Gun shop and range idiocy

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The 400 lb neckbeard behind the counter telling me he loads up his 10mm to .41 Mag levels. Let's forget that the .41 Mag has half again the case capacity and uses a lot of the same powders.

Moron in front of the counter telling me that a 7mm rifle can use ANY 7mm ammo, it's like .38 spl and .357 mag, some 7mm ammo is just more powerful.

Moron in front of the counter mad because I wouldn't sell his kid a bag of stuffins. They wanted 12 gauge wads, they didn't care which one as "they are all the same". I wasn't going to let the kid blow up his gun but I just pointed to the stuffins to his dad.

Moron in front of the counter telling me that with a 100 yard zero the 30.06 drops 3x as much as a .300 Win Mag at 300 yards.

Before the internet, people wanting to buy a powder scale and asking me how many grains to the gram. Or buying a powder scale and trying to return it an hour later with white powder on the scale or bits of the devil's lettuce on it. Our policy was no returns on reloading gear for this very reason.

People coming in and asking which powder is the hottest.
 
Hilarious. Never let documented ballistic evidence confuse the issue.
The second guy probably believes that the bullet goes faster if you pull the trigger harder. :)
He thinks a shower moving bullet has more time to expand on the animal. Faster moving bullets just zip through.
He is a really nice guy, just very uniformed. The first guy is a professional one upper that I like to lead into crazy land every once in a while.
 
I stopped at a shop awhile back when I had a Swede Mauser and asked if they had ammo for it. The guy who told me he was the gunsmith got down a box for me. I was getting out my wallet, I looked closer and realized that he gave me 6.5 Carcano. When I pointed it out to him he just waved me off and said he doesn't bother with all those foreign and surplus guns.
I had a pawn shop guy tell me years ago that they had a bunch of rifles in their safe that are owned by guys that only use them at deer season. They pawn them when the season is over, pick them back up in Nov. We have gotten away from being a society with access to open spaces and firearms are demonized constantly in the media. People don't get trained by fathers and grandfathers anymore. They don't have time to learn to shoot. Even in this rural area, the public ranges have been closed down, some private ranges have been sued or harassed out of business. All of this leads to shooters who have little to no experience and do dumb things when they do get out to a range.
 
I stopped at a shop awhile back when I had a Swede Mauser and asked if they had ammo for it. The guy who told me he was the gunsmith got down a box for me. I was getting out my wallet, I looked closer and realized that he gave me 6.5 Carcano. When I pointed it out to him he just waved me off and said he doesn't bother with all those foreign and surplus guns.
I had a pawn shop guy tell me years ago that they had a bunch of rifles in their safe that are owned by guys that only use them at deer season. They pawn them when the season is over, pick them back up in Nov. We have gotten away from being a society with access to open spaces and firearms are demonized constantly in the media. People don't get trained by fathers and grandfathers anymore. They don't have time to learn to shoot. Even in this rural area, the public ranges have been closed down, some private ranges have been sued or harassed out of business. All of this leads to shooters who have little to no experience and do dumb things when they do get out to a range.
Similar event happenned to me today. Went to my local gun shop so I could pick up some 8MM Mauser and 30 WCF for hunting season. Now, I'm fairly certain it's impossible to **** up buying 30-30 as it's one of the most sold hunting rounds in the good ol' USA. 8MM though is a different story. I own a M24/47 with a M48 bolt carrier dropped in to replace the original straight bolt handle. It's never worked better and is chambered in 8×57 Mauser. I ask after this ammo, guy drops some S&B on the counter, $20 a box. Not a bad deal so I buy 5 boxes and open them up while I'm waiting to ring out. They are 8MM Rimmed Mauser. Guess the guy in charge of inventory wasn't paying attention when he ordered a new batch to restock. Thankfully the clerk stopped the purchase after I pointed out the mistake. They didn't have any regular 8MM so I am stuck just taking the Winchester to the range until the local shop can get some Prvi or S&B standard soft points in some time next month.
 
Mid week only... now I'm retired and only go to the public range Wed-Fri. Never on a weekend, tpo many crazies. Range safety officer always has to call out someone to het nack from the tables during the cease fire.

