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Hey everyone. While I have no prior experiance I'm extremly interested in working at a gun shop. I was wondering if anyone had any recomendations on how to go about securing a sales job at one of these stores. I've been by a few and they all seem to want large amounts of past experiance selling guns. I'm a very good salesman and would dig selling something that I've come to love.

any ideas?

thanks in advance.

How much experience do you have with guns?
Do you have experience in sales?

If you have experience in both areas, that's a good start for you.
Consider starting out at one of the box stores like Gander Mountain or Academy. You could gain experience there and go elsewhere when you're ready.

Hopefully, others here will have more in-depth knowledge of how that industry works. (I've never worked in a gun store.)

Venus posted pretty much what I was thinking. In my case, I had no professional gun sales experience. However, I was known to the owners/managers and I have a documented history of professional firearm training and competition.

Probably some good advice above about trying to start with one of the big-box retailers - if for nothing else, to see if it's something you really want to do.

FWIW, another hunter ed. instructor buddy (mid-thirties, with a vast amount of firearms knowledge and prior experience in similar department at Wal-Mart while in college) recently went through the application and interview process with Cabella's. It was to be a part-time gig for him - for just $10 an hour. With his prior time commitments and the fact he was going to have to work at least one day on most weekends (which is very common in the retail biz), he turned it down.

Beyond that, ya should probably understand (if ya don't already) that the big box retailers (and the internet) are causing the old fashioned gun shops to wither away. Gunshop-owner friend in Carrollton told me that he knew of about 6 of 'em in DFW area who'd folded in the past year or two. He and most of the few left like him have to make their money off of their gunsmithing services, not necessarily the products.

G.C.Montgomery wrote:I have a documented history of professional firearm training and competition.

This is the key right here. Make yourself known in the firearm hobby in your area.

Thanks for all the responses. pretty much what I thought would be the route I needed to take. Just figured that it wouldn't hurt to get your input. Greybeard, is that S&S that you were talking about at Josey/beltline? I've been in there and the guy that runs the place does some really nice work.

Doc Jones (Doc's Gun Shop) on Whitlock. (Unrelated to the gun shows "Doc's", FFL out of McKinney.)

Greybeard wrote: Beyond that, ya should probably understand (if ya don't already) that the big box retailers (and the internet) are causing the old fashioned gun shops to wither away. Gunshop-owner friend in Carrollton told me that he knew of about 6 of 'em in DFW area who'd folded in the past year or two. He and most of the few left like him have to make their money off of their gunsmithing services, not necessarily the products.

There's definitely some truth to that but there are some dedicated gunshops that will probably remain in business for as long as their owners are willing to put up with the taxes, ATF and customers. The days of having just a shop that sells nothing but guns are probably coming to a close but some soldier on anyway like Collectors' or Carter's in Houston.

Collectors' Firearms in particular seems to defy all odds. They have the highest prices in town for just about everything but are large percentage of their clientele are willing to pay those premiums and it seems to keep them open. They are still the place to see just about everything short of crew-served weapons. But, they'd probably special order that for you if you can afford it John Farnam once commented that he'd never seen so many guns in one shop.

I will be starting a new job at a gun store soon. I just went in and asked if they were hiring, the manager said they were accepting applications and gave me one. Came back the next day and handed it to him, we talked for a few minutes. I just said I hadn't been in sales before but I was a fast learner, I do my job, and listed all my firearms experience. Shooting for years, staying up to date with new guns, hobbyist gunsmithing, reloading, IDPA, etc... He called me back a few days later to tell me he wanted to hire me.

You can get pretty much any job you want, you just have to know how to talk to people right. Don't blow smoke up their you know what, but tell them what you know and that you're serious about learning, doing your job right, and moving up in the company. It will go a long way.