Gun stores tend to have the same advertising scheme as prostitutes: word of mouth and a sign on the street. Even here in Virginia I don’t think I’ve ever seen a T.V. commercial for a gun store or firing range (except on the Outdoor channel, but who actually watches that?). If you’re a brand new shooter or new to the area that means it’s none too easy to find a shop or a range near you. The man behind PAFOA.org, the most popular firearms discussion website in Pennsylvania, aims to fix that with his new firearms related search engine ArmsDealer.net.
I had a chance to sit down with Daniel Pehrson at the NRA Convention last week, and he explained that the site was designed to give shooters the ability to quickly and easily search for gun stores, FFLs, and shooting ranges in their area. Just pop in your city and state and what you’re looking for and the website will spit back a list of stores. You can sort the results based on the distance from your location, the rating users gave it, the number of reviews, or just the name.
Reviews and ease of use, Daniel said, is what he hopes will separate his website from other similar sites. There aren’t many reviews yet, but that’s to be expected of a site that was only launched a few months ago. Posting a review is easy, and all of the reviews already on the site are helpful.
There are plenty of search engines that come close. Gunbroker has a search feature, but that’s only for FFLs and may confuse some people newer to the sport. Google has their business search, but ArmsDealer’s list is more accurate and complete.
The search may be a little wonky at times (why is a tire store listed as an FFL near me?) but the reviews make it work. If you need to find a gun store, this should be your first stop.
The best ammo search engine in my humble opinion.
I split my time pretty much evenly between here and PAFOA. The two best firearms forums on the interwebs.
Don’s Guns in Indiana:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54loV2WgeyI
Nick, thanks a million for taking the time to do such an amazing writeup for the site!
I basically quit my job to start my own company and the first thing I did was write Arms Dealer. While it’s not perfect and I have plenty of work to do, I am very happy with the way it’s been going so far.
The main thing I’m hoping is that more gun owners will take a few minutes to sign up and write a review for a few of their local gun shops and shooting ranges in order to help the next guy that comes along.
I have TONS more ideas for expanding this site that I think will be VERY interesting to gun owners.
Those new feature are split between smaller, useful things such as filtering by places with FFL’s, adding business hours to listings, etc. and larger features such as some of the secrets I’m cooking up. I’ve been writing code about 10 hours a day all this week on a huge feature that should probably launch within the next month or two. I’m pretty sure gun owners will eat it up.
Once again, thanks for posting this review of the site and thank you to all the visitors who clicked through to check it out! If anyone needs anything or has any questions, email me at [email protected]
About the wonky data, many car parts stores, car repair and hardware stores are also ffls. Also just random store like a deli might be owned by a ffl and they will process stuff out of a carpet store, wood shop etc.
This is absolutely what it is, one of my favorite is this one:
http://www.armsdealer.net/businesses/5906-balloons-for-all-occasion
I researched it and found out that they do in fact have an FFL.
Good luck Dan.
We should all support sites like this. I’ve registered and posted a couple of reviews. So should everyone else. When fully developed, it’ll be a great resource.
Especially when it doesn’t cost anything to give a little support to entrepreneurs like Dan, take a minute, register and put up a review. You’ll all appreciate it in a year.
I could not agree more. It’s good to cull the info of others and to have healthy humor and stay abreast of politics. I intend to do some in depth practical ballistics testing et al, if I wasn’t serious I wouldn’t have just spent $300 + on video equipment. This site is what helps me keep my sanity with my daily bouts of migraines and swelling of one side of my stellar, Russell Crowe-like face from the fracture in my eye socket. I love sharing my humor and tips with people who understand firearms and real world events-even if I don’t always agree. I wasn’t blessed with a son to pass on fighting, shooting and guns so I like to think this battered Firearms Instructor can help others-and I thank Robert for the opp. With his blessings and my learning how to fwd videos I hope to do practical tests-like penetration of leather and denim into melons. Or propane tanks. Thanks to all…
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