Silly things you've heard at gun shops

[Scout21]

What are some peculiar or downright false things you've overheard/been told/witnessed at a gun shop. range, shooting event, deer camp, etc.?

One of my favorites is when browsing in a gun shop I overheard an employee telling a customer that .308 Winchester is good to 1000 yards unless you're shooting it suppressed, in which case the range would drop to 700 yards. The guy never explained why that was the case. The customer seemed to be eating it up, too.

Admittedly I can purchase most of what I need nowadays online, but I still go to brick and mortars for the experience.

 

[Speedo66]

To the widow bringing in a nice Ruger 10/22 with a name brand scope and nice case, “this is kind of worthless, but I can give you $25 for it considering your circumstances.”

At that point I walked out.

 

[.455_Hunter]

To the widow bringing in a nice Ruger 10/22 with a name brand scope and nice case, “this is kind of worthless, but I can give you $25 for it considering your circumstances.”

Nothing less than criminal behavior.

 

[Bush Pilot]

To the widow bringing in a nice Ruger 10/22 with a name brand scope and nice case, “this is kind of worthless, but I can give you $25 for it considering your circumstances.”

At that point I walked out.

I have unfortunately seen this game played in gun and coin shops. If I hear something like this going on I leave and never return.

 

[theotherwaldo]

To the widow bringing in a nice Ruger 10/22 with a name brand scope and nice case, “this is kind of worthless, but I can give you $25 for it considering your circumstances.”

At that point I walked out.

That's not silly, that's evil.

 

[The Last Outlaw]

To the widow bringing in a nice Ruger 10/22 with a name brand scope and nice case, “this is kind of worthless, but I can give you $25 for it considering your circumstances.”

At that point I walked out.

Once at one of my local gun shops, a friend and I saw a really nice 10\22. Asked about it, guy said it was from an estate sale and he hadn’t had a chance to check it out. My friend went back to ask again the next day, guy still said he was too busy to check it out. My friend was leaving town for a while the next day, told him he would give him 400 bucks for it right then. The shop guy sold it to him. He failed to realize that it had a high end Volquartsen trigger in it, the trigger was worth what he paid for the gun. Sometimes it works out to the good I guess.

 

[Lefty38-55]

"Silk ... adds 40-yards"

 

[Coyote3855]

I asked a new employee at the LGS if they had .38 Super. He hands me a box of .38 Special +P. Owner quickly corrected him.

 

[LiveLife]

What are some peculiar or downright false things you've overheard/been told/witnessed at a gun shop. range, shooting event, deer camp, etc.?

• Who would make guns out of cheap plastic? Guns need to be made out of steel. Crazy ... This fad won't last (This was in the late 80s ... I guess not so "crazy" now)

• Semi-auto pistols are not reliable ("Some" semi-auto pistols are not reliable)

• 1911s with tight tolerances won't feed LSWC rounds (Then I show Sig 1911 with tightest chamber I have seen reliably feed LSWC rounds)

• You always need external safeties on a handgun (Then I point out revolvers don't have external safeties)

• You always need to burnish pistol barrels by shooting several hundred rounds of jacketed bullets (Not for barrels with surface hardened treatment like Glocks, M&P, etc.)

• 40S&W fad won't last (This was 30 years ago)

• 40S&W is inherently not accurate (As I switched USPSA caliber to 40S&W from 9mm/45ACP to better meet both major/minor power factors with one caliber)

• Shooting brass jacketed bullets will wear out your rifling faster so shoot copper jacketed bullets instead (After shooting 120,000+ rounds of Montana Gold jacketed FMJ/JHP, "Hey, my Glock 17 still shoots accurate. You wanna buy it?" He did and kept on shooting matches with it)

• This new POS gun is not accurate, must be factory defect (Then I ask if I can shoot it and produce tight group on target ... "Congratulations, you bought a very accurate pistol")

• Why is your group scattered? (Then I point out I am shooting letters A, B, C ...)

• You can't shoot 40S&W out of 10mm

• Due to modern bullet technology, 9mm performance is as good as 40S&W (When I ask if that same "modern technology" also improved 40S&W performance, there's usually silence)

• If you have smaller hands, you should choose smaller compact/subcompact pistols (But not telling compact/subcompact models produce more snappy felt recoil compared to fullsize models ... Wife with smaller hands does fine with fullsize 1911s and M&P45 with small grip insert and have even learned to be proficient with fullsize Glocks ... Sister with small hands competed with fullsize M&P40)

 

[Outlaw75]

What are some peculiar or downright false things you've overheard/been told/witnessed at a gun shop. range, shooting event, deer camp, etc.?

Nothing that has been more egregiously false than some of the "conventional wisdom" and "expert opinion" I've heard on internet gun forums.

 

[earlthegoat2]

Not necessarily true or false but a fun silly thing a gun counter guy told someone who was disparaging 9mm.

