Anyone have friends with bad gun etiquette?

[tnieto2004]

Anyone have a friend who just doesn't know good etiquette?? Not really unsafe but just doesn't treat guns well. I have a friend like that and it drives me crazy. He likes guns and has his CHL and he owns quite a few guns. I just hate when I see someone hold a gun and dry fire it or continuously rack the slide over and over and over, or lock the slide back and release it over and over. Just something that bothers me. Anyone else feel the same?

 

[RoadkingLarry]

While those habits may be annoying they are not necessarily damaging to a firearm. Many training regimes include lots of dry fire practice.

Now the neighbor "kid" with the "defective" Yugo SKS, he doesn't know how to operate the grenade launcher thing and it won't work in semi-auto and I won't tell him till he leaves the beer at the house. Now he is annoying.

 

[Superlite27]

I just hate when I see someone hold a gun and dry fire it or continuously rack the slide over and over and over, or lock the slide back and release it over and over

.

Doesn't bother me at all. What I like to do here is compare firearms with these friends. "Like my Springfield Armory 1911? Well, that's a nice Kimber you have there."

Now. In five years, show your friend your firearm again and ask him how his is working.

I have a friend who just bought a new Shelby Mustang. (These are not cheap) He's already wrecked it twice. Kind of sad, but it's not mine.

If someone doesn't want to take care of their stuff, it's their stuff. They can break it as soon as they buy it if they want.

Now, if it's a safety concern that they don't care about, I'll speak up in a heartbeat. If they want to wave it around and not clear it after firing, I'll put a halt to that ricky-tick. But if they want to hand chamber a round and drop the slide on their 1911, it's fine by me. As long as it's pointed down range.

 

[offroaddiver]

If the gun is an heirloom.... yes. If I am the one who owns it.... definitely. If he does it to show off and he breaks something he'll stop on his own.

I practice for competitions by dry firing at targets on walls, mag changes, and drawing the gun from a holster. One of the tricks a guy taught me to steady my hands was to put a dime on the barrel of my gun and pull the trigger (gun empty) and do it till the dime doesn't fall off.

But that is a viable pet-peeve. Mine is whenever i handle ANY FIREARM i make sure that the barrel doesn't point in the direction of any person. I even do this at gun shows and stores. I honestly like the mounts in gun shops or the "osama target" to see how easy it is to find the sights when pulling the gun up.

 

[hso]

Sadly, yes.

 

[Ala Dan]

Good Thread

Absolutely, I have a few friends that don't give their weaponary a lot of TLC.
GOD forbid, maybe I am a bit over bearing on this subject; but I handle my
weapons [and weapons that belong to other's] in a special manner. For
instance, I NEVER handle any firearm with salty, sweatty hands; as salt
is naturally a diaster to fine weaponary. Likewise, I don't practice acting
like a cowboy with revolvers, by swinging the cylinder back into the frame
of double-action revolvers. And, always I wipe weapons down with a fresh
silicone cloth; and store them in "Sack Ups". Periodically, I do a "hands on"
inspection of each firearm; to insure that my weapons are maintained in a
proper manner.

I know folks that think nothing of not cleaning weapons for months on end,
after firing a rare, expensive weapon in a driving rainstorm; or in a wind
driven dust storm. Heck, one fell'a I know had too dig cob webs out of
the barrel of his hunting rifle; before he could use it on this years hunt.

 

[Fumbler]

Cycling the action, dry firing, etc doesn't bother me. I do it all the time to my guns anyway.

BUT, I really hate when I hand someone (a few of my friends) a revolver, they spin the cylinder, then slam the cylinder shut.
I stop what they're doing and gently explain to them how delicate a revolver actually is.

 

[BobbyQuickdraw]

Snapping the cylinder in place isn't very cowboy. Now gun twirling on the other hand!

I'm an amateur gun spinner though, so I don't mind when I spin my revolvers, because I know if I drop them its my fault. If someone else does, thats a different story.

 

[Tom Servo]

I really hate when I hand someone (a few of my friends) a revolver, they spin the cylinder, then slam the cylinder shut.

That's a good way to get thrown out of my house in a hurry

Then again, most of the friends I have now are folks I met in the Gun Culture, so I doubt that'd be an issue.

 

[Nightwing]

i have a friend that I like to go to gun shops and shows with. Although he is a very safe guy, somehow he even forgets his own golden rule. "Always treat ANY gun like it is loaded". And then 5 minutes later he's accidentally drawing a pistol and pointing it in my general direction.
hate that

 

[bensdad]

My buddy Ken and I went shooting in the rain once. We were having so much fun we just kept shooting and shooting. THree weeks later Ken comes with me to the range again (I had been there several times in between) and opens up his gun case...

for the first time since the rainy day. His leather sling and much of the wood (Win. mod. 70) were covered in green mold. The barrel and reciever were covered in big splotches of rust. He just about cried.

 

[BridgeWalker]

Yes. I posted once before because I was so shocked when I discovered how badly some relatives abuse their guns. They don't know how to clean them, although they've mostly been in the family for decades, and they can't figure out why half of them are non-functional.

I strongly suspect that I could get them working again with a couple of hours and a lot of CLP. But, not my guns.

 

[230RN]

Almost a friend...

I thought I had maybe found a shooting buddy in my building.

I go over there one evening to talk guns, you know, and he hauls out a 1911 from under his couch cushions, pops the mag, points it at the floor, racks the slide three or four times real quick without loking at the chamber, and tries to hand it to me with the slide in battery.

I ask him to lock it back, and he looks at me kind of funny, but again points it at the floor and locks it and hands it to me.

