Gun shop experts and their quotes

[Rob Boudrie]

I'm working as an RO at a local match, and I notice the sear and hammer pins are working their way out the right side of the gun of the competitor who is about to make ready. It was a local match (squad members RO'ing), so I asked someone else to RO the next shooter while I explained the proper assembly to this shooter who I had assumed did his own detail strip and put the pins back in the wrong side.

It turns out he had a "gunsmith" at a retail shop (I don't remember the name - not one I am familiar with) do a trigger job on the gun. He explained that this person was a qualified gunsmith and did great trigger jobs. I was about to show him the proper assembly procedure when a retired gunsmith (a real one - the kind who uses a lathe and mill, not just a parts changer with a few files) stepped forward and took care of that for the shooter. (Dan S to those of you who shoot in the Northeast section).

I generally shy away from using the term "incompetent" when critiquing gunsmith's work, but this case merited an exception.

I am starting to see a trend in people at most gun counters just not having any knowledge

Most gun shops are small businesses. Unless the person is the owner, you're dealing with someone who is making only a small amount above minimum and probably isn't getting any big benefits like insurance. Sure, you get some pretty competent people - like the retired person who figures it beats selling hardware at Home Depot or someone with a real job who works in the gunshop part time (a local shop has a firefighter on staff who I would guess makes less than 1/3 his day job wage in the shop, less if you count benefits). The bottom line is that the shop owners are very limited in the pool of people who know the product; have decent customer relations skills; and are willing to work for short money.

[Dan Sierpina]

I'm working as an RO at a local match, and I notice the sear and hammer pins are working their way out the right side of the gun of the competitor who is about to make ready. It was a local match (squad members RO'ing), so I asked someone else to RO the next shooter while I explained the proper assembly to this shooter who I had assumed did his own detail strip and put the pins back in the wrong side.

It turns out he had a "gunsmith" at a retail shop (I don't remember the name - not one I am familiar with) do a trigger job on the gun. He explained that this person was a qualified gunsmith and did great trigger jobs. I was about to show him the proper assembly procedure when a retired gunsmith (a real one - the kind who uses a lathe and mill, not just a parts changer with a few files) stepped forward and took care of that for the shooter. (Dan S to those of you who shoot in the Northeast section).

I generally shy away from using the term "incompetent" when critiquing gunsmith's work, but this case merited an exception.

I am starting to see a trend in people at most gun counters just not having any knowledge

Most gun shops are small businesses. Unless the person is the owner, you're dealing with someone who is making only a small amount above minimum and probably isn't getting any big benefits like insurance. Sure, you get some pretty competent people - like the retired person who figures it beats selling hardware at Home Depot or someone with a real job who works in the gunshop part time (a local shop has a firefighter on staff who I would guess makes less than 1/3 his day job wage in the shop, less if you count benefits). The bottom line is that the shop owners are very limited in the pool of people who know the product; have decent customer relations skills; and are willing to work for short money.

Rob,

I don't remember the club, but I remember the incident!

[GrumpyOne]

I'm working as an RO at a local match, and I notice the sear and hammer pins are working their way out the right side of the gun of the competitor who is about to make ready. It was a local match (squad members RO'ing), so I asked someone else to RO the next shooter while I explained the proper assembly to this shooter who I had assumed did his own detail strip and put the pins back in the wrong side.

It turns out he had a "gunsmith" at a retail shop (I don't remember the name - not one I am familiar with) do a trigger job on the gun. He explained that this person was a qualified gunsmith and did great trigger jobs. I was about to show him the proper assembly procedure when a retired gunsmith (a real one - the kind who uses a lathe and mill, not just a parts changer with a few files) stepped forward and took care of that for the shooter. (Dan S to those of you who shoot in the Northeast section).

I generally shy away from using the term "incompetent" when critiquing gunsmith's work, but this case merited an exception.

I am starting to see a trend in people at most gun counters just not having any knowledge

Most gun shops are small businesses. Unless the person is the owner, you're dealing with someone who is making only a small amount above minimum and probably isn't getting any big benefits like insurance. Sure, you get some pretty competent people - like the retired person who figures it beats selling hardware at Home Depot or someone with a real job who works in the gunshop part time (a local shop has a firefighter on staff who I would guess makes less than 1/3 his day job wage in the shop, less if you count benefits). The bottom line is that the shop owners are very limited in the pool of people who know the product; have decent customer relations skills; and are willing to work for short money.

