ATP Guns

A

Avtomat-Acolyte

Well-Known Fanatic
Joined
May 22, 2011
Messages
945
Location
Charleston, SC
Anyone experienced any problems with typical nonsense gunshop advice from any of the employees there?

Anyone observed higher-than-reasonable prices on in-stock guns?

Do they really charge sales tax on top of their $50 fee for a gun transfer?
 
Register to hide this ad
great folks there but SOME are dumber than a box of rocks when it comes to firearms and reloading. I do think the prices on guns and ammo are on the upper side of reasonable. When I bought my Super Blackhawk their price was almost $200 more than I paid thru Bud's. I never buy reloading stuff there unless I absolutely have to have it NOW and am willing to sacrifice $$ for time. I usually buy powder in bulk so I get it for about $10 cheaper per pound than they sell it. I have never done a transfer thru them but I have heard that they charge $50 per transfer plus sales tax on the purchase price. But I have no first hand knowledge.

My recommendations for gun purchases are Bud's guns on web and there are several FFL's locally that will transfer for $15 to $25.

I only approach the sales counter at ATP just long enough to cash out when I use the range or that once in a while purchase. I have a phobia concerning people pointing guns at me. The sales people think nothing about pointing handguns in the direction of customers. I once told a salesman that if he pointed a pistol at me one more time I would assume he was trying to shoot me and point mine at him. He stated that it was ok because it was unloaded. I asked him how he knew that as he never checked when he picked it up and it had no "one in the chamber" indicator. I was taught that every gun is loaded until you check it.

I once found a loaded gun while shopping in a gunshop in PA. the proprietor nearly died when a cartridge flew out when I racked the action.

I hope this helps you and it is in no way a slam against ATP
it is just what I know and what I have experienced there.
 
I am going to keep my two cents out of this one for the most part....All I will say is yes they do charge 8% tax on the purchase price you paid when you transfer something in even though they didnt make the sale. I had a buddy try and transfer a tommy gun he bought for $12,000 and good ole arlin tried to tell him he was going to have to pay $900+ in tax to him. Needless to say he found a different dealer. OK my rant is done!
 
HHB Guns said:
I am going to keep my two cents out of this one for the most part....All I will say is yes they do charge 8% tax on the purchase price you paid when you transfer something in even though they didnt make the sale. I had a buddy try and transfer a tommy gun he bought for $12,000 and good ole arlin tried to tell him he was going to have to pay $900+ in tax to him. Needless to say he found a different dealer. OK my rant is done!
Click to expand...

That's the kind of information that is relevant to people. That's some hardcore screwing right there.
 
Avtomat-Acolyte said:
Anyone experienced any problems with typical nonsense gunshop advice from any of the employees there?

Anyone observed higher-than-reasonable prices on in-stock guns?

Do they really charge sales tax on top of their $50 fee for a gun transfer?
Click to expand...

Yes. I had one of them advise me that I should track down and carry Black Talon ammunition for my defensive carry weapon. When I asked him why this was preferable to a modern expandable round he regurgitated all of the urban legends about it. I asked him about Federal HST rounds, he corrected me to DRT rounds and went on to discuss why the black talons were better. Okay...

Yes.

Yes. We were going to use them for a transfer until they told us about the tax. We went elsewhere.


My last two experiences with them:
Brought in a calico m-100 .22 rifle that the husband wanted looked at. Didn't hear from them for 3 months, so I gave them a call. It's been checked out and they're looking for parts. Okay. We went in a few weeks later, he looked it up on the computer and said still can't find parts. We decided to take it home so he went to retrieve it. After nearly two hours and three people starting the process over from scratch they finally admitted that they couldn't find it, could we describe what it looked like, please? I pointed to one on the wall and they all went that? Walked back in to the back room and had it in their hands within 5 minutes. They had all been looking for a pistol. They couldn't provide any information about what they felt was wrong with it or what parts it needed either.

