7.62x54R Spam Cans On Sale At Fleet Farm

[Philo]

I stopped in last night and the 440 round spam cans are on sale for $85. Regular price is $100. Not sure how much longer the sale will be on.

[yuppiejr]

Nice, I assume this is the same 22-77 stuff (22 = Romanian origin, 77 = 1977 mfgr date) they had last week that I paid full price for up in Blaine... (grumble). That's as good or better a price as I've seen from even the cheapest source online, make sure you ask them for the can opener if you want one since they keep them in back by the gun counter "by request only" rather than with the cans on the aisle display.

[David]

Sweet! Will stop in today and get some. Thanks for the heads-up!

[Philo]

Nice, I assume this is the same 22-77 stuff (22 = Romanian origin, 77 = 1977 mfgr date) they had last week that I paid full price for up in Blaine... (grumble).

I hate when that happens. It seems to go on sale for one week every month or so. I never see it mentioned in their flyers. I am a regular in the sporting goods department anyway. They had a mixture of the olive colored cans with the Russian-looking letters and the dark green cans with Roman looking letters. I wanted to buy an olive can, but they didn't have FF bar code stickers on them. I was in a hurry and didn't feel like waiting for a price check, so I bought the dark green with the stickers.

You just can't beat FF prices, even sometimes when their stuff isn't on sale. For example, they have an unbeatable regular price on 100-round boxes of .223 Rem, but last week they were selling it for about $3 lower than that.

.... make sure you ask them for the can opener if you want one since they keep them in back by the gun counter "by request only" rather than with the cans on the aisle display.

Really? Thanks, that's good to know. Next time I go, I'll ask. Otherwise I'll be using the Dremel to open it up.

[heavy metal daze]

The Russian ones are 5.45x39, they carry those now since they also carry those Polish Tantals.

[gyrfalcon]

Berdan primed I presume?

[yuppiejr]

Berdan primed I presume?

Yep, looks like copper or brass washed steel case as well so I'm not sure about reloading it?

I picked up another tin yesterday and the numerous tins remaining in the Blaine store were factory code 22 Romanian with a mix of 77 and 78 year codes. They also had the Russian 5.45 and some Yugo 7.62x39 in stock. They were willing to price adjust my previous purchase which rocked, now I'm just waiting them to get a batch of Mosin M39 or M44 carbines in stock.. could be a while.

[Philo]

Got the FF flyer yesterday in the local paper. Looks like the sale is on for the rest of the week.

BTW, my can has "77" on it. I have to stop by on Tuesday after work and pick up a can opener.

Man, I would love to get one of those M39 carbines. They actually get those in? I thought they just carry the 91/30s.

[SparkyJeff]

.... now I'm just waiting them to get a batch of Mosin M39 or M44 carbines in stock.. could be a while.

Man, I would love to get one of those M39 carbines. They actually get those in? I thought they just carry the 91/30s.

When I bought a 91/30 the lady that opened the cases for me said they are no longer allowed to import the carbines.

She had me thinking that bringing them into the country was impossible... (I honestly don't know)
please tell me if this sounds familiar?

I'd like one too. I saw a Chinese T53 at a garage sale a while ago, had me tempted, but I passed on it.

[Norsesmithy]

Stocks of a couple models of Mosins have essentially dried up, in the sense that there are no longer warehouses full of shipping containers worth of the things.

So Century Arms International, the company that imports the Mosins and sells them to people like Fleet Farm, doesn't have any to sell to them.

That said, they do still get some periodically, I've seen M28s and M44s around recently, and though they were counterbored and rearsenaled, the average guy just looking to make a fireball won't tell the difference.

[Philo]

I stopped by FF yesterday to get the can opener. The kid at the gun counter had no clue what I was talking about. I showed him the cans of ammo on the shelf and explained that I needed a special can opener that comes with the cans to access the contents. He still didn't seem too clear on what I wanted and looked around on the shelves behind the counter at my request. He didn't find anything. In the mean time, this other kid came back from break. The light bulb lit up over his head when I described what the can openers look like, but told me they threw them away when they unpacked the cans because they didn't know what they were!

