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Grandpa's gun shop in madison

Sorcice

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2011
Messages
381
Location
Madison, WI
I was on my way back through downtown after the Elie's breakfast and saw grandpa's gun shop. I stopped and had a very peculiar interaction at the store. First there's a sign on the door that says to ring the bell if door was locked with a giant "yes we are open" sign. so i rang, then rang again. Finally the "Grandpa" of the store came to the door and let me in looking a bit POed. I asked if he had any .40 JHP and he looked in the tiny case and said no and then kinda starred off in the distance. I then asked "Do you have any pistols as I didn't see any displayed and your now the only gun shop in Madison that can sell them?" to which he replied with a very irritated expression on his face "Here's a card. I only sell used and I have about 250 used pistols at any given time. Go look online and then come back with exactly what you'd like." I asked "Do you know if you have a used compact Beretta px..." at which point he cut me off and repeated the online thing. I can't understand why a gunshop owner/operator would turn away business vs keeping a list of guns handy.. I looked online and there was a total of 30 handguns some new(which he said outright he didn't sell). IMO Either he is getting to old to deal with customers or he thought I was some ass hat trying to get him to display a gun to take from him. Possibly a bit "off" by the looks of his general demeanor..

Has anyone else had any experience with him?

here's the website: http://grampasgunshop.com/index.html
and the hand gun area specifically: http://grampasgunshop.com/gunrequestformPistol.php?Category=Pistol
 
H

Herr Heckler Koch

Guest
LOL Grampa Larry Gleasman's a good man. He's got my number and, apparently, he's got your number too! HO Ho ho.

What do y'all imagine is the reason he's still in business when all the others are not, hmm?
 
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Shotgun

Wisconsin Carry, Inc.
Joined
Aug 23, 2006
Messages
2,668
Location
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Maybe this will put it in perspective for you:

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/lo...cle_d32426af-bc01-5838-8efd-46488d9f7346.html

"A brazen midday robbery at a Williamson Street gun shop Saturday netted 30 handguns and several other firearms — but most are of no use on the street, the store’s owner said.

Larry Gleasman, 70, owner of Grampa’s Gun Shop, 1374 Williamson St., said he suffered some scrapes and bruises but no serious injuries when two men forced their way into a side door of his residence adjacent to the shop, knocked him to the floor, dragged him to a bathroom and duct-taped his hands and legs."
 
H

Herr Heckler Koch

Guest
At lunch after Church, just now, an FFL neighbor explained that Larry Gleasman has found the perfect balance between BATFag demands for a brick storefront, security and expense. Thanks for the link URL to the story that was merely alluded.
 

Sorcice

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2011
Messages
381
Location
Madison, WI
Maybe this will put it in perspective for you:

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/lo...cle_d32426af-bc01-5838-8efd-46488d9f7346.html

"A brazen midday robbery at a Williamson Street gun shop Saturday netted 30 handguns and several other firearms — but most are of no use on the street, the store’s owner said.

Larry Gleasman, 70, owner of Grampa’s Gun Shop, 1374 Williamson St., said he suffered some scrapes and bruises but no serious injuries when two men forced their way into a side door of his residence adjacent to the shop, knocked him to the floor, dragged him to a bathroom and duct-taped his hands and legs."

As much as that sucks to hear if your going to stay in business, I'd think being somewhat decent to customers would be a priority. I can understand being on edge after that but damn. I'm really surprised he lives so close to the shop and doesn't have better defenses set up(metal door/frame/etc so he at least had a chance to grab one of his weapons).
 

RR_Broccoli

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2010
Messages
170
Location
WI
Maybe this will put it in perspective for you:

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/lo...cle_d32426af-bc01-5838-8efd-46488d9f7346.html

"A brazen midday robbery at a Williamson Street gun shop Saturday netted 30 handguns and several other firearms — but most are of no use on the street, the store’s owner said.

Larry Gleasman, 70, owner of Grampa’s Gun Shop, 1374 Williamson St., said he suffered some scrapes and bruises but no serious injuries when two men forced their way into a side door of his residence adjacent to the shop, knocked him to the floor, dragged him to a bathroom and duct-taped his hands and legs."

