Midway vs. Grafs

[gandydancer]

Wideners for my stuff or graf's.

[1Shirt]

More and more I am ordering from GRAF!
1Shirt!

[30calflash]

Haven't purchased from Midway in years. Started charging seperately on B/O items on the shipping. Cost $10 for an AR charging handle! Called and talked to a rep and they were to credit me once for the 'mix up'. Never got the credit, never bought there anything since.

Shipping has increased a lot over the last several years, but it seems like some outfits try to make their mark up on the shipping end.

[oldred]

Haven't purchased from Midway in years. Started charging seperately on B/O items on the shipping. Cost $10 for an AR charging handle! Called and talked to a rep and they were to credit me once for the 'mix up'. Never got the credit, never bought there anything since.

Shipping has increased a lot over the last several years, but it seems like some outfits try to make their mark up on the shipping end.

Careful, LOL, some guys here tend to get mad about anyone complaining about Midway's back-order policy. I complained about this very thing a while back, not only the back-order policy but the ridiculous numbers of out-of-stock back-ordered items at any given time, and a couple of fellows seemed to take offense to it. Never mind that everything I said was fact, one order would have (I canceled it) cost me about $45 on a $219 order after it all came in and was shipped separately plus the fact that not one time in almost 6 years was I able to place a complete order without something being out-of-stock- not once! My biggest gripe that time was that I had delayed placing an order due to items I needed being back-ordered so I decided to wait a few days rather than pay double shipping fees, guess what? A few days later when the main item I was waiting on became available another one had become back-ordered! I just gave up and quit messing with them.

[M-Tecs]

Before I order I price compare Midsouth, Midway, Natchez, Powder Valley, Grafs, Powder Inc, Weidners and a general online search. The straight up prices for Midway are normally higher but when you use the various online coupons they are hard to beat. As stated earlier the back order shipping sucks so don’t BO any items or you will take it in the shorts on shipping

[crossdraw]

I mostly use Lee products and when I don't I go to Brownells today. I find if order are under $50 the shipping is a lot less at Brownells with no handling charges. As for Lee I use FS Reloading for reasonable shipping, fast delivery and lower prices than most.

Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately, it's one day late. I just placed an order with a company out of Indiana. I've been using them for a few years. Priced a few things yesterday (prices looked good), so I place an phone order. Asked for an amount and it was about $15 higher than my estimate (got the prices from their site). I told her there was a difference and she said she'd fix them. No problem.

She fixed them alright - they upped the prices on the website and did not change the prices on my order. That's a crock! They just lost my business. I won't even say their name because I don't want to give them any chance of getting more business from me or by word of mouth.

By the way, I just place an order with Midway last week and had free shipping. It happens, not too often but it happens. Most times, the shipping is outrageous from Midway.

Crossdraw

[dragon813gt]

One thing that really bothers me about Midway is that sale items don't count towards the coupons. So even though you are spending $300 and should qualify for some sort of discount. If you have a $5 part in your cart that's on sale you didn't meet the dollar amount needed. That really bothers me for discounted shipping coupons. But I do order from them on occasion so I'm not bashing them.


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[45fan]

I recently was looking for a Lee sizing die. Checked the usually companies I have delt with at one point in time or another, Midway, Mid South, Natchez, Cheaper than dirt, Grafs. Then some how dont know what made me do it but checked the big box stores you know the Cabela's, Bass pro shops, Gander Mountian just to see if they even deal in casting/ reloading stuff. Found what I was looking for at Gander mountain for maybe a dollar more that what Midway was asking but no ridiculous fee of some sort and free shipping. So from now on I also check the big box stores as well. Maybe because of so much volume they can ship free or at least cheaper.

[1hole]

"I always gave Midway the bulk of my mail-order business (no on-line orders then.) Then they announced that they were doing away with their free shipping in order to make things "fair" to their customers."

Ref. the 'pay as you play' shipping, Midway had a valid point; "free shipping" isn't free so the cost of shipping had to be added to the cost of products. A LOT of people were making small orders sporatically, lots of 'free' shipping cost Midway a lot of money which Mr. Potterfield felt could be better spent on his plant and personnel. IF more people had placed fewer but larger orders they could have afforded to continue but ... that wasn't going to happen so he changed it.

Like any businessman, Mr. Potterfield's personal income is derived from a very small addition to hundreds of thousands of items (probably millions) his company sells each year; if he took no profit at all it would hardly change the total cost of an order but it would kill his business, why bust his butt to make it work if he got nothing? (That's true of virtually ANY high volume businesses, including mean ol' 'big oil' and their gasoline, but few of us seen to grasp that truth so lying politicians get to pull us around by promising to "help us" at the fat cat's expense.)

[RobsTV]

The C&R discount at Grafs is very good as well. With the discount, usually 20% cheaper than Midway with their measly C&R discount.