+1 My local shop has a bunch of "salesmen" in it that try to sell me something everytime I walk through the door.

[Rob Boudrie]

Rob,

I don't remember the club, but I remember the incident

Harvard, and thanks for taking care of it.

[Seth]

Now the flip side to this conversation is the one that I heard the other day. Walked into my local sporting goods and heard a gentleman discussing

sporting rifles. I was just browsing and not paying attention til he mention something about the folding stock going the wrong way. I kind of rolled my eyes and was thinking that this ought to be a great conversation of nonsense.... instead, I turned around to find Todd Jarrett discussing rifles with a colleague.

So much for all the gun store guys being ill- informed.

[SkyScrapin]

Gun shop owner who used to have a Desert Eagle .44 Magnum in his rental case, and does no longer, describing his "rental case gun" experience with the Desert Eagle:

"You fire it for about 200 rounds and it stops working. So you clean it. Then you fire it for another 200 rounds and it stops working. So you clean it. You just go along like that for awhile. Then it breaks."

(Okay, not idiotic. Sometimes the funny stuff is funny because it's true. )

This is a bit late, but I have a Desert Eagle in .50 AE!!! The thing fails to go into battery every few magazines, that is it! None of this 200 rounds stuff is true.. If it is, then they're luckier than me. Anyhow, shooting a hand cannon is a lot of fun (especially when its gold :] ).

Preston

[The_Vigilante]

Was in one of my local gun shops last week and asked the owner if he had ever considered carrying Blade-tech holsters. He never heard of Blade-tech. LOL

[SkyScrapin]

Was in one of my local gun shops last week and asked the owner if he had ever considered carrying Blade-tech holsters. He never heard of Blade-tech. LOL

HAHA, It's time for me to retire from this site for the day. I am going to end up spending all evening on here and miss out on dinner..

[Revopop]

I just read this entire thread. Love it!

I've been fortunate to have spent most of my gun shopping time in good shops with competent folks...but we've all got at least one good one...

In Coralville, IA, there's a Scheels, big giant sports store, they have a huge selection of guns. I used to work in a store across the hall from them, so I was there nearly every day on my lunch break. There was one guy who worked 1 or 2 days a week who was a Federal Marshall the rest of the time, who was a real shooter. He very much knew what he was talking about, and would only offer up an opinion if you asked for it. Most everyone else who worked there was as young as me or younger, and didn't try to bs you. One kid actually asked me one day what gun he should buy.

But there was one guy who always annoyed the hell out of me. I'm not a big Colt fan, and the only Colts they ever had were collectors. Usually if I was looking at a 1911 it was a Kimber or a Springfield. He'd always try to sell me a Colt. "Everything else is just a copy!" he'd say.

One day, I'm in there with my girlfriend. Her dad and I decided that she should have a gun just in case she ever decides to shoot with me, and he told her he'd get her whatever she wanted. I figured 9mm because ammo was cheaper and I wasn't loading yet. I took her to every gun store in the area and had her try out every gun she could. My girlfriend grew up shooting, and her dad's a "recoil junkie". Before me, she'd never shot anything smaller than a .45 ACP (other than .22s as a kid), and she'd even shot elephant guns (literally) like an SSK contender in .375 JDJ. I thought a 9mm 1911 might be a good way to go, but they didn't have one, so I asked him to show her the Kimber Custom II on .40. He says, "now that there's a .40, that might be a little to big for you..."

What a jackass. The thing that kills me the most about that guy is that he wasn't even a good salesman. I'd look at a $900 Kimber, and he'd want to sell me an $800 Colt because "Everything else is just a copy!"

[Ohioguy]

I was standing at the gun counter of a Gander Mountain when I heard this.

Customer: Do you have a Beretta 92?

Employee: I have never heard of that Model.

Customer: You know, the one Mel Gibson used in Lethal Weapon.

Employee: What does it look like?

At this point, the customer looked around and caught my eye. I looked at him and told him it was hopeless....

[Team Amish 1]

At the local sporting goods store. Before I started rolling my own.

I: I'd like 4 boxes 9mm. The blue Monarch.

Clerk: Those are steel, we have brand X in brass.

I: I'll take the steel cased, please. Brass is not necessary, I don't reload.

Clerk: What gun do you shoot?

I: I shoot a Glock.

Clerk: They're not good for Glocks and they will mess up your chamber.