I wanted to practice for my CWP class so we went in to use their range. I was mostly finished with my box of ammo before I looked down at the floor and saw big blood splotches and a whole mess of my bloody footprints. After confirming that I wasn't bleeding I picked up my stuff and went out to the counter to tell them there was blood all over the floor of the range. Their response was someone probably got bitten by their slide, happens all the time, we'll have to go clean it up. Two guys sitting behind the range counter, one person running the register, no other customers in line, and no one made a move to go clean it up, no offer of moving me to a different range, nothing. I washed my shoes off and left.
 
Enjay said:
I wanted to practice for my CWP class so we went in to use their range. I was mostly finished with my box of ammo before I looked down at the floor and saw big blood splotches and a whole mess of my bloody footprints. After confirming that I wasn't bleeding I picked up my stuff and went out to the counter to tell them there was blood all over the floor of the range. Their response was someone probably got bitten by their slide, happens all the time, we'll have to go clean it up. Two guys sitting behind the range counter, one person running the register, no other customers in line, and no one made a move to go clean it up, no offer of moving me to a different range, nothing. I washed my shoes off and left.
Click to expand...


This is amazing to me when I consider the fairly high profile shooting range suicides that have occurred periodically over the years. That no one would even think to check for a dead or dying body on a hot shooting range, after the report of blood, is incredible to me from a humanitarian aspect but even more so from a "if a guy got shot, walked into the parking lot and died in his car, or died an hour ago in their range and no one noticed, they would get sued" standpoint.
 
I hadn't thought about a suicide, I was more worried about any bloodborne pathogens being tracked all over and wondering how on earth they could have missed an injury that bled like that when the person came to get their license.
 
Have been to ATP numerous times and to be honest, I think they serve a purpose. Basically, I agree with all the negative - I have been annoyed by the sales staff on more then one occassion. Either they are so busy that when I walk in the door I feel completely ignoreed and lost in the wood work, or they are not busy and within 5 seconds someone is tying to sell me a pink gun (no offense to any of the other ladies - I just really hate pink). I also agree that their prices on ammo and firearms is out of this world. I would never actually purchase a firearm there unless I simple had cash to waste. Some of the staff is helpful and some are not and they area ll opinionated. I have also witnessed the pointing of guns at people and not removing the magazine and locking the slide to show the gun empty prior to handing it to a customer (me being one of those) - purely poor practice in my opinion.

I also strongly suggest AGAINST obtaining your CWP here - been there, done that and I have to tell you that it really does you an injustice to get it though these folks.

On the up side, and playing devil's advocate (which I seem to do so well!), being a female and new to firearms and (until recently) not knowing anyone with firearms, it is truly invaluable to be able to rent any number of firemarms to really actually feel how they fire. I just do not have enough knowledge nor have enough experience to know that a certain firearm is not going to have an uncomfortable recoil, or that the trigger pull is too heavy, or that the firearm overall is just not a good fit for my hands/frame. Paying $10.00 (and yes - way too much for there ammo as is the deal if you rent) and being able to shoot numerous firearms before determining the best fit for me is invalubale. I was weary of long guns as well but was able to rent a few AR-15s and fell in love. So, it is a good deal to rent and find what fits for you - and then, of course, buy it somewhere else.

Just my 2 cents.


PS - the blood on the floor is simply disgusting. No one checking on whom was hurt or clearing the range is ridiculous. One could actually due for mental distress over s**t like that.
 
Black Widow said:
being a female and new to firearms and (until recently) not knowing anyone with firearms,
Click to expand...

Hope you stick around we all have a bunch of firearms. Welcome Miss Widow. :mrgreen:
 
yes, just about every time I go there (only when I don't feel like driving all the way out to twin ponds) it seems like a few of the employees there just feed off of "educating" me on something or another. It is very annoying. There is 1 guy that is particularly bad for this, tho I cannot put a name to him, he seems to think he is the authority on EVERYTHING.

yes, their prices seem pretty steep most of the time. I've never actually purchased 1 from them or even bothered talking to anyone about considering purchasing anything from them so I don't know if they are willing to negotiate or not but i would imagine not.

