There isn’t much that the gun community agrees on. We bicker and fight over weapons, calibers, platforms, and even tactics. Yet, one thing that can unite us is a belief that this stuff gets expensive. Guns are expensive, ammo is expensive, optics are expensive, and you get the point. It’s expensive, and inflation isn’t helping, and election years certainly don’t help. How can we save money, fight inflation, and keep shooting?
As a notorious cheapskate, I have a few tips. I’ve been shooting for a long time now, and I can appreciate how to save a little money here and there without giving up quality. I’ve got a deck of tips that I want to share to help our readers save a little money on guns, ammo, and accessories.
Buy Used Guns And Save Money
This is the most obvious in a lot of cases. If you’re shopping for guns and want to save a bit of cash, buy used. For a majority of mass-produced guns, this is the best route to take. A Glock is a Glock, and an M&P is an M&P. Most people don’t shoot their guns enough to have caused any major wear on them. One of my favorite ways to score affordable firearms is to look for police trade-ins.
Finding 870 Police Magnums for less than 300 dollars is entirely possible. Another great way to save money is to be willing to purchase an older generation of a firearm. The Glock Gen 4 and Gen 3 guns can be dirt cheap, and single stack 9mms bottomed out price-wise now that everyone offloaded them for P365s.
Used guns can be a great way to cut some costs off the initial firearms investment. If you’re reading this, you are already in one of the biggest marketplaces for firearms, both used and new. Finish this article, of course, and then use the Guns America link at the bottom to find the right used firearm for you.
Look Into Memberships
Plenty of outdoor stores offer free benefits to ‘members.’ It might cost a phone number or email address, but it can be a great way to get coupons and deal alerts. If you’re financially savvy, then a store credit card can be a great way to knock off 5% of your purchase. Of course, that only saves money if you pay it off quickly and never get hit by interest, late fees, etc.
I routinely get coupons and text alerts for free shipping, ten dollars off 100 spent, and so forth. I created another email that I only use for these deals so my main inbox isn’t overloaded with crap. If you’re a veteran, sign up with the Exchange, and you can not only shop tax-free but cruise their ammo deals.
These deals have saved me a ton of money. Some websites offer price alerts, too, which will notify you when a price drops on a specific item. This is another way to save money, especially during big sales.
Package Deals Cut Costs
If you can find a package deal with your firearm and chosen accessory, you can often save a little bit of money. The overall price will be higher, but you’ll see savings if you price the accessories individually. When you buy a SIG with a SIG optic, you’ll save a good chunk of money. Of course, you have to be fine with the SIG optic and not have another preference.
Package deals could include extra magazines, lights, optics, and even stuff like holsters and slings. Package deals on used guns are where the most money can be saved. In my experience, if you’re buying on the secondary market, you can eliminate the value of something like an optic, slings, and extra magazines when negotiating.
Embrace Blems To Save Money
Blem is a term used to describe guns and gear that aren’t perfect but still perfectly useable. A blem gun isn’t going to have broken parts, but the finish might be scratched, or it might lack a magazine when it normally comes with two magazines. Maybe it’s missing stuff like optics plates. A blem sale can also include guns used for trade shows or demos that might have some evident handling marks.
Blems can cut hundreds of dollars from a gun or parts and help you save money. I’ve gotten BCM complete lowers for PSA prices because they were ‘blem’ and had a slight finish issue. Blem sales often move fast, so you must be set up for deal alerts and willing to move when they pop into your stratosphere.
Haunt Deal Aggregators
Deal aggregators do a lot of the work for you. They take deals from all over the country and the internet and put them right in front of your face. These aggregators cover guns, ammo, optics, magazines, and more. I use three deal aggregators, Gun.Deals, the Gun Deals Subreddit, and Ammo Seek.
These three websites guide me to deals on just about everything I need to keep on the range. I haunt these aggregators. I check them before I check my email in the morning. Is every deal posted a banger? No, but if you cruise through them often, you’ll find gold.
Be Patient
The last tip I have for saving money is to be patient. The gun world is cyclical. If you can, wait for deals during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Those are great times to shop and find those deals. I also consistently wait until summer to buy ammo and guns in many cases.
In the summer, people spend money on vacations, not guns. This creates a predictable summertime slump in the gun industry. Prices lower, and deals explode. This includes lowered gun prices, rebates, or things like Springfield’s Gear Up deals, where you get extra mags and such. Online, you might find free shipping deals or one of those fancy coupons to trim some costs and save money.
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Patience will save you more money than any other tip on this list. It pays to be patient. Prices rise and fall in the gun industry. It’s almost like the stock market or poker: know when to hold, when to fold, and when to buy.
Save Money – Buy Guns
It can be tough to save money when it comes to firearms and firearm accessories. We aren’t living in a cheap world by any means, and it’s not getting cheaper. I pulled out a box of .45 ACP with a sticker that said 12.95, and that kind of deal isn’t coming back. Luckily, the deals we can get now will be the good old days of the future, but be smart, be patient, and do your research, and you’ll save money, time, and your nerves.
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