Iron Valley vs RSR
Both catalogs are synced into one shared vocabulary, so the same UPC can be counted on either side and matched across them. Everything below is what we measured in the two feeds — how much each one lists, how much of it is the same product, and what only one of them carries.
| Iron Valley | RSR | |
|---|---|---|
| Active SKUs | 19,978 | 29,796 |
| Distinct UPCs | 19,967 | 29,796 |
| Shared UPCs (both carry) | 9,913 | |
| Only at this distributor | 10,054 | 19,883 |
| Uptime | 100% | 99.9% |
| Integration | SFTP | API |
| Freshness | Synced 26 minutes ago | Synced 50 minutes ago |
What each one lists most of
Iron Valley and RSR describe their catalogs in their own words, and we resolve both against one shared product vocabulary before counting. A category below therefore means the same thing on either side. Each list is that distributor’s own largest categories, counted in active listings.
Iron Valley
- Firearm
- 8,039
- Ammunition
- 3,393
- Other
- 2,901
- Parts & Components
- 2,414
- Optic
- 1,864
- Suppressor
- 370
- Unknown Category
- 24
- Displays
- 14
RSR
- Firearm
- 8,311
- Parts & Components
- 6,481
- Optic
- 3,513
- Ammunition
- 2,536
- Magazine
- 1,932
- Holster
- 1,456
- Knife & Tool
- 951
- Tools & Maintenance
- 904
Firearm, Parts & Components, Optic and Ammunition appear in both lists, so those counts can be read against each other directly.
Each list stops at that distributor’s eight largest categories. A category on one list and not the other is one we have not counted here, not one that distributor does not carry.
Where each one will ship it
Taken from each company’s own site on the dates shown on their individual pages. Running a drop-ship programme and naming where the parcel goes are separate questions, and most distributors answer only the first — so “Not stated” below means they have not published it, not that they refuse.
| Iron Valley | RSR | |
|---|---|---|
| Ships to your store | Yes | Yes |
| Offers drop-shipping | Yes source | Yes source |
| Ships to your customer's FFL | Yes source | Not stated |
| Ships to your customer's address | No source | Not stated |
| Ships NFA items to a receiving SOT | Yes source | Not stated |
RSR says they drop-ship but does not publish where the parcel goes. Ask them before you promise a customer a delivery address.
Every distributor here ships to your own licensed premises — that is what a wholesale account is, not a policy any one of them publishes. Confirm anything you will act on directly with the distributor.
Which should you open?
RSR lists 29,796 distinct UPCs to Iron Valley's 19,967 — about 1.5× the breadth. 9,913 UPCs are carried by both — 50% of what Iron Valley lists and 33% of what RSR lists. Beyond that overlap, 10,054 UPCs appear on Iron Valley alone and 19,883 on RSR alone. If you open one account, RSR is the wider of the two on its own — it leaves 10,054 UPCs unreachable, against 19,883 if you open Iron Valley instead. Carrying both reaches 39,850 distinct UPCs, 10,054 more than RSR covers alone. The largest category in both lists is Firearm — RSR lists 8,311 there to Iron Valley's 8,039. Over the window we monitor, the Iron Valley feed answered us 100% of the time and the RSR feed 99.9%.
This is arithmetic on the counts above, not a recommendation of one company over the other. Which account is worth opening also depends on terms and on what your customers ask for, neither of which is in the catalog data we measure. What each company publishes about shipping destinations is in the table above it.
Iron Valley
Iron Valley Supply's catalog only shows up on the hub once a dealer connects their own SFTP login — like Crow Shooting Supply, it uses credentials tied to a specific dealer account rather than a shared integration key, so there's no general Iron Valley feed syncing independent of any one dealer the way there is for the API-based distributors here.
RSR
RSR Group syncs a broad catalog spanning handguns, long guns, ammunition, optics, and a deep accessory line through a dealer API. Project Parabellum pulls RSR's full catalog and stock positions on the same automated schedule as the other API-connected distributors, so a dealer can see what RSR has today rather than relying on a static, periodically-updated catalog file.
Applying for a dealer account
- Apply for a Iron Valley dealer account — SFTP credentials are dealer-specific; the catalog will not appear on the hub until you've connected your own login. As a file-drop connection, catalog and stock updates land on Iron Valley's schedule rather than on demand.
- Apply for a RSR dealer account — API access for your own store is a separate request after the account is active.
Both links leave this site. Applications are submitted to, reviewed by, and approved by the distributor themselves — Project Parabellum is not part of that process and cannot speed it up or vouch for you.