.45 GAP is not .45 acp and other ammo stories

Status
Not open for further replies.
W

walking arsenal

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2003
Messages
2,076
Location
Bemidji, MN
Our local gander mountain has a problem and they need to seek some proffesional help.

I needed a box of speer gold dots for my .45 acp so i stopped in at the local gander mountain. Seems they are the only ones that carry it in town.

I walk up to the counter and the guy behind the counter asks me "what do ya need"?

Me: "i need a box of speer gold dot .45 acp"

Evil gun counter guy: "what grain"

Me: dont matter

EGCG reaches up and hands me a box of shells. Now i have a habit of openening every box of cartridges i buy before i buy them to make sure they arent short a cartridge or are corroded or somthing. as a i turned the box over i read .45 GAP!!!

Me "This is .45 gap, i need .45 acp.

EGCG: it's the same thing.

Me: No, it's not

EGCG (in a condesending tone) yes it is, you see its .45 cal, the case is shorter cause they dont need as much case with the new powders the are comingout with. now do you want it or not.

Me: NO! I want speer gold dot in .45 acp.

EGCG: well we dont have any speer acp, whats your second choice.

Me: (starting to lose it) I dont have a second choice.

EGCG: everyone has a second choice.

Me: Well, i dont, i carry speer, you dont have any speer......

EGCG: we got some umc...........

:cool: (takes deep breath) Look, the ammo is for my carry gun, i need hp, the hp i carry is gold dot, which you dont have (looks at shelf) in fact you dont have any .45 acp except for that umc hardball and those american eagles. everything you have in a decent self defense round is in .45 gap.

:mad: thats cause the newer powders dont need as much case length, its the same thing.

:cool: :eek: :what: ARRGHGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

:cool: have a nice day.(leaves)

they dont have any .45 gap pistols in stock, they have an ENTIRE CASE thats SOLID 1911's, but no .45 acp?!?!?!!

i expect this sort of thing from walmart, trying to sell me .38 special when i ask for 9mm cause they are both .38 cal. but not from a profesional sporting goods store.

Anyone else have a story like this? lets have'em. we all need a laugh somtimes.
 
I had a gun shop owner tell me one time that the beretta92fs is blowback operated. When i told him that it was short recoil, delayed locking block he got upset and told me i didn't know what i was talking about. I have never been back to that store. :scrutiny:
 
My well-run local gun shop once had all their boxes of Speer GAP and ACP mixed in together.

I am sure that this happens elsewhere and has caused problems for people.
 
"45 GAP is the anwser to a question no one asked" a friend said that. I think this just proves it.

I wonder if your 45 will shoot the GAP round without blowing up. Can you sue for stupid info? hahahaha
 
Been through similar discussions in WalMart, Academy and Oshman - what else is new!

At the gun show yesterday, I saw a guy who had a very nice set of Colt single shot 22S derringers and wanted ammo for them. He was Chinese and not a native English speaker. The ammo seller was a descendant of the Deliverance evolutionary branch of America. Quite hysterical as they tried to get 22 LR, 22 Mag and 22 Winchester (that intermediate between 22 mag and 22 LR - an old obsolete caliber) into that gun.

So I help out the poor guy. Told him about 22 S. They were pretty if puny guns. I have a 22 S NAA mini - cute gun.
 
Would GAP even work in an ACP gun? Wouldn't just sink the round out of reach of the firing pin when it was chambered? I guess the extractor could hold on to it, but I would not chances it.
 
It's the same thing when some "bright star" says that you can shoot 40 cals in a 10mm. Yes, you can do it, but not in any of my guns. The cartridge headspaces on the case mouth for a reason. And I am old fashioned enough to only shoot what the manufacturer stamps on the barrel (revos are a different story)
john l
 
Yeah, one time I was handed .357 Sig ammo to go in my .357 Magnum revolver. Guy insisted it was the right ammo.
grrrrrrr
 
The nitwit's supervisor needs to hear about it, if only to protect the company from law suits.

Of course, it's entirely possible he got his misinformation from his supervisor in the oft-cited "first place."
 
It's all a matter of time before someone blows themself up due to an ignorant salesman behind the counter of a super sized retail chain and multi million dollar lawsuits are filed.