He was goofy before that robbery.

Everybody I know that has been in there, including me, thinks the guy is a bit off.

Go somewhere else. There's dozens of FFLs in town, and lots of traffic on armslist.com (like Craigslist, only for guns) if you want used.
 

Sorcice

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2011
Messages
381
Location
Madison, WI
Dozens? I thought he was the only one that snuck through after Madison started enforcing zoning regulations?
 

RR_Broccoli

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2010
Messages
170
Location
WI
Dozens? I thought he was the only one that snuck through after Madison started enforcing zoning regulations?

Egads. Ok. Dozens in the area. Auto Zone in Mt Horeb, Gander Mountain, The guy in Fitchburg, The guy in Oregon, the hardware store in Oregon, PT Shooting (?) Cross Plains, Thunder Shooting Milton, Deerfield gun shop (with the range) etc. That's just what I know off the top of my head.

http://www.atf.gov/about/foia/ffl-list.html Near the bottom. There appear to be 1600 FFLs in the State of Wisconsin at this time.

The point is, there are alternatives to farting around with a crazy old man. He'll waste more of your time than it would take to drive to one of the other places and deal with someone who wants to do business.

If the OP doesn't have a car. The Madison metro bus goes by Vortex Optics in Middleton. You'll probably have to take a cab back though.
 
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Sorcice

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2011
Messages
381
Location
Madison, WI
Egads. Ok. Dozens in the area. Auto Zone in Mt Horeb, Gander Mountain, The guy in Fitchburg, The guy in Oregon, the hardware store in Oregon, PT Shooting (?) Cross Plains, Thunder Shooting Milton, Deerfield gun shop (with the range) etc. That's just what I know off the top of my head.

http://www.atf.gov/about/foia/ffl-list.html Near the bottom. There appear to be 1600 FFLs in the State of Wisconsin at this time.

The point is, there are alternatives to farting around with a crazy old man. He'll waste more of your time than it would take to drive to one of the other places and deal with someone who wants to do business.

If the OP doesn't have a car. The Madison metro bus goes by Vortex Optics in Middleton. You'll probably have to take a cab back though.

LOL so if your in "Madison" there's nearly no chance to open a shop with a FFL because of zoning yet all the little townships around it can. That's awesome.
 

RR_Broccoli

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2010
Messages
170
Location
WI
LOL so if your in "Madison" there's nearly no chance to open a shop with a FFL because of zoning yet all the little townships around it can. That's awesome.

Yup. Pantywaste ideals driving business out of the City.
 

Keving

New member
Joined
Jan 8, 2013
Messages
1
Location
Madison
Grandpas is a fruitcake

Grandpa is a nut. Very difficult to deal with. Dropped off my rifle - called after 3 weeks to see if my gun was ready. He told me he couldnt find it. After multiple phone calls (he hung up on me once because he had just gotten out of bed - at 10 am) 3 months later he finally found it. He does provide a valuable service - but i will bring my firearms somewhere else for service.
 

anmut

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2010
Messages
875
Location
Stevens Point WI, ,
We had an old guy like that in Stevens Point that ran a shop. He was one of those types that really only like to sell to his friends. I stopped in once years ago on my quest to find a .460 and when I asked him he looked at me like there were snakes coming out of my ears.

These guys are Elmer Fudds. They don't understand the "need" for anything other than a 30-30 and a .22. Pistols and scary black guns scare them.

Edit: And after checking his prices on his website I'd have to agree that he is indeed, some sort of fruited, spongy, baked good.
 
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davidmcbeth

Banned
Joined
Jan 14, 2012
Messages
16,167
Location
earth's crust
At lunch after Church, just now, an FFL neighbor explained that Larry Gleasman has found the perfect balance between BATFag demands for a brick storefront, security and expense. Thanks for the link URL to the story that was merely alluded.

BAFT/ATF does not demand a brick storefront per se....up to local folks for that.

Makes sense what you say though ...
 
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