Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The Sh*t You See Working In A Gun Store...

Anybody who has ever worked in a gun shop knows you see/hear some wild sh*t on a regular basis. In my 22+ years I've seen some doozies. Yesterday a black fellow came in and asked for a box of ".41 bullets". ".41 Magnum?" I asked, to which he replied "Yeah." I handed him a box of 210 gr Gold Dots and sent him on his way. He came back today and said "Them bullets was too big." "What kind of gun is it?" I asked, thinking there was a remote chance he had a .41 Colt of some sort. He said "It looks like one of them cowboy guns." So I'm thinking, "Yeah, it must be an old SAA." "Bring it in so I can see what you have because if it's a .41 Long Colt, ammo is about $75 a box." He reluctantly went out to his car and came back a minute later with a 6 1/2" barreled Ruger Blackhawk that was clearly stamped .41 Magnum, but with, get this, a 9mm cylinder in it. I said, "You do realize this is a 9mm cylinder in a .41 frame don't you?" He looked at me cockeyed and said "Ok, give me a box of 9s." Trying to make him understand the situation was like trying to explain advanced calculus to me. I'm quite sure the gun was as hot as a firecracker and when he was distracted I jotted the serial number down and later gave it to a cop buddy to check out, along with his tag number. I figured somewhere out there, there is a .357/9mm convertible Blackhawk with a .41 cylinder in it...

I would have sold him a box of 380 with a call to the popo with his plate number

I love these threads! What else you got?

I worked a gun counter for about a year after I retired and saw some really dumb stuff, but the dumbest was an old guy who came in and said he wanted to show me something. I said OK and he asked me to pull a Taurus Judge from display. He then picked up a box of .444 Marlin ammo and asked me if I knew that it would fit the Judge. He wanted to load the gun to show me. I refused and told him that although it might fit, it was a dangerous thing to do. I told him that the rifle ammo was loaded to about three times the pressure of the .45 Colt the gun was designed for. I believe the only thing that saved him was the smaller diameter bullet, which let a lot of pressure blow by.

Another goodie was about 5 years ago when another brain trust called and asked if we could remove a stuck choke tube. "We can try, but if it's rusted in, you might be S.O.L." I told him. He came in later in the day and handed me the gun. I looked at the muzzle, pulled a quarter out of my pocket and proceeded to remove the tube with no resistance at all. He took a couple steps back and said "Uh oh, this is embarrassing. It's in here." as he pointed to the loading port. He had stuck the choke tube into the magazine tube...

Back when I was involved in some trading, a guy that I knew pretty well came up to my table and told me that he had a gun I would really like but he wasn't gonna turn it loose.

What is it, I axed.

Remington 700 but came from the factory with a Winchester barrel.

How do you know that, I axed again.

He says because it is stamped on the barrel ".270 Winchester."

I tried to explain to him that the .270 was a Winchester developed cartridge and that was the reason for it being stamped like that but to this day, he still doesn't believe me.

I showed him a Sako I had that was stamped "7 MM Remington Magnum" but he just shook his head and walked off.

It is getting hard to find someone like you gentlemen who actually know what you are talking about behind any gun counter today. I have lots of stories from my side of the gun counter that keep me from shaking my head.

One of the most recent involved someone asking for 410 powder who was rudely informed there were lots of powders that would work in a 410 and he needed to go home and learn about reloading before he came back.

I went to Cabela's and asked is they carried Accurate powders and was told any powder could be accurate if I knew what I was doing. It was my last trip to Cabela's.

you all are nubbies, wait until someone brings you Dad's war trophy all loaded up

I have witnessed that a couple of times. Once with a 1911 in condition 3. Kid had no idea what to do with it.

Anyone one buying any thing should know precisely what they are buying and what it is worth. If not, they deserve to be hosed.

I agree.

Time was you could go to a gun store, ask questions and get real help. Today you had better know exactly what you want or stay home until you do.

Do you hose people who deserve it?

Anyone who tries hard enough can rationalize bad behavior.

Not Ed but I am sure he would not but he is not in the gun store business and there are this in that business who would.

That is the truth.

we used to live in better times

we used to live in better times [/quote]


Yes, my friend, we did. It is sad isn't it.

Not a gun shop story, but still mind boggling. A fellow I know had a call from someone who wanted to surrender a luger their father had brought back from WW2. Apparently the gentleman who was calling used to play army with it when he was a child,and his children played with it too. Since it was an unregistered firearm,he thought he should get rid of it. I'm sure you can see where this is going. When he dropped it off, my friend removed a full magazine from it and ejected a live round from the chamber. Fellow was shocked, only thing preventing a discharge was the safety. Makes you wonder how much this fellows dad really cared for them to give them a loaded gun to play with.

No wonder they took your guns away

Sorry about Aussies state, anyone that would give a loaded or unloaded gun to kids to play with is a dumb [bleep] .