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

that happened to a buddy of mine who worked at a pawnshop.

Yeah I was at Cabelas which really seems to suck. They had a custom Model 7 with an unmarked SS barrel and a 223 Rem bolt face they said was a 223. I asked if I could bring my cleaning rod in to measure rate of twist and the guy acted like I'd asked if I could screw his daughter. I said I wouldn't buy it if I didn't know the ROT, so this BSer drops the bolt, shines an LED up from the chamber and eye balls it, telling me it just happened to be the rate I wanted.

More recently I had my semi-custom .300 Weatherby on consignment at an LGS. Just to see if they were doing anything to move my rifle I went to the place and asked if they had any 300 Weatherby chambered rifles

Guy says no; I reply oh really? He said yeah cuz Weatherby doesn't really chamber rifles in that cartridge much anymore due to lack of Ammo.

They've gone to standard cartridges he says. I scoffed as plainly and boldly as I could... he had that smarmy know it all tone of a doushey gun counter guy so ai reply "really? Weatherby stopped making rifles in Roy's most popular cartridge!!!???"

He replied with a repeat of his original assertion. I said well I have one on consignment here and wanted to know what if anything you were doin to move it and that's obviously nothing. That's when l lost patience.

He said oh yeah we're doing everything we can to sell it but (he used way more words than this cuz he obviously LOVED the sound of his own voice) there just isn't factory Ammo available everywhere.

I said well that explains why YOU wouldn't buy that rifle but not why you said you don't have a rifle you do have!?!?

More on the standard cartridges and Ammo..

To which I replied "You don have to tell ME that I own the thing but haven't ever had issues finding Ammo... Thank God I have more resources than this store!" As I headed for the door.

They had a really nice old Remington 700 BDL in 6 mm Remington. I asked if I could look at it as we are standing there arguing. I wanted so badly to ask "aren't you going to warn me about how rare 6 mm ammo is?"

Just to be clear I don't expect him to have exhaustive knowledge of his inventory and if he'd have simply said "I'm sorry I hadn't seen this rifle before" I'd have been fine, but doubling down on the stupid Ammo argument told me the guy hasn't ever said he was wrong about anything and wasn't about to start.

I don't get angry very often at all but this REALLY pissed me off. They take a big chunk on consignment items which is fine but they obviously aren't doing anything to earn it.

Like Scott said good help is damned hard to find these days!

Long story short to protect the innocent (somewhat), asked to see a used 12ga riot gun. Handed to me with the action opened, looked in and saw the brass base of a shell in the mag. Told shop owner and he freaked when I proceed to cycle the scattergun and drop a 00 onto the counter. Gave me the M12 as hush money. Guy knew better and knew he had screwed the pooch. Still frequent the store ever now and then. We have never discussed it since.

I've been a shooter/handloader for quite a while, my father started showing me the ropes when I was about ten and I'm over fifty now. I taught mathematics at the university level for a number of years, and I do truly enjoy explaining technical things. So I would love to educate the willing, but these days it's hard to suggest to someone they need a little educating without getting a negative reaction.

And no, I don't open the conversation with "You're doing it wrong, you clueless dumb ass."

Some time back, I had a young man and his girlfriend at the counter. He had a Marines hat, t-shirt, and leather jacket with all kinds of Marine patches on it.

We got into a discussion about ballistics and he tells me that bullets continue to speed up and rise out to about 600yds. It's what he was taught in sniper school. We went round and round on that one.

Then, usually a day or 2 before opening day, I'll get the guy's who come in and want a box of 180gr 30-06 shells.

Me: what type would you like?
Them: 180gr 30-06;
Me: what brand, or bullet type?
Them: I said, 180gr 30-06

Ahhh, the joy of it all, lol.

It's been some years back that I was in a sporting goods shop in the Portland , Oregon area. A young man walked up to the counter and wanted to purchase a box each of of 220 Swift, 257 Roberts, .270 Winchester, and 300 H&H Magnum ammo, (to the best of my recollection). The clerk mentioned that he must have quite an array of firearms. The young man replied no that he had just one rifle and that was a Winchester Model 70 and he saw in an add that it was chambered in all of those calibers plus a few more! The clerk told him that was all of the calibers available in that rifle individually but not altogether. I left when the argument started.

lol....made my morning...one of the funniest ones yet!!

I have enjoyed these yarns, I am fortunate in that when I feel the need to grace a firearms retail establishment I can wander over the river to my local shop and get good service and knowledgeable conversation.