“What are you crazy, 9mm has killed more people than cancer”

 

[The Night Rider]

To the widow bringing in a nice Ruger 10/22 with a name brand scope and nice case, “this is kind of worthless, but I can give you $25 for it considering your circumstances.”

At that point I walked out.

I normally mind my own business but I would have stepped in on that one. I might have even considered offering that woman a fair price for it on the spot

 

[Double Naught Spy]

I was in a gun show and two guys were looking at a Barrett M82A1 50 bmg. One said to the other that shooting it would "take off your shoulder" after a few shots and the clerk behind the counter agreed that it would "really do a number on your shoulder." I laughed and laughed. The recoil pulse is mitigated by the barrel recoil springs, muzzle brake, and semi auto action, such that it is no worse than a 12 ga. Never even got a sore shoulder from shooting mine. The noise, back blast pressure from the muzzle brake, dust, and pebbles hitting you is annoying and tiresome, and are much more of an issue for longer term shooting than the impact on the shoulder.

 

[unspellable]

"The gun doesn't begin to recoil until the bullet leaves the muzzle." This from the guy behind the counter while discussing a big bore revolver. No explanation for why the front sight is taller than the rear.

 

[Plano11]

"Silk ... adds 40-yards"

You sure you weren't in a Starbucks?

 

[Plano11]

I overheard a customer ask if there was a higher capacity magazine for their revolver. The facial expression the owner of the gun store was priceless.

 

[Bazoo]

I've heard this one here on this very forum "Single actions revolvers are nigh unto useless for self defense, you need a gun with as large a magazine as you can get."

I was once in a gun shop, which as a range out back. Someone had bought an AK and was going to try it out, they were loading the magazine in the store and the clerk was helping them. Instead of snapping the cartridges in from the top... like is common sense, they both were struggling to push the existing cartridges down and then slip the fresh cartridge under the feed lip from the front. Like the way you'd load a single stack mag. I didn't say anything, but I always felt kind of bad for it. I bet that guy struggled a long time before he learned the easy/correct/normal way.

I was at the gun store and the clerk was showing someone else an NAA mini revolver. He was giving him a line on just how concealable they are. I calmly said "I keister stash one" and walked away. I laughed so hard when I got out to the parking lot.

 

[PistoleroWadcutterGANG]

My favorite: I have all the Glocks ! I know shooting. LOOL! love that one.

also.

I know all the gun companies' catalogs. I'm an expert.

 

[CapnMac]

Dunno, like as not the gibberish far exceeds the sensible, historically.

Some gems stand out.

Like ".38spl+P+ is the same as .357mag"

Or ".30carbine is the same* as 30-30" (*whatever "same" is supposed to mean)

"[Caliber a] is better than [Caliber B]" always seems to suck the smart out of a room.

"[16" barreled carbine] is a 'sniper' an gud ta 1500m"

"[gun product] is a rip off and any one who sells it is stealing from ya" (usually said right under the banner proclaiming the shop to be a stocking dealer in that product)

A perennial fave, now starting to fade away: "Tha' [external magazine fed self-loading rifle] kilt mor of ourm bois than [enemy weapon], an they die't wi blister onna trigger fanger ('cause they dint hear no ping!)" This was often all the more hilarious if the rifle in question was a FAL or HK. Or, if the person averring the notion had identified their personal preferred carry being an M-1 Carbine.

 

[GEM]

Yes, you can shoot 22 LR in your 22 Mag revolver

 

[stringnut]

Guy insisting that cast bullets are “boolits”. Jacketed bullets are “bullets” according to him I was ignorant for not knowing this. I then asked what you called a swaged bullet as it is neither boolit , or bullet, by his definition. He really got going then much to the amusement of the spectators.

 

[Speedo66]

I was at the gun store and the clerk was showing someone else an NAA mini revolver. He was giving him a line on just how concealable they are. I calmly said "I keister stash one" and walked away. I laughed so hard when I got out to the parking lot.

Don’t laugh, female criminals have been known to secret that firearm in another orifice.

 

[Speedo66]

Guy insisting that cast bullets are “boolits”. Jacketed bullets are “bullets” according to him I was ignorant for not knowing this. I then asked what you called a swaged bullet as it is neither boolit , or bullet, by his definition. He really got going then much to the amusement of the spectators.

Obviously a member of www.castboolits.gunloads.com

 

[tark]

To the widow bringing in a nice Ruger 10/22 with a name brand scope and nice case, “this is kind of worthless, but I can give you $25 for it considering your circumstances.”

At that point I walked out.

I would have gone off on that store owner, told the lady what it was really worth, offered to buy it for a fair price, and flipped off the owner as he ordered me to leave. And I would never go back to that store again.

 

[tark]

I once had a store owner insist that 7.62 NATO and 7.62X39 were the same cartridge.