I have noticed that some guns at Wal-Mart may have small imperfections in the finish of the metal or the stock I believe any differences are going to be cosmetic.

It’s a complete myth. I agree with the above posters, there’s no way any gun manufacturer is going to risk their reputation (at the very least) by selling inferior guns to Wal-Mart. A Remington 700 bought at Wal-Mart is exactly the same Remington 700 bought at Sports Authority, Dick’s Sports, your local gun shop, etc. Exactly the same. I’m guessing the volume thing is the main reason for the lower price. I’ve special ordered a couple guns from Wal-Mart and they’re just as nice as the guns I’ve bought at the local gun shop and they were a ton cheaper. The tired, old B.S. about Wal-Mart’s guns being somehow inferior is exactly that… tired, old B.S.

It's not unusual for a manufacturer to make a special version for chain stores--this has happened with skis, clothes, and all kinds of other things, including firearms. For example, Marlin makes a special version of its 1894 rifles that have hardwood rather than walnut stocks for Big 5 Sporting Goods.

But these items aren't "seconds". Nobody in their right mind would do that in these days of product liability. Given the number of lawsuits that Wal-Mart already gets, I can't believe they'd be interested in anything that would increase the likelihood of their being sued, especially over something like a firearm.

There would be no difference between regular production firearms between Walmart and your local Gunshop. Now when Remington and Leupold sold their souls to the Devil(Walmart) their quality went right down the tube , any doubts see Rifleman scopes and compare a 700 built in the mid 80's with current production.

Or the entire remington line. Or the new products remington has come out with in the last 10 years. I would pin the blame on their glue sniffing management long before I would blame it on Wallyworld.

Not sure I agree on that one I know a lot of gunshops that stopped stocking Rems when they sold out to Walmart. You have to remember also they were spunoff from Dupont and have had some management changes along the way. There seems to be a heavy toll in quality when you have to sell stuff to Walmart maybe thats why they like their Chinese sellers so much. They don't discount Remingtons and Brownings and Rugers that much but probably buy in such bulk which beats up quality that they make their money that way and in the process affect the product that everyone else gets.

If it were true all you could buy at discount stores would be 710s. Now there's a gun with serious quality problems.

I don't know about how this works with respect to guns but it isn't a complete myth. I know that Home Depot does this with a lot of items that you find at a cheaper price than what you see at other stores. They negotiate special deals with the manufacturer. The products are built with cheaper components etc... I have two cousins that work at the Depot who have verfied this for me. Most of the changes are insignificant though.

Again I'm not saying they do this with guns.

Tom

Statjunk is right, as I understand Wal-Mart contacts manufacturers and negotiates a price they are willing to pay the manufacturer for a bulk purchase of the manufacturer’s product. Therefore in order for the manufacturer to make a profit they have to find ways to cut cost. Now that may or may not involve a lesser quality product. Sometimes it means selling Wal-Mart products that are last years surplus models replaced this year with a newer design. Sometimes it means inferior or imperfect parts or as I said in my previous post, cosmetic blemishes. I have never purchased a Wal-Mart gun mostly because they haven't carried the guns I have wanted. I do want a Ruger 10-22 or marlin 22 and if I were to purchase one of those I would most likely be looking at Wal-Mart to purchase it.

They are just as good of a gun as one straight from the factory. The laminated Remington 700 ADL you might have seen at wal mart is a wal mart ONLY gun.