Get there around 10-10:30, firing line is partially full. Reason for lateness is so I can be further down the line from the RSO tower, where people tend to congregate and BS, before signing in. About 12 the line begins to empty out and there are empty benches, usually several, on either side. When I go to the range, it's for 5-6 hrs.

Then those left, it is apparent, are "working", not trying to see how fast they can empty their AR at 25 yds or their pistol at 5 yds.

My wooden warriorz tend to have a bigger bang and helps accelerate either side depatrure. It's only with my rimfire postals that they REALLY bother me.
 
Why not just order some?
State Laws. Only FFL holders can order ammo online to their place of business. While I'm currently waiting on my C&R license, its by no means a fast moving process. Even if I were to place the order, it would have to ship to the same shop and I would have to go through him and get charged a fee. The nearest shop besides him is a 45 minute drive on a fair day with no traffic. So I'll just wait cause their next ammo shipment is supposed to come in around the second week of October.
 
I was at a DNR Range one weekend, and cease fire was called per usual (actions open, no handling of firearms, behind the line.... Etc)

So I'm swapping targets on the pistol range with my back to the firing line. I guess the two RSO were busy handling a situation at the rifle range, so no one was actively paying attention to the other side where I was.

In the lane next to me was a fat mall-Ninja with a clapped out SKS and some revolver of questionable origin. He was there with his Walmart-dwelling girlfriend.

As I'm manipulating the thumbtacks and paper on my stand, I hear behind me "you see how you're pointing it at that guy in the red, you don't wanna do that if it's loaded".

I was wearing red.

So these clowns were playing with loaded guns when the range was cold, using me as a reference and practice aiming point.

Needless to say, I used a creative language, packed my gear, and talked to the RSO before I left.

Had I stayed, I would have gotten myself in trouble strangling the two hippos.

And I mean that disrespectfully.
 
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Gun Shop owners must all have lower I.Q.'s where you guys live. I have found that while owners may not know everything about everything, they are all pretty savvy individuals. Their staff? Well...you get what you pay for.
In general they are often as dumb as many of their customers.

Growing up, my dad owned a small chain of gun shops in Idaho. He used the stores to fund his travels around the world as a big game hunter and sport fisherman. He wrote a weekly column in the local paper and articles for Field & Stream.

He knows his stuff.

He also hates ARs even though I bought my first one from his shop in 1999.
 
This one is not about Fudds or problem children; rather it is about lack of awareness and simple 'never thought about that' ignorance. Was at the excellent, well run organizational range in the basement of the headquarters building at I-66 and US-50, a few miles west of DC. Young couple comes in, seem in their mid-20's, carrying handgun cases. Conversation makes it clear the HE is about to introduce the SHE to his shooting hobby. Super! Dressed casually but not inappropriately, I note she is wearing a buttoned blouse, open several inches down her chest. Trying hard not to sound like a dirty old man leering at his ladyfriend, I approach them both to say hello and ask if it is her first time shooting. Then I suggest he get a regular high-neck T-shirt for her to wear over her blouse. I go on to tell the tale of my mother-in-law, who regularly shot with her husband, who once suffered a painful burn when the ejected hot brass not only flew right into her open collar blouse, but got caught in her bra. They were not offended, and thankful for the advice.
 
“Bond. James Bond.”

I had a customer come into the store one morning. Nice guy. He tells me he just brought a Walther PPK and wants a box of 32’s for it. I sold him a box and offered him a free range session if he comes back.

Later that day he comes in with his Walther and the box of ammo I had sold him. I didn’t check his gun before letting him on the range cause PPK’s are commonly chambered in 32 right?

Well a little while later I checked the range and notice that after every shot he is racking the slide to chamber a fresh round. So I approach him and ask to check his gun and ammo. It is a PPK and he is using the 32 ammo I sold him. Then I check the caliber of the gun and it is chambered for .380. I explain to the customer why his gun isn’t working properly and show him the rather interesting looking 32 fired brass cases from his gun.

I fix him up with .380 ammunition and he has no more gun problems. However when he comes off of the range he is not happy because his gun isn’t a 32. Our gunsmith and myself explain to him that the .380 is better for self-defense than the .32 but I could tell we were not convincing him. The best theory I could come up with was that whoever sold him the gun had convinced him that what he needed was the same gun James Bond uses.
 
