World's Fastest Shipping Goes to....

[RustyShcklford]

Tired of waiting for online orders to ship? Use these guys at BattleHawk Armory (https://battlehawkarmory.com/home)

I ordered a Tisas government 1911 from PSA last night and this morning was doing a little research and saw they have a super cool Patriot brown version so I googled it and the first site that came up was BattleHawk Armory (I had never heard of them) but they had a super good price so I placed the order at 11:58 AM and 4 minutes later at 12:02 I had my shipping notification with tracking # (See photo attached). It says it will be at my FFL Wednesday morning with UPS 2nd day air. I have NEVER had a company ship out that fast but I'll definitely be going back to them for future orders.

PSA is also really good though and they did cancel my order without any issue at all which is nice, some places don't allow cancellations for firearm orders.

Anyway, I had to give these guys some praise because that is just wild - glad to have another good online resource to order from.

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[raftman]

Pretty impressive. I'm glad this is an area where retailers are competing. Best one I've dealt with in this regard was a shop called The Gun Crew LLC, which had a pistol I ordered shipped within 90 minutes of receiving payment and FFL… and by shipped I mean it was out the door and with tracking (rather than calling it shipped, but actually just printing a label, calling it shipped but it actually sits around a few more days).

 

[washagonian]

TISAS 1911 - GREAT firearm, outstanding value. With a cerakote job and checkered wood grips - even that much more value.
Enjoy it when it arrives and thanks for the vendor info.

 

[RustyShcklford]

Pretty impressive. I'm glad this is an area where retailers are competing. Best one I've dealt with in this regard was a shop called The Gun Crew LLC, which had a pistol I ordered shipped within 90 minutes of receiving payment and FFL… and by shipped I mean it was out the door and with tracking (rather than calling it shipped, but actually just printing a label, calling it shipped but it actually sits around a few more days).

That's pretty impressive as well! And yes, I had guns.com print the shipping label and wait a week before sending out a couple months ago. It's frustrating especially when you have to wait another week with the queue

 

[RustyShcklford]

TISAS 1911 - GREAT firearm, outstanding value. With a cerakote job and checkered wood grips - even that much more value.
Enjoy it when it arrives and thanks for the vendor info.

I've heard great things about it and I'm definitely looking forward to getting it. Glad they have them out there at such a good price!

 

[Richo877]

I just got my reloading press from battlehawk, and yes they are quick. Great Deals on some stuff too.

 

[Yarome]

I had never heard of this outfit, but placed an order from them almost 2 months ago. (Burris fastfire III 3 MOA with mount for $163. $148+ship)

Price was outstanding, genuine product, shipping time was prompt, but really just about the same as most everywhere else. The shipping charge was a bit high, IMO. 15 bucks for a little red dot. Everything went well for me, but there are some things to be aware of. Their policies suck!

10% fee for order cancellations. If for any reason a product needs to go back to them (even if they shipped you the wrong item) an RMA is required, they don't refund the original shipping, you're responsible for return shipping and there's a 20% restocking fee on top of all that.

Their general policy though is... "All Sales are Final." and Blackhawk armory , "...does not accept returns, offer replacement or repair any of the products on this website." And, "...any item returned to us or one of our wholesale partners will not be entitled to a refund of any kind."

My item shipped from one of their warehoused, but from reading reviews before I ordered, it seems a good chunk of their offerings are dropships so shipping times really can vary quite a bit if it's not something they have in their own warehouse.


IMO, the nutshell: Great if everything goes smoothly, but high risk and costly if it doesn't. Personally, I won't be making any high $ purchases from them. The risk of taking a hit is too rich for my blood. YMMV

 

[RustyShcklford]

I had never heard of this outfit, but placed an order from them almost 2 months ago. (Burris fastfire III 3 MOA with mount for $163. $148+ship)

Price was outstanding, genuine product, shipping time was prompt, but really just about the same as most everywhere else. The shipping charge was a bit high, IMO. 15 bucks for a little red dot. Everything went well for me, but there are some things to be aware of that. Their policies suck!