I: I've been shooting them for a couple years now. Never had problem.

I have heard horror stories about aluminium cased ammo, too. I wonder if those salespeople are instructed to sell the more expensive stuff...

[kgunz11]

If you guys only knew how hard it was to find someone knowledgeable to work for you in a gunstore. I refuse to hire anyone in my store that could possibly make some of the comments here, so if any of you are looking for work, I'm looking for help.

[DougCarden]

Revopop, I only lasted 3 days in that Scheels in Coralville.......and it was an eternity.....

DougC

[RufDog]

This stuff is mind numbing........

Once freshly out of the Marine Corps I go into the local gun shop after a 4 year hiatus. I ask to see a Leupold scope and the person behind the counter tells me I don't want it because it has a mil dot reticle & decides its time to explain how complex and confusing using one is. I let them finish explaining how mere mortals are not capable of using such a scope because they are for "snipers". Once they felt confident I understood I let them know I had just gotten out of the Marine Corps where I served in a scout/sniper platoon. I was polite as were they and they did get my business but, I was never offered unsolicited advise again

[RufDog]

Another incident: Some how long range shooting comes up.... the gun shop person starts telling me all about a "Sniper" match he had shot and won. I, being interested in such things, go and shoot the match and won it a few years in a row. Strangely the people running the match could remember everyone who had ever placed well yet never heard of this guy. hmmm.......

[dqshooter]

When I was picking my limited (slightly used) STI .40 from my local dealer (pawn shop I have guns shipped to). There was an older man sitting next to the counter, the owner brings me out the case and the paperwork and I get to see my gun for the first time. I remove it from the case to check it out and I hear "what is that" from next to me. I explain its a custom comp gun for shooting USPSA. Here is what I hear next "I don't know why you need anything like that just buy a good colt .45 and you,ll be better off, they run great". He let me know that he had never heard of thst outfit in Georgetown, must not be very good. The gun is from USSA, I really didn't want to get into it with the old guy until he looks in the counter and tells me "If you can't afford the Colt you might want to look at one of those used glocks, they might be more in your price range". I just thought of my wife wishing that I would someday join her in the afterlife, so I smiled, thanked him for caring about my wellfare and just walked away with my gun.

[bbbean]

Have you ever noticed that the guy at the counter running his mouth about what a great shot he is always has something to do that day if you invite him to a match?

[SA Friday]

Have you ever noticed that the guy at the counter running his mouth about what a great shot he is always has something to do that day if you invite him to a match?

That's more than just the guys behind the counter

[kgunz11]

In a little gun store in Camilla, GA... the guy behind the counter says he competes in pistol matches all over the place and every now again he even wins one. He put a plaque on the safe next to the sign up info for USPSA and NRA. Got one from the Mississippi Classic he needs to put up there along side of it.

[jripper]

Clerk making reccomendations for elderly man looking for self defense gun, "We have Glocks, but I wouldn't reccomend them, as they can go off if you drop them."

[entropic]

My local gunsmith/gunstore owner has a machine shop and I was in the middle of building an STI. So I go to him with my STI slide and ask a couple quick questions. He then says, "if you want a race gun, I can build you one. I've built thousands of 1911s." When I ask him about slide lightening though, he says "I don't feel comfortable doing that kind of stuff." I told him "I'm not looking to replicate a race gun from 1990".

[CHA-LEE]

I enjoy reading these stories so much…… I wonder why I don’t go into gun stores any more???

Seriously though, being the “dude” behind the counter has to be pretty tuff if the store has a large stock of weapons. They pretty much have to be generalists on the products as knowing every little detail about every single gun would be hard to keep up with. Then you combine that with the fact that gun owner walking in off the street with X pistol knows every single detail about their gun and then when the dude behind the counter does not have the same knowledge level the customer thinks he is a chump. That will always be a battle.

I don’t mind the guys behind the counter not knowing every single detail about whatever product I am looking at. Its really my job to research the products I am going to buy, not rely on someone else to spoon feed me the info.

The thing that grates on me are the guys that not only talk it up like they know everything but they truly believe that so much that they feel its “Ok” to feed you some bullshit when they don’t know the answer to something. There is nothing wrong with not knowing the answer to everything. I would rather a sales guy say “I don’t know the answer to that. Let me look it up or find someone that does know the answer”. Verses make something up and feed you a bunch of crap information.

