Guns shops tired of noobs?

[tac]

If I'd ever dropped the slide on any of my dad's 1911s I would have not been able to sit down for a week.

 

[RVTECH]

Man, I don't even let a hammer fall 'dry' on anything when looking at it.

I put my finger between the frame and the hammer if I want to test the trigger pull or a thumb on the spur and let it down softly.

 

[ma96782]

Don't misunderstand me, I was not defending California at all. I think they're nuts down there, but talk to tac about what kind of guns they can own there in the UK, and what they need to do to own them, and you'll see what I mean. Compared to the UK, California is lenient.

There's really no comparison at all, even California is still child's play compared to the type of authoritarian restrictions that they want.

Not to worry about CA.

There are already many stupid gun laws all over the USA (done by individual states). And of course, more gun laws are proposed at each legislative session across the various states every year.

But wait until the United Nations tries to legislate their version of gun controls for the world.

Rrrrrright.......
It's not like the UN hasn't already tried.

Aloha, Mark

 

[Mikej]

Man, I don't even let a hammer fall 'dry' on anything when looking at it.

I put my finger between the frame and the hammer if I want to test the trigger pull or a thumb on the spur and let it down softly.

And, and.....Don't EVEN turn the cylinder on a blued revolver lest it increase the appearance of the turn line! I've got a pretty darned nice S&W 19-5 that I don't shoot much. And IF I've got the urge to just fondle, I've got a 686 no-dash I can play with.

 

[Nibbs]

Seems like it all has to do with having respect for another's Property.
Always ask permission First no matter what.


Might be fun to have a thread on the What If..., or Had I Not..., etc.

Close call type stuff.

Like when I had a sawed off to abt 10" a Win 1906 .22 shoved in my buddy's lower spine w hammer cocked playing Holden Caulfield
"I'm from Rocky's Mob, I'm gonna get you suckka..."

But having just taken the Hunter Safety Course...
"THE GUN IS ALWAYS LOADED..
NO MATTER WHAT YOU THINK!!!"

Well, yup, there is more to the story...

 

[washagonian]

RE: dropping slide on an empty chamber in a semi-auto and gansta-flipping a revolver closed.

Is there some damage that this does? I will normally ask before I dry fire anything, but I was unaware anyone cared about dropping the slide.

How about people 'Gangster Flipping' revolvers?

Bill Wilson and Ken Hackathorne put out a video back in 2019 that provides the best detailed explanation I've seem of why these two actions are incredibly abusive to a firearm.

Dropping the slide explanation starts at 0:55 minutes. Gansta-flipping a revolver starts at 2:50 minutes.

These guys are great. No bravado, no BS, and no one around with more credibility than these two. The entire vid is a great view.

 

[Nibbs]

My don loosened up a Benchmade knife flipping it open/ shut open/ shut over n over.
Then complained. BM fixed no sweat.

Next was a "Flip Phone" ...
Same Open Shut Open Shut...
It quit working.

"Well Da, [rolls eyes] it Is a Flip Phone.
You're sposed to do it...

TV

Hollywood is ANTI GUN it seems..

 

[orygun]

RE: dropping slide on an empty chamber in a semi-auto and gansta-flipping a revolver closed.





Bill Wilson and Ken Hackathorne put out a video back in 2019 that provides the best detailed explanation I've seem of why these two actions are incredibly abusive to a firearm.

Dropping the slide explanation starts at 0:55 minutes. Gansta-flipping a revolver starts at 2:50 minutes.

These guys are great. No bravado, no BS, and no one around with more credibility than these two. The entire vid is a great view.

These guys are great! Thanks for sharing.

 

[trevi]

I was at the LGS today taking in the devastation of the ammo selection and saw a sign that made me chuckle.

View attachment 774967

It was below a bunch of .38 Super ammo. Apparently they had an issue with people buying it and then trying to return it when it didn't fit their new revolvers.

Made me wonder what other issues gun shop employees are facing and having to deal with these days with so many new gun owners.

Not everyone is meant to be a teacher, while some "teachers" tend to give false information. I am not a gun noob but I dress like a guy who is not into guns, so when I walk into gun stores they size me up and sometimes give bad info. And, I understand their frustration with people not knowing stuff that most of us call general knowledge but I see no offence in forewarning people. All the same, I do not like gun store clerk noobs.

 

[CLT65]

I remember one time that I was made to feel very small by a gun store guy, and I was far from being a "noob".

I was in a local gun shop some years ago, and got talking to the older guy behind the counter. Somehow we got talking about casting bullets. He asked me in a sincere sounding tone what I knew about casting, and if I'd have any good advise for beginners.

