Need to vent about gun etiquette...

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kdave21

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Nearly a year ago, I had a very nice Remington Rand for sale. I met with a guy who collects WWII stuff who said he was interested (Keep in mind, this is about a $1300 gun). Upon handing the gun to him, he proceeds to whip out some specialized "gun tool" and remove the grips, and as I recall, break the gun down. Normally I would have no problem with this, but he didn't ASK first. I nervously asked him to be careful. He ended up paying me the 1300 so naturally the sin was forgiven, after all, what do I care, he bought it! So forgetting that instance, I ask him if he wants to comes over today to look at a Colt from my personal collection. Now, being as I have a VERY small collection, and nice guns arent just a dime a dozen to me, I am a bit protective. Upon handing the Colt (this is a pre-98 Model 1895 D.A. .38 for those who care) he proceeds to look it over, then begins talking about unrelated matters for over THIRTY minutes. The entire time he is doing this, he is holdling the gun with his oily hands by the barrel, the frame, whatever, IDLY playing with the cylinder, pulling the cylinder release back and repeatedly, over and over putting the cylinder back in till it clicked, paying no attention whatsoever to the gun. Now, did this hurt the gun? Probably not. I realize this. BUT IT IS 114 YEARS OLD AND I GOT MONEY IN IT. If you are reading this, (and you know who you are), I will not be calling you with any more items for sale. It's CALLED MANNERS! Etiquette, etc. The sad thing is this guy is a HUGE gun collector, and KNOWS BETTER. Not just some amateur collector (like me!) Then to add insult to injury, after ranting about everything BUT the gun, he says, "Ill take a raincheck on the gun, nice piece, but gonna take a raincheck." Had he bought it, I wouldnt have cared a bit. So Mr. or Mrs Gun Buyer, if you are out there, and you are not sure what gun ettiquette is, or how a seller might feel about a firearm, err on the side of caution. Don't pinch the girl on the butt without at least asking her boyfriend okay? Golly,enough to make me wanna cuss:cuss: Thanks for listening all, I feel a bit better. By the way, this item is for sale in the $625 range.:neener:
 
Provide a pair of white gloves to any prospective buyers from now on, and tell them to wear em if they want to handle the firearm.
 
You should have said something if he was pissing you off. Personally after the first gun incident I wouldn't have let him so much as see my gun not to mention handle them. 114 years old money on the table before we start.

JMO

C
 
If he wasn't handling *your* gun how you would expect someone with good manner suppose to, you should have said something right off the bat. I know you didn't want to lose the sale but you should have directed the conversation toward the sale instead of continuing with idle talk. If he didn't want the gun, take it back and wipe his oily paw prints off the gun.
 
hi all
biggrin.gif
 
I look at it like this - fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. If you saw the dude be rough with one of your guns the first time, why did you hand him another without mentioning it to him and asking him to be more careful this time?

And why let him hang on to it for over a half-hour while he rambles on about something? It's not that hard to say "hey bro - that's fascinating, hand me back that pistol so I can stop worrying about it and listen to what you're saying."

I'm not trying to be a jerk - the guy obviously has some awareness issues of what is and isn't appropriate when it comes to other people's guns - but you had opportunities to take control of the situation and didn't.

Next time, before you hand him a pistol, let him know that there are certain rules that must be followed. If he's a friend, he'll understand. If not...well, he knows where the door is.
 
Keep a box of powder free nitrile gloves on hand, they're only $10 for 500 and you can use them when you clean your guns when you're not handing them out to prospective buyers.

I would make an appointment to see the guy at his house and bring over any guns he wants to buy and as he's playing with your 1 gun, I would be fondling every gun in his closet and if his wife was in range, I would hit on her too.

Hey, fondle a man's gun like that you might as well be touching his woman.
 
I've always found the words "do you mind if I..." seem to be the best approach. Regardless of the weapon or value.
 
Maybe provide rubber gloves. The kind the doctors/nurses use.They are real cheap. I don't think they would hurt anything. If anyone knows please correct me.
 
I would have thrown him out after 10 minutes of him going off sbout nothing and me asking him to stop mishandling my gun. :mad:
 
I would have stopped him the minute he came out with a tool and made to start disassembling your piece. What if he had damaged it? The guy is a rude jerk and doesn't deserve any more of your business.
 
He'd have been out of my door as soon as that dis-assembly tool touched metal without permission. I don't mind at all if somebody wants to do a field strip, honestly I wouldn't buy a used gun from somebody who did mind, but its simple good manners to ASK FIRST.
 
he was well within his right to disassemble the remington rand, but he should have asked first. most people who do not collect miltary firearms do not understand why we need disassemble their gun & we will not take their word for everything being correct. a few wrong parts can lower the value on a miltary colt by several hundred dollars. if i was buying the gun it would be disassembled before i purchased it, if the seller had a problem with that the price would have to be low enough for me to take a chance on it or i would walk away
 
great post... made me chuckle... I could feel your aggrevation, well put... but still...

"BUT IT IS 114 YEARS OLD AND I GOT MONEY IN IT. If you are reading this, (and you know who you are), I will not be calling you with any more items for sale."

