Gun shop and range idiocy

[JohnKSa]

I went to a gun store while on vacation and inquired about rentals for their indoor range. The clerk said I had to have a second person with me in order to rent.

As mentioned, this policy is supposed to cut down on people renting guns to commit suicide. A friend of mine who used to run a range had this happen. A guy came in and wanted to rent a gun to shoot on the range. Tom worked with the guy to get him familiar with the gun, and once he was convinced the guy was not a danger to himself or others, he left him on the range. The guy shot for awhile and then put one through his own head after he'd had enough fun shooting.

Tom had to clean up the mess, he lost a regular customer (another guy who was on the range when it happened and never came back after the incident) and got to field irate calls from the suicide's family who tried to blame him for renting a gun to the guy.

The policy can be a hassle, but I just can't blame the ranges that feel like they have to take this step.

Most ranges with this type of policy will let you rent as long as you bring a friend OR a gun of your own.

 

[Old Stumpy]

To this I just say I am a Fudd in the sense of the first half of your definition. After time in the service, I personally do not care to own AK or AR platforms. I think perhaps the 2 exceptions to the rule would be an AR-10 reproduction or an M1A1. That being said though, my preference in weapons is not a definition I seek to attach to my 2A views. Because I prefer Walnut and Steel doesn't mean you should only own Winchesters, Mossies, or Mausers. I believe you should own what you feel comfortable with and like. You want an AR with a 100 round dual snail mag, go right ahead. I'm not saying Fudds don't meet this definition as a whole, I know quite a few. I just happen to like old guns but have no issue with anyone owning what they like. Live and let live and pass the ammo, you know?

I prefer old style guns with blued steel and walnut myself. I prefer lever actions and a single actions and replicas of 19th century guns.
That said, I realize that my tastes may not be mainstream and that the younger crowd prefers semi-auto everything.
That's fine. I owned an AR15 and liked it a lot. I like 1911s as well, though some consider these Fuddish today.
But, I'm with you. Own what you like and shoot what you like. Live and let live.

 

[Bfh_auto]

Neither of these happened at the range, but I had one coworker tell me my 35 Whelen is garbage because I'm shooting a 158 at 3220. While his 35 Rem shoots 200 gr bullets at 3400 fps. I tried to politely educate him, but quickly realized it was a lost cause.
Another coworker won't shoot close deer with his 180 gr bullets in his 3006 because they don't have time to open up until they're at least 75 yards away.

 

[entropy]

or an M1A1

Thompson, Carbine, or Abrams?

 

[entropy]

Must be where you live. I have never encountered an owner of a gun shop who made stuff up or didn't know his stuff.

I worked for a shop owner who knew little about and wanted nothing to do with milsurps or AR's. I did my best to change that, and succeeded somewhat, he now grudgingly has AR parts and one or two .22 AR type guns in the rack, and a few milsurps and used AR's.

 

[redneck2]

Since no one got hurt, it is a funny story but a deer running with a gun in his antlers could have been bad news for someone

That would be the first time I’ve heard of a deer shooting a hunter

 

[Waveski]

My club range , 2 weeks ago. I was on the pistol range ; 30 yards to my right is the rifle range where police training was in progress. 1 instructor , 1 trainee. The instructor , holding a tactical-looking something , demonstrated shooting positions : standing , kneeling , prone. The weapon was then handed to the trainee (who was in full uniform and gear , so not right off the turnip truck) , who was then told to assume those 3 positions in sequence. The trainee took the standing shooting stance , then dropped to one knee in an orderly fashion , then found it awkward to transition from kneeling to prone. As said trainee struggled to get prone (body armor and all) , she moved the rifle out of her way , sweeping it to her left , giving me a good look right down the bore.

I am hoping/assuming - as a matter of procedure - that the weapon was not loaded.

The instructor did not notice. I sure did.

 

[jstert]

a tale of dumbness prevented: as kids in early 1960s we played lots of outdoors war games with toy guns and army surplus gear. my mom had lost her older brother to the germans in april 1945 and wasn’t too keen on our fun, but was happy to have us outside burning up energy and out of her hair. my dad was quiet, he landed on omaha beach the morning of 6/6/44, never had much to say about it. one day at dinner, after a second cocktail i guess, he kinda blew up, saying that war isn’t a game and playing with guns isn’t real. he wanted us to learn the truth, and so announced that my brother and i would join a class for kids at the local university nra club (imagine that today). there on cold nights in the basement shooting range of the rotc building a bunch of preteen kids learned how to respectfully and safely, handle and shoot 22lr bolt action rifles. the instructors were all ww2 or korean war veterans, and were thorough and friendly. i took those wonderful lessons into the army and beyond, best firearm safety instruction ever.

 

[Benp]

Regarding public ranges I've lived by one rule that my dad taught me when I was young.

Get there before everyone else does. If that means inconveniencing your Saturday morning by getting up early to go shooting then so be it. By the time you are done and walking out, the masses are starting to pour in.

If you get there late and it's busy. Don't even bother, just turn around. It's not worth it.

That rule still stands to this day. When I go visit my folks, my dad and I always go to a really nice indoor range. We are always first ones there and by the time we are paid/ready, the air handling system is spooled up and ready to go.

I am fortunate now that I can shoot at home. If I want to stretch things out I go with the neighbor to his gravel pit.

I do not like shooting around/with people I do not know.