I've been casting for decades and know a fair amount, but am by no means the world's expert. I started talking about how I do it and what I think is important. After letting me carry on for a while, he let on that he was the proprietor's father, and he'd been casting bullets and competing at high levels for longer than I'd been alive. Maybe he didn't mean it the way it felt, but I left feeling that he'd had a good laugh at my expense.

 

[orygun]

All the same, I do not like gun store clerk noobs.

Absolutely!
It's been quite a while, maybe 10 years, but there was a young guy (21-2?) behind the counter at Fisherman's in OC. Like most of us at that age, he was a bit cocky, quite a bit.
One day I went in to see what was new and he was sitting on a stool behind the gun counter. He had a semi auto, slide back and had a very large screwdriver stuffed down into the action doing "something". I commented about the tool possibly being at least large enough and got a snappy reply that he knew what he was doing. I knew it was unlikely I was going to buy a gun from that store for a while... I had no idea what other guns he might have shown his knowledge to.

 

[tac]

After letting me carry on for a while, he let on that he was the proprietor's father, and he'd been casting bullets and competing at high levels for longer than I'd been alive. Maybe he didn't mean it the way it felt, but I left feeling that he'd had a good laugh at my expense.

He was, beyond any doubt, the definition of smarta$$ personified. I would personally have spat in his hat. I can NOT abide the 'I've been doing XYZ longer than you have, have got more trophies than you have, more guns etc than you have' kind of guy.

It's a sad but telling thing that a few Americans coming over here to Europe, where things are generally a lot smaller, although a lot older, take it upon themselves to make others feel small by comparison with their possessions/achievements.

I may have mentioned that I was once the Chief Instructor at a specialist INTEL school here in UK, with students from all over the Commonwealth as well as NATO and other 'guest' nations, like Finland, Ukraine, Brazil and so on. We also had an USAF exchange officer [AXO] - a captain - on the staff as a three-year post. In an act of revenge the RAF sent one of their Flight Lieutenants to the US equivalent of our set-up.

This particular day the AXO was doing his Texan thang about how big his father-in-law's ranch was, and mentioned a figure of about 25 thousand or so, and how it took three days to get around it. Our resident Australian Warrant Officer piped up with 'Wow!! That's HUGE!!!!! Our station [Oz for ranch] is thought of as pretty big and we've only got 9000, but I have to admit that it can take us about six weeks to get around it...'

The AXO rejoined - 'Six weeks to get around 9000 acres? Boy, you guys sure are some slowcoaches down there! You need to get an airplane!'

'Oh, you're talking about ACRES? I'm talking about square MILES*, and BTW, we use four helicopters...'

*576,000 acres.

 

[Capn Jack]

I was a Newbie once. (Late 90's when it came to buying my own firearms and not just using my late husband's HOUSE GUN for self defense issues.) ALL of us were at any age of our lives when it comes to firearms or any other subject matter in life.

I had a salesman TRY to tell me and sell me 45acp instead of 45Long Colt for my former NIB Ruger Blackhawk in 45Long Colt (Bought elsewhere back east.) in the late 90's to 2001 (Time frame?) in a BIG famous gun store that had just opened in the state of MI. (It was not my family owned (NOT my family.) gun store where I bought 15 or so guns in my former state.)

I have never owned a 45acp semi automatic pistol and my late husband did not own one but my MT husband did and still does own that firearm caliber.

Anyway, my late husband told the MAN that he should listen to my QUESTION again and pay attention since they were 2 different calibers for my single action revolver. LOL I did NOT own a Blackhawk Convertible in dual cylinders (45acp AND 45Long Colt). I owned a gun purchased for 45Long Colt exclusively, NIB and in the 'New Model' version since the NIB RF and NIB RF Ruger s/a revolvers were ONLY made in the NEW MODEL version when I started to buy all of my firearms (Late 90's and ON.) which were MAINLY in handguns at the time shy of 3 RF rifles back east.

When I bought a SWEET 38Special NIB S&W ON SALE - it could take 38Special and 38Special PLUS P.

My 357Magnum Revolvers in d/a (Smith and Wesson) and in s/a (Ruger) (ALL NIB too.) could use 357Magnum, 38Special PLUS P and my favorite 38Special too obviously.

MY main gun man explained this to me at my store but so did other people (HIGH up in the shooting world - famous men.) PLUS what I had studied/read as a NEWBIE. They said that many OLDER 38Special ONLY guns could not take or shoot PLUS P LOADS due to their frame, design, strength, etc. SAFELY.

I never LOOKED AT or heard much about 38Super until I moved out west and HEARD the term. Obviously it was nothing that interested me way back when or even now. NO offense to any person who LIKES and shoots that caliber.

Plus I no longer shoot handguns.

