MD Gun Shops - Best to Worst

PapiBarcelona · Jan 19, 2021

I never went to their store in Parkville (I think?) but that out of business shop always made me laugh at gun shows in Timonium. Valley Guns?

I don't know if it was their shtick at shows only or not but having dudes wear extra small sized T shirts with kevlar vest under them always made me laugh. At least holster up a blue training gun to get the "hard security guard" look authentic

THier · Jan 19, 2021

PapiBarcelona said:
I never went to their store in Parkville (I think?) but that out of business shop always made me laugh at gun shows in Timonium. Valley Guns?

I don't know if it was their shtick at shows only or not but having dudes wear extra small sized T shirts with kevlar vest under them always made me laugh. At least holster up a blue training gun to get the "hard security guard" look authentic

Wasn't Valley guns a "cop store" catered to LEOs?

A. Wayne · Jan 19, 2021

Clarke's seems questionable. Maybe good but I am leaning.

PapiBarcelona · Jan 19, 2021

Honorable mention for the "Roadie dude" at Continental, if he is or isn't employed there anymore? Don't know and don't care

My one and only time there a friend of mine asked a question while they both were looking at each other, he just walked away. I thought WTF? And then saw him shaking and smacking the vending machine around the corner. LOL

I get it man, retail sucks but at least try an answer a (non stupid) question about ordering something.

John from MD · Jan 19, 2021

THier said:
Wasn't Valley guns a "cop store" catered to LEOs?

No, Valley Guns was at one time a very good gun store. Unfortunately, the owner, Sandy Abrams, got into some legal trouble and lost his FFL. He then started doing some shady stuff on the side and I don't recall the results.

Sandy was at one time, the president of the Maryland Stocking Dealers Association. In that roll, he probably hurt gun owners more than he helped. :sad20:

toddtrain · Jan 19, 2021

Tylers and Baltimores Best(Maryland Elite Firearmss) are great. 2A Sales is also nice.

Alot of good choices to be honest. Fox's has been good too.

Uncle Duke · Jan 19, 2021

John from MD said:
No, Valley Guns was at one time a very good gun store. Unfortunately, the owner, Sandy Abrams, got into some legal trouble and lost his FFL. He then started doing some shady stuff on the side and I don't recall the results.

Sandy was at one time, the president of the Maryland Stocking Dealers Association. In that roll, he probably hurt gun owners more than he helped.

Valley did some nice bluing work for me years ago. Come to think of it, the last was a TC kit gun. One I did almost 40 years ago. Dayumm....

IronDuck · Jan 19, 2021

I second JimB, Gun Shack in Mt. Airy, have always been good to me.

Pinecone · Jan 19, 2021

Shore88 said:
I recall a conversation I had maybe 35-40 years ago with Charlie at Anglers. This was back when the now defunct Best Products sold Remington shotguns, among other gun products. He told me he couldn’t buy a Remington 870 wholesale for what Best sold them for retail. The purchasing power of a large chain sometimes makes it impossible for the small shop to compete. I always remember that conversation when I see the prices at my local shop.

I got a Mini 14 from Sears back in about 82.

At the time, there were NO Mini 14s to be found. None listed in Shotgun News.

Then Sears put them on sale. I was in a small town, so just a Sears catalog store. I went in, filled out the order form, handed it to them. A couple of days later, walked in, picked it up and done.

Pinecone · Jan 19, 2021

71Chevelle427 said:
In no particular order,
Group 1 that I've never had a bad experience at:

Dick's Sporting Goods (few years back)

I must say I had only good experiences with Dick's.

Last thing I purchased was a Henry AR-7. I went to my local one, and they were out.

A nice young lady called White Marsh, verified that had one, and had them hold it for me.

That is customer service.

Pinecone · Jan 19, 2021

THier said:
Wasn't Valley guns a "cop store" catered to LEOs?

Valley Guns varied over the years.

They started in the small white house in Towson.

Then the moved to the store on Harford Rd (or was it Belair Rd). Then they expanded into the store next door.

It started as a great store. And then got nuts over time.

Bertfish · Jan 19, 2021

toddtrain said:
Tylers and Baltimores Best(Maryland Elite Firearmss) are great. 2A Sales is also nice.

Alot of good choices to be honest. Fox's has been good too.