I remember when a salesman told me the Rem 700 in the cabinet can shoot .270Win and .380-06 Sprng. He obviously read the tag that said that particular model comes in those calibers.
Imagine if the guy sold that .270 to a customer along with a box of 30-06's :eek:
(I believe headspace and shoulder angle are the same)

Another time I was in a shop and the man behind the counter wasn't the regular salesman. A customer walked up and wanted the lightest recoiling .38 Spl so his daughter could learn to shoot it. The customer wanted to know if he can use .38 S&W since it's the same caliber but shorter.
They sat there for at least 10 minutes talking about it until I walked up and informed them that the .38S&W has a wider case and bullet diameter. I told him he could do it and it would probably work ok, but it wasn't worth any possible risks. Regular .38's are soft enough in a S&W M66.
 
i expect this sort of thing from walmart, trying to sell me .38 special when i ask for 9mm cause they are both .38 cal. but not from a profesional sporting goods store.
Click to expand...

All the counter help in the sporting goods dept at my local Wallyworld are shooters!! They usually have what I need and know what it is!!
Sounds like the manager had better run a seminar on different kinds of ammo with his counter help!!
 
Around me I know which Walmarts (5 or so) have knowledgable people at the gun counters.
I visit those the most.
Many of the non-shooting salesmen pick up enough info from buyers that they usually can help the customers well.
There's not always an ignorant person behind the counter. :)
 
I ocassionally stop in at a local shop looking for some of my favorite handgun.
I'll typically ask for something in +P, for one of my carry guns
One of the guys at a local shop here claims that all HP loads are +P.
They are almost always "fresh" out of whatever it is that I want.
He just can't understand why I won't buy up the leftovers..........
 
Save us from gun shop idiots . . . . and another vote for telling the supervisor.

Someone who has no clue that a smaller cartridge almost always belongs in a different gun should be packing out tomatoes at Pathmark . . . .
 
Had a guy a few years back insist that the .45Colt-marked ammo would work in a 1911-A1, because "it is a Colt-designed 45 Pistol." :cuss:

Walked away is disgust when the idjit behind he counter said that John Browning only designed guns for his own company, never had a design that was adopted as a USGI weapon... :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

Oh, yeah, this was the same guy that recently tried to convice me that a CAI-marked receivered "M-1" was actually a Springfield..."No company except Springfield ever made M-1's. CAI is a division of Springfield". When I took in my International Harvester M-1 guy claimed it was a fake...."How could a farm tractor company make rifles" or words to that effect was his reply.

should be packing out tomatoes at Pathmark . . . .
Click to expand...
Should be farther removed from sales than that....preferably PICKING tomatoes in the fields.....
 
Last edited:
"45 GAP is the anwser to a question no one asked" a friend said that. I think this just proves it.
Click to expand...

I like that one...I also like my .45's ACP. But then again, I haven't shot any of the GAP's yet so I'm speaking out of both sides of my mouth.
 
Quote: "Sounds like the manager had better run a seminar on different kinds of ammo with his counter help!!"

sounds like the OWNER needs to get new counter help.

Ive apllied there before and was told i didnt have enough experience.

OH!, and youll all love this.

The guy who tried to sell me the ammo..............turns out he IS the supervisor!!!! :eek:

This is why i like it here, i learn things that keep me from blowing myself up.
 
Years ago I had a friend who brount a 9mm pistol(first gun) and wasn't that knowageble about firearms. He went to some Walmart and ask for 9mm ammo, they give him 9x17.

His gun chambered and fire .380 rounds, but jammed up after every shot. He figured out what was wrong and later on he told me that he was lucky not to damage the gun.

When you buy ammo from Walmart or these big sporting goods places always douple check what you buy.

-Bill
 
This is part of the reason I prefer the European cartridge naming (caliber x length).

When people who don't know what they're talking about see 9x17, 9x18, and 9x19, it's a lot easier than .380 or 9mm or 9mm Makarov, etc. etc.
 
i have heard that someone up here did indeed put 45gap through a 1911. it did fire, and if it wasnt for an educated shooter asking (after noting the box of 45gap on the bench) if there was a 1911 chambered for 45gap, no one probably would have noticed.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

C
  • Locked
Taurus .45 ACP tracker can use all .45auto ammo?
Replies
5
Views
1K
JoeHatley
J
A
  • Locked
Your MAIN choice for .45 ACP self-defense ammo?
2 3
Replies
65
Views
5K
Oldtrader3
O
B
  • Locked
.45 ACP/Auto Rim Practice/Range Ammo
Replies
3
Views
539
seeds76
S
G
  • Locked
9mm vs .45ACP
2 3 4
Replies
81
Views
5K
Larry Ashcraft
Larry Ashcraft
S
  • Locked
.45 GAP real world results?
2
Replies
37
Views
4K
jc2
J
Back
Top