A trip to the Field & Stream store

One of the new Field & Stream stores opened just seven miles from me this week so of course I couldn't resist a visit to check it out. Despite having the name of a venerable sporting magazine, the chain is actually part of Dick's Sporting Goods, and as you can see from the photo, they're aiming for a Cabelas/Bass Pro Sports look, inside and out. They got that part right,  though the F&S store I visited was much smaller than either the Cabelas or the Bass Pro Sports stores I've been to. 

While the stores are much more attractive than the average Gander Mountain (though this is changing), the stock is similar, and prices are pretty much all list, like their other big competitors. The archery section was of course all compounds and crossbows save for two inexpensive OMP Adventure 2.0 recurves hanging behind the counter. There were just a handful of scopes and perhaps half a dozen red dot sights in the gun section- far less of either than my local Ganders carries. The reloading section was one very short aisle with a few RCBS dies sets, some jacketed rifle bulls, and an uneven selection of primers, which admittedly are also in short supply in most places. Not a single cannister of powered, either. I did geab a box of Federal Match Small Pistol Primers at $44.95. (Midway has them for $37.49 but  they're out of stock.)

One thing they did have was a fair selection of ammunition, although the popular handgun calibers  (.380, .38, .40) were in short supply, and the only rimfire to be found was a pallet full of Federal Auto Match .22LR that was being carefully guarded and doled out two to a customer:

My friend Ric tells me these are a good choice for our tuned .22 pistols so I got in line for my two bricks at $19.95 each (which, incidentally, is $3.16 more than Midway sells them for). Just about everyone in line was clutching a couple of boxes, so I assume that was the big draw. I was told by another fellow in line that yesterday they had 50 round bricks of Remington High Speed,  so I'm assuming the selection may change day to day. 

Followup: I went back a week later, after the opening celebration had died down. No more .22, retail prices on everything, and not a terribly large selection of guns. I don't think I'll be back.