Santa gave me clearance to buy a Henry Big Boy Color Case in .357.

Seems like every time I try to purchase a new gun through a shop lately, I run into this. "No sir, we don't have them in stock, but (cheerfully) "We can oder you one and have it in two days"!

This is frigging Houston, Texas, with scores of shops both gigantic and tiny, but nobody has anthing in stock. They prefer to let their distributors warehouse the inventory and the store is only there for drop-ship.

Big whoop! They all order from the same distributor at the same price and have it in the same 2 days.

This might be acceptable in some cases, but I like to examine merchandise before I buy. Especially if I have never seen or handled one before. In this case, reviewers mention the Henry BB is kinda heavy. This coming from a 22 yr old. This might mean it will be uncomfortably heavy for me as I am in my 70's, but I'm supposed to gamble nearly $1,000.00 on liking it.

Like many things these days...they ain't what they used to be.

OLD MAN YELLING AT CLOUDS

It is a legitimate gripe, but in this time of internet distributors, it is the reality. The brick and mortars just can't afford to stock they way they used to.

Try the big retailers, they are your best chance. Maybe Bass Pro, Collector's Firearms, or Carter's Country (big local gun stores in Houston) might have one. Or a gun show - the next HGC show is January 25-26. There is a show in Pasadena December 14-15, and the High Caliber Show is December 28-29.

Welcome to SigForum!

-Rob

Eight pounds seven ounces. That is a heavy and well built gun. I have the Golden Boy in 22lr lever action and with the octagonal barrel it is heavy as well. I have returned guns from the LGS that I have ordered with few problems. I do enough business and I let them know I would prefer to deal locally. Of course I do not fire the weapon but look it over closely and try the trigger.

I tried Collectors Firearms, "The Biggest Damn Gun Store in the World". They had ONE in brass..I want steel.

The local gun shows in recent years offer mostly AR's and AR accessories. I don't recall seeing centerfire Henrys at a show.

How can big retail gun shops survive when every corner shop can order from Davidson's House of Guns for the same price and turn time?

Why would I or anybody drive 45 minutes in H traffic when they can get the same deal next door?

Not a solution when you want to see something besides a pic on a website or a damn AR or Glock at the Pasadena gun show.

I would use the phone and call around, most shops won't have their inventory online. I would also go online to search the Wal Mart inventory using the pickup today criteria, they do carry the Henry rifles, at least around here. I would also check the bigger sporting goods stores online.

Welcome to the forum.

Shouldn't be that bad. I didn't know you could go wrong with a Big Boy.

.38 Supersig,

From my experience, you can't
go wrong with a Henry.

They just seem scarce in the stores.

I'm aware there are several routes I can go to buy one.

My whole original point was, I would like to see one in-the-raw, first.

A clerk at Academy said they could order one to be delivered to the store, then I would have to fill out the form and pay for it (hopefully no "perp-walk") then, If I didn't like it, I could get my money back. Kind of a screwy process, if he knew what he was talking about.

I will look into that.

They do lose a lot of sales with that practice. I kind of want a P210A, but no one carries them around here. I even ask. They tell me they can get one in that same 2 day time period. So I tell them we should figure out the sales tax and I will put the total in an envelope. In 2 days I'll be back to either pick up my gun or the envelope. They decline because they know they're pieces of shit and won't be able to deliver.

quote:

A clerk at Academy said they could order one to be delivered to the store, then I would have to fill out the form and pay for it (hopefully no "perp-walk") then, If I didn't like it, I could get my money back. Kind of a screwy process, if he knew what he was talking about.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That sounds more than fair. Just be aware Academy does not allow you to dry fire any of their guns. All have trigger locks. I would ask to confirm with the guy who manages the gun counter. This store is going out of its way for you and treat them accordingly with future business.

Those "pieces of shit" are struggling to stay in business. And I have news for you-customers lie like fucking rugs. The only way to guarantee someone ordering a gun will pay for it is to demand pre-payment. Don't like it? Order from Buds. Everybody wants to handle, touch, feel, etc, nobody wants to pay. In a few years, if trends continue, there will be no stocked storefronts, or damn few.

It is what it is...

In a world of AR’s and plastic, doesn’t make much sense to stock limited space for something that may sit there for a while. For every 1 Henry rifle a typical store may sell today, they’ll exponentially sell more “modern” firearms.

