do to bring the gun to a condition I will be satisfied with. The seller knew this as well, he just chose to ignore it.

Swings and roundabouts I guess.

Yes, I've noticed it, but even with reloading equipment without technical questions! Back in October/November I sent an e-mail to three RFD's (shops and dealers) whom I've shopped with before asking for their prices on a selection of powders and their availability, as my preferred local RFD doesn't stock those brands. I didn't get a reply from them, even after a follow up. It's a shame because I was looking to buy ~5kg so that's almost £400 for doing nothing more than looking on their shelves, or dropping their distributor a line.

A few years ago, I even and order with an RFD for £500 of reloading consumables (powder, primers and bullets). I was told the items had arrived and to come and pick them up, so I drove ~30 minutes to go pick them up only to be told they hadn't come in and to "try again next week". I promptly cancelled my order, told them I "might re-order again next week".

I've only found one local RFD, who is a friend and member of two shooting clubs I go to, who I can actually rely on when I drop him a message asking for stuff. It doesn't bother me if he tells me he doesn't stock it, at least he bothers to give me a response!

I have had email enquiries which go something like:

I want one of these how do i get one where can i shoot it
(image of a shooter in a practical (most likely CSR) competition, photograph taken of a magazine page)

(This one is copied from an email I received earlier this month. No name, no punctuation, no hello or thank you. This is the total content of the email)

That is one of the extreme examples but they are of an ilk. It makes it very hard to be polite or even for me to be bothered to reply sometimes - I do reply but it is hard. I'm not saying anyone on here would be like that but some people are just lazy or ignorant of email etiquette.

It's not just gun dealers! I was looking at a new piece of forestry equipment a few years ago and emailed 6 dealers through their "contact us" page on their web sites. 7 days later I had received NO replies so I telephoned two of them and mentioned the lack of response. Both were very blase' and said, "Yeah, those emails go to our spam box!"

Like Matnall explained you would be surprised by the amount of stupid emails you receive.

Better to spend your time looking after a customer in the shop or on the phone than replying to jokers

About 2 years ago I e-mailed a dealer re a rifle, they got back in a day or two
saying it's been sold, reading this I now wounder if they decided I was a waster
as the gun is still on their site, or they just never update the site.

As a Johnny foreigner, I found some amazing very knowledgeable RFD with a real passion for the rifles they offer , but, also sadly, serious A***holes in for quick dosh, borderline « dishonnest » (to put it mildly), especially when it comes up to selling K98 as outrageous prices.