Anyone who has ever owned their own business or even worked in retail can understand how this works. A local firearms dealer calls his distributor and orders 1, 2, or 10 guns. He might be able to work a little better price ordering 10 vs 1. Wal-Mart goes direct to Remington (or whichever), and orders a traincar full. They're ordering by the hundreds, if not thousands, direct, not through a wholeseller/distributor. Thats how they get better prices, not by selling lesser quality firearms. I do know that some electronics companies will change the nomenclature on models sold at Wal-Mart, but only for warranty reasons.