Dumbest thing you heard/saw in a Gun Store or at the range.

[Paolo Sepi]

My most memorable experience was, after inquiring if any 8mm Mauser was available, being offered 9mm Luger as a substitute. Evidently the gun counter guy thought that would be close enough, since they both were metric and had funny Germanic names attached.

Wow, my first High Road post.

 

[xring44]

A man showed up at a public range I used to frequent, he was shooting a 700 Remington .270, when he fired the first round, it got everyones attention, It visibly bent the bolt, locked the action, he packed up and left. About an hour later, he returned with a simular rifle, said he borrowed it from a friend, first shot was also last shot, simular results as first but also left a visual crack in the forward ring of the reciever. I later heard that his son had switched powders in the powder measure to pistol powder.......I don't know if the owner of the borrowed rifle choked him to death or he just gave up handloading!

 

[SDM]

EddieCoyle - I like those, some folks need to mind their own. My story isn’t funny at all but follows the stay out of my business theme.

There is one particular shop in northeast Tennessee that whenever I go there I always come away with one of these stories. I was in there and asked about a magazine for a Winchester M77 .22 rifle. Owner / Know-It-All says “I’ve never heard of that, are you sure that is right?” Giving him the benefit of the doubt (this thing isn’t quite a 10/22 in terms of popularity) I give him some details about the gun and ask if he might be able to order the magazine. He comes back rudely with something to the effect of “I can’t order parts for guns that don’t exist”. I was a little put-off by this and had decided to leave when Know-It-All’s buddy Blow-Hard pipes up and says “You probably have a Ruger, they are the only ones that make a M77”. I reply to Blow-Hard that I in fact do have a Ruger M77, it is a bolt-action rifle and that I am not talking about that. I am talking about a Winchester M77 semi-automatic .22 rifle. At this point I wanted to let them know what I thought about both of them but I didn’t. I haven’t been back.
By the way this is the same shop that the times I had previously been in there, gun prices were ALWAYS going to go up in the next couple of months for some reason. Anytime I would look at something under the glass Know-It-All would come up with something like “Congress just passed a new bill and prices are going up 20% after the first of the year, you better get that now”. I have heard this line at least 6 or 7 times from this idiot. For this reason I have never bought anything in this store and won’t, but he does have a good selection so it’s a good place to check out stuff and his prices aren’t bad so you get some idea of that. (Just so I don’t get flamed, I never ask to handle guns and take up Know-It-Alls time, I only go to look because I know I won’t buy.)

 

[walking arsenal]

I'll vouch for Phantoms story. I was the guy who bought him the gun.

I was really new to shotguns and slugs through shotguns at the time. My pal here was severly underarmed but wanted to deer hunt. So i set off to buy an economicaly priced shotgun for him. How thoughtful of me.

NEF 12ga $90

2 boxes of winchester partition gold sabots $16

I specifically asked the guy behind the counter if you can shoot sabot slugs through a smooth bore. His answer "Yes, you can". Now he is right, you can do it. They group like a four year old throwing rocks. And i'd imagine the recoil is similar to what it would feel like to be hit by a geo metro at 70mph.

You can survive it, it messes up your face and detaches your retnas but who needs those anyways.

 

[adrianleewelch]

academy employee

went in to Academy to buy .223 and 7.62x39 for a range trip, picked up 10 boxes of the AK ammo, but there was no .223, asked the guy behind the gun counter where it may be hidden, he tells me that they dont sell assault rifle ammo at academy, that my .223 is an evil black gun, and that the 7.62 is only plain old .308 ammo, just shortened for hunting rifles with shorter actions, and went on and on about .223 being an assault rifle, and how academy was adamently opposed to the sale or support of these weapons. he never noticed the bushy m-4 clone behind him on the shelf. lesson here, my .223 is not a varmint gun, it is in fact an assault weapon even though it is a single shot, and my ak is a hunting rifle !!!!! Man I had it backwards..I guess I didnt really need any laquer coated steel cases anyway, Ill just go to my local FFL from now on and get brass, and keep him in business !! BOYCOTT ACADEMY (except their gun prices are pretty darn good)

 

[panzermk2]

WOW I have been using my Weatherby for deer and my AK for BG's.
silly ME

 

[Magic79]

When I was at the CHP academy, we had a couple of females in the course. Both weren't too bad with a handgun.

We got to the shotgun day. One, who was pretty snippy, came around to her turn She lightly held the gun with about an inch between the recoil pad and her shoulder. I implored "Pull it in as tight as you can and lean into it."

"F$% YOU Mark" was her appreciative reply.

BOOM! When she stopped crying, she stormed off. Oh well. She was going into corrections and would never be my partner.

 

[RustyShackelford]

The Dumb and the Dumber..