The day I was taking my CHL class in Texas years ago, there had been a screwup where there were supposed to be 12 to 15 people in the class, but some scheduler had messed up and there were over 40 in the class. About 1/2 of the class were people with a brand new pistol in the box, and they said they had never shot any gun before.

At that time, there was a 10 hour class, with a shooting session at the end. You had to shoot (if I recall correctly) 5 rounds at 3 yards, 5 rounds at 7 yards and 5 rounds at 15 yards. It was sort of pandemonium trying to get the shooting portion done at a 15 lane indoor range and almost 45 people. They split us into 3 "shifts" and I was in the second. There were 3 instructors there with us - one for each section of 5. They just asked us about our experience in handling firearms. I had been shooting for at least 40 years at that time. I had taken lane 15 at the far right (I always try and get that lane as you are less likely to have a gun pointed at you). The guy to my left had a lot of firearms experience as well, and the lady to his left had ZERO. She had never even taken her Glock 17 out of the box...had never loaded the magazine...nothing.

So, as we are about to do the first 3 yard shots, they tell us to load 5 rounds in the magazine - no more - no less. So, me and the guy next to me do so and set our pistols on the rail in front of us. The lady to the left has to get help, as she doesn't know how to load, and the instructor comes and helps her. Then they say to pick up your weapon, keeping it pointed downrange and to rack your slide and chamber a round. We all do so. While we are awaiting the guy announcing to tell us to go to the next step at any time, the lady suddenly rotates to her right, with finger on the trigger and pointed straight ahead from her chest and says "what do I do next?". She's pointing at me, then the instructor, then the guy next to me and we have thrown ourselves to the ground, and are all crawling all over each other trying to get out of her aim. She just has this confused look on her face, and can't figure out why we are doing this. Another instructor rushes over and takes the gun away from her. She turns into a babbling, crying mess and is escorted out. It's the closest I've ever been to getting shot I think.
 
Pretty sure that any of us who have been around shooting long enough have seen some strange and really stupid things happen. Something I have found humorous or better put sad is what I see at the indoor range. So you walk up to a stall and look to each side partition and notice bullet holes. Then you look up and notice the same, more bullet holes and finally you look down at the counter top ledge and of course more bullet holes. Does anyone ever wonder where all those holes came from?

Was at my local indoor range one morning, Sundays are normally nice and quiet. So standing there talking to my friend Emery who was working the counter. The range has a small six stall isolated section used mostly by members and things like armed security guard certifications and local police department qualifications. A group filed off the range and into the classroom. Then came the bang. Emery's eyes got big as I know mine did. Dead silence and finally Emery blurts out "are you all OK in there"? The next sounds were those of an instructor going full ballistic mode. Here a student seated at the rear of the room had discharged his weapon sending a bullet right between a row of students heads. passed through the chalkboard wall and lodged in a wall on the far side of an office space.

Another incident involved a good friend who opened his gun safe and pulled the trigger on a .380 ACP he "thought" was empty. He killed his Dillon Reloading Scale, just blew its guts out. I told him call Dillon and send it to them and they'll replace it. He told me he was too embarrassed and was going to throw it away. Hell, I am not proud, throw it my way and I send it. So someone at Dillon opens the box and calls his co-workers and says "look some idiot shot his scale". Then they send me a new scale. I was fine with that but he saw the light and sent the scale to Dillon who replaced it absolutely free.

Hang around shooting long enough and you can likely write a book. I am just happy I have never, in all my years, seen someone get seriously hurt or killed as a result of negligence.

Ron
 
The 400 lb neckbeard behind the counter telling me he loads up his 10mm to .41 Mag levels. Let's forget that the .41 Mag has half again the case capacity and uses a lot of the same powders.
That one drives me crazy and I hear it from way to many people working in gun shops. When ever I hear “10mm is like a semi auto 41 magnum.” I just calmly respond “Well sure if you only look at the fastest 10mm loads and the most watered down 41 magnum loads out there, there is a small overlap.”

I love the 10mm auto, but a 41 mag it isn’t.
 