I tell ya, FF has some really great stuff and I love shopping there, but the kids they hire to run the place, well....

[Gustavs01]

I stopped out at the Owatonna FF yesterday, I picked myself up a can opener, They wouldn't just give me one said the Zit pocket faced worker, said I had to buy 2 cans first, Itold him that over the years I have bought a dozen and I never got a can opener! He than went back and grabbed me one after I asked for his supervisor, Than he said they have a a Workboot shoe box full of them in back! Stupid little prick, I agree about the KIds they have working there are dumb as a box of Spam can openers lol. Atleast the can openers are useful! The said same kid earlier when I was at there sold an older fella a Spam can and said it was for an AK47! The guy asked for a spam can of 7.62x39, and was about to buy x54R, glad I stepped in lol.

[SparkyJeff]

.....Stupid little prick, I agree about the KIds they have working there are dumb as a box of Spam can openers lol. Atleast the can openers are useful! The said same kid earlier when I was at there sold an older fella a Spam can and said it was for an AK47! The guy asked for a spam can of 7.62x39, and was about to buy x54R, glad I stepped in lol.

I'm sorry about your experience there, but this bad attitude doesn't help. Poor kid probably never got to shoot a gun in his life. Hopefully he's not thinking all gun guys are as nasty as you appear in this post.
I hope you were at least polite when when you showed him where he was mistaken. I'd hate to add fuel to the resentment to the gun community.

[Gustavs01]

No, I was not polite in the least to this "kid" who was around the age of 20-22 can never tell these days, When I go to a Shop and am looking for advice on ANYTHING, I expect the person working the counter to have some knowledge, Mostly on something that is NON-REFUNDABLE, Much like when you take your car in to get fixed, you want someone that knows what they are doing versus someone just reading it out of a book. I think that might be a big issue with kids these days they aint PUSHED anymore to know better, We as people just go aww! He's just a Gen Xer give him a free pass, Because They don't want to be in the workforce they just want their internet and their Call of Duty. F-that.

[yuppiejr]

For what it's worth I had good luck with the folks at the Blaine FF, one kid (probably mid-early 20's, Gen Y for sure) even knew quite a bit about the different types of Mosin's that people were coming in for (Hex vs Round reciever, Tula/Izzy, ex-sniper/Dragoons, etc..)... He was the one who told me about the spam can openers being "behind the counter" and was good enough to point out the times of year in which they were likely to go on sale which also correspond with when they put "fresh" stock on the floor which means better pickins from a collectibility perpsective.

I don't think lack of product knowledge is specific to one generation or another when it comes to mass market "warehouse" style retail, it's the lowest cost labor model that pays next to nothing for workers who are expected to circulate between departments and handle "template" responses about products and defer to the one expert/MOD in a given department if they are asked something beyond their immediate knowledge. They have a high turnover rate and low competency unless you get lucky and someone with a passion for a given subject happened to take a job in their favorite department. I've had similar experience taking my car for maintenance at some of the chain locations, if you're looking for the lowest possible price you're likely going to "get what you pay for." If I'm shopping for sporting goods or electronics in a mass market store I always make sure I know what I'm looking for in advance so I don't need to worry about relying on lacking or incorrect info from a sales associate. If I am looking for a more service oriented experience I will patronize a smaller shop that usually has higher prices but a more knowledgeable staff.

In my experience at the Blaine store the youngest person (Gen Y) at the gun counter had the MOST knowledge of the Mosin Nagant rifles & other firearms and accessories on display. The older gent (gray hair, I assume boomer or early Gen X) working there was in the meantime trying to convince me that the Remington magazines for a different model firearm entirely would work fine in my Marlin 795 autoloader since they were now "the same company..."