They had their grand opening in Anchorage today. By the time the doors opened at 11:00am the crowd was estimated to be at 4,000. I think I was in that 1st 1K. Got to the ammo section. Small fights and arguments broke over at the 22lr. Cabela's was enforcing the strict 1 box limit. A number of people brought their wives and all of their kids to try and skirt the limit. Fortunately Cabela's had hired a number of ammo bouncers to keep things in order.
Madness reigned. I got my 1 box and tried to look at some other stuff. Found the 13 ounce cans of bear spray on sale so I grabbed one. Spent about 30 minutes in the store and tried and tried to find the end of the check out line. Thankful Cabela's had staffed up Checkout line enforcers. The carried long red flags on poles with a red strobe mounted on top. After finally finding the end of the line I waited for about 45 minutes with the line only moving about 50 feet. I asked one of the enforcers how much longer? He said "You should get through in about another hour and twenty minutes or so."
By then I was hungry and had to take a poop. So I told the lady in front of me I was leaving and asked her if she wanted my 22 ammo. She said "No thanks, my husband left to go get lunch at Subway". So I stepped outta line and ditched the bear spray over by the fishing tackle. I thought I would be nice and made my way towards the entrance/exit door. Once I got up close I held up that brick of 525 round Federal 22lr above my head and said in a loud voice "Does anyone need some 22?" As the crowd surged towards me I threw the box in the air and made my escape. Compete chaos ensued. The very large and imposing Samoan security guy just scowled at me and started pulling bodies offa each other.
All in all though it was a good experience. Other then 22lr most of the shooters seemed to be grabbing 7mm, 300win mag and 22 magnum. Just cold standing out there. I think it was only about 22 degrees when the line started forming and the wind was blowing outta the north.
Madness reigned. I got my 1 box and tried to look at some other stuff. Found the 13 ounce cans of bear spray on sale so I grabbed one. Spent about 30 minutes in the store and tried and tried to find the end of the check out line. Thankful Cabela's had staffed up Checkout line enforcers. The carried long red flags on poles with a red strobe mounted on top. After finally finding the end of the line I waited for about 45 minutes with the line only moving about 50 feet. I asked one of the enforcers how much longer? He said "You should get through in about another hour and twenty minutes or so."
By then I was hungry and had to take a poop. So I told the lady in front of me I was leaving and asked her if she wanted my 22 ammo. She said "No thanks, my husband left to go get lunch at Subway". So I stepped outta line and ditched the bear spray over by the fishing tackle. I thought I would be nice and made my way towards the entrance/exit door. Once I got up close I held up that brick of 525 round Federal 22lr above my head and said in a loud voice "Does anyone need some 22?" As the crowd surged towards me I threw the box in the air and made my escape. Compete chaos ensued. The very large and imposing Samoan security guy just scowled at me and started pulling bodies offa each other.
All in all though it was a good experience. Other then 22lr most of the shooters seemed to be grabbing 7mm, 300win mag and 22 magnum. Just cold standing out there. I think it was only about 22 degrees when the line started forming and the wind was blowing outta the north.