This I do not know but $50 is too high anyway it goes much less paying tax on something you've already purchased.

As for the "What does your firearm look like" and the blood on the floor.
That is just flat out ridiculous.
 
Oh joy an ATP hate thread, how the hell did I miss this party?!?!
Let just say I've vowed never to spend another dollar with those criminals.

The final straw was when Arlen tried to shaft me on a MG transfer with his "sales tax" trick. How the f@#k would he even know what to base the tax on since he didn't sell me the MG?

I argued that it was my responsibility to file a UT3 tax form with my state income tax return and pay the sales tax at that time. He simply said nope he was collecting the sales tax if the item went thru his shop!

Needless to say I transferred it to another dealer. Even then he managed to screw me a little bit more and sat on the paperwork long enough that the ATF called the other dealer to confirm the transfer.

Man I gotta quit typing this is getting my blood pressure up!
 
Well I guess I'll join in on this ranting. When I first got into firearms I went there to get info and find a handgun that fits me. I meet two staff members that were very helpful and I actually enjoyed being at the store. But that didn't last long cause those guys didn?t last long. Now I rarely get served and the prices have always been ridiculous. My wife went with me on father?s day for the first time and she was greeted by a loud and obnoxious person at the range register. She was like "WTF is his problem?" and I didn't know what to tell her. Another occasion I was looking at a HK USP45 and a staff member came up to assist. I replied that I was just checking prices to see any price drop. He laughed and said "Yeah right" and walks away, WOW. I only go there to use the indoor range and that's it.
 
First off, Black widow, welcome the neighborhood.

I've never actually seen any blood on the floor on the range, but, I've seen it proverbially on the sales floor. I know who the Bottlecap is refering too. And no he doesn't know as much as he thinks he does. THe LOUD and obnoxious guy is actually very hard of hearing, that's why he is loud. As for obnoxious, well..............

I do still shop there, (not as much anymore) even thought I could do better else where, there is only one sales person I will actually allow helping me, he's been there along time, and doesn't work as much as he used to. It should be very alarming that the customer knows more about safety and the product line than the employees of a GUN SHOP.
 
Welcome to the board Black Widow. It's great to see the increase in female shooters,your part of the fastest growing group of shooters in the sport these days. I'm a huge proponent of conceal carry for women, face it,you don't see middle aged bald fat men being kidnapped,molested and murdered. That being said, there are some really good people on this board that will give you some very good advice and contacts. The longer you stay with the hobby the easier you'll be able to filter through the BS and you'll find the people that you can trust to get good honest info from. I would encourage you to look up Lisa Marie at Belt Training. She works at East Coast Tuesday and Thursdays, you can contact her by e-mail or through this group also. She's good people and is all about helping ladies new to the sport.
 
I was bored this evening/morning as I was waiting to do something online so I decided to pull out a couple rifles and wax some stocks.
I picked up the calico referenced earlier in this thread and it gouged my finger. I looked to see what bit me and saw the roll pins sticking out of the receiver. This is the first time anyone has touched it since it got back from the shop the last time so I know we didn't do it. WTH? I pressed on them with my thumb and they slid right out. Yay.
6037090855_a1f14873b3.jpg

Looks like there might have been a bit of trouble with one of them.
6037642386_2cd3c3d362.jpg

Yeah, pretty dang sure it didn't look like that before.

I really can't recommend their repair services.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Random media

DB7D8B14-5E4D-47BD-AB79-99AFCE35D0BA.jpeg
IMG_2305 (2).jpg
DanWesson 45's.jpg
079.JPG
IMG_2551 (2).jpg
9640DA81-F5A8-4B9A-BE90-0AF783DBE996.jpeg
IMG_4565.JPG
Back
Top