Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Memorable experiences in a Gun Shop

The first gun shop I bought anything from suddenly closed, the owner was accused of selling guns to the IRA.

Don't remember if he went to jail or not.

Joe Pepitone, New York Yankee great, happened to be shopping for an over-under for skeet/trap shooting when I was in a Long Island gun store back in the early 1990s. I happened to have a baseball and mitt in my trunk. I asked him if he would sign them both, if I went out and brought them into the store. He happily agreed. I still have them both.

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 looks like it's only 25 yards away"

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

Long pause.

Me: "No, sir, The target merely appears to be 25 yards away. The scope does not actually compress space-time."

Somehow I managed to hang up before I started laughing.

I was in the original Bud's gunshop back when it was a small shop actually owned by Bud about 35 years ago.It was a storefront kind of place,...not very wide but fairly long. It had a couple of racks running the length of the store that were about 6' tall.

Just me, another guy, and the guy behind the counter. The other guy asked to look at a .357 revolver. He picked it up and started walking off cocking the hammer, then pulling the trigger,,...went over behind the rack and walked to the back of the store where he couldn't be seen.

I thought it was odd. Then I looked at the guy behind the counter (not Bud) and he had a very "no nonsense" look on his face and was staring very intently towards where the guy went.

After maybe 45 seconds, the guy walked back, placed the revolver on the counter, then walked out without saying a word.

I asked the guy behind the counter,..who was now looking out the door the guy had just walked out of, "What the hell was that about?" He didn't say anything,...just shook his head.

To this day, I think that guy was going to load that revolver and rob the place,....but lost his nerve. Maybe because I had walked in. I wasn't carrying, but he didn't know that.

The gun store I worked in was not too far from a high crime region. I had a couple of gang bangers come in looking for a "9". They reeked of pot. They picked the cheapest one out of the counter. I told them to hold on and I will get one out of the back in the box. I stalled back there and then told them we were out. One of them said to give him the one in the display. Nope, we don't sell display guns. They left.

Had a real fast talking New Yorker try and buy a handgun out of state, no permit, no ID. Get out!

Had a few obvious attempted straw purchases with one guy telling the payer what to do.

best time I had in gun shops was 80's and 90's where you just walked in got couple pounds of powder few hundred primers bullet heads. nobody bought 100K primers 2 tons of powder 50K bullets at once like they do now. same people tell you that you have a mental problem if you did not stoop to their level and empty store shelves

1963, Bullseye Gun Shop on NW 27th Ave on the north side of Miami. I was nine and my dad took me to get my first firearm, a Winchester single shot 22 rifle and the salesman threw in two boxes of yellow box Winchester LRs. I don't think I've ever derived more pleasure ifrom a firearm ever.

No stories but all the above makes me think how lucky we are to have Larry's here in Huntsville. Place is unbelievable. Store looks like the average size, well stocked gun store. But the retail area only takes up about 10% of the place. They have many thousands of guns and many millions of rounds of ammo. What a lot o people do not know is the really good stuff never makes it up front. As I was told, why put a 10,000 dollar gun up front for hundreds of looky lous to handle and mess up. They know the serious buyers and you are quietly told they may have such and such you might want to look at. Never hurts to ask what a gun store has in the back. Especially if your looking for something special.

I was in a Gander Mtn one time looking at ammo. This guy walks up and is having a LOUD phone conversation with another guy. All I klow is I heard .308 Norma Mag on the other end of the phone. Guy grabs a box of .308 Wins and says Don't worry i got you some ammo. He started to walk away and I said those wont work in a .308 Norma Mag. He turns around and tells me they say.308 right on them. I told him for loaded .308 Norma mag ammo hes going to need a reloading press or a time machine but those .308 Wins wont work. He walked away with the shells.

LOL. That's awesome!