Pretty sure that any of us who have been around shooting long enough have seen some strange and really stupid things happen. Something I have found humorous or better put sad is what I see at the indoor range. So you walk up to a stall and look to each side partition and notice bullet holes. Then you look up and notice the same, more bullet holes and finally you look down at the counter top ledge and of course more bullet holes. Does anyone ever wonder where all those holes came from?

Was at my local indoor range one morning, Sundays are normally nice and quiet. So standing there talking to my friend Emery who was working the counter. The range has a small six stall isolated section used mostly by members and things like armed security guard certifications and local police department qualifications. A group filed off the range and into the classroom. Then came the bang. Emery's eyes got big as I know mine did. Dead silence and finally Emery blurts out "are you all OK in there"? The next sounds were those of an instructor going full ballistic mode. Here a student seated at the rear of the room had discharged his weapon sending a bullet right between a row of students heads. passed through the chalkboard wall and lodged in a wall on the far side of an office space.

Another incident involved a good friend who opened his gun safe and pulled the trigger on a .380 ACP he "thought" was empty. He killed his Dillon Reloading Scale, just blew its guts out. I told him call Dillon and send it to them and they'll replace it. He told me he was too embarrassed and was going to throw it away. Hell, I am not proud, throw it my way and I send it. So someone at Dillon opens the box and calls his co-workers and says "look some idiot shot his scale". Then they send me a new scale. I was fine with that but he saw the light and sent the scale to Dillon who replaced it absolutely free.

Hang around shooting long enough and you can likely write a book. I am just happy I have never, in all my years, seen someone get seriously hurt or killed as a result of negligence.

Ron
Pretty sure that any of us who have been around shooting long enough have seen some strange and really stupid things happen. Something I have found humorous or better put sad is what I see at the indoor range. So you walk up to a stall and look to each side partition and notice bullet holes. Then you look up and notice the same, more bullet holes and finally you look down at the counter top ledge and of course more bullet holes. Does anyone ever wonder where all those holes came from?

Was at my local indoor range one morning, Sundays are normally nice and quiet. So standing there talking to my friend Emery who was working the counter. The range has a small six stall isolated section used mostly by members and things like armed security guard certifications and local police department qualifications. A group filed off the range and into the classroom. Then came the bang. Emery's eyes got big as I know mine did. Dead silence and finally Emery blurts out "are you all OK in there"? The next sounds were those of an instructor going full ballistic mode. Here a student seated at the rear of the room had discharged his weapon sending a bullet right between a row of students heads. passed through the chalkboard wall and lodged in a wall on the far side of an office space.

Another incident involved a good friend who opened his gun safe and pulled the trigger on a .380 ACP he "thought" was empty. He killed his Dillon Reloading Scale, just blew its guts out. I told him call Dillon and send it to them and they'll replace it. He told me he was too embarrassed and was going to throw it away. Hell, I am not proud, throw it my way and I send it. So someone at Dillon opens the box and calls his co-workers and says "look some idiot shot his scale". Then they send me a new scale. I was fine with that but he saw the light and sent the scale to Dillon who replaced it absolutely free.

Hang around shooting long enough and you can likely write a book. I am just happy I have never, in all my years, seen someone get seriously hurt or killed as a result of negligence.

Ron
Stuff like this is why I'm constantly on edge around firearms and ranges. You let your vigilance relax once and that's when accidents happen. This has happenned to my family twice and both times have almost led to me getting shot through no fault of my own. My Uncle, an individual who likes to pretend he is knowledgeable about firearms but barely holds any surface level knowledge, was at fault through carelessness first time. The first time we are sitting in his garage while he is cleaning his .357 SIG after a practice session at the range. He puts it together again, puts the mag in the do a function check without realizing there is a round left in it, and releases the slide. Pulls the trigger while I'm down range of him offset to the left just a bit. He pulls the trigger and boom. Had I been sitting just a bit farther foward, I would have caught a round in my calf. As it was, the round hit the concrete floor and ricocheted right into the windshield of his daughter's Honda.
The other time is my earliest real world exposure to guns at the age of 5-6. Being little, I'm out picking up shiny things in the safe area my father told me about. This same uncle brings out a grandfathered .50 rifle, the make of which I can't remember. They put a mag in and fire off a couple of rounds before it jams. My uncle, instead of keeping it pointed down range, turns it to the side and tries clearing the jam while I'm at a pile of freshly shot brass looking through it. The rifle goes off after my uncle clears the casing while pointed in my general area and my dad flips his **** because of it. I was to young to remember what happenned and my dad and uncle can't remember what firearm it was so I have no way of knowing what caused the misfire, but the way my father tells me, I came about a foot away from becoming bisected at the stomach. May sound dramatic, but that is how my father recounts it.
Those two events just hammered constant vigilance into my head like nothing else ever will.
 