I would NEVER make fun of a NEWBIE TRYING TO LEARN to buy the proper ammunition EVER. Maybe they should have ASKED a salesman for HELP or they received the WRONG ANSWER (?!) too.

I had seen AMMO for my former late 90's Glock 19 and another Glock 19 out here in various terms as a NEWBIE.

Example: 9mm LUGER AND 9mm PARA BELLUM and as a Newbie who was not at my GUN STORE at the time - I had to double check that I was GETTING THE RIGHT 9mm AMMO since I knew that it could not be returned. SOME factory ammo boxes has it worded BOTH WAYS. I knew what para bellum MEANT in Latin but it confused me when looking at the 9mm factory ammunition boxes since some ammo companies had it worded various ways.

And I was NOT LOOKING AT OR FOR what they call 9mm short or .380 or 9mm Kurz (?) back in the late 90's as a Newbie.

I had THAT ^^^ explained to me since I had to LOOK IT UP for a VETERAN friend who was gifted an OLDER foreign pistol and my MT husband explained it to me. Plus I read some of it here and elsewhere on the WWWeb.

Old Lady Cate

A lot more to it than, "Gimmy a box of Bullets."

 

[GWS]

Over here in Merrie Englande we never have your 'noob' problems for a good number of reasons.

1. You can't just waltz into a gun-store and have a fondle of something that takes your fancy - 'snot done like that.

2. Anybody going into a gun-store already knows exactly what calibre ammunition they want - it's what it reads on their Firearms Certificate and no other,

3. ...and how much they can buy at any one time, too. That, too, has set limits.

4. Face-to-face sales only - with the type and amount logged by the vendor right there on your certificate. If you lie about trying to buy more ammunition, say by going into another store and trying to buy another 100 rounds of the same ammunition, then you have tried of obtain ammunition to which you have no entitlement/authorisation. This is classed as a serious criminal offence, NOT a petty crime. It will certainly cost you your Firearms Certificate FAC and a healthy amount out of your bank balance, maybe jail time and a life-ban on acquiring another FAC. It will also prevent you from ever visiting either the USA or Canada again.

See, hereabouts the penalties are not only way OTT, they are part of UK law called 'absolute offences' - IOW, there is no possible defence for them. Guilty of possession or not guilty. Five to ten years jail time for getting it wrong where actual guns are concerned.

The only place that an non-FAC-holder can legally handle a real firearm is at a gun show, or as a guest on a range at one of the monthly guest days.

Jeeeezus!
Welcome to a vision of Joe Biden's America.

 

[Phantom Man]

These new gun owners as ignorant as they are will be supporting gun rights so let's figure out how to support them.

 

[tac]

These new gun owners as ignorant as they are will be supporting gun rights so let's figure out how to support them.

Nailed it.

 

[GWS]

Noobs are more fun and way better for the industry than the old guys who just hang out. Noobs get hooked, will continue to buy things and bring in revenue, boomers just ask for paper catalogs and will be dead soon.

Truth!
New shooters are like religious converts They want to practice they're religion and spread the gospel.
A gun shop owner who doesn't want new shooters is not interested in making money because the new shooters will buy up everything in sight. Plus a lot of the old geezers running the shops love to chew a noobs ear off with their wisdom and the noobs will listen with disciple-like reverence awaiting the honor of being told to "Have a seat" behind the counter and join the old farts in back and their conversation.
Lord how I miss Castello's back in San Jose-- 10 guys crammed into about as many square feet discussing everything guns, women and politics. And when the front door opens everyone stops talking to see who it is, like a bunch of meerkats and if it's a new guy with a question?? A cacophany of answers and opinions usually degenerating into an argument amongst the cronies with the new guy soon forgotten. I never laughed so hard as I did in that shop. And I did learn a few useful things in that mess as well.
I miss that shop.

 

[Boboclown]

These new gun owners as ignorant as they are will be supporting gun rights so let's figure out how to support them.

Problem is lot of them are about guns for me not for thee type.

 

[CLT65]

These new gun owners as ignorant as they are will be supporting gun rights so let's figure out how to support them.

Absolutely, but that's a big IF, if they can be educated into actually supporting gun rights.
I have a good friend who's a hunter and gun owner, but he supported Biden. He's a big union guy, and his union told him that Biden wasn't really going to push for gun control; he just said he was to get elected.

 

[GWS]

Absolutely, but that's a big IF, if they can be educated into actually supporting gun rights.
I have a good friend who's a hunter and gun owner, but he supported Biden. He's a big union guy, and his union told him that Biden wasn't really going to push for gun control; he just said he was to get elected.

That's kind of disappointing.
'Vote for Biden because he's lying about what he'll really do."
And your friend bought that?
SMH