Where to buy in Centre County

[arrrrgh15]

My experience with Grice's is even though they may not actually acknowledge your existance at the store, they at least have never bull shitted me. Which is one of the reason why I still put up with them.

Look, not everyone that walks into a gun store is completely naive. Some gun stores believe that though. I've been around guns all my life, and although I don't know everything, I know enough about certain firearms to know when I'm being lied to. Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining.

[Xringshooter]

arrrrgh,

I hate it when a gun shop treats me like a moron. Sometimes I will turn it around on them. If I want to see if the clerk knows what he is talking about I'll ask a general question (but not a gimme or easy) that I know the answer to and see what they tell me. If it is bogus I'll either give some excuse and walk away and find someone that won't BS me or I'll call him on it depending on how much of an a**hole he is acting like. If the clerk doesn't know, I want him to tell me and then go find the answer or get someone who can answer the question. As you know I am a 1 person operation and don't know everything (don't ask me a question about HK P7's, because I couldn't answer without research. Ask RandomTask). But I will tell you if I don't know and then I will do my homework to find you an answer.

Mity2

Grices should have explained it better to you and you probably wouldn't have gotten that bad taste about them. That said, I have found that they do have the tendency many times to just say that is the way it is, if you don't like it leave. That is why real early on I learned they are a good place to go and look at guns but not necessarily the place to buy.

The other places you bought from were wrong (by ATF rules) in selling you whatever you bought (the way you described it). Apparently they overlooked the blocks on the 4473 that you filled out (place of birth, green card number, etc.). If there is something in those blocks they should have immediately turned the form over to see what they were supposed to do. They could have even held the form until you produced what was needed. There are signature blocks on the form for doing this (an extra signature on your part is needed if the firearm is delivered at a different time from the date of your original signature). They can get in heap big trouble for this from the Feds.

[Mity2]

wait. So is this mean that they(ATF) can come after me for them not doing what they supposed to do?

[Xringshooter]

Mity,

No need to worry, it is not your concern but the concern of the FFL who sold you the firearm. This will never be noticed unless the FFL has a visit from the ATF and they review all of the 4473's. The FFL will then be lectured to about completing the paperwork correctly or it could be more serious if they find many things wrong. You were only doing what the person who is supposed to know told you to do.

[Mity2]

cool beings. Say Xringshooter, when can i come over to have you restake my GasKey? I'm free all this week

[RCN]

Did some shopping at Bob's Army Navy in Clearfield today. Overall excellent experience. Employees were nice and ready to answer questions but not overbearing. Sam was incredibly helpful as I was trying to decide on a pistol. He put up with me checking about 10 and then going back through 3 to decide which felt best. Spent about an hour overall and never a sign of wanting me to be done/out of the way. They had some ARs still in stock DPMS AS, STAG, and S&W ORC. A guy bought a S&W and a DPMS in .308 while I was there. Overall I would highly recommend Bob's, but the selection is not huge.

UPDATED -- Stopped by Grice's also. NIce Big place, with whole bunch of guns. I got ignored for a bit and then helped by a young guy in pistols who came over from rifles. He was nice enough, but couldn't hand you a gun from the case just by name so we played the "not that one, just to the right, yeah the all black one right there" game for a bit (I asked to see a Beretta 92FS). Did find a decent deal on a lightly used 92FS ($379). Not a bad place overall but I had the feeling that all the employees had something else they would rather be doing than helping me. Went back to purchase the 92FS - They were more interested in closing than helping me even though they were open for another 30 minutes and I waited 20 minutes just to talk to someone who could help me. They did not know/understand laws regarding active duty military stationed in PA. Claimed I was unable to buy a handgun in the state, refused to call PICS to verify what I was telling them, and didn't seem to understand I already have a LTCF and have purchased other weapons. It seemed they were more interested in getting people out of the store towards the end of the day. I nicely asked him to call PICS and see what they said, but all he would say is that his manager said it wouldn't go through. I won't go back and will likely pay more to shop elsewhere.

J&E - stopped by on election day after picking up my LTCF. Didn't get the guys name but he was very helpful and willing to help me out. It is a small shop and in the span of 10 minutes it went from me and a guy who he was shooting the breeze with to about 4 groups of customers (2 to a group other than me). I was just looking so I cleared out because people had money burning a hole in their pocket on election day. Overall nice place, I would definitely go back.

[Jocko Slugshot]

I've bought stuff at Grice's and at Belding & Mull but I mostly buy hunting stuff at Jodon's Sporting Goods, Route 45, Spring Mills, PA. 814-422-8598

[bripsu]

I've been to Bob's Army-Navy, Grice's, J&E, and Belding & Mull all in the last week to look for my Christmas present.

Selection

1. Grice's - What's not to like?
2. Bob's - Had some CZ 75's and FNP-9 not available at Grices.
3. Belding & Mull - Had the XDM-9 which was scarce everywhere else.
4. J&E - Mostly used, some new Kimbers, commented on trouble getting new stuff in from the manufacturers.

Service

1. Bob's - Spent about an hour with me while very busy, admitted when I had questions that could not be answered. Handled about a half-a-dozen guns, never got impatient or tried to skip to other customers even though I never indicated I was buying that day. Ended up with an XDM-40 here.
2. J&E - Staff was helpful / pleasant. I'll be back for supplies as its the closest.
3. Grice's - Several people asking if I had been taken care of. I did experience the S&W M&P-40 "push" that several others have commented on the boards.
4. Belding & Mull - My follow-up visit over the weekend was pleasant. The first visit arriving at 5:55P on a Tuesday with 4 of us walking from the vehicle to the front door resulted in someone latching the door. Granted, closing time was posted as 6:00P and it was probably an employee and not the owner.

Shopping Experience

1. Bob's - Most interesting with the surplus supplies, like taking a step back in time. All the staff seemed to joke and get along very well (maybe a family operation?)
2. Grice's - Largest selection in PA, if you're in this region, got to see it to believe it! Plenty of inventory to fondle.
3. Belding & Mull - Most of the supplies you would need, and a decent inventory.
4. J&E - Small, but I'll put money here to hopefully see them grow.

[thomae]

Don't forget in the outskirts of Philipsburg you have Belding & Mull, 1878 Port Matilda Hwy, Philipsburg, PA (814) 342-1800 ‎.

A smaller gun shop (nowhere near the in stock selection of Grice's) , but very friendly and personable. I've NOT purchased a firearm from them, but have purchased a reasonable amount of ammo there.

I always stop there either on my way or returning (or both!) from Grice's and Bob's in Clearfield.

Cheers,
Scott