The day I was taking my CHL class in Texas years ago, there had been a screwup where there were supposed to be 12 to 15 people in the class, but some scheduler had messed up and there were over 40 in the class. About 1/2 of the class were people with a brand new pistol in the box, and they said they had never shot any gun before.

At that time, there was a 10 hour class, with a shooting session at the end. You had to shoot (if I recall correctly) 5 rounds at 3 yards, 5 rounds at 7 yards and 5 rounds at 15 yards. It was sort of pandemonium trying to get the shooting portion done at a 15 lane indoor range and almost 45 people. They split us into 3 "shifts" and I was in the second. There were 3 instructors there with us - one for each section of 5. They just asked us about our experience in handling firearms. I had been shooting for at least 40 years at that time. I had taken lane 15 at the far right (I always try and get that lane as you are less likely to have a gun pointed at you). The guy to my left had a lot of firearms experience as well, and the lady to his left had ZERO. She had never even taken her Glock 17 out of the box...had never loaded the magazine...nothing.

So, as we are about to do the first 3 yard shots, they tell us to load 5 rounds in the magazine - no more - no less. So, me and the guy next to me do so and set our pistols on the rail in front of us. The lady to the left has to get help, as she doesn't know how to load, and the instructor comes and helps her. Then they say to pick up your weapon, keeping it pointed downrange and to rack your slide and chamber a round. We all do so. While we are awaiting the guy announcing to tell us to go to the next step at any time, the lady suddenly rotates to her right, with finger on the trigger and pointed straight ahead from her chest and says "what do I do next?". She's pointing at me, then the instructor, then the guy next to me and we have thrown ourselves to the ground, and are all crawling all over each other trying to get out of her aim. She just has this confused look on her face, and can't figure out why we are doing this. Another instructor rushes over and takes the gun away from her. She turns into a babbling, crying mess and is escorted out. It's the closest I've ever been to getting shot I think.
I've heard some stories of bad instructors but that has to be one of the worst. *** were they thinking?
 
I fix him up with .380 ammunition and he has no more gun problems. However when he comes off of the range he is not happy because his gun isn’t a 32. Our gunsmith and myself explain to him that the .380 is better for self-defense than the .32 but I could tell we were not convincing him. The best theory I could come up with was that whoever sold him the gun had convinced him that what he needed was the same gun James Bond uses.

Make him feel better. The PPK in Skyfall was .380ACP.

Time for some Army range stories. Being in a combat arm job, it helps to be something of a gun nut. Even the non gun nuts know enough not to be too dangerous. I always enjoyed going to the range with other grunts. Worst times was when we ran the range for qualification of non combat troops of the battalion/brigade/division.

During one of these voluntold sessions we were running the range for the rest of our brigade. Got rotated out of my cushy job being the announcer in the air conditioned tower to be range safety on 3 lanes at the far end of the range. Instructions I gave to the shooters were to give a thumbs up if they were ready to fire, so I could signal the tower they were ready. If they weren't ready, flail one arm wildly. Easy to see. Command given from tower "LOCK AND LOAD, WATCH YOUR LANES." I heard shots, didn't count how many. Look to my lanes, one soldier is waiving their arm and not firing. I range walk over...this soldier had someone how put the magazine in backwards. So forcefully that I could not pull the magazine out of the well. I ended up taking the magazine floor plate off and emptying the mag out the bottom. Same soldier didn't know how to turn on their PEQ-15 laser at the night qualification.
 
