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

i had my shop mainly to support my collecting. i would take trades and make special orders for people, many who became fast friends.
i charged cost plus 10% on new stuff and most of the used stuff i charged according to how much i liked the item myself. i had many LA county Sheriff deputies as friends and costumers. sitting there one day and a guy that owned the frame shop next door came running in and told us a car load of inner city types had just pulled up to the small bank diagonally across the street.
four of them in long dusters holding something tight had gone to the bank.
at the intersection a friend who drove for a lumber company and banked at that branch saw what was going down. he told me later that he just started to see red. when the group of morons came out and jumped into their little honda Pat gunned his truck and rammed them into a power pole, blocking both street side doors and one of the sidewalk side doors.
broke one guy's legs and the other 3 scrambled out the back door, opened up with full auto pieces and emptied in one burst into the front of the truck.
then they ran around the block to the apartments that the car was registered to and every thing was over in about 20 minutes.
the deputies in my shop all gained rank and citations that day.

Hunting for quail in CA foothills with a 20 Ga over/under and my buddy who had a pump 12 gs, when we ran into two CA Fish and Game officers who wanted to check licenses and shotguns. The lead agent (newby in training by the other agent who just watched) did the checks. The newby did ok on the licenses and checked my buds pump for a plug limiter. When he came to my over/under he looked at it and was confused, and gave the shotgun to his trainer and asked him to check it for a plug limiter. The trainer did a good job of not calling him out during this inspection incident.

Note on current CA Fish and Game officers: About half are outdoorsman, and the other half are animal rights nuts these days. These days I go as deep into the dirt road areas and hike pack as far into the mountains as I can to steer away from these half cocked idiots.

Wouldn't it be easier to just move to America?

one more now i have my memory going.
was in a friends shop on Arrow in Fontana when som bangers came in. there were 6 of us rednecks already in there and there were only 4 of those vermin. the head vermin struts up to the counter and say's "Jew gots soome 9's bullits Deude?' my friend just looked at him real deadpan and said "jeyesss i got's sooome 9's booolits". the verm just looked at him and said "I needs 500" whereupon my buddy reached back, got a box of 500 bullets, in .355, put them in a bag and took the verms money. they all left with smiles on their faces. I asked my friend what he was going to do when they opened the box of bullets and came back for their money or ammo. he grinned and said "give them some more bullets"

Because he was an idiot. Even worse, he was certain. That's a dangerous combination.



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I meant the manager. Why would he sell it for a price you both new was obviously mismarked?

I would of fired the manager and trained the employee.

I dunno, false advertising? He even said it was below his cost. The hangtag was in the trigger guard the whole time.





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Reminds me of a trip to Sportsman's with my best bud 3 years ago. Both go in not really looking for anything in particular. Was set on guns at the time and not needing to spend money on anything. Behind the counter is a Weatherby Vanguard .243 (original) with synthetic stock, Talley lightweight rings/bases and a Vortex Diamondback 4-12x40 (might be wrong on power/objective) for $379.99. We had an argument over who was buying it. Neither of us wanting to spend the money, but if you got the cash on hand you can't pass up that deal.

He wound up buying it. I wound up getting a Vanguard Series 2 off a member here, face to face, a few months later for 4 bills.

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It wasn't in a gun store but in a bar. Out with coworkers after work one night with 2 friends of mine as well. The boyfriend of the redhead coworker I wanted to bang kept going on and on about his 'sniper rifle' in '7mm' with the 'cryo frozen barrel' that was a full custom that shot sub-MOA out to 1,000 yards. He didn't know what action the rifle was, who made the barrel or what 7mm chambering. We still joke about cryo frozen barrels and magically rising 7mm whizbang bullets to this day. Rifle owner apparently spawned with said redhead and the spawn of stupid now roams the pacific northwest. It will fit in fine out here.

One large chain had a Westley Richards .500 Nitro Express Double Rifle. Nice shape, gorgeous rifle. I admire it a bit, then realize the price tag says $3299.99. I handle it, and carry it into the office, and ask the sales guy, "this the right price?" He says, "yes it is!". I say I'll take it. We're sitting down while he writes it up, and I'm debating on just how much trouble I could get in if they actually let me out of the store with it.

I finally ask again, "are you sure it's the right price?" He says, "yes it's $32,999.99" I laugh and say, "that's not what the tag says", He says, "I'm fixing it right now!" I laugh and say, sorry no, can't pay that much.

Sort of like someone in the White House?

Deerstalker; Did you have the Jack First shop on old hwy 14?

There's a lot really dumb people working at gun shops now. Mainly younger guys trying to act and look like some vin diesel dumbass. Might know a little about the taurus on his own hip but that's it.
No big deal to me, I don't do there to learn, I go there just to fight off boredom. If I buy something, it's usually from some hard up soldier who the army never taught him to live within his means.

I was in the Wal-Mart in Durango, CO, a few years ago and a guy came in and bought a box of 300 Win Mag ammo. He happened to be parked next to my truck and I asked him if he'd seen any good bulls, it was elk season. He said that there was a great bull coming onto his BIL's ranch and he was going to shoot it with his new Weatherby. Since he bought 300 Win Mag ammo, I was thinking Vanguard, but he showed me a Mark V. I looked at it and noted that it was chambered for 300 Wea Mag. He'd never shot it, never zeroed the scope, didn't know that 300 Win Mag was a totally different cartridge. I pointed the difference out to him and he shook his head as though he understood, but I sensed that he really didn't understand. I wished him good luck and we both went on our separate ways.

That about says it all for me too....and it comes from working behind the counter for 22 years.


But I know what you guys mean, I see idiots on both sides....asked a counter kid the other day for IMR4198, he promptly grabbed a can of H4198....I was not tactful in my correction.
Had a gunsmith the other day wait on me. " I need a short action BDL mag box with the stop in it for a .223"...
He assures me they have them and only $3.99..." I'll take one"

He brings it out...no stop.....I wasn't tactful that time either.

From the other side of the counter one of the dandies I remember was a father with his young ( 8 yr old son) came hauling in a Ruger 10/22 and a Ruger Mk I pistol....brought them in cause he borrowed them from his brother to take his son shooting and didn't know what kind of cartridges they took.....

As is my habit I immediately got the 10/22 from him and cleared it...unloaded. While I was doing that the 8yr.old was looking down the barrel of the MkI with his thumb on the trigger I grabbed it, cleared it and found it was loaded, with one in the chamber.
I know you shouldn't dress a man down in front of his kids, but I lost it.Big Time. Still can't believe I didn't get fired that day.

Nobody should get canned for doing the right thing.

Good Lord, surprised you didn't slap that guy out of the building and across the parking lot!

Had another one, a guy I knew, and knew to be somewhat of a tool. Handed his .25-06 over the counter to me. Force of habit, I cleared it. It was loaded. I grabbed him by the collar and pulled him halfway over the counter and whispered in his ear" Tod, I should shove this up your ass and unload it..."

Call me Mr. Tact again.


Trust me if you are in the business you learn quickly to clear every weapon you touch, every time you touch it. Period.

Damn, I can plainly understand if your lifetime amount of allotted patience is gone, long gone.