10% fee for order cancellations. If for any reason a product needs to go back to them (even if they shipped you the wrong item) an RMA is required, they don't refund the original shipping, you're responsible for return shipping and there's a 20% restocking fee on top of all that.

Their general policy though is... "All Sales are Final." and Blackhawk armory , "...does not accept returns, offer replacement or repair any of the products on this website." And, "...any item returned to us or one of our wholesale partners will not be entitled to a refund of any kind."


IMO, the nutshell: Great if everything goes smoothly, but high risk and costly if it doesn't. Personally, I won't be making any high $ purchases from them. The risk of taking a hit is too rich for my blood. YMMV

True, I did notice the strict policy of no refunds after the order is placed - definitely good to call that out and keep in mind. That's another reason I like PSA they refunded my 1911 order since it hadn't shipped out yet and their customer service team was great to deal with.

 

[Yarome]

True, I did notice the strict policy of no refunds after the order is placed - definitely good to call that out and keep in mind. That's another reason I like PSA they refunded my 1911 order since it hadn't shipped out yet and their customer service team was great to deal with.

Yeah. PSA is very easy and fair to deal with.

BHA, paying $160 for a $280 red dot and if things went bad... "best case" they agree to take it back and I was only risking about a $30 loss. Or "worst case" they won't take it back and I'm out $160. For over a $100 savings it was worth the risk to me. It went well, so I WON!

If the savings margin wasn't so great, or if the risk exposure was much higher than it was... I woulda taken a pass.


ETA: As ridiculously strict as the policies are, it has to make you wonder if they are serious or not(?) Maybe they are actually really good about returns and such... waiving fees, etc... and just have those written policies to give themselves the widest latitude possible(?) Dunno....

 

[washagonian]

it seems a good chunk of their offerings are dropships so shipping times really can vary quite a bit if it's not something they have in their own warehouse.

Crappy return policies are indicative of a company that sells the majority (if not all) of their products via "drop-shipping".

Basically the company takes the order, then the company submits an order to another company that sells the firearm, pays that company their wholesale price and arranges for that company to "drop-ship" the firearm directly to the customer's preferred FFL.

The seller typically does not have a "brick and mortar" store and does not keep its own inventory of products. They are almost totally an intermediary. Thus, any returns or cancellations would require the seller to work with their supplier - which is a huge hassle. Or, the seller would be "stuck" with any returns - and they don't want to have any inventory or deal with trying to move a used firearm. Putting that much effort into a firearm that is low priced and where the mark-up isn't that high, removes any profit from the equation. So, they make cancellation and return policies difficult in order to prevent people from cancelling or returning.

If you can't find a firearm available from a vendor with more favorable return and cancellation policies (like Midway, Palmetto, Sportsmansoutdoorsuperstore, or other) - then purchasing from this type of seller can be a good deal.

 

[RustyShcklford]

Crappy return policies are indicative of a company that sells the majority (if not all) of their products via "drop-shipping".

Basically the company takes the order, then the company submits an order to another company that sells the firearm, pays that company their wholesale price and arranges for that company to "drop-ship" the firearm directly to the customer's preferred FFL.

The seller typically does not have a "brick and mortar" store and does not keep its own inventory of products. They are almost totally an intermediary. Thus, any returns or cancellations would require the seller to work with their supplier - which is a huge hassle. Or, the seller would be "stuck" with any returns - and they don't want to have any inventory or deal with trying to move a used firearm. Putting that much effort into a firearm that is low priced and where the mark-up isn't that high, removes any profit from the equation. So, they make cancellation and return policies difficult in order to prevent people from cancelling or returning.

If you can't find a firearm available from a vendor with more favorable return and cancellation policies (like Midway, Palmetto, Sportsmansoutdoorsuperstore, or other) - then purchasing from this type of seller can be a good deal.

There are a ton of online ammo sellers like that and it can be annoying because they are basically waiting on the wholesaler to send out which can take significantly longer - I did a little research before on BHA though and they do have a huge brick and mortar store in Iowa and they update their site with what is actually in stock at the time, however, I think they might do some drop ship too.

