‘Stackin’ ’Em Deep and Sellin’ ’Em Cheap!’

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 9/13/2019 | F Jardim

[w1n1]

Kentucky's Centerfire Systems serves up bargains on guns, gear, surplus, ammo and so much more.
With the slogan “Stackin’ ’em deep and sellin’ ’em cheap!”, Centerfire Systems, Inc. in central Kentucky is known as a leading value retailer among enthusiasts of all shooting sports and vintage military firearms. In fact, the company is the go to source for nearly all things AK-47 for the home-build hobbyist.
Company founder Mike Davis was a bargain hunter extraordinaire and got into selling firearms as a side job after seeing one change hands twice at a local flea market, netting the middleman a quick $20. In the mid-1980s, Davis’s buying savvy and hard work put him in a unique position to take advantage of a rapid succession of great opportunities, beginning with the influx of astonishingly inexpensive, and high-quality, Chinese SKS rifles.
He knew from experience that gun show buyers characteristically spent upwards of $500 on a firearm, but rarely bought more than one new gun a year. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to buy more guns; they just didn't have enough disposable income.

Davis determined that the imported SKS rifles could be packaged with 100 rounds of ammunition and a few accessories and still sell for around $100 – an offer just about everyone could afford and hardly anyone could pass up. Customers couldn’t get enough of them and he made $20 on each sale. In 1985, Davis established Centerfire Systems Inc., and soon afterward, a second company, Advanced Technology Inc. (ATI), to make molded plastic sporting and tactical stocks for the SKS rifle.
In those early years, there were a lot of deals to be found on imported military surplus and firearms:
Norinco AKs, MAK 90s, Russian Makarov and Chinese Tokarev pistols, Mosin Nagants, Egyptian Hakim and Swedish Ljungman rifles, magazines, parts, and what amounted to a mountain of surplus ammunition and accoutrements. By keeping his prices low and margins small, Davis moved volumes of product and the business grew. Davis’s son-in-law, Shane Coe, took over Centerfire Systems’ operations as owner in 2004 and Davis sold his plastics molding company in 2008.

WHEN IT COMES to rooting out bargains and identifying value, Shane Coe was cut from the same cloth as his father-in-law and the business continued to grow. Coe readily admits that he’s actually not much of a shooter or hunter. His thrill comes from the hunt for the deals that let Centerfire Systems deliver real value to their customers. Coe still finds caches of surplus dating back before World War I, stashed away decades ago. His quests have taken him to some surreal places.
Back in the late ’80s, he would make mid-January visits to a towering brick 19th century locomotive repair shop that Vermont-based Century Arms used as their warehouse.

When I visited Centerfire Systems in August, staffers were cleaning, checking headspace, and grading hundreds of pre-1898 Turkish Army Mauser rifles they had procured when the “Golden Age” importer Springfield Sporters closed their doors for good last year. Reworked in the 1930s to chamber 7.92x57mm at Ankara arsenal, the rifles had been warehoused since the 1960s and are rich with the history of the Ottoman Empire. These Model 1893 Johnny Turks have seen their hundredth birthday and they show their age. Read the rest of Centerfire Systems firearms.

[4yearlurker]

Cutting meat for the supermarket case we would say: “Pile ‘em high and watch ‘em fly” during a sale.

[wastedyears]

Some day when I live in a free state.

[wastoute]

I watched an episode of “Mysteries of The Abandoned” recently about a guy who did this back around 1890. He built a castle on an Island near NYC and ran his business out of buildings on the Island. Fascinating. The guy sold all kinds of militaria, mostly guns and ammo by catalog and became very wealthy.

[wastoute]

https://www.guns.com/news/2015/11/07/bannermans-legacy-ultimate-army-navy-store

[Lurker]

I never bought one of those SKS rifles but I did pick up two nearly flawless Ishapore Enfield rifles chambered in 7.62 NATO and two Mosin Nagants. Wish I’d bought half a dozen of each.

L

[PapaBear3625]

Davis determined that the imported SKS rifles could be packaged with 100 rounds of ammunition and a few accessories and still sell for around $100 – an offer just about everyone could afford and hardly anyone could pass up. Customers couldn’t get enough of them and he made $20 on each sale.

This was the point where the libs really started freaking out about semi-auto rifles.

A $100 rifle, using cheap 7.62x39 ammo, is something an average shlub can grab on an impulse-buy, and stick in his closet for "just in case". And LOTS of people did.

[Steely Tom]

Did he end the commercial with “it’s... HUUUGGGGE!” ?

[PapaBear3625]

A friend of mine lucked out on a particularly good SKS. I saw him get a one inch group with it at 100 yards.

[Lurker]

I got our Mosins for $110 each. A tin of ammo added an extra $50 each I think. They were on the C&R list so I had it all shipped right to my door. Got two hex receiver models, one of them a 1932 Tusla. That thing could have marched into Berlin in ‘45.

Gets some attention when we touch them off at the range. “WTF ARE YOU SHOOTING OVER THERE!”

LOL.

L

[I got the rope]

I paid $55 for my Chinese SKS

[Big Red Badger]

Bannerman?

[wastoute]

Yeah. Check the link. Fascinating read.

[wastoute]

Gotcha beat. A Nurse I worked with had a buddy pick one up for him and he didn’t want it. He knew I had guns so he gave it to me. $0. Beat that. It helped with the pain when that tragic boat accident happened.

[mylife]

Centerfire solutions is a great company.

[I got the rope]

Free is always the best!

I used to play chess with a guy that was a gun dealer. He gave me the coolest little derringer.

[1Old Pro]

I used to play chess with a guy that was a gun dealer. He gave me the coolest little derringer.

Too bad that tiny thing fumbled out of your hands fishing.

[wastoute]

I used to think mouse guns were cool until a friend let me shoot his North American Arms .22 Magnum revolver. The recoil was actually quite painful. One shot and I was done. If I owned one I would give it away.

[Celtic Conservative]

I have a ‘43 Izhevsk Mosin that is almost guaranteed to have killed Germans in my collection. Due to wartime exigencies it will never win a beauty contest, but its function is undiminished.

CC

[MileHi]

I got a Russian SKS for $125. Should have got five of them.