I could go on and on about dumb statements and/or incidents that involve ADs/weapons/"advice"/etc. Here are some good ones;

The DEA agent in Orlando FL who shoots himself with his issue Glock pistol. Then wants to show a group of kids his M-4 rifle. :banghead: See the video clip at www.ebaumsworld.com .

Gary Paul Johnson, a retired LAPD LEO and well known gun writer telling readers it's "okay" to carry a SIG P-220 .45 with the hammer cocked back with a round in the chamber. (the SIG models have no safety levers)

The US Army MP SGT I worked with who told our platoon about training a 2nd LT on how to shoot the M-9 9mm and watching him hold the pistol right up next to his face(even when the SGT told him to watch the recoil/slide movement) The US Army LT got his face cut up from that "training class".

I heard a gun store clerk "sell" a security company rep on the 5.11 uniform pants. The clerk told him how these pants look like "SWAT" type pants and that bad guys would be "scared" to deal with anyone dressed like that!

Finally, I got into a huge spat with 2 redneck jerk-offs in Pensacola FL about the Florida state laws for armed security officers. I asked the sales clerk for Corbon 125gr +P JHPs in .38spl and they told me those rounds were "illegal". Florida regulations state that armed G officers must carry only hollowpoints not FMJs or reloads or fragmented loads(like Magsafes/Glaser). Rather than learn the state laws these jokers want to fight everybody. For the details about Florida's gun laws see www.packing.org and/or www.myFlorida.com .

RS

 

[DevLcL]

I've got 2 good ones. First one is just stupid, second is scary.

Okay so I'm at the range (this is more of a hole in the ground full of dishwashers and tire rims) and it's just me and an older fellow with a woman, probably his wife. After a while we come to an agreed cease fire to set up new targets. As we are down range a group of 6 guys (kids would be a better term) get out of a single truck and start to unload. Every one of these guys has his own SKS except one who has a PGO shotgun. When I get back to the makeshift firing line I say something like, "Cool guns, what do ya got there?" The guy with the shotgun says "This is my Winchester 12ga, this is the real deal." Meanwhile, the original man at the range just finished setting up his paper targets. Guy with shotgun loads up, waits for original guy to get behind the line, then proceeds to pepper original guys targets with birdshot. Original guy was absolutely livid about what had happened and was as red as a sports car when explaining to shotgun guy what he did wrong. Everything about shotgun guy was just a joke.


So I'm showing my buddy my new Walther P22. I show him how to work the safety, release the mag, rack the slide, and check to see if unloaded. (basic safety training) I figure my buddy is smart enough to be left alone with my pistol for about 2 seconds while I get a glass of water. I'm standing over the sink filling my glass when I hear "POP!, Whizzzzzzzz, PING!, THUD!" He had loaded a mag, slapped it in, racked the slide, released the safety, and pulled the trigger..... He told me "I don't even know what I'm doing". First: I had JUST finished explaining how to make sure the gun is safe. Second: Any idiot would know that when you put ammo in a gun and pull the trigger it might go bang. Oh yeah, the bullet hit a frying pan (just above my head) and richoced into the wall (just in front of my head).

I came real close to eating that bullet. Needless to say I always count my blessings.

-Dev

 

[Matthew748]

Lets see. There was the time I heard a sales clerk talking about how strong Ruger revolvers are. Apparently he knew someone who had a Ruger in .357. The story goes his friend got a squib but did not notice it and proceeded to fire the remaining cartridges in the cylinder chambers. When he was done the bullets were packed up one after another in the barrel. The revolver, being a Ruger, was undamaged.

Another time I overheard 2 gents talking about the inferiority of the 9mm cartridge. Apparently one of the men was related to Superman. He said that he could personally take a couple of 9mms to the chest without ill effect. No mention of body armor or vests was made.

 

[XavierBreath]

I saw a guy come in with a beat up Model 10 that he believed was removed from Bonnie & Cylde's car after their ambush near Gibsland. A lot of "Bonnie & Clyde" memorabilia floats around North Louisiana, but they did not have Model 10s or Beatles albums.

 

[wheelgunslinger]

I was in a pawn shop looking at revolvers in the lower glass case and there was a guy looking at pistols and rifles and what not to my right. He was That Guy™. You know, not the poster here, but that guy who knows everything technical about guns and goes to the gun store to yap yap yap about how much he knows to the poor guy behind the counter who can't just run away or blow his own brains out on the spot. Well, That guy™ was blathering on about some friend who had x type of pistol (like that guy has friends ). Then he started blathering about body armor and rifles and shotguns and blah, blah, blah... we all know a guy like this in the gun store. Captain Know it All is a good term.
So, I heard something ridiculous come out of his mouth and looked up to see if he wasn't smiling because he was just trying to get attention, and saw the muzzle of the pistol pointed right at me. I mean, I was staring right down the barrel about 2 meters away, since I was squatting to peek at the revolvers in the lower shelf.
I conciously widened my eyes, looked at the guy behind the counter who returned my glance with a sheepish "whaddayawantmetodoaboutit" look.
So, I left.
What a moron.