Thats funny...
 
When you are handling someone else's gun, the only thing you should be doing withou asking permission is verifying that it is unloaded.
 
You know what proper etiquette is? Look them in the eye and tell them, do NOT write on some anonoymous board in the internet.

It is considered 'bad form' to do many things in a personal, hand written note. Doing them on an internet message board is 10X as bad.

Look, if you SERIOUSLY offered the guy your Remington Rand for him to duby(which you did) then you ALSO implicitly authorized him to take all STANDARD actions with said gun, which in this case is open her up and verify.

Now, you went into the second interaction KNOWING he doesn't ask, and KNOWNING you aren't fond of his style of handling.

Yet you failed to use this knowledge. He maybe shouldn't have done what he did but YOU should have taken steps to prevent it from happening before it even started, and barring that you had half an hour to tell him to stop, give it back, you don't like your guns treated like that, etc.

You failed on all accounts.
 
Akodo: So why did you waste his time and still not buy the gun?:neener:


Not liking someone is not a reason to stop doing business with them. However, if you have a problem with the way that they conduct business with you, then either say something (politely) or don't work with them.
 
I might ask, but before I buy any gun, I am going to take it down to no less than field stripped, and probably a good bit more than just that. It doesn't matter if the gun is brand new, in which case it makes more sence, as many new guns come with a missing part, damaged parts of steel chips not quite cut free.

With the Remington Rand the collector was probably looking for pencil inspector markings so long as the grips were original.

And then he found some flaw(s) he didn't like on the other gun, so he took a rain check trying to be polite.

Neither gun is 'expensive' in the world of collecting, where the bottom line of just starting to be 'expensive' is 5 grand.. A gun at 5 grand is kiddie play to real collectors.

I looked at a new in the box Les Baer, never fired NRA 99%, and told the guy I was going to take it apart on the phone. He freaked out in person when I did. LOL

That turned out to be because he didn't know you could take the blooming gun apart with no tools. Once we talked more, I found out in fact the gun hand never been fired by him, while it had been 'proofed'. A little something he handn't cleaned either, because he didn't know any better.

He owned 2 of these guns alike, and apart from the nearly matching serial numbers didn't know a thing, other than the words 'safe queen' and 'investment'.

For grins I broke down my Remington Rand to 'field stripped' and put my slide on his frame and vice versa... I left feeling a heck of a lot better than the OP here though... The Les was a grand almost over the rand sold here.
 
Wow, I never expected such a wide range of opinions on this matter. They ranged from "You are a complete idiot and this is 100% your fault" to "Wow whatta jerk." Should I have stopped him rather than sit and fume quietly? Probably. I don't know where all of you are from, but in Iowa, courtesy is king, and confronting people isn't really a way of life. To top that, I am a real estate agent, and the guy met me in my office. It's not like he was some clown off the street walking into my pawn shop. This is a small town and I try not to burn bridges where unnecessary. For those who can't understand why I would allow myself twice to be in this situation, I totally see your point. There was a difference however, carefully breaking down a firearm with a tool is a bit different than pointlessly popping the cylinder in and out of the frame for no good reason while you talk about everything else under the sun. So technically I had never really been in this situation. And again, it was never that I minded him breaking the weapon down (assuming he knew what he was doing) the point is he didnt ask. Maybe some feel that by handing him the firearm I am giving him permission to do what he wants. To me, I'm not. I would never personally break down a gun without asking, and I would never do anything to a gun that wasn't necessary for purchase until it was mine. There's no reason to jack the lever up and down a million times on a lever action, there's no reason to pop the cylinder in and out for five minutes.... sigh. I dont think it should matter if it is less than 5,000. If I break your tail light with a nine iron does it only matter if you are driving a BMW? I think Chevy owners would be a bit ticked also. It's a matter of courtesy, regardless of value. As far posting anonymous messages on internet board, I think that accusation is a bit of a stretch. It's called blowing off steam :fire: To everyone else, thanks for listening. I think the moral of the story is, I should have spoken up rather than just sit there, and he should have known better. Oh one other thing that might be amusing to point out, the Remington Rand was not from my personal collection, bought only for reselling, so there was much less emotion involved. The colt was my first antique which I ever bought. Sure a D.A. might not be worth much, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and for those who can't understand that, well, then you've never known what it is to love :)
 
I think many share your courtesy approach to life, I was raised the same way.
Perhaps in hind sight you would have acted differently, but that's fuel under the reactor now.
I believe you learned something.
 
Yeah, had a 1900 Am. Eagle Luger, showing to a friend and he had it apart on a towel in his lap.

His phone rang and so he jumped up to answer it, piling gun parts in a heap, banging them together.

Had I had ammo for this piece I would have demonstated how it shoots, and the ballistic effect of the ammo on a human torso.

The guy's a jerk. And no, I don't have any contact with him now.
 
Welcome JayJones:

To the OP, Knowing the guy, why did you not say something prior to letting him handle it? Are you going to hand him the next Old thing you come across?
 
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