We were on the second floor, with another apartment below us.

OK, so I look it over, gun looks ok, I lock the slide and hand it back to him pointing it up. So he releases the slide and racks it a couple of times more, again pointing it at the floor and without checking the chamber visually. He jacks the mag back in and sticks it under the couch cushion again.

I mention that just racking the slide doesn't necessarily unload the gun if there's a broken extractor, and he looks at me funny once more.

Well, he's even older than I am, so I feel like I'm some kind of smart-@ssed twerp, and I graciously take my leave and I decided he wasn't the kind of friend I needed.

I don't know if a 230 grain hardball would penetrate to the apartment below or not, but I'd rather take responsibility for a hole in the roof than a hole in the tenant below.

And as to how I know that just racking the slide won't ensure the gun is unloaded... don't ask...

That was Unintentional Discharge #1. I found the broken hook of the extractor on the workbench the next day.

And it was the loudest bang I ever heard.

 

[Rule556]

Yeah, I know people like that. And I'm like that, too.

I've probably dry-fired every firearm I own at least a couple thousand times, sometimes using snap caps and sometimes not. I practice quick mag changes and transitions all the time. I practice drawing my handgun from concealment and returning to its holster.

If the finish on any of my guns wears to the point that it's no longer functional, I'll refinish that gun. If a part breaks, I'll replace that part; I have the tools, parts and know-how to do so.

I'm not worried about my guns lasting for three or four lifetimes. I don't care if someone 150 years in the future is still shooting my firearms. What I do care about is having reliable weapons and the skills to use them if I need to. And sometimes it takes some rough handling to figure out if a weapon is truly reliable or to build the skills one needs to properly use it.

 

[tnieto2004]

I understand practice but I am talking about people who really don't know what they are doing and just do it everytime they have a gun in hand..

 

[MachIVshooter]

I once lobbed my Glock 22 as far down range as I could. A few scuffs from the sand. Does that count?

I was actually making a point to a buddy who was all bent about having dropped his high-dollar CCW piece when he drew it. Don't carry a gun that you can't bear the thought of damaging.

Other than that, I treat my firearms with more care than any other material possession I have.

 

[JohnKSa]

Yup--I like him, but I won't go shooting with him.

 

[BobbyQuickdraw]

I have a friend who yells at everyone who he thinks has bad etiquette. I agree that it is important to teach everyone the rules, but when a new handler is touching a gun for the first time (that has been verified unloaded by me and handled by no one but me and then passed to the new handler) and they do something wrong he doesn't correct them, he yells.

He doesn't think he's yelling, but his voice gets louder and his tone is condescending. Want to see a new shooter lose interest immediately? Yell at them. It took me being at the top of my game to keep this new shooter willing to handle the gun. I really prefer him not to be around while I am teaching new shooters, but sometimes I can't help it.

In the future I will try to make sure I get more alone time with the shooters for understanding teaching, not yelling teaching.

-And this is the same guy who had an AD at the range the other day through his own misunderstanding. Had a gun with the slide locked back, mag in, round sitting near the chamber ready to be pushed forward. And he pulled the trigger. Blammo. Gun went off. He wasnt expecting it. Violated one of the rules he'd scream at others for.

 

[Grizzly Adams]

Hey Dan, I thought that was how all us AL boys wuz taught to handle our guns. Heck, I just take mine out of the closet corner and spit a stream of chaw done the barrel and if comes out the udder end den she's ready to shoot!

 

[BridgeWalker]

Violated one of the rules he'd scream at others for.

I hope you yelled at him...

 

[BobbyQuickdraw]

I hope you yelled at him...

---

I was actually two booths over and didn't hear it/see it happen, but he fessed up a day or two later about it.

 

[jlbraun]

What I do care about is having reliable weapons and the skills to use them if I need to. And sometimes it takes some rough handling to figure out if a weapon is truly reliable or to build the skills one needs to properly use it.

+1. Take 'em out, shoot 'em, throw them on the ground, get dirt in the mags and in the slide, shoot 'em some more.

I just hate when I see someone hold a gun and dry fire it or continuously rack the slide over and over and over, or lock the slide back and release it over and over. Just something that bothers me. Anyone else feel the same?

Doesn't bother me, even if it's my gun. But then again, I don't have guns for their collector's value. Maybe if I did I'd feel differently.

I don't shoot guns that require delicate handling.

I don't let them get rusty though.

 

[akolleth]

Not a friend, but a relative, my wifes uncle to be exact

Sitting around talking at the fourth of July party at his house this year he almost made me cry. We were talking about me getting a M1 Garand this year and how much I love it. Then he tells me he has a Garand as well. Its a HRA, all matching that was purchased in the 70's at some point. He also tells me he has a Krag he got at the same time. I am seriously drooling at this point.

Problem is, he has stored them in this basement sorta shed thing under his house, this whole time. He just rather off handedly remarks about how rusty they have become and how he is almost certain they could not be shot anymore. :banghead::banghead:

A Krag and a Garand.....ruined.

Worst part was this guy used to work for a company tied with Colt making parts for them, so he should have known better!

 

[doc2rn]

Yeah he is called my brother. I am my brother's keeper, so I continually quote him the rules. Usually he listens, even though he is older and an architectural engineer. He may be book smart but sometimes he needs common sense.

 

[possum]

yeah almost everyone that i serve with in the army has bead gun handling qualities. but i make an effort to correct them as i am an nco but more than that i am a responsible safe gun owner and i know the right and wrong ways of handling and using firearms so i educate as many as i can. i am getting a foot hold here and there.