Buying a gun in San Antonio and Bexar County
San Antonio is a large market with a lot of licensed dealers, a very large military population and almost no public land. Those three facts shape how people here buy and shoot. This guide covers the practical steps from order to pickup in Bexar County and the surrounding Hill Country towns.
How an online purchase works
Firearms never ship to a home address. You choose a licensed dealer, we ship the firearm to that dealer, and you complete the transfer in person. The sequence that avoids trouble is always the same.
- Find a dealer near you and call before ordering. Ask whether they accept transfers from an out-of-state distributor and what they charge.
- Ask the dealer to email their licence copy to us, or give us their details so we can request it.
- Place the order and give that dealer as the destination.
- Wait for the dealer to call you. Do not turn up before they confirm receipt.
- Bring government photo identification, complete Form 4473, pass the NICS check and pay the transfer fee.
Transfer fees around San Antonio commonly run in the $25 to $60 range, sometimes more for a handgun. That is the dealer's money, not ours, and it is worth asking two or three shops. Ammunition, optics, magazines, holsters and parts do not go through a dealer at all; they ship to your address.
No permit, no wait
Texas has no purchase permit, no registry and no state waiting period. If NICS returns a proceed while you stand at the counter, you can walk out with the firearm the same day. The Texas gun laws guide covers the detail, including the 2025 changes and the private-sale rules. If you already hold a Texas License to Carry, the Department of Public Safety notes it may be accepted in place of the NICS check on a handgun purchase, though the dealer decides.
The military community
Joint Base San Antonio ties together Fort Sam Houston, Lackland and Randolph, and a large share of buyers here are active duty, Guard, Reserve or retired. Two points come up repeatedly. First, a service member stationed in Texas can generally buy in Texas as a resident under federal rules using military orders and identification, but the dealer makes that call from the current ATF guidance, so bring orders and a Texas address if you have one. Second, installation policy governs firearms on base: base housing normally requires registration with security forces, and carrying a personal firearm on the installation is controlled by the commander regardless of state law. Ask your unit rather than relying on state rules.
Where to shoot
Texas Parks and Wildlife does not run public shooting ranges. It funds ranges built by cities, counties and clubs through its Target Range Grants programme, but it operates none itself, and target practice is not a permitted activity on its public hunting lands. There is no national forest in this part of Texas, the national forests being far to the east, and the Bureau of Land Management holds almost nothing in the state. In practice that leaves three options around San Antonio: a commercial indoor range in the city, a membership club in the outlying counties, or a friend's ranch. If you have a lease in Bandera, Medina or Atascosa County, that is where most sighting in happens each October.
If you shoot on private land, confirm the local discharge rules first. Cities may regulate discharge inside their limits even though Texas preempts most other local firearm regulation, and several counties near the metro have ordinances for subdivided land.
What sells here
The San Antonio mix is distinctive. Carry pistols move all year because of the size of the licensed and unlicensed carry population, with micro-compact nine millimetres leading. Light bolt rifles in .243, 7mm-08, .270 and .308 sell from August through the November opener for leases in Kerr, Bandera, Gillespie and Kendall counties. AR-pattern rifles in 5.56 and .308 sell year round for hogs and exotics. Shotguns peak twice, in early September for the dove opener over the grain fields at Gonzales, Pearsall and Uvalde, and again in midwinter for ducks on Amistad, Casa Blanca and the Highland Lakes.
Used guns and trade-ins
A large share of what moves in this market is second hand, because leases change hands and estates come up for sale every year. Buying used through a dealer works exactly like buying new: the same Form 4473, the same NICS check, the same lack of a waiting period. What changes is the inspection. On a used bolt rifle, check the crown, the bore and whether the stock has been bedded or butchered. On a used pump or semi-automatic shotgun, cycle it a dozen times and look at the chamber. On a used handgun, look at the feed ramp and the locking lugs. Anything listed here as used has been inspected and photographed before it goes on the site.
Around the region
New Braunfels, Boerne, Seguin and San Marcos all have dealers within forty minutes of the city and are often cheaper for transfers than the shops inside Loop 410. Kerrville and Fredericksburg serve the western leases, and Uvalde, Pearsall and Laredo cover the brush country to the south. Each of our city pages carries the local hunting zone and the relevant rules, including San Antonio, New Braunfels, Boerne and Kerrville.
Next steps
Decide what the gun is for before you shop. For a November lease, start with the deer rifle guide. For hogs and axis on the same ranch, read the hog and exotic guide. For daily carry, the carry guide covers the licence and the prohibited places. Then compare live prices in the catalog and name your dealer at checkout.
General information, not legal advice. Current as of September 2026. Laws change; check the official source before you act.