I’m sure there’s a market for pink refrigerators, but I doubt you’ll find any in stock at the local appliance stores.

I have griped about this for years. Fredward is spot on, with the rise of internet sales and everyone wanting to squeeze out every pennys worth of savings they can get, more and more brick and mortar mom and pop shops are closing. There is no profit left to survive on much less have any kind of inventory in house. If your not looking for the latest tricked up tacti cool AR or some plastic fantastic pistol your out of luck.

Me, I like high end 1911's and high end single action revolvers(Colt, USFA, Standard Mfg, etc) and Cooper rifles. I get very few chances to see any of the above in store anymore. Matter of fact, the nearest mom and pop I have been buying from for 20 years closed for good last week. Internet sales killed them. No profit left to make. Be competitive with Buds and go broke, or have a profit margin markup and sell nothing and go broke. Its a lose lose for small shops out there anymore. Warehouse stores and internet driven sales are the booming industry and are killing small retailers. I'm not so sure I like the trend either.

How can a small LGS survive when eight miles down the road a big box store sells for less than the small shop can buy it for from his supplier? I see the catalogs and flyers from the wholesalers, I've seen the invoices that come in with the orders. Margins are not there for the small shops. They have to survive on repairs, used, consignments and
accessory sales. Even ammunition is rough to compete with, unless it is a off the wall caliber the big box store has it and probably sells it for what the small dealer pays to put it on his shelf. Then you factor in rent/mortgage payments, heat light, insurance, taxes, wages. All this adds up. And once the shop buys it, it's there's until it sells. No sending it back after six months with no sale, doesn't work that way. Sure there's the auction sites but then it may entail having a dedicated Internet salesperson, setting up a shipping department, etc. So a small shop might need to hire one or two more people depending, a business on the edge may not be able to sustain that increase in outlay until if and when that part of the business gets off the ground.


Then when the LGS closes up it's amazing how many will wring their hands lamenting the loss of the small store. But those were the same ones that would never spend a dollar there, instead they went to the big box store. But they could sure ask for advice and information before they went to the box store. Then after they would buy they would come back bragging about their "great deal".

Similar thing at the motorcycle dealership I was at. People would come in to ask a lot of questions then go and buy off the Internet. One of the factors of why it closed the doors. Now let them go ask questions from the order takers on the other end of the phone or computer at one of those places. Or if they have a problem with the part once they get it.

I also can guarantee that nobody in those Internet businesses or big bo stores will help the newbie with the 1911 and the reassembly problem (I have) or in the case of the motorcycle shop replace the shifter rod on a tourist's Road King (did that also) that failed on a Sunday. All departments were open except service. He was stranded, a few minutes and he was on the road again.

The Great Recession and the internet have forever changed people’s shopping habits. Like what was stated earlier, a gun store pretty much has to have a range or some other form of income to stay in business besides firearm sales. Sad, but that’s the way it’s looking.

quote:

Originally posted by Brazos Dan:
I tried Collectors Firearms, "The Biggest Damn Gun Store Show in the World"...

They always claim that in their radio commercial with Michael Berry.

quote:

Originally posted by MattW:
It is what it is...

In a world of AR’s and plastic, doesn’t make much sense to stock limited space for something that may sit there for a while. For every 1 Henry rifle a typical store may sell today, they’ll exponentially sell more “modern” firearms.

I’m sure there’s a market for pink refrigerators, but I doubt you’ll find any in stock at the local appliance stores.

It is all about the current market.

Guns with wooden handguards and stocks are simply not a popular item to sell nowadays. Including lever actions. I hate to say this (I have two Marlins), but these kind of firearms have almost become a niche product. A good gun shop perhaps carries a couple of hundred different guns, and hopes to stock a few of each, perhaps not. They would rather stock a dozen G19 MOS pistols or CZ Scorpions rather than a single Henry lever action. In the shops I have visited in the last couple of years, everything is black.

OP: Did you look at the Henry website that shows the multitude of Henry dealers in the Houston area and try contacting them?

quote:

Originally posted by mesabi:
OP: Did you look at the Henry website that shows the multitude of Henry dealers in the Houston area and try contacting them?

This.

I've run across a fair number of customers over the years in which this never occured to them.