[jripper]

Not exactly gun shop, but within the realm of this thread.

Now, I don't profess to be an expert, but I've been shooting USPSA for over 10 years, and been around guns, shooting sports since I was 13, work part time as a police firearms instructor, am a former police officer, etc. etc, so I have half an idea what's going on with guns.

So, I have this annoying older female co-worker, You know the type, bleeding heart liberal, knows everything about everything, but is usually totally confused and 180 degrees off base. And, remeber that when she first mentioned she wanted a gun over a year ago, I told her that I would be willing to teach her how to shoot and handle guns safely, even though I really can not stand to be around her, but was pretty much ignored.

So, anyway, she comes to me and says:

"I went shooting over the weekend". I try to ignore her, but she's sitting in front of my office door, and it's open, and I'm too lazy to close it on her. So, I say, "What did you shoot?".

She then proceeds to tell me that she shot a Luger .22 and a .38 that her husband's father left him. I ask her if she means a Ruger .22, and she insists that it is a Luger. I realize that the did make Luger's commerically in .22, so I let that go. I ask her what kind of .38 was it. She says, you know one where you open the round thing and put the bullets in, with a really short barrel. I tell her that I mean was who made it? I figure, since she knew the .22 was a Luger, she might have picked up on the what the .38 was. She says, "Just a .38". (The whole time I'm picturing in my head the old generic "BEER" cans, do you remeber those, white cans with only the word "BEER" in black writing. I'm thinking "38" printed in black on a white painted revolver).

She then proceeds to tell me that she did not like the .38 as it was too loud, but really liked the .22. She then tells me that she likes it because, with it, all you have to do is pull the trigger, and "It's right there. Just bang, bang, bang whenever you want." Wow, I've never heard of any such thing before. It's amazing. I'm intrigued

She then says that she did pretty good with this gun, and her husband loaded it up for her, and she's keeping it by her bed. She then tells me that she'll shoot someone that breaks into her house .

She then tells me that the .22 lr is better for shooting someone than the .38, since those little bullets will go into someone and bounce all over the place. At this point, I just want it all to end, but I have been attacked by such severe stupidity that I can not physically get up at this point to shut my door. I'm doomed now.

I told her that is not really the case, and try to explain to her why.

She then starts rambling on about shooting, and how she was shooting a log in her creek. Then, she explains that she never actually hit the log, but shot at it. So, now I have this very disturbing picture of her college age daughter coming home late one night, and this lady lighting up her whole house with .22s. Of course her daugther should be safe, as long as she can immitate a log.

Edited October 30, 2009 by jripper

[jripper]

I work in a probation department that's office is housed with our local sheriff's department, and am friends with the department detectives. From time to time, people turn in old ammo that they find in a deceased relatives house for diposal. The detectives pass it along to me, as they know I shoot a lot.

So one day, I've got a box of ammo, mostly shotgun and rifle shells, sitting on my desk, and I'm letting my boss take some of the ammo for himself. The same lady from above post walks up and asks if there is any .45 ammo. I say, "You have a .45?", as I thought she previously filled me in on all her gun exploits.

She says, "Yes, I have a tommy gun". You have a thompson? "Yes, she replys, and that we've been looking for .45 ammo, and can't find any". I tell her that the local Walmart had a couple boxes just yesterday, but ask her where she got a Thompson. She said that her husband's deceased father brought it back from Brazil.

This seems a bit odd to me. I ask, "You don't have a fully automatic thompson, do you? If you do, it's illegal (live in IL), and you best not tell anyone about this, as if you get caught, you're violating some federal laws by possessing it." She doesn't really say anything.

The next week, I ask her if she got any .45s for her Thompson. She says, "No, we're just putting that up. That gun is not really anything anyone should have. Guns are only for shooting someone or hunting, and there is no other reason to have them!"

[waxman]

A few months ago, I was at a gun shop looking for a J frame since I had just received my CCW permit. When I walked into the place I see this scrawny kid, who looked maybe 19 , but possibly older, He was talking to the owners wife, who I noticed was doing her best to ignore him without being rude. The next words out of his mouth almost made me laugh out load. He said, " I cant wait until you get some of them SCAR's in, me and the other guys in the SPEC OPS community, think they are the shit" Who on earth says that?? I turned around to see if he was trying to be funny, but he was compleatly serious. Now I see why she was ignoring him.

Edited October 30, 2009 by waxman