Cabelas strikes again!!!!!!

[Grantham Forester]

Right after the 12 VHE came to me from my wife's side of the family, a friend and I took it and his 12 gauge LC Smith to the local Cabela's-just for the fun of it- to see what they would offer us for our doubles. We were greeted at the door, and we uncased the shotguns and tagged them, and they then called the Gun Library for an "escort" back to that area of the store. Long story short-- they offered me $600 for the VHE- it has 30" barrels and is unaltered, about 70% metal finish and blue, 80% wood varnish-when they looked over my friend's LC Smith 12, they told him that someone had shot steel shot loads through it, as the muzzles and barrel bores were "bulged" and it was worth maybe $200 "as is".

My friend is not a duck hunter, has never bought steel shot, and usually hunts with a 20 gauge Browning Clitori over and under. The Smith belonged to his late father-in-law, and had been stored taken down in the fitted case it came in from V,L&A many years ago. Like the VHE, it has double triggers and auto ejectors, more engraving than the VHE however.

We both work for Beecher Tool & Die Co. and although we are not gunsmiths by any sense of the word, we know how to use a straight edge. When we returned home, we laid one on both barrels of the LC Smith from "stem to gudgeon" and never saw a gap or daylight- straight as a carpenter's chalk line before the snap--

I don't know about the other Gun Libraries in the Cabela's line-up, but the one we visited seems to be staffed with the uninformed, if not outright crooked folks. A darn shame too!!

[C.O.B.]

The few very knowledgeable people that were in the Libraries are gone. They want a min of 30% margin and all the sales people do is look in the computer and see what they have paid for a certain gun on average and thats the number you get unless they think they can get it for less.

[Phil Yearout]

I had a gun shipped to the KC store from another store (this was back when they would do that for free); getting it there was fiasco in itself with conflicting stories and multiple phone calls. Finally I was notified it was there and made the 250 mile trip. When I got there they couldn't find the gun and no one knew anything about it. Finally someone found it in the back without a tag, note, etc. The first thing I noted was that someone had installed a butt plate that was too small for the stock and it looked like they had trimmed the stock down with a hatchet to fit the plate (not visible in the photos)! No one had bothered to mention that to me. As soon as the guy handed me the gun he sat down at the desk and made a phone call; never made any effort to talk with me about the gun, etc. I waited patiently until he hung up, then asked if they'd take less because I'd have to have the stock cut and a pad installed. "Nope," he said. "That's the price." I handed him back the gun, he leaned it behind the desk and made another phone call. That was the extent of the sales effort. On the way home my wife told me to go ahead and buy the gun I really wanted (considerably more expensive) so I guess they did me a favor.

My other major Cabela's go-round was over a broken fly rod. I had bought it on sale and it had since been discontinued, and rather than replace it with a comparable rod (which is what their guarantee says they'll do) they wanted to refund what I'd paid for it 10 years ago. After arguing with several layers of management I wrote a letter to Dick and Jim saying, among other things, how much I had enjoyed their products and service in the past, and that I knew if they still owned the company I wouldn't be writing this letter. Also, how much I hated that I wouldn't be buying anything from Cabela's anymore. Now, I don't know whether either of them actually saw the letter, but shortly thereafter I got a call from a customer service person who said that they had "misunderstood" my situation, and that certainly they would be replacing the rod, which they did.

We just got a new store here in the area; glad I didn't have to make good on my promise never to shop there again!

[Grantham Forester]

Would like opinions from all who have contributed to this thread so far, and of course from others as well. A friend who lives in neighboring Iowa found on their Internet Gun Library an older LC Smith 12 Damascus- at Cabela's Hoffmann Estates retail store. He has it confirmed by serial number as being made in Syracuse in 1888 (aprox) or, eight years before the "Antique" BATF provisional date of 1896 mfg. But the GL policy is that Illinois Law prevails over BATF ruling, even with interstate shipment and sale, so it must go to a FFL or C&R holder, with no exceptions.

He wants to make an issue with this? Is it worth contacting the BATF office in Chicago with the details? Would this action make Cabela's in IL change it's policy re: pre-1896 mfg. long guns and shipment after sale to neighboring States?