 

[xring44]

I just thought of another I have to pass along, a fairly well educated friend of mine and a hunter was looking at a winchester model 70 .30-06 I had just picked up at a gunshow, his remark, "I don't like that caliber, when you shoot it, the bullet never quits riseing"

 

[GLOCK19XDSC]

A guy came into the range I was at with two children he was going to "teach" to shoot. He had no clue about basic safety and had to be told over and over to make sure he and the kids had on eye and ear protection before entering the range. Then, someone had to go out and tell him again because the kids were on the firing line with neither.

 

[dfaugh]

Well, my buddy and I were in the local Gander Mountain, a few weeks brfore deer season this year...We were in the shotgun section when a woman (very petite, 5' maybe 110 lbs.) comes in, and is asking about shotguns for deer hunting (we have to use shotguns here). So the "kid" (no more than 21) behind the counter comes out and starte showing her a variety of different shotguns. My buddy and I continue to browse, but stay within earshot. "Salesman" proceeds to show her a wide variety of 12 gauge guns, including O/U and vent rib semis w/ LONG barrels...She's shouldering each of these guns, and its obvious that there's no way she could comfortably shoot any of them. This goes on for a long time (and I keep hoping the "salesman" will get called away, so I can intrude)...BECAUSE, I'm standing right next to a nice 20 gauge "Youth model" pump w/ rifle sights (I've forgotten whether it was a Mossy or Remington) that PROBABLY would be a nice fit for her... He never once even came near that one! She finally left, and by the look on her face, I suspect she had pretty much given up the whole idea

 

[carp killer]

The dumbest thing ever, I mean ever was in a gunshop. The owner and FFL holder said "No one needs an Assault Rifle. They are just for killing people."

 

[cavman]

Didn't Charlton Heston, the President of the NRA, pretty much say the same thing?

 

[The Hitman]

The Hitman

A Friend Of My,Go To A Indoor Range And Gun Shop,And Her Took A .22 Beretta Bobcat And Fire,When The Owner Of The Club Take From Her The Gun,Inside Has A three .22 Live Bullets,Lucky For All Of Us,The Chamber Was Empty.

 

[Tory]

I believe you are confused.

"Didn't Charlton Heston, the President of the NRA, pretty much say the same thing?"

I suspect you've confused Charlton Heston with Bill Ruger, who whored out the entire firearms industry with his assertion to Congress that "No honest man needs more than a 10-round magazine." He sold all of us out to save his Mini-14/30 from being added to the "Assault Weapon" list and to have the SKS and AK clone rifles that people were buying instead of his guns banned from further importation.

 

[RustyShackelford]

Ruger/Smith and Wesson; gun locks-policy

I'm not aware of Bill Ruger's comments. I do know Smith and Wesson caved into political pressure and changed the designs and magazines for some pistol models. S&W put locks on the new firarms too. Smith and Wesson did this to get police/LE contracts from the federal police agencies and other major urban area PDs that want to get weapons that have several safety features because of civil/legal reasons. I think S&W should do what Glock did and offer gunlock systems as a special feature not a standard feature. HK also offers a choice about the magazine safety features on the P-2000 pistol designs.

Firarms owners should support gun makers that use common sense and good judgement.

PS: S&W also had a former CEO who had a long criminal background, including armed robbery, assault on a sworn LEO and escaping from police.

Rusty S

 

[Cromlech]

EddieCoyle:
GUY IN FRONT OF ME IN LINE: Wow! What do you have there?
ME: That's 1000 rounds of 9mm.
GUY: And how many bullets are in a "round"?
ME: I hope only one.

Now that's funny!

 

[JohnKSa]

Overheard a gun-store clerk telling a patron that steel cased ammunition would ruin the extractor on his Rumanian WASR-10 (Semi-auto AK variant).

I watched the store "Handgun Expert" (his picture was posted with this label--no kidding!) "flick" a revolver cylinder closed after showing the gun to a customer.

 

[deadin]

I liked the guy that after being told that the rifle he was looking at was a "gas-operated semi-auto" wanted to know where and how often you had to refill the gas.

Dean

 

[Sgt Stevo]

I did not hear this but,
I shoot at target masters on sundays in the c-bay.

I guess some people dont like that we fire head shots, rapid fire and do what we want.


thats not the story, it just bugs me. So my buddy is up at the counter buying more ammo. Some guy in line in front of says, "Do you rent guns?' To the clerk. the clerk says yes.
The guy in line says, "I would like one for week please."

 

[cavman]

Ruger not Heston

Yes, indeed. I incorrectly attributed Ruger's quote to Heston.