11-87 Premier...What The $#^&#$%

[dogwhisperer5]

    Maybe this has been mentioned before..if so forgive me! Today I spotted 2 11-87 Premiers at the local Gander Mountain. From a distance, I thought "Man...look at the fancy wood on those 2!". I looked them over...and noticed the wood on one side of the stock didn't match the other...and down the center was a seam line where the 2 halves had been glued together. Both sides were real nice walnut- they just didn't match very well. When in all thats sacred did Remington start glueing together shotgun stocks? I mean..I know you can't expect much today for $869 + tax, but this just strikes me as a bit much! It's probably me just being an old curmudgeon again!

[jvs]

Are you sure you weren't looking at Veneer?

I have not seen an example of what you are alluding to, but cheap wood underneath with fancy Veneer on top would make alot more sense than glueing two pieces of wood together.  Even though it does cheapen the woodwork in a way.

[dogwhisperer5]

   Nope...not veneer. 2 "halves" of highly figured, lightly mismatched walnut...glued together with a seam line the full length top and bottom all topped off with a thick coat of their bowling-pin finish. I've got an idea that they have some highly figured wood that isn't thick enough to make a shotgun stock, but is useable to make half a stock and then put the two pieces together. By the way, the sales person stood there with his jaw hanging wide when I pointed it out to him. I know Gander Mountain sales people may not necessarily be up on everything, be he struck me as being a "gunner".

[dogwhisperer5]

OK- I see a picture of it in the 2007 catalog on page 3- "Remington Realwood(tm) Construction- This Remington-exclusive process bonds two pieces of solid, semi-fancy American walnut with a carbon reinforcement to produce an amazing blend of strength, durability and stunning good looks. No film or coating, just real wood". The "carbon reinforcement" is the seam that I saw. I'd suggest that they do a better job of matching the two halves if they want to be successful with it for folks that like fancy wood. Again, they've got a bunch of fancy walnut not thick enough for a shotgun stock...and this is the answer. If they sell, you'll be seeing this thruout the Remington line shortly!
I guess the guns I saw must have been last years...the 11-87 models cataloged have gotten down to only a few...only the SP and Sportsman ones are left. I guess they're gonna run with the 105CTi, and surprisingly, a bunch of 1100 models(all of their target semi-autos are 1100's as well as a new 1100 G3 (Generation 3 ?) field gun). Whatever.

[NYH1]

     I mean..I know you can't expect much today for $869 + tax, but this just strikes me as a bit much!

As far as prices go...............shop around before you buy anything from Gander Mountain. Example, our local Gander Mountain wanted $629 for a 11-87 Sportsman Deer (matte finish, black stock and 21" rifled barrel with cantilever scope mount). Our local Dicks Sporting Goods sells the same shotgun for $549. Gander Mountain will match prices, but if you don't shop around you're going to pay more then you should. Our local Bass Pro Shop is just like Gander Mountain.....expensive! 

[sniperVLS]

     I mean..I know you can't expect much today for $869 + tax, but this just strikes me as a bit much!

As far as prices go...............shop around before you buy anything from Gander Mountain. Example, our local Gander Mountain wanted $629 for a 11-87 Sportsman Deer (matte finish, black stock and 21" rifled barrel with cantilever scope mount). Our local Dicks Sporting Goods sells the same shotgun for $549. Gander Mountain will match prices, but if you don't shop around you're going to pay more then you should. Our local Bass Pro Shop is just like Gander Mountain.....expensive! 

Agreed. Dicks used to be pricey in this area but compared to Gander, they are much lower. Gander however has 3 distrubitors they deal with so that opens up more opportunities, whereas Dicks by me only has 1.

[NYH1]

     I mean..I know you can't expect much today for $869 + tax, but this just strikes me as a bit much!

As far as prices go...............shop around before you buy anything from Gander Mountain. Example, our local Gander Mountain wanted $629 for a 11-87 Sportsman Deer (matte finish, black stock and 21" rifled barrel with cantilever scope mount). Our local Dicks Sporting Goods sells the same shotgun for $549. Gander Mountain will match prices, but if you don't shop around you're going to pay more then you should. Our local Bass Pro Shop is just like Gander Mountain.....expensive! 

Agreed. Dicks used to be pricey in this area but compared to Gander, they are much lower. Gander however has 3 distrubitors they deal with so that opens up more opportunities, whereas Dicks by me only has 1.

