Travel to El Paso Next Week

[stash]

I am going to El Paso next week to attend a luncheon for an old friend who is being transferred to Va. The lunch will be in the El Paso Club atop the Chase Tower (a bank I think). Anyone down there know if these places are posted and is El Paso pretty CHL friendly. Thanks, Stash

[ron1n1]

I went to the El Paso Club a month or so ago-- no 30.06

Come to think of it, the only 30.06 signs I've seen have been at hospitals...

[longtooth]

welcome aboard ron1n1. Glad to have you. Consider letting your next post be in the General Gun Section under Introduce Yourself. We will get well acquainted & you will get a lot of welcomes.

[Thane]

El Paso is pretty CHL-friendly in that only we CHL-ers know the proper signage to keep us out!

I've seen quite a few different signs around town. Usually it's a "gunbuster" sign, but occasionally you'll see a 30.05 posted, or one of the other, older signs. A couple signs I've seen seem to have been made up on the spot in fake legal-ese. ("According to the autority granted the site owner in the Texas Penal Code, the possession of weapons beyond this point is prohibited, and violators will be charged with criminal trespass" or some such) I just grin, make sure it's well hidden, and walk on past.

The one exception I know of is the hospitals. Thomason Hospital, Texas Tech Medical, and Del Sol Medical are ALL properly posted, and on just about every door (I -think- Del Sol isn't posted on the ER entrance, but could be wrong and wouldn't want to chance it).

If you have time, there's a couple decent gun stores in town. Top Gun on Yarbrough just opened this year, so Susanne doesn't quite have her stock "tweaked" properly for the local market yet. She aims mainly at LEO sales, but I believe she's wanting to expand her CHL merchandise too.
Collector's Gun Exchange on Mesa, in the west side of town, is my favorite store. The pushers... er... employees there are quite friendly, and there's almost always a crowd of regulars in there. Stop by, grab some coffee and a Tootsie Roll, and shoot the breeze. Paul is a big SASS competitor, so expect some angling of his merchandise toward that, but he's got a LOT more than just "cowboy guns."
Unfortunately, Kirk's on North Yarbrough is shutting down. Something about the ATF - I suspect the ATF decided to enforce one of their little-known rules, and "make themselves known" in El Paso, shutting down one of our oldest gun shops. I don't know the details of the "violation," and don't particularly want to know, but I'm mad at the ATF for shutting down a fixture of El Paso.
There's a couple more stores scattered around - Chuy in the north-east, and Pete out on the (far) west side. They're small stores, though, that get more business from gunsmithing than from gun sales.

Welcome to El Paso!

[stash]

ron1n1 - thanks for the info on no 30.06 at the El Paso Club.

Thane - actually I am from El Paso but left five and a half years ago. When I left I knew nothing about CC/CHL but when I got here (Hill Country) my mother in El Paso got sick and I was driving back and forth and found out about CHL. Sorry to hear about Kirk's . I actually bought a S&W from them many years ago. If I have time I will try to check the new gun shops you mentioned, especially the on on Yarbrough.

Thanks again guys for the info.

[ron1n1]

Wow, sucks about Kirks--my chl instructor worked there...

I'll add El Paso Gun Exchange (at Geronimo/Edgemere) to the list of Gun shops. Not LEO/CHL specific, but they do have an onsite gunsmith and a decent selection of items

[cloudcroft]

I won't miss Kirk's at all, except in a historical sense, because they were always the most UNfriendly gun store in town.

El Paso Gun Exchange was/is the most expensive (with their share of good old boys) and do a lot of police sales.

Paul Lee's Collectors Guns on the Westside, although newer, seems lots more friendly.

The old Starkey's gun shop out in the N.E. -- a fixture out there for decades -- was MY preferred store...until they closed.

Now I do business with Mr. Lee.

Anyway, those rude old guys behind the counter at Kirk's had/have zero interpersonal skills whatsoever -- IF they even talked to you at all -- and they don't seem even to care because they've been that way for decades.

What an unfriendly place Kirk's was to go/shop...I'm sure they've alienated plenty of potential customers.

Some people just don't know how to run a business "customer skills" wise.

-- John D.

[quidni]

What an unfriendly place Kirk's was to go/shop...I'm sure they've alienated plenty of potential customers.

Some people just don't know how to run a business "customer skills" wise.

-- John D.

I'm sorry you've had a bad experience with Kirk's... my experience, and that of my son, has been just the opposite. We go in sometimes just to "shoot the breeze" & visit without buying anything. Never had a problem with anyone there, & they've often gone out of their way to help me with a purchase even if it's only a box of ammo and they'd already closed the register for the day.

EP Gun Exchange, on the other hand, has new owners, and I've personally heard them yell at their staff "Who unlocked the door and let these people in?" a good half hour before their posted closing time. In front of the customers. Once might have been a fluke, but I've experienced that same attitude several times at that store & I don't shop there anymore. I'd be very glad if that's now changed - EPGE is almost as much a fixture in El Paso as Kirk's is, and we need all the good gun stores we can get.

I agree with you about Paul Lee at Collector's - he's probably our favorite proprietor to visit with on a weekend. I've lost count of how much $$ I've spent there... I've got a short "wish list" of guns I'd like to have, and Paul calls me whenever he gets something in trade or consignment that he thinks I might be interested in.

Both Kirk's and Collector's have chairs and coffee available for anyone who wants to come in and just visit for a while, as well.