For example, all the Lee 2 cavity molds cost $15.89 each at Grafs.

Service from both has always been great.

Neither compares to the Lifetime any reason warranty service Brownells has though, and their C&R pricing can sometimes end up being another 10% cheaper than the rest.

Of course, everyone has a C&R, right? (the common $30 for 3 year C&R FFL license).

[MT Gianni]

I had my first Graf's order in 1992. I have not used them exclusively but use them as a primary if they have it in stock.

[Ozark Howler]

I've pretty much stopped using Midway due higher cost of getting what I need to my door, I feel this higher cost is due to more inventory, expanded payroll, and more needed real estate on their end. Midway used to be a great place to fill reloading needs, but today they seemed to have lost track of their place in the market and now remind me somewhat of Walmart with selling everything under the sun. I now look at other reloading suppliers and also shop the local gun shows, much better deals are out there...I'm also a little tired of Larry P. presenting himself as the great white hunter and all around expert in the shooting industry.

I watched his Youtube video on easy barrel removal and laughed...after spending about $500.00 bucks on the proper tools you can remove your barrel easily too...Hell for $500.00 bucks, I'll just buy a new gun......oh well, just ranting again.

[462]

The C&R discount at Grafs is very good as well. With the discount, usually 20% cheaper than Midway with their measly C&R discount.

For example, all the Lee 2 cavity molds cost $15.89 each at Grafs.

Service from both has always been great.

Neither compares to the Lifetime any reason warranty service Brownells has though, and their C&R pricing can sometimes end up being another 10% cheaper than the rest.

Of course, everyone has a C&R, right? (the common $30 for 3 year C&R FFL license).

To get Graf's C&R pricing, you need to purchase a minimum of $100, or incur a $5 penalty. A 3% surcharge is added if you use a credit card. And the free shipping does not apply.

Midway's C&R minimum order is only $40 and they don't penalize a credit card user.

My budget rarely allows $100 minimum purchases, and since I don't know of another firearms company that adds a credit card surcharge, I won't be insulted by having to pay it.

Just saying.

[trying2learn]

Not to sound like a idiot but what is the c &r discount everyone refers to. And how would I go about getting one?

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[plainsman456]

If you place an order with midway,they charge a small order fee,4.00 i think.
Even with a dealers rate they just charge it if the order is under 50.00.

They have a deal with ups and the post office to bring those cheap rates to you.(sarcasm here)

I used to buy all my needs from them before the internet came into being.Now there other places that give a better deal on so much stuff,i only buy from them when i can not get it anywhere else.

[Roosters]

From 35 posts I only saw Midsouth mentioned one time. They usually have decent prices. I just picked a common item, a Hornady Lock -N -Load single stage press to compare . Here is what I found.

Graf $135.99 (on sale $129.99) in stock

Midway $137.99 in stock

Midsouth $125.31 in stock

None of these prices included shipping but a $12.68 spread in up front price. Midsouth might be another place you would want to look.

[RobsTV]

From 35 posts I only saw Midsouth mentioned one time. The usually have decent prices. I just picked a common item, a Hornady Lock -N -Load single stage press to compare . Here is what I found.

Graf $135.99 (on sale $129.99) in stock

Midway $137.99 in stock

Midsouth $125.31 in stock

None of these prices included shipping but a $12.68 spread in up front price. Midsouth might be another place you would want to look.

Grafs C&R discount almost pays for the $30 3 year license on just this one purchase.

HRN PRESS LOCK-N-LOAD CLASSIC w/o PRIMER FEED
Item Number: HRN085001 · Price: $106.99 · Availability: In stock
Quantity: 1
Insurance Fee: $0.35
Subtotal: $107.34
(+shipping)

[RobsTV]

Not to sound like a idiot but what is the c &r discount everyone refers to. And how would I go about getting one?

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see my signature

[eniku40]

While Grafs is my 'go to', I have recently purchased several items from midsouth and they I have some pretty good prices on Hornady stuff.
Gander Mountain is the cheapest if all you wants a set of lee deluxe pistol dies. ($40 shipped).

I do think most of these companies are making money on shipping. They charge the retail UPS/FedEx rate, ship based on their discounted rate and pocket the difference.

I have abandoned several Midway orders due to the shipping charge. It's easy to end up with $10-15 shipping on a $50 order, and that just seems to be excessive.

[Gee_Wizz01]

I shop Midway, Midsouth, Grafs, Weidners, Natchez, and Powder Valley. I always comparison shop on the total order, and I end up using Midway about 50% of the time and Grafs or Midsouth 20% each. For powder or primers I normally use Powder Valley and sometimes Weidners. While I do get irked at some of Midway's shipping prices, a lot times they will be cheaper on a total order. All of the above online businesses are much cheaper than anything local. I try to shop from all of these places just to help keep them in business.

G