Mitchell Mausers and Cabelas

So, I'm looking around in Cabelas, trying to decide what to spend my $200 gift card on, ended up picking up a used Glock 21, but while browsing, I'm looking over their used longguns and noticed a bolt action with bleached wood and I thought to myself, "Hmmm...wonder if that is a Mitchell Mauser monstrosity."

Yup, sure enough....

It was a Yugo 24/47, no matching parts, bleached wood, used, and was on "sale" for ... get this ... $400 bucks.

Yes, you read that right...$400.

Glad I got my all correct Yugo 24/47 with original wood in great shape for only $200, shipped.

i don't know of any collector who would cry if that whole miserable faking factory just went up in smoke.

It was well and truly pathetic what they did to the stock...

I had a customer transfer one in through my store and until I had seen it, I was excited. Once I opened it for inspection, (I couldn't help myself :p ) I discovered what a horrible thing these rifles were. I was wondering where the wood was, as the matching numbers. And the horrible reblue was so bad I had seen Russian Captures in better shape! From then on I have maintained a distaste for them and their rifles. They are, at least as far as I am concerned, just as bad as bubba and his hacksaw.

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Originally Posted by Amsdorf

It was a Yugo 24/47, no matching parts, bleached wood, used, and was on "sale" for ... get this ... $400 bucks

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The only place more expensive that Mitchels Mausers, for buying old military rifles, is in fact cabelas. Below I am posting a link to a thread I started about a wek ago. It was a great old Jap Type 44 the was WAY overpriced.

https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=35290

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Originally Posted by mdrim13

The only place more expensive that Mitchels Mausers, for buying old military rifles, is in fact cabelas. Below I am posting a link to a thread I started about a wek ago. It was a great old Jap Type 44 the was WAY overpriced.

https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=35290

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So, it was adding insult to injury!

Cabelas has one advantage over other similar stores. They offer heavy discounting and credit card points to card holders. They have member events, coupons for $100 off a $500 purchase, etc, bonuses for getting friends to sign up which works out to about $40 per person in credit. So while some of their prices may be high, you time it right, build up your points, and you can walk out of there with a rifle that cost you nothing or almost nothing.

I watch for their sales, wait for their coupons and then make my purchases. I have noticed their prices are a little higher than some other places on milsurps but not extraordinarily so but the trade off is, I have points that I can use when I don't have the cash to buy elsewhere. The points cost me nothing, I don't carry a balance from month to month so I have no interest fees. Good deal.

Aragorn, yes, this is true.

Aragorn243, there is supposedly no such thing as a free lunch. At least, I am pretty sure that Cabelas is not offering one. Anyone can offer something at twice the going rate and then offer a 50% discount.** That must be one of the oldest tricks in the marketplace. What we call moon(shine)-prices in Mauserland.

You have no interest fees? Why on earth should you. You could have saved up the money by buying the stuff somewhere else for less, and then made a (probaly more favorable) cash deal for the rifle. As it is, Cabelas has had the interest benefit - as a return on the profits they made from you on all those things you bought before you had totted up enough to get that "almost free" item. In effect, they had a free loan from you until you were able to cash in your voucher. But if it makes you happy, that's the main thing.:)

:wave:
Patrick


** That may be a rhetorical exaggeration, but...

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

I have noticed their prices are a little higher than some other places

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Patrick,

I rarely buy anything from Cabela's. I get ammo there and some clearance clothes from time to time and that's about it.

What I have is a Cabela's credit card which is a normal credit card which can be used anywhere they are accepted (including Mauserland). It is not limited to Cabela's. As I use credit cards almost exclusively for purchases as I don't like carrying cash and there is no advantage to paying cash in 95% of all retailers, there is NO cost to me at all. The points build up similar to airline miles or any other credit card points system. Cabela's has a higher rate of return than most I've seen.

Cabela's does make money off of my purchases. All credit card purchases have a small fee attached to them at the sellers end so they are not "giving" the firearms to me. Yet as I do not carry a balance and the price would be the same if I paid cash or with credit, they are "free" to me. I acquire no interest fees. I get points when my wife buys groceries, I get points when I purchase building materials at my hardware store. These are all purchases we make on a normal basis.

Cabela's prices are also not marked up as high as you indicate. Used firearms typically are 10-15% higher then you may find in a nearby gun shop. New firearms are typically 20% less than you will find in a nearby gun shop. When they put them on sale, they are much less. Their clothing is pricy when you pay full price and so are some of their other items which is why I suggest shopping around, waiting for sales, etc.

The end result is that over the last half dozen years I have gotten, two surplus handguns, one new handgun, two new rimfire rifles with scopes, two new high power rifles with scopes, one used but never fired rifle in the box and two surplus rifles including a Smith Corona 03a3 and my out of pocket expenses for these was a grand total of about $420. Retail value of these same items purchased at lowest going price at any retailer is in excess of $3000, and that is not Cabela's prices. I admittedly pay more for some of these items using the points (which cost me nothing) than I would pay cash elsewhere. For example. I paid $99 in points (zero out of pocket) for a 91/30 at Cabela's. If I wait for a normal sale at Dunham's, I can get the same rifle for $89 but it would be $89 cash out of pocket. If I wait for Dunham's special sale, I can get the same rifle for $79 cash out of pocket. $79 is the best deal I can get. I don't have an FFL or a Curio and Relic license. So that rifle will cost me at a minimum $79 at my lowest priced source or I can get if for free using $99 worth of card points. You tell me which is the better deal.

And yes, it makes me very happy.

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

Cabela's prices are also not marked up as high as you indicate.

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Well I did admit to, just possibly a teensy weensy bit of rhetorical exaggeration.;) The system works for you, and yes, it looks like a good deal from here too, but what really gets my attention is those prices. Convert them into euros and weep, fellow European shooters!

:wave:
Patrick

Actually, when I go to Cabelas I always use my iPhone with RedLaser that allows me instantly to check/compare their prices, nearly 90% of the time they are marked up significantly higher than many other options I have to buy the stuff. I like Cabelas, but you definitely pay a premium for acres of stuffed animals to look at.

:)

After all this discussion, I had to have a Cabela's fix today. No interesting milsurps today, hasn't been any in months. I did see the rack of Mitchell's Mausers for $399 on clearance no less and three of the four did look really bad with the bleached wood. The fourth looked pretty nice. They were not K98's.

I did get a nice new pair of hunting boots on clearance for $51.00 which is the cheapest I've seen anywhere and I have been looking. Gore Tex, 800 mg of insulation, etc, regular price is $140.00.

They did not have my Nagant revolver ammo this time which was disappointing. Fellow said they've been out for weeks and while they would be getting more in, he didn't know when.

Here is an example of the Cabela's oddity. They have a hunting game for Wii, it's new, Cabela's Big Game Hunting 2012. They sold it for $69.99, cut the price after Christmas to $59.99. I bought it two days before Christmas at Walmart for $39.99. It's CABELA'S game, their brand.

Like I said in the earlier post, I don't buy much there but I love going to look and when the right gun shows up, I use up those points.

I am involved in a business that has had to deal with WalMart....doing business with WalMart is brutal to do business with. There is no flexibility on their part. You play by their rules, period. Doesn't surprise me that Cabela's branded product sells for less at Walmart than at Cabela's.