The WAG THE DOG Manifesto!

[Middle Man]

Walmart retail store department employee? Now THERE's a definitive source of information. 

Rumor don't get it. 

At the risk of feeding a troll...

Marlin 336 with a "W" prefix.

And to answer the "why sell a second" question...in my career I've had plenty of experience with seconds sent out of various factories as firsts for what I can only assume is either poor, incompetent, or non-existent QA inspections/controls.  It happens weekly.  Damaged stocks, rust, missing parts, slides that refuse to open, cylinders that will not turn, etc...

Take this "asleep at the wheel" example


A batch of revolvers left their warehouse without the barrel being swapped to the correct 2" version.  What you see in the photo is a 3" barrel attached to satisfy import regulations that has not finished the machining process to make it a 2"

[CDR]

Looks like something Napolean Solo might have used.............."open channel one" (for you oldies out there). 

This is one way to increase muzzle velocity.

[Snake45]

At the risk of feeding a troll...

Marlin 336 with a "W" prefix.

And to answer the "why sell a second" question...in my career I've had plenty of experience with seconds sent out of various factories as firsts for what I can only assume is either poor, incompetent, or non-existent QA inspections/controls.  It happens weekly.  Damaged stocks, rust, missing parts, slides that refuse to open, cylinders that will not turn, etc...

First, I take offense at your name-calling.

Marlin 336 with a W prefix. Fine. NOW we have something to go on. I'll see if I can find anything about this.

Bad guns leave the factories? Oh, no question, junk gets out the doors all the time. Bad QA, stuff happens, whatever. I've bought a few of them myself. Some I fixed at home, at least one (a S&W purchased at full retail from a mom & pop shop) had to be returned to the factory. But I find it very difficult to believe that any gun manufacturer would knowingly and deliberately gather their "seconds" up and ship them off to any particular retailer, especially the nation's LARGEST one. A happy Walmart gun customer is likely to go looking for your brand when he wants to buy his next gun. Why on earth would anyone risk pissing such a customer off by KNOWINGLY selling him a second?

I'll check this out and if it turns out you're right, I'll happily come back here and apologize.

[Middle Man]

Why on earth would anyone risk pissing such a customer off by KNOWINGLY selling him a second?

Ok, I'll retract the troll comment.

Simple answer, to make a sale. 
Second simple answer, to get rid of it. 
Third simple answer, make profit regardless. 
Fourth less simple answer, they have the attitude that they will generally get away with it.

Certain aspects of business ethics travel along a disappearing curve the larger an organization becomes...

I realize you may just want to be a devil's advocate in order to quash rumors, or possibly, defend Wal Mart; however Pollyannaism is blind folly.  No large corporation is as "good" or "well intentioned" as their PR works to make the public to perceive.  The desire by some vendors to sell to Wal Mart makes them do things and cut deals that make ethics professors blush.  In turn, the demands Wal Mart management places on vendors make ethics professors run to the hills screaming diablo propinquo.

Wal Mart is generally quite good for consumers, but hell on vendors.

[Snake45]

So far, a W prefix on a Marlin seems to indicate 1963 manufacture. Or maybe someone trying to "backdate" a newer gun into a collectible?

Found a couple interesting discussions elsewhere on does Walmart sell factory second guns or not:

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176222

http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-92019.html

[Sponsor]

[Middle Man]

The serial number was not altered.  A "W" was added as a prefix to the receiver's factory stampings, sorry I should have been more clear on the location of the stamp. 

Let's pose a follow up question:  would you consider a factory recondition a first quality item?  Would you pay the same full price for a recondition or warranty repair item if you knew it's exact provenance?

[Snake45]

Let's pose a follow up question:  would you consider a factory recondition a first quality item?  Would you pay the same full price for a recondition or warranty repair item if you knew it's exact provenance?

You're dodging the issue, which is, does Walmart sell known factory second guns, as you accused them of? We are still absent proof one way or the other.

What do you speculate that W on the Marlin means--Walmart, or Warranty repair? 

But just to answer your question: I consider my S&W M17 to be much more valuable after the factory "reconditioned" it than when it was brand new--it works now, which it didn't out of the box! 

[Crescendo]

Michael -an excellent article and verywell done -

Jerry - you are right on man

Everyone else, we gotta do whatever it takes to bring the real story to light.

Crescendo

[Middle Man]

You're dodging the issue, which is, does Walmart sell known factory second guns, as you accused them of? We are still absent proof one way or the other.

I believe they do.  A factory second is customarily defined as a cosmetic blemish in the finish with no compromise of function.  I am not saying they are trying to sell defective or broken guns.  The risk of them selling a blemished gun as first quality is rather low.

They (and every other retailer worth their salt) look for advantages to buy goods at the lowest possible cost.  Big Box Retailers actively seek out any advantage.  How do I know you ask?  Because I have received those calls looking for deals, closeouts, distressed merchandise, etc from big chains and independent dealers looking for some advantage.

Back to my point on ethics, proof would be difficult to obtain.  Follow this example of the difficulty in obtaining  proof of on a different Wal Mart deal: We all know they sell plain 870 Express pumps for less than the wholesale price.  Remington will swear up and down that there is no special deal, they'll even show you invoices to Wal Mart detailing the unit price of 870's.  Those invoices show the same price that is printed in the Remington wholesale pricelists.  However what is unseen are the free goods that go along with the 870 Express order that lower the net cost of goods sold for Wal Mart and consequently lower the selling price.  Free goods can be cases of 22 ammo or maybe cases of centerfire rifle ammo or possibly cases of shotshells.  The result, Wal Mart sells a box of .270 ammo at 100% gross profit and an 870 Express at no gross profit.

[Snake45]

I don't believe I've ever bought a new gun of any kind that didn't have SOME sort of "cosmetic blemish" on it, if I looked hard enough. And I've never bought a gun at Walmart.