At least some sites will tell you that the item is coming from a distributor and it may take longer to arrive but some don't. Obviously, I think the best scenario is shopping at a local gun store but sometimes their stock can be a little low especially compared to online where you can get pretty much anything you need. The worst part of the online process in my opinion is the shipping cost and wait time which is why it is awesome when you find a place that takes care of those issues.

 

[Yarome]

Crappy return policies are indicative of a company that sells the majority (if not all) of their products via "drop-shipping".

Basically the company takes the order, then the company submits an order to another company that sells the firearm, pays that company their wholesale price and arranges for that company to "drop-ship" the firearm directly to the customer's preferred FFL.

The seller typically does not have a "brick and mortar" store and does not keep its own inventory of products. They are almost totally an intermediary. Thus, any returns or cancellations would require the seller to work with their supplier - which is a huge hassle. Or, the seller would be "stuck" with any returns - and they don't want to have any inventory or deal with trying to move a used firearm. Putting that much effort into a firearm that is low priced and where the mark-up isn't that high, removes any profit from the equation. So, they make cancellation and return policies difficult in order to prevent people from cancelling or returning.

If you can't find a firearm available from a vendor with more favorable return and cancellation policies (like Midway, Palmetto, Sportsmansoutdoorsuperstore, or other) - then purchasing from this type of seller can be a good deal.

Battlehawk armory does have a B&M shop in Iowa and they do stock some stuff in their warehouse. The Burris I got was shipped from their store, but I don't think all of their website offerings do. Some are definitely drop ship so I guess they are somewhat of a hybrid outfit.

I researched them quite a bit before I ordered. FFL license, BBB, reviews, etx. There were several unfavorable reviews dating back quite a few years, but the last couple years it seems they have been getting their act a little more together... somewhat.

If the potential payoff is great, I'm sometimes willing to take risks with smaller $ amounts, but not without due diligence.
In this case, 40% savings was evidently sufficient.

 

[Yarome]

To add... when prices are "that" low on something, they may be clearing old stock, but my mind immediately jumps to "counterfeits"!

Part of me taking the risk was because I already own a couple of the same product that I know to be genuine to compare against. If I wasn't confident to be able to identify a knock-off, I woulda taken a pass even at a 40% savings.

I would still be leery of these folks though. Just because 1 product proved genuine that doesn't mean everything they offer is. Especially if it's drop shipped. BHA probably wouldn't even realize if their drop shipping partners were shipping knock-offs or not, hu(?)

Their policies kind of give me the skeevies and don't promote a lot of confidence in their company, for me.

 

[RustyShcklford]

To add... when prices are "that" low on something, they may be clearing old stock, but my mind immediately jumps to "counterfeits"!

Part of me taking the risk was because I already own a couple of the same product that I know to be genuine to compare against. If I wasn't confident to be able to identify a knock-off, I woulda taken a pass even at a 40% savings.

I would still be leery of these folks though. Just because 1 product proved genuine that doesn't mean everything they offer is. Especially if it's drop shipped. BHA probably wouldn't even realize if their drop shipping partners were shipping knock-offs or not, hu(?)

Their policies kind of give me the skeevies and don't promote a lot of confidence in their company, for me.

Whenever I am questioning if a company is legit I'll just google it and usually there will be a reddit thread about it and people's experiences - there are a lot of fake sites out there and the #1 thing that will immediately give them away is the form of payment, if they accept bitcoin or Western Union or some other BS it is a scam. Some of the sites really do a good job but sometimes the grammar is off a little too which can give it away as well.

 

[DirectDrive]

Battlehawk must have hired a new shipping manager.
I bought a rifle from them about 4 months ago and they were super-slow.
I actually had to call them and rattle the cage to get the order out the door.

Best overall shipping for gun related parts in my experience has been Rainier Arms.
Super-fast, excellent comms. and always careful packing which is very important to me.
Gold Standard

 

[RustyShcklford]

I think they had been getting some negative reviews from people and have hopefully turned it around a bit, I can only speak to my experience with them so far which has been really good. I couldn't believe they got the order out that quick. I think it might have to do with what is actually in stock vs drop shipping.