There's also Custom Cartridge in Las Cruces, which is a very good place to go for reloading stuffs.

(You might be a "gun nut" if you're on a first-name basis with the owners and staff of three different gun shops... in two different states.)

[Thane]

I used to think that Kirk's was "unfriendly" at one time, too. However, they're not so much unfriendly as gruff. Ask for advice, assistence, and they'll quite readily help you. Yeah, they're not as overtly "people-oriented" as Paul Lee and his crew, but they're decent.
Fortunately, it seems they're NOT closing. Someone, not sure who, is working on a purchase of the store. Mr. Kirk himself, however, is retiring. I asked who was buying it, but they really don't wanna say at this point... I'm guessing the new owner doesn't want it bandied about until he/she gets their paperwork in order with the feds.

I had specifically left out El Paso Gun Exchange, in the idea that "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." I'm gonna leave it at that.

[stash]

I did go into EP Gun Exchange while in EP last week and bought a box of ammo. I gotta say the place was real busy. There was an LEO in there and what appeared to be a lot of guys from Fort Bliss. There prices seem a little high. They had a Kimber Eclipse Pro II for around $1249.00. A couple of months ago I bought in Austin at Academy Sports a Bersa Thunder 380 for $218.00 and at the Gun Exchange last week they had one for $249.00. Really not to bad when you compare the Gun Exchange to a big box store price. Anyway when I am back in EP again I will have to remember the Pasl Lee store.

[cloudcroft]

For some reason through the years, the Westside of El Paso has had lots of trouble keeping gunstores open for very long. I hope Paul Lee's survives.

Although his prices are MSRP or close to it, some of his used gun prices are outrageous and he has raised (I've been told) his transfer fee if you buy a gun elsewhere and have it shipped to him), it sure beats going to El Paso Gun Exchange (at least when Mr. Senior owned it), and Lee's is a more friendly place.

Some younger staff at Paul's helps (one of them packs a C-96 Mauser!), but even the older staff like Verle the gunsmith are friendly...MUCH unlike Kirk's (I've gone there off and on since the early 1980s, and have spent about 2 grand or so total)..."gruff" is a good word for them, "silent" is another.

I buy SOME guns from
Paul (so I really DO support my local gunstore) but buy OTHERS online and just have him do the transfer...prefer not to pay TOO close to MSRP ALL the time you know!

But for 20 years or so, I patronized THE MOST prolific and knowledgeable FFL guy in this whole area -- Bobby Bilingslea in Central El Paso -- to do my online gun sales/transfers with (as well as my reloading supplies source) but after MANY years trasferring guns for thousands of people here (his house was an unofficial UPS/FEDEX hub), he retired some time ago due to age-relaed health reasons (he's still around but not feeling all that good)...so I had to find another FLL...I chose Lee's over the other gunstores here.

Mrs. Lee keeps the candy bowl on the table full, but lately has been negligent in keeping my favorite candy in stock.

-- John D.

[quidni]

Some younger staff at Paul's helps (one of them packs a C-96 Mauser!), but even the older staff like Verle the gunsmith are friendly...

Ah, so you've met Wiley! He's got an Enfield No. 2 Mk 1* as well, that used to be mine (it was part of my trade fodder for the Colt-Sauer - yeah, I really, really wanted that rifle). Verle's the first person we go to when we need any 'smithing done. I don't think he does stock work, though.

Yes, some of the used gun pricing is a bit high, but a lot of those are consignment items, and he has to go by what the consigner wants to get out of the item. Now, that's not to say we haven't haggled a bit on an item or three.... (ahem, cough)

How often do you visit the store? we may have bumped into each other and not known it.

So which is your favorite candy?

[cloudcroft]

quidni,

To keep this "short" since it's OT...

1. I visit erratically. Next time I go, probably January the latest, I need to get 2-3 pounds of Blue Dot from Paul for some reduced loads for my 270 Winchester (also good for other 30-caliber class case-size cartridges, even .223s). I prefer to buy powder and primers locally to avoid HazMat fees on top of shipping charges.

2. Those yellow butterscotch candies...I may buy a bag and give them to Mrs. Lee to keep for me!

As I said, I don't mind shopping there and spending more occasionally -- to support my local gun store, and I told Paul that -- but the rest of the time I shop online and have Paul do the transfer, especially if the saving is too substantial to ignore.

But you know, as I get older I have decided to simplfy my life...to get rid of lots of my "stuff" which I now feel is a burden. That included guns/reloading dies/shell-plates, etc...WAY too many calibers and other gun stuff. Want to keep things SIMPLE now to only a FEW guns and calibers.

So in MY case, YES, you CAN have too many gun and too much ammo!

As for used-gun prices, yes, I remember one rough-looking (finish-wise) used gun there -- a small .45 auto -- it was priced over $1200...WAY too much IMO. So maybe it was the owner who though he could get that and set the price that high...maybe he did, who knows. I could have gotten a NEW Springfield V10 Ultra for much less (but that still was a bit larger than I wanted for CHL).

I ended up getting a new Beretta Tomcat 3032 (inox).

Any future handguns (no more long-guns needed) will be of the SAME calibers (4) I already have, no others.

Regards,

-- John D.

[Golfer]

I personally dont really care for the high prices at kirks but all of my purchases have gone well. In fact just as the other member stated I got my CHL course through one of the workers there. Not only is he very informative. he is funny he has a wealth of knowledge and experience.