Another nail in the small dealers coffin.

[MistAgain]

Sportsman Gun Centre has announced that they are now official distributor for Lee reloading Products and Boyd Stocks.

I have to ask the question .....................WHY ?

Lee products have been supplied by Hannams for over 30 years and still are .
Krank has also supplied them for the past few years as well .

Both companies give good service and prices to the trade and us shooters so why does SGC need to get their grubby paws on Lee products .

And Boyds have been supplied for many years by Roger Francis , although frequently Boyds sends him what they want , and not what Roger wants .
Add to this that Boyds will sell direct into the UK , mainly by being economical with the details on the customs documents .

The UK market is smaller than the smallest American state , so I cannot see the logic of American companies have even more distributors in the UK .
Nor can I see the logic in a UK company taking on brands that are already well supported by exissting companies .

Unless of course I am missing something .

If I am , could someone enlighten me , please .

[BamBam]

Are they the official SOLE distributor?

[MistAgain]

Are they the official SOLE distributor?

They cant be SOLE distributor because American law prohibits that .

[kennyc]

Sportsman Gun Centre has announced that they are now official distributor for Lee reloading Products and Boyd Stocks.

I have to ask the question .....................WHY ?

Lee products have been supplied by Hannams for over 30 years and still are .
Krank has also supplied them for the past few years as well .

Both companies give good service and prices to the trade and us shooters so why does SGC need to get their grubby paws on Lee products .

And Boyds have been supplied for many years by Roger Francis , although frequently Boyds sends him what they want , and not what Roger wants .
Add to this that Boyds will sell direct into the UK , mainly by being economical with the details on the customs documents .

The UK market is smaller than the smallest American state , so I cannot see the logic of American companies have even more distributors in the UK .
Nor can I see the logic in a UK company taking on brands that are already well supported by exissting companies .

Unless of course I am missing something .

If I am , could someone enlighten me , please .

Boyds will no longer sell direct to the UK as almost all their stocks exceed the ITARS $100 limit, above which you need to have export papers for, its not cost effective for the individual, although if you are bringing in 100 or more as Sportsmens probably will it becomes cost effective.

[saddler]

Recent (last couple of years worth) experience of Hannams would be covered by the Scotsgun Rule.

[Fedaykin]

When I went to IWA last year I spoke to a number of EU and US suppliers about import to the UK and it is unfortunately an expensive affair. This is why the UK shooting trade has coalesced around a small number of larger specialist traders who are operating in effect a Price Fixing cabal. To make it worth importing into the UK volume is key, small traders just can't make the size of orders to make it worthwhile.

My friend who is expanding his ammunition business is facing real challenges finding suppliers, when we were at IWA last year going around companies to discuss buying their product we found many either had exclusive deals with the big UK importers like Edgars, York Guns, Krank's and SGC or were only prepared to supply a volume beyond what an SME is prepared to pay for. Trying to expand your business to compete with the big traders is difficult when they hold most of the exclusivity deals with suppliers. We spent a fair amount of time walking around IWA trying to find suppliers that were new and hadn't signed deals with the big boys.

It is not surprising that SGC has got Lee, they probably put forward a business plan that involved buying an increased volume of Lee parts. SGC have a more modern web presence and E-Store that was also more than likely a factor, in some ways SGC is becoming the UK version of Cabelas. They have a number of large retail stores plus a modern E-Store.

Sadly the day of the small gun shop is becoming a thing of the past. They can't compete with online for bread and butter stuff like cleaning gear and are increasingly a place where people go to just buy ammunition or pick up a gun. I am expecting in time that as more of these small shops close you will have to travel further to pick up a gun or ammunition from a larger shop.

[Sim G]

Sportsmans was a great place when they were in Paignton. Their "outlets" are not such a great place to visit...

[DL.]

I thought the sportsmans gun company were okay when they were based in the small shop in Paignton, but when they became a larger operation, I felt that smaller companies deserved my business more.

I go to Macleods of Tain once a year and because they're a small firm and are fair with me, they'll get my repeat custom.

I was in Hannams for the first time in a while last year, and most of the things I'd spotted on their website they didn't have in stock.

Edited to add - Sim G beat me to it!

[MistAgain]

Sportsman Gun Centre has announced that they are now official distributor for Lee reloading Products and Boyd Stocks.

I have to ask the question .....................WHY ?

Lee products have been supplied by Hannams for over 30 years and still are .
Krank has also supplied them for the past few years as well .

Both companies give good service and prices to the trade and us shooters so why does SGC need to get their grubby paws on Lee products .

And Boyds have been supplied for many years by Roger Francis , although frequently Boyds sends him what they want , and not what Roger wants .
Add to this that Boyds will sell direct into the UK , mainly by being economical with the details on the customs documents .

The UK market is smaller than the smallest American state , so I cannot see the logic of American companies have even more distributors in the UK .
Nor can I see the logic in a UK company taking on brands that are already well supported by exissting companies .

Unless of course I am missing something .

If I am , could someone enlighten me , please .

Boyds will no longer sell direct to the UK as almost all their stocks exceed the ITARS $100 limit, above which you need to have export papers for, its not cost effective for the individual, although if you are bringing in 100 or more as Sportsmens probably will it becomes cost effective.

I saw two Boyds invoices for stocks last year .

The stock was priced down way below $100.00 , and the postage was priced up .

Boyds have been doing that for years . I wonder if anyone told Sportsman clapclap

[kennyc]

Sportsman Gun Centre has announced that they are now official distributor for Lee reloading Products and Boyd Stocks.

I have to ask the question .....................WHY ?

Lee products have been supplied by Hannams for over 30 years and still are .
Krank has also supplied them for the past few years as well .

Both companies give good service and prices to the trade and us shooters so why does SGC need to get their grubby paws on Lee products .

And Boyds have been supplied for many years by Roger Francis , although frequently Boyds sends him what they want , and not what Roger wants .
Add to this that Boyds will sell direct into the UK , mainly by being economical with the details on the customs documents .

The UK market is smaller than the smallest American state , so I cannot see the logic of American companies have even more distributors in the UK .
Nor can I see the logic in a UK company taking on brands that are already well supported by exissting companies .

Unless of course I am missing something .

If I am , could someone enlighten me , please .

Boyds will no longer sell direct to the UK as almost all their stocks exceed the ITARS $100 limit, above which you need to have export papers for, its not cost effective for the individual, although if you are bringing in 100 or more as Sportsmens probably will it becomes cost effective.

I saw two Boyds invoices for stocks last year .

The stock was priced down way below $100.00 , and the postage was priced up .

Boyds have been doing that for years . I wonder if anyone told Sportsman clapclap

apparently if you ask them to do this they will refuse as it becomes deliberately circumventing a Federal Regulation or somesuch, I have no idea how anyone managed to talk them around, but good luck to them (I base this on the large number of people posting in various forums who have tried and failed to get them to rework the invoice) personally I picked mine up in the states and brought it home with me