Having three distributors doesn't seem to help the Gander Mountain store in Cicero, NY (Syracuse). My father and I have been trying to order a couple of shotgun barrels from them. One since before Christmas. That one was supposed to take two weeks to get in. The other I ordered two weeks ago today, it was supposed to be here by the end of that week...............it still isn't here! In my opinion the only good thing about Gander Mountain is they have a lot of guns on the floor. You can look at them without needing their very uninformed sales people show them to you.

[sniperVLS]

Interesting. My local Gander doesnt have much on the floor, and what they do have has been there for 3 solid years, never anything new. Their staff is quite good, unless you talk about pistols/handguns. Out of the 2 Dicks stores, the one has a guy behind the counter that could be upstaged by my dog if it could talk, no joke.

The other store has a very knowledgable employee but he hates everything Remington. When he handed me the book I could order from, he started digging into not only the New Sendero SF II's, but the 2 prior versions as well. Obviously he is a bit confused seeing as since their inception, they are highly regarded by most.

He also said I could Not order a 700 Police or the 870 tactical because I was not a LEO. I urged him to make a call and he did so, only to prove himself wrong(he was very reluctant to admit it so he said that only within the past 6 months could civilians get them...wrong again pal).

Seems we can't win no matter where we go 

What barrels did you order? You might be better off ordering from a website. When it comes to parts, I try to stay away from special ordering at local stores. My Grandpa ordered something from Gander and it took 7 weeks and many phone calls, was supposed to take 4 days. I wish I could remember what it was but in the end he despises them now, I dont blame him.

Speaking of selection and sales people, a Cabelas might be opening up just a couple miles away from me. If that happens I'll be applying asap! It sucks driving 4 hours one way to Michigan to visit the closest one!

Can you say "employee discount" ?! 

[NYH1]

sniperVLS, I got in on a hunting camp. My father is going to hunt there a few times a year as my guest. The area is "shotgun only". He hasn't had a shotgun since he gave me his Ithaca 37 15 plus years ago. So he went to Gander Mountain the week of Christmas to look at  semi-auto 20 ga's with a fully rifled barrel with the cantilever scope mount. The kid at Gander Mountain told my father that pumps were a lot more accurate then semi-auto's and turned him on to a Benelli Nova. He told my father that he could order a fully rifled barrel with the cantilever scope mount for the 20 ga. directly from benelli. We kept calling ever week. Everyone else in the gun department said there was not such barrel available.........that's what I thought to begin with. Finally last week I told them to forget the Benelli and we're both going to go with Remington 11-87's. I gave him my 20 ga. and he bought me the 12 ga. Two week ago today we ordered a fully rifled barrel w/ cantilever scope mount for the 20 ga. the guy said it would be in by the end of the week. Still no barrel. I should have just drove the 35 minutes to Bass Pro Shop or just ordered it from Cabelas. Bass Pro had two of them in stock. Cabelas web site says they also have them in stock.

Our Gander Mountain says they stock 1600 to 1700 long guns and about 75 handguns. I've never counted them.........but they're probably pretty close with their numbers..............they got a lot of guns that's for sure.

[NYH1]

One other thing. I was at a local Sports Authority store today. They have a brand new Remington 11-87 Premier 12 ga. with the field barrel (don't know if it's 26" or 28")................................$639 plus tax! I believe GM wants $750 for the same gun!

[sniperVLS]

Ordering barrels for a customer that do not exist, I must say I am not surprised.

Your Gander store has an amount remotely close to 1,600 on the sales floor!? Umm, I think mine has maybe 50 rifles, about 25 shotguns and no more than 30 handguns. Seems my store is tiny in comparison

Now at Cabelas, if I were to count the long guns they had on the racks, it would probably take me the better part of 2 hours to count, it looked like an armory! Everyone pray a Cabelas comes to N.E. Ohio!!! I need one bad! Everyone should visit a Cabelas at some point. I spent 3 hours looking at stuff and that was just the 1st floor. I wanted so bad to get into the archery room and see if I was at all still decent with a bow.

*Just saw your last post, they will price match though correct? Bah, Im still going to Dicks for the XCR tactical when the time comes.

[NYH1]

Your Gander store has an amount remotely close to 1,600 on the sales floor!? Umm, I think mine has maybe 50 rifles, about 25 shotguns and no more than 30 handguns. Seems my store is tiny in comparison

When they opened they said they stocked 1600 long guns (rifles, shotguns and muzzle loaders) and 75 Handguns. They have a lot of guns that's for sure.

*Just saw your last post, they will price match though correct?

Yes they do. Even that can be a pain in the @$$ though!

Bah, Im still going to Dicks for the XCR tactical when the time comes.

That's what I would do if I had to do it over!