Saying anything nice about Fox won't make you popular around here

Pinecone · Jan 19, 2021

John from MD said:
No, Valley Guns was at one time a very good gun store. Unfortunately, the owner, Sandy Abrams, got into some legal trouble and lost his FFL. He then started doing some shady stuff on the side and I don't recall the results.

Sandy was at one time, the president of the Maryland Stocking Dealers Association. In that roll, he probably hurt gun owners more than he helped.

Wasn't Sandy one of the sons?

It was a father and two sons. One son worked there full time. The other had another job and worked there at times.

The full time son would not discount for multiple purchases. My buddy and I were buying 1911s at the same time. Nope, the price is the price. We bought from Donohue.

Another time, the part time brother was in the store when my buddy and went in. He was doing some paperwork on the counter. So we asked what he was doing. He said the sale ad. We asked what was on sale. He asked what we wanted. We said two Mini 14s. He went in the back, brought out two, and gave us a very good price. We bought them.

Pinecone · Jan 19, 2021

Uncle Duke said:
Valley did some nice bluing work for me years ago. Come to think of it, the last was a TC kit gun. One I did almost 40 years ago. Dayumm....

Mike, the gunsmith at Valley was VERY good. And a very nice guy.

I heard he went to be a gunsmith at MSP.

John from MD · Jan 19, 2021

Pinecone said:
Wasn't Sandy one of the sons?

It was a father and two sons. One son worked there full time. The other had another job and worked there at times.

The full time son would not discount for multiple purchases. My buddy and I were buying 1911s at the same time. Nope, the price is the price. We bought from Donohue.

Another time, the part time brother was in the store when my buddy and went in. He was doing some paperwork on the counter. So we asked what he was doing. He said the sale ad. We asked what was on sale. He asked what we wanted. We said two Mini 14s. He went in the back, brought out two, and gave us a very good price. We bought them.

Sandy was the full time son and took over the business. He made bad business decisions.

Shore88 · Jan 19, 2021

Pinecone said:
Valley Guns varied over the years.

They started in the small white house in Towson.

Then the moved to the store on Harford Rd (or was it Belair Rd). Then they expanded into the store next door.

It started as a great store. And then got nuts over time.

Wasn’t it Valley Guns where one of the owners was shot in a robbery many years ago? I could be mistaken.

Bertfish · Jan 19, 2021

Pinecone said:
Wasn't Sandy one of the sons?

It was a father and two sons. One son worked there full time. The other had another job and worked there at times.

The full time son would not discount for multiple purchases. My buddy and I were buying 1911s at the same time. Nope, the price is the price. We bought from Donohue.

Another time, the part time brother was in the store when my buddy and went in. He was doing some paperwork on the counter. So we asked what he was doing. He said the sale ad. We asked what was on sale. He asked what we wanted. We said two Mini 14s. He went in the back, brought out two, and gave us a very good price. We bought them.

Similar story to how my dad got his SP1 from them

John from MD · Jan 19, 2021

Shore88 said:
Wasn’t it Valley Guns where one of the owners was shot in a robbery many years ago? I could be mistaken.

You might be thinking about Colonial in Glen Burnie.

Uncle Duke · Jan 19, 2021

Shore88 said:
Wasn’t it Valley Guns where one of the owners was shot in a robbery many years ago? I could be mistaken.

John from MD said:
You might be thinking about Colonial in Glen Burnie.

Or maybe Eddie at Northeast. Killed in the early 90's.

jollymon · Jan 19, 2021

I was in Atlantic Guns in Silver Spring fondling some handguns when this tall guy steps in the front door and put the wedge in to hold the door open and yells up to the counter "Hey I can use some help " and Dale , Joel go to help him unload the van out front , I asked Carl who was with me at the handgun case who is that , He said he's the owner of Valley Guns , Sandy Abrams he's delivering some guns . They came in with boxes of used S&W Mod 10 Police trade in's , 4" and 2" Carl let me pick through them to find a nice one , Found a 2" that hardly had a mark on it , But on the backstrap they had ground off the Department marketing , Carl said they were from the Baltimore PD . Filled out the paper work and picked it up 7 days later Carl told me that a guy came in to Valley Guns once and was looking at the guns in the rack on the showroom opened a box of shotgun shells that were stacked on the counter put one in a gun and put in his mouth and pulled the trigger . I heard before he had problems with the law that Sandy Abrams was also on the Board of Directors of the NRA

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