Gun shops in and around the Twin Cities

[Molasses]

Sticking to just places I've been in/bought from this year and would recommend. Leaving GunStop off due to their situation, but they've been one of my faves since back a couple of store moves ago.

Al's: have bought or traded into a couple there so far this year.

Frontiersman: just bought yet another one there last week.

Jack Puglisi's Gun Emporium (extreme S. end of Duluth [Gary/New Duluth] on E side of Hwy 23): bought a couple of used scopes there recently and while no guns from them so far this year, they're holding something for me at this very moment.

Capra's: stop in there every once in a great while. Haven't bought anything in a few years, but they usually have at least one thing in the store that I'll pause over.

Prinz Gun Shop (just north of Milaca on Hwy 169): I make a point of going there several times a year. Found an absolutely smoking hot deal there on my M1A SOCOM16 a couple of years back, and that's just one example.

Boone's (off Superior St., which is on the Lake Mille Lacs side of the Hwy, at the very N end of Isle): Bought my M&P .40 Shield there before I'd seen a Shield in person anywhere else. If you haven't been there, picture the gun library at Cabela's, only several ROOMS of it instead of just one. Lots of very neat things, unfortunately, priced accordingly. Still, they've got a decent assortment of "regular" guns, too. They've added a range and expanded the store space considerably this year and now have lots of outdoor clothes and related stuff, too. [See how dumb I am when sleep-deprived a couple-three posts down]

Wolf's Den (Hugo): Don't remember buying any there this year, but it's not for lack of being tempted. Woulda, shoulda, ifIonlycouldaaffordedit a M&P .22 there back in the spring. Biggest problem is that there always seem to be about 3-5 folks standing around the tiny store area shooting the bull and it's hard to even get from one end of the place to the other.


There's a new pawn shop out in Ramsey (S side of Hwy 10 just a couple hundred yards W of the Sunfish Lake Blvd light) that I can't recall the name of, but I did buy a CZ40P there a couple of months ago that I felt they'd substantially underpriced.

[Halfchrome]

x2 for Capra's. I just picked up one from them again since they matched a sales price Cabela's was running on their website and their Rogers location was out of the model and cal. I wanted. Guys are real friendly there and easy to work with and i was in and out in less than 30mins, which is pretty good since it took me about a hour and half at Cabela's when I picked one up from them a couple weeks ago.
Element arms in Becker is a great place for tacticool stuff, especially accessories. I usually browse their stuff every couple months, but have yet to buy a firearm from them yet, but they have gotten plenty of my money over the last year.

[oneunder]

x2 for Capra's. I just picked up one from them again since they matched a sales price Cabela's was running on their website and their Rogers location was out of the model and cal. I wanted. Guys are real friendly there and easy to work with and i was in and out in less than 30mins, which is pretty good since it took me about a hour and half at Cabela's when I picked one up from them a couple weeks ago.
Element arms in Becker is a great place for tacticool stuff, especially accessories. I usually browse their stuff every couple months, but have yet to buy a firearm from them yet, but they have gotten plenty of my money over the last year.

Capra's is about 15 minutes from my house. I will go in there every so often to look at what they got. Really, really nice guys in there. When I was looking for my pistol, and had no idea what I was doing/talking about (not that I do now) they were real patient and explained the differences in makes/models and were just generally good guys.

[Squib Joe]

Duncan's (off Superior St., which is on the Lake Mille Lacs side of the Hwy, at the very N end of Isle): Bought my M&P .40 Shield there before I'd seen a Shield in person anywhere else. If you haven't been there, picture the gun library at Cabela's, only several ROOMS of it instead of just one. Lots of very neat things, unfortunately, priced accordingly. Still, they've got a decent assortment of "regular" guns, too. They've added a range and expanded the store space considerably this year and now have lots of outdoor clothes and related stuff, too.

I'm pretty sure you mean Boone's Fine Guns, unless they have recently changed their name

[Molasses]

Duncan's (off Superior St., which is on the Lake Mille Lacs side of the Hwy, at the very N end of Isle): Bought my M&P .40 Shield there before I'd seen a Shield in person anywhere else. If you haven't been there, picture the gun library at Cabela's, only several ROOMS of it instead of just one. Lots of very neat things, unfortunately, priced accordingly. Still, they've got a decent assortment of "regular" guns, too. They've added a range and expanded the store space considerably this year and now have lots of outdoor clothes and related stuff, too.

I'm pretty sure you mean Boone's Fine Guns, unless they have recently changed their name

Yup. I was just thinking about what I'd posted during a ride I took up north today and started wondering if I'd done exactly what I'd done. Wrote it after waking up just after 2AM and not being able to get back to sleep the other morning and wasn't coming up with the name. What I ended up with was the name of a shop I used to go to in San Marcos, CA back when I was stationed on Camp Pendleton. Over 20 years ago. Must've been trying a little TOO hard to pull something out of memory.

I'll edit the original post so nobody gets a bum steer out of it.

[BBsteel]

Lakes Trading Company in Forest Lake, MN. The place is small with little inventory but the owner, Ben, has reasonable to great prices and is in general a more than good guy to do business with.

[AFTERMATH]

If anyone is in the Isanti area, don't forget to stop by SHR sales. It's a little place in a strip mall, it doens't have the biggest selection, and it doesn't have the absolute lowest rock bottom prices I've ever seen, but it's a good atmosphere, and the owner/only employee is a nice guy that is respectful and easy to talk to.

+1

The owner is a great guy, and the prices are fair. Like Strad said, not the lowest prices on earth, but not out of line by any stretch.

Been a little while for this one, but Jim's a good guy... I also figured, I'd let everyone know that he's moved from the strip mall to a larger stand alone building. Just a block or two down the road.
Still not full yet, but there's potential!

[mikereilly]

Our new store has just opened in Eden Prairie. 12494 Plaza Drive; right by Menards. We have a 5000 Sq space and you can haggle with us; but you won't need to because we start with low price points. Come meet our team and shop dog Gin.

[sawgrass]

Our new store has just opened in Eden Prairie. 12494 Plaza Drive; right by Menards. We have a 5000 Sq space and you can haggle with us; but you won't need to because we start with low price points. Come meet our team and shop dog Gin.

It's great to have a addition to the 'tour of western guns shops'.
This place is a really nice store.

[sawgrass]

In a very short time Larry should be back in business and Bill's is adding a location in Hudson!
Yippety-Skippety!