Sometime in 1990, I was in London wandering around by myself and I decided to pay Holland & Holland a visit. The store is incredible and while I was looking around, a Limey in a 3-piece suit asked if he could help me with anything, I chuckled a little and said: "No thanks, I'm just here to gawk." He reached over to a rack, grabbed what looked like a large bore double rifle, handed it to my and said: "have a look." I looked at the incredible firearm in my hands, and discovered it was a 32 bore sxs scatter-gun, priced at reasonable £32,000.00 - the exchange rate was ~ 2:1 at that time. Since I was the only "customer" in the store, he proceeded to lead me all around showing me all manner of Holland & Holland firearms and he allowed me to handle each of them. All of them were truly incredibly firearms - many of which were north of £100,000.00. What struck me the most, other that the craftsmanship, was just how well all of the guns balanced. H&H has ergonomics down pat, that's for damn sure. I ended up spending almost 2 hours there and he was full of information and answered all of my questions - which were many. It was truly an experience to remember.

Unfortunately, I was lacking the funds to take one home to TX.

I watched a gunshop expert in Idaho Falls sell a couple a smith 38 special and 2 boxes of 38 super ammo the other day. I comment that those shells won't fit that gun and the salesman said ignore him they are 38's and its a 38.

Bb

Live just down the road from there and share your sentiments about the place.

Haven’t been to Clark Brothers since I moved out of VA in 05. Used to be a guy that worked there named John that referred to me as ‘easy money’, if that tells you how much I spent there. I’ve heard it’s changed a bit. Used to head to Green Top quite often as well. I liked the old place more than the new one.

Old70

Now there's a great story!

Thanks. That's a fascinating place. I was in there one time, just to look. No one else was there except a gentleman who worked there. He asked if I wished to see anything in particular, and I didn't so he brought out a really superb side by side 410 or 28 gauge shotgun, I don't remember which. It was $42,000 as I recall and was the lightest, best handling shotgun I have ever held. Absolutely superb.
Nice to be reminded of that.

One other sort-of-gun store experience was when I was driving across country and stopped outside of Tulsa in Claremore to see the hotel that J.M. Davis had. He had guns in glass display cases in the lobby. He said we- I had a friend with me- could go upstairs and look and he had rooms of that 4 or 5 story hotel filled with guns. One room would be the Winchester lever gun room, another would be Remington, etc, etc. There were machine guns on the walls upstairs. He had two or three Walker Colt pistols. I saw two but I think he said he had three. He's gone now--this was 50 years ago- and his collection is in the hands of the state and some are on display at a nice museum. (https://www.thegunmuseum.com/).

Now that it's been mentioned it might have been the 32 bore In Holland and Holland. It's been a long time and maybe it was that the price was 42,00 pounds. Out of my budget for sure.

Years ago I was in a gun shop that also sold archery equipment. Guy walked in the night before archery deer season and said he borrowed a bow from a buddy and needed one arrow for the next day’s hunt. Salesman said is one all you need ? “ I only have one tag” was his reply.

Same experience there. I noted that the current inventory was a bit beyond my means and he replied "but it may not always be and we want you to think of us if that becomes the case". Heck of a salesman!

My wife and I were walking to a pub recommended to us by the Marriott hotel concierge near Hyde Park in London about 12 years ago when I looked across the street and saw James Purdey and Sons. Unlike HighNoon and Pugs however, it was a "bank holiday" and they were closed.

You would love Joel Etchen in Laughlintown Pa.

I drive by for years, no idea it's a gun shop.
One day a friend mentioned it, so the next time by, I stopped.
It's a block building, sided by slabs.
The sign has the name, and a claybird being broken.
Until you know it's a gun shop, you dont see the clay bird.
There is no indication of guns.
They keep the door locked, when you try to open it, they let you in.
Walking in, it's just accessories.
A hard left takes you through a vault door into the gun room.
High dollar shotguns aren't my thing, but nothing in there goes under $1k.
And you can pick up the stuff under about $3k.
The good stuff is locked in cases.
Not my show, but a neat place.