Stuff like this is why I'm constantly on edge around firearms and ranges.
I am comfortable at my outdoor range, pretty much a bench rest crowd. Try doing what they call a "mag dump" and you are gone as fast as your mag dump. My closest indoor range not so much. It's close as in a 20 min ride but no range officer on the line. This is where I see all the bullet holes I mentioned earlier. The next close range indoor is about an hour ride. Nice, clean and a good range officer anytime there are shooters active. Being in NE Ohio, actually Cleveland SE burbs any outdoor range is about an hour and a half ride, not bad but not great and unless you like shooting butt deep in snow my shooting outdoors is seasonal. :)

People do stupid things and there is no shortage of stupid people at the local indoor range. Vigilance is about all one has. I try to focus on my targets as well as the guy two stalls down trying to teach his newest girlfriend how to shoot and impress her at the same time. Scary stuff. :)

Ron
 
I am comfortable at my outdoor range, pretty much a bench rest crowd. Try doing what they call a "mag dump" and you are gone as fast as your mag dump. My closest indoor range not so much. It's close as in a 20 min ride but no range officer on the line. This is where I see all the bullet holes I mentioned earlier. The next close range indoor is about an hour ride. Nice, clean and a good range officer anytime there are shooters active. Being in NE Ohio, actually Cleveland SE burbs any outdoor range is about an hour and a half ride, not bad but not great and unless you like shooting butt deep in snow my shooting outdoors is seasonal. :)

People do stupid things and there is no shortage of stupid people at the local indoor range. Vigilance is about all one has. I try to focus on my targets as well as the guy two stalls down trying to teach his newest girlfriend how to shoot and impress her at the same time. Scary stuff. :)

Ron
Being in a rural town about 50 minutes from the nearest indoor range, I exclusively shoot at the local Gun Club outdoor range. Members only and there is only about 8 people in the club, myself included, who are regulars at the range. While I maintain vigilance at the range, like you I am usually more focused on my target and safety since I know the crowd I'm shooting with and confident with their competence. It's when the rogue elements like the people in my first post show up and shoot illegally or with the random member that hardly ever shows up that I get on edge when shooting. No, it's when I'm at home or with the specific uncle that I'm constantly on edge because of the potential for accidental discharge. Typically, if you maintain a normal awareness of range protocol and safety, you will be fine. In that spot or area, you are aware of the danger and attentive to it. When your at home and pull a gun out of the safe thinking its empty or your cleaning it and let your guard down, that's when I'm hyper-vigilant and cautious because that's when people get careless and accidents happen.
 
Worst times was when we ran the range for qualification of non combat troops of the battalion/brigade/division.

:rofl: So true. I was the Armorer and range NCO for a REMF unit. I waited for one of them to recreate the scene in Stripes at BRM, but it never got that nuts. I did have to DQ a friend for cocking his S&W revolver and setting a round off before I called Commence Fire.
 
I worked at a gun shop/indoor range for 5 yrs...saw all kinds of things.
The one incident that sticks out most was, a "new" co-worker of mine sold a customer a Taurus Judge. He sold him some 45 Colt ammo, some 410, and..some 454 Casull...! The customer was on the range when this guy (who wasnt with us much longer) mentioned he sold the 454!
I ran out to the indoor range with NO ear protection screaming "cease fire" until I found the guy who bought the Taurus!
He still hadn't fired the 454's...whew!!
 
I was at the range once right before deer season fine tuning my brothers deer rifle with a new load and saw an IDIOT with a "superloudbanger magnum" rifle and a HUGE scope trying to get on paper at 100 yards. He said he was hunting "a 12 pointer" and wanted to make sure he had enough gun and scope (the average long shot in this area is 250-300 yards and most large deer were around 150-180 pounds). He had the scope set way too far back and his eye was almost in contact with it. I asked if he needed a spotter or any help and was told "I know what I am doing..." as he poorly secured the rifle to his shoulder and fired. The only thing I can say here is he needed lots of gauze to stem the bleeding and possibly stitches, and his shoulder had to hurt for days. The "range officer" showed up and helped clean him up. I don't think I saw him at the range again after that.
 
I'm trying to nerve myself up to rejoin my local outdoor range.
I'm not sure that I'll succeed.
This range is on the flood channel for the Rio Grande, within howitzer range of Mexico. Local folks take their relatives from across the border - and their kids - to the range as entertainment.
Normally there is no range officer present.
Screaming, running kids.
Beer cans being used as targets.
Everything is perforated.
No. Just no.
 
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