And he is a decent fellow to boot.


Most of the least knowledgeable people I have met have been firearms owners that have a self professed expertise in the subject. Nowadays I find it best to look stupidly at them and beat a hasty retreat as I am pretty sure the courts would take a dim view of me beating them to death out of frustration.


But God help me, it is a very difficult thing to do.

Unfortunately, that happens more than most people realize. In 2006, we had a man (who had been a semi-regular customer a few years prior) rent a Smith 686 on our indoor range one morning. He seemed perfectly at ease. He hung his target, fired 3 shots into the silhouette and stuck the next one in his mouth. I'll never forget that day...

After 50 years of Gunsmithing there isn't enough room here to tell the things I have run into in the past. One of the worse was a guy came into our backroom while we were finish sanding custom stocks. Had a German Luger he said would not fire. Pulled the trigger and shot a hole through 5 custom stocks on the rack. Had to grab the old gunsmith I was working for at the time to keep him from killing him.

Need not have bothered, that is called 'justifiable homicide'.

Don't disagree, but I don't mind ignorance; its convinced ignorance that rubs me wrong. There's no fixing stupid and nothing more stupid than an ignoramous who knows everything.

I was in a fairly respectable local shop many years ago just perusing the case. They had a nice Luger which caught my eye. I immediately noticed that the top of the extractor was sticking up.

I politely told the young man behind the counter that the Luger had a round in the chamber.

He racked the action and sure 'nuff,..a 9mm cartridge came popping up out of it.

He started muttering about a new guy that had started working there.

Spoilsport! That would be almost as unacceptable as helping someone new at a boat ramp instead of enjoying their misery. (All of the practice in the world on an empty parking lot isn't the same as actually hitting a ramp.)

Why would you hand someone a pistol when they are holding a live round for said pistol.

That is almost exactly what I do. I have some knowledgeable friends I can go to too.

I took a lady friend to the "big" local gunshop a few months back to purchase a steel frame D/A .38 snubbie for concealed carry, her first firearm purchase. Tell the clerk what we're looking for and he begrudgingly puts what they have on the table, practically holding it with two fingers at arm's length. With not a moment's pause the guy places a Glock 43 9mm on the table beside it, saying this is the latest and greatest carry piece. I thank him but say we're looking only at revolvers. With a grin as though he's just cured cancer the clerk pulls out a 6" Taurus Judge and places it on the counter, proclaiming "this one fires shotgun shells, perfect for a beginner". That's when we left.

I worked in a gun shop shortly after I graduated from college and the exact same thing happened. A grizzled old man came into the shop with his whole family in tow. He had in his arms an old cheap gun case with a firearm in it. He tells us that he has grandpappy's old shotgun, that it's so old it has to be worth a lot of money. He proudly uncases a store brand single shot break-open hammer gun. It was rusted, cracked stock etc. He puffs himself all up and asked, "What's that worth." The store owner looks it over and says, "It's worth maybe $15." The guy gets all indignant, and rants about how my boss wants to cheat him. My boss tells him that he told them what it was worth, it was NOT an offer and that he doesn't want it. Here's what made me laugh. My boss looks at the guy and says, "I don't mean to hurt your feelings, but it was junk when it was bought new and 80 years of hard wear and neglect hasn't changed that, it's now just old junk." The guy put grandpappy's treasure in the old case and stomped out.

One day I got a call at the shop from a customer who had a question about scopes.

Customer: "What does it mean when a scope is 4x32?"

Me: "It means the scope is a four power with a 32mm objective lens."

Customer: "What does four power mean?"

Me: "It means that if your target is 100 yards away, the target appears as if it's only 25 yards away"

Customer: "Does the bullet still have to go the entire 100 yards?"

Long silence.

Me: "No, sir, a scope does not warp the space-time continuum. The target merely appears to be 25 yards away."

My first Cabala's experience I found myself looking at single action handguns. I was looking for a Ruger Blackhawk as I was interested in some stiff loads. I was told the Uburty was way stronger than any Ruger made. There were two other gentlemen at the counter that in calm reasonable voice tried to explain that that was not right. The three of us could not sway his opinion. I am guessing this young clerk was about a third of our ages. He may still be there putting out his misinformation. I don't go there any more.

In all fairness I am sure there are more idiots on my side of the gun counter than they are on the other side. I just shake my head at the idiots I find there and try to make friends with the ones who know what they are doing. Those guys are rair and worth knowing.