Colt AR's from Wal-Mart

[GodFearinGunTotin]

Well darn, you guys are right. I did a little research though and figured out why i was wrong. My buddy used to live in colorado, and theres a law out there where beer in grocery stores has to be like 3.2 percent volume by wieght, or i think 3.8 percent total content, atleast when he lived there. Theres been alot of fighting over that law. So they had weaker versions of it out there for that reason. I could have sworn i checked here in walmart and they were different though, but I guess i'm just making things up. Lol. Oops. He must have thought that was a federal law when he told me.

I know Oklahoma is like this too. My family implores us to bring beer with us when we come out to visit...they don't get "the good stuff" out there

 

[dans4420]

Walmart sells Goodyear tires that the Goodyear dealer will not, and Goodyear does not warranty them, only Walmart.

''Yes huge company's do sometimes make inferior products this is one example also electronics.

Now i have no idea about the guns though.

 

[hammer24]

Has anybody thought to contact Colt and ask them?

 

[tgmorris99]

If the product SKU is the same then it will be the same as sold elsewhere.

When a mfg does a store specific item, whether it's Walmart, Costco, Home Depot, or Best Buy, then it's quite possible that the product will be of different quality. Although in some cases stores will request a different SKU just so they can avoid doing price matches. When the SKU is different the product may be of higher or lesser quality so it's up to the buyer to do their own research to figure out what's what.

 

[Johnny C]

Walmart sells Goodyear tires that the Goodyear dealer will not, and Goodyear does not warranty them, only Walmart.

No wonder my Goodyears from walmart cant be balanced.
Same issue with Sam's Club I wonder?

 

[pimpskillet]

Sam's and Walmart are the same. At least I know when we got electrical contracts with one, we always worked both types of stores.

 

[RedThunder]

Is Miller Lite from Wal Mart any worse than Miller Lite from a liquor store?

Actually, they both taste like sheite!

 

[Bottlefed]

Have you noticed the ruger 10/22s from Walmart are different?

 

[Shoots4Fun]

Sam's and Walmart are the same.

I'm waiting for the day that Sam's starts selling the ammo in bulk...

 

[LANShark42]

Are they the same quality as the one you can buy at a gun shop?

No. And the John Deere you buy at Lowe$ or Home Depot is inferior to the one you buy at a Deere dealership.

 

[djhuckle]

This question seems to pop up every few months or so. Seems many LGSs will say yes, they are different so they can compete with the price (cheaper parts is why it's cheaper, so pay more for mine with the better parts) and this causes people to wonder.

Thoughts:

Since Gander sticks to MSRP and Don's Guns in Indy charge 1.5x MSRP, are theirs coming off a better line?

I am not sure of the supply chain for retail firearms, but it seems there are wholesale suppliers (Lipsey's - Wholesale Firearms Distributor - Exclusive Firearms - Handguns, Shotguns, Rifles, Accessories for example) that a gun store can contact and they have different amounts of stock available. Sometimes they have exclusive runs specifically for one retailer (TALO Distributors Inc. - special limited edition firearms for sale to stocking firearms dealers across the USA. for example), and these are usually a special edition. If Colt makes 1000 rifles today and ships them to 5 different wholesalers, they filter to the retailer and I assume Walmart is one of them.

Now if Walmart can bypass a wholesaler, if possible with guns, or get a bulk discount from one wholesaler - that's the purchasing power that allows for the discounted pricing (not to mention making a higher profit margin on the $1.50 you pay for the cold 20oz soda next to the register). Again, assuming the part number is the same, it's the same gun. They have a "halo" product that brings you in, and (in theory) you spend more money and time buying other stuff. I don't know if this is possible, like I said - I don't know how the supply chain works with guns.

The only way to know how it works is to talk to a former Walmart manager who will spill the beans (if there are any or reinforce the assumption that they are the same). I know people like Shooter are pretty transparent about things at the LGS level (as much as they can be), but many others aren't - which is fine, it is a business and there are secrets and non-disclosures etc.

Do you think that Colt wants people to make a youtube video slamming them because the BCG or barrel or whatever is not mil-spec or was different than their buddy's 6920? Sure, there are changes on the line in parts suppliers (as mentioned in a previous post) -- but as many others say, they probably don't have a separate run just for Walmart.

One thing to leave you with - I have a friend who worked at the Kroger bakery years ago. When he was there, the difference between the standard bread and the "fancy" bread was the wrapper. They would do a run of bread with the "cheap" wrapper, then switch out the "fancy" wrapper and restart the line with the exact same bread.

 

[pimpskillet]

Now if Walmart can bypass a wholesaler, if possible with guns, or get a bulk discount from one wholesaler - that's the purchasing power that allows for the discounted pricing (not to mention making a higher profit margin on the $1.50 you pay for the cold 20oz soda next to the register). Again, assuming the part number is the same, it's the same gun. They have a "halo" product that brings you in, and (in theory) you spend more money and time buying other stuff. I don't know if this is possible, like I said - I don't know how the supply chain works with guns.

The only way to know how it works is to talk to a former Walmart manager who will spill the beans (if there are any or reinforce the assumption that they are the same). I know people like Shooter are pretty transparent about things at the LGS level (as much as they can be), but many others aren't - which is fine, it is a business and there are secrets and non-disclosures etc.

From my time building new Supercenters, I've questioned a few managers about this, and that seems to be the general concensus. Think about everything they have in the store. They have a little bit of everything, but not a lot of anything. Find your favorite mustard. Only one size, not the one you really want. Or brands that you don't really want.

One thing to leave you with - I have a friend who worked at the Kroger bakery years ago. When he was there, the difference between the standard bread and the "fancy" bread was the wrapper. They would do a run of bread with the "cheap" wrapper, then switch out the "fancy" wrapper and restart the line with the exact same bread.

And to this note.. Kroger and Walmart are 2 very different entities..... Kroger may be pretty much the same, and I have a few friends that worked there that swear by Kroger generic as being the same stuff made at General Mills, just in different boxes.

But, that being said.... I also did some work one time at a place that makes potato salad for a lot of stores, and I did some poking around and found it funny that Walmart stuff expired in 10 days, "name brand" stuff, same packaging, same machines, same line... expired in almost double the time. Not sure what is or isn't in either of the mixes, but something is different there.

Just a few things I've noticed wiring up this part of the midwest....

 

[funeralweb]

When the optic nerves become overloaded, the sensitivity of the olfactory nerves diminishes to compensate. So the answer to your question would be "No".

Does a blond with 36DD's poop still smell as bad as the one I'm taking now? Yes.
Well... probably not actually.