912 Availability

[pbro21]

Does anyone know if there is a backorder on the Franchi 912 28" Max-4. A friend has one on order from a major retailer who said it would be two weeks. It has been a month now, and no response. Anybody have any insight. If it is just the retailer he can just take his business elsewhere.

[tucker301]

http://gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=36249415
claims to have any length/finish you want.

http://gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=36223131 26" MAX4

[pbro21]

Thanks Tucker. I had already checked those out. I was trying to find out if there was a reason for such a long delay. If there is not a valid reason, I'll take my order to another dealer. Thanks for the information though.

[Jon Ramsey]

One thing I’ve learned from my many gun buying experiences, including many special orders for my wife who happens to be a lefty. Is that the firearms industry supply chain is unlike any other product supply chain that you will ever encounter. Each manufacture sends guns to a hand full of distributors (such as Sport South Inc. ect), and each retailer will buy from a hand full of distributors. Sounds simple right. Here’s where it gets weird. Each retailer will usually only buy a product line from one distributor. (i.e. all of their Remington and Mossberg products might come from distributor “X”, while all of their Winchester and Springfield products might come from distributor “Y”) In reality Distributor ”Y” might also carry Remington but IF the 870 youth model you want for your son in out of stock at the store and Distributor “X” has it on backorder, pending delivery from the next production run. You’ll be waiting, even if distributor “Y” has 30 of them in stock.
Now if you really want to get irritated, try dealing with a nation wide retailer like Wal-Mart. My wife (the lefty) wanted at semi-auto 12 gauge. If you’ve ever looked for a left handed gun you can probably already feel my pain. I started out shopping on line and with limited choices we settled on a Charles Daly VR-MC. Being the kind of guy who can’t pass a sporting goods counter without looking, I knew that Wal-Mart sold Daly’s, so off to our local Wal-Mart we went. Not only did they sell Daly’s, they had the very model we wanted but only in the right handed version, of course. After spending an hour speaking with the department manager, the store manager, and a phone call to Sport South, the bottom line was this. Their supplier (Sport South) did have it in stock, but Wal-Mart was not able to order it for me because it was not on the list of approved items that was setup by their corporate office. I then contacted sport south to get a list of retailers in my area that ordered from them. I quickly found out that just because the retailer orders from them, does not mean that they will order the item I want from them. This goes back to what I said in the previous paragraph about distributors “X” and “Y”.
The bottom line is good luck getting your gun.

[tucker301]

Just making sure you knew those options existed.
FWIW, I would never place an order for a gun without getting a firm commmitment on a deadline for delivery.
Too many horror stories of folks waiting for months and months to get what should be readily available.
I'd also never order one without checking the online sources first.
A hard to find model in California could be collecting dust on a shelf in North Carolina.

How wonderful it would be if Benelli implemented the industry's first dealer exchange network!
Imagine going into a gun shop and having a dealer say, "I don't have that in stock, but I can get you one in three days".

I recently bought a Veloce O/U.
I asked my local "Franchee" dealer about it, in proper pronunciation, and they didn't even know what it was.
Ended up getting one from the left coast and paid less than my dealer's price, even after shipping and transfer fees.

[ 08-22-2005, 06:34 PM: Message edited by: tucker301 ]

[wallhanger54]

Just an FYI for the folks that might not know. Benelli USA and all of their affiliates are dealer direct only. They do not sell to distributors such as Sports South, CDNN, Ellot Bros etc. So the gun you get at your local dealer is direct from the warehouse in Pocomoke. My 2 cents.

[pbro21]

Well, we placed an order with a dealer who called the distribution center and said that they had them in stock. Then the distribution center didn't have any in stock the next day. It still only took two weeks to come in after the order was placed. Maybe we have the advantage of being in Maryland where the distribution center is located?