Visited Bud's Guns in TN

**Pittsburgh Pete** · July 27th, 2017, 09:25 AM

We recently took a trip to Gatlinburg, TN. If you have never been there, it's like God took Las Vegas, Atlantic City and the Poconos, crushed them into 2 square miles of dogshit, shook well, and created a town. On the very first day I contemplated jumping into the shark tank at Ripley's aquarium. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park was beautiful but the only mammals we saw were tourists.

So I decided to make the 10 mile, 14 hour trip to Bud's (traffic made me yearn for rush hour in Pittsburgh.)

What a nice store. The shop has two levels. The top level is pistols and clothing, the lower level rifles, shotguns and their 25 line indoor range. The range has a nice big window and I enjoyed watching some tourists from overseas banging away with some of the automatic weapons you can rent.

I have been interested in the FN SLP shotgun so I rented one for a little range time. I had 3 failures to feed in between some fun shooting and the range officer couldn't figure out the problem. The lady behind the rental counter was incredibly sweet and apologetic and let me use any other gun for free so I got in some pistol practice. The sales staff was very nice too and said that if I bought an SLP, all the range fees would be deducted from the price. I passed on the offer but really enjoyed the shop. It was big, most the long guns were on racks that you could access, and the sales staff were good old boys that were fun to talk to.

The trip to Bud's was a nice way to spend an hour and if you should find yourself in this hellhole, it may just restore some of your sanity.

**Orive 8** · July 27th, 2017, 10:01 AM

Wife and I are heading down to Dollywood - Pigeon Forge, Tn this October for a weekend getaway. Renting a log cabin for us and our pooch.

We have plans to stop at Bud's - we always try to visit 1 or 2 ranges on our trips.
I'll let you know what I think of the area afterwards....

**Pittsburgh Pete** · July 27th, 2017, 10:14 AM

Originally Posted by Orive 8

Wife and I are heading down to Dollywood - Pigeon Forge, Tn this October for a weekend getaway. Renting a log cabin for us and our pooch.

We have plans to stop at Bud's - we always try to visit 1 or 2 ranges on our trips.
I'll let you know what I think of the area afterwards....

Hopefully, it won't be as insane then. Great Smoky is the most visited US National Park in the county and the majority of the traffic comes through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg on the way in and out.

**gghbi** · July 27th, 2017, 10:23 AM

How are they recovering from the fires last year? I always considered navigating that strip the price you pay to get to the Smokies. The only plus is all the competition means some good prices for food etc. Enjoy your cabin, best way to do it in my mind.

**Pittsburgh Pete** · July 27th, 2017, 11:53 AM

There are still some trails in the park closed due to the fire, and you can see the damage from some of the high points. A lot of secondary growth is already kicking in.

**Marcus99** · July 27th, 2017, 03:49 PM

Yeah I've been to the Bud's in Seiverville also, Nice shop. That traffic can really get crazy in Pigeon Forge, seems like there is always some event going on (car show, bike week, etc...) I got married in the Smokys last year right before the fires, we love it down there.

**Xringshooter** · July 31st, 2017, 04:22 PM

The wife and I go down to the Sevierville/Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area every year in late Sept/early Oct for a vacation. Always spend a good number of hours at the Bud's, Smoky Mtn Knife Works, Lodge Cast Iron/Coleman Outlet stores. Less crowded in the fall until the leaves start turning colors then it ramps up again. We spend a half day in Gatlinburg walking around the downtown, sampling the moonshine, doing the touristy things. Wife always wants to go to the Tanger outlet center (so we do). We're there for a few days then drive through the GSMNP over to Greenville to visit my suppressor distributor in Greenville, SC and then up to Lake Lure, NC (east of Ashville) for a big Ruger owners get together weekend.

**wanneroo** · July 31st, 2017, 11:06 PM

I remember going there in 1990 for a weekend and I found it just a tourist trap so I can only imagine what the region is like now.

**Xringshooter** · August 1st, 2017, 10:32 AM

Once you get to know the area, you know where to stay away from. There's also a Bass Pro Shop just off I-40, and a pretty nice indoor gun range that allows full auto. It's called Sevier Indoor Shooting Range (just outside Sevierville) They even allowed my 10 year old nephew in with us to do some supervised shooting. Also, you can visit the Bushs Baked Beans factory and museum (I wanted to meet Duke but he wasn't there that day). In Gatlinburg, I like to just sit on one of the benches on the main st and watch the tourists. There are some GREAT places to eat that I found out about by talking to the workers at Buds and Smokey Mtn Knife Works (and some of the other gun shops) that most tourists bypass (they want to go to Dixie Stampede, etc.) Plus, if you want to take the chance (depending on where you live in PA) you can get the really GOOD fireworks, not the wimpy stuff that PA allows.