 

[Thibaut]

Guy brings his wife to the range. She is clearly terrified. He is loud and demanding of personnel and of her. I tell her it will be fine and wish her good luck. I leave to come back another day. I wanted to tell her to not go through with it if she didn't want to but minding my own business is something I try to do in 2019. Maybe I should have told her. I try to go to my local indoor range when it is least busy. I never go on week ends. RO's are usually very young and seem preoccupied to me. There have been some incidents in my area range(s) and I dunno, I am not super comfortable ever. I prefer to have nobody on either side of me. That's my best time. My experience with gun stores and ranges is one of negligible assistance. You kind of have to know before you go. Outdoor ranges can be downright scary. I really envy families who have the space to create their own range and teach their kids basic firearm safety privately without the disconcerting, additional stress of a public gun venue.

 

[Thibaut]

a tale of dumbness prevented: as kids in early 1960s we played lots of outdoors war games with toy guns and army surplus gear. my mom had lost her older brother to the germans in april 1945 and wasn’t too keen on our fun, but was happy to have us outside burning up energy and out of her hair. my dad was quiet, he landed on omaha beach the morning of 6/6/44, never had much to say about it. one day at dinner, after a second cocktail i guess, he kinda blew up, saying that war isn’t a game and playing with guns isn’t real. he wanted us to learn the truth, and so announced that my brother and i would join a class for kids at the local university nra club (imagine that today). there on cold nights in the basement shooting range of the rotc building a bunch of preteen kids learned how to respectfully and safely, handle and shoot 22lr bolt action rifles. the instructors were all ww2 or korean war veterans, and were thorough and friendly. i took those wonderful lessons into the army and beyond, best firearm safety instruction ever.

Great story. You were lucky. He deserved that second cocktail. Cheers to your dad.

 

[bearcreek]

Must be where you live. I have never encountered an owner of a gun shop who made stuff up or didn't know his stuff. I have encountered staff at shops who knew very little about firearms and some who were just downright rude.

Not just where he lives, it's definitely a thing here too. I've found that it's generally safe to assume that anyone working at a gun store, whether owner or employee, isn't worth getting any kind of advice from. On rare occasions there are exceptions, but that's certainly not the norm here.

 

[Billyboy92365]

Thompson, Carbine, or Abrams?

My bad, I was talking about the modernized M14 M1A from Springfield Armory. For some reason I thought it was named the M1A1.

 

[herrwalther]

Here is another jewel I remember. Involving someone who believes that just because they work in a gun store, makes them experts.

There is a shady gun store near where I lived. Only gun store I know with a metal detector at the entrance, unarmed employees, and scans your ID whenever you buy something. Anyway, one time I went in there was a guy working at the knife counter. He was asked a question by a customer about a gun, and he replied "I don't know anything about guns, I just work the knife counter."

A month later he was working the gun counter. He had an outlandish claim that Glock submerges all their firearms underwater for a year before they can be sold to "test their finish." I asked him if the finish also kept off the algae and barnacles. I was politely asked to leave.

 

[bearcreek]

My bad, I was talking about the modernized M14 M1A from Springfield Armory. For some reason I thought it was named the M1A1.

M1A1 Abrams would be nice to have too though.

 

[bearcreek]

A month later he was working the gun counter. He had an outlandish claim that Glock submerges all their firearms underwater for a year before they can be sold to "test their finish." I asked him if the finish also kept off the algae and barnacles. I was politely asked to leave.

Classic. Just a couple days ago, my brother had the dude behind the counter at the gun store tell him that "you should only carry subsonic ammo in your carry pistol because it won't shoot all the way through the bad guy".

 

[Old Stumpy]

Not just where he lives, it's definitely a thing here too. I've found that it's generally safe to assume that anyone working at a gun store, whether owner or employee, isn't worth getting any kind of advice from. On rare occasions there are exceptions, but that's certainly not the norm here.

Gun Shop owners must all have lower I.Q.'s where you guys live. I have found that while owners may not know everything about everything, they are all pretty savvy individuals. Their staff? Well...you get what you pay for.
In general they are often as dumb as many of their customers.

 

[Billyboy92365]

M1A1 Abrams would be nice to have too though.

Nah, insurance would be through the roof and rubber treads would cost a fortune to replace.

 

[Old Stumpy]

Regarding public ranges I've lived by one rule that my dad taught me when I was young.

Get there before everyone else does. If that means inconveniencing your Saturday morning by getting up early to go shooting then so be it. By the time you are done and walking out, the masses are starting to pour in.

If you get there late and it's busy. Don't even bother, just turn around. It's not worth it.

I agree on this one. Weekends are a zoo. Not because of stupidity so much, but because of grid lock. It certainly wasn't always like this but with ranges closing down and populations increasing, you will spend more time sitting and waiting until you can change your targets than actually shooting. That is, if you can actually get a shooting position.

I am fortunate in that I can entirely avoid weekends and "special events" when the range is being used as a cash cow. I can go whenever I like, so I usually go mid week.

If you work and can't go during the day on week days, it is often worthwhile to go in the evenings during fair weather. The sun doesn't set until 10 PM and by 6 PM the range that I go seems almost deserted.

 

[Old Stumpy]

Neither of these happened at the range, but I had one coworker tell me my 35 Whelen is garbage because I'm shooting a 158 at 3220. While his 35 Rem shoots 200 gr bullets at 3400 fps. I tried to politely educate him, but quickly realized it was a lost cause.
Another coworker won't shoot close deer with his 180 gr bullets in his 3006 because they don't have time to open up until they're at least 75 yards away.

Hilarious. Never let documented ballistic evidence confuse the issue.
The second guy probably believes that the bullet goes faster if you pull the trigger harder.

 

[Old Stumpy]

there on cold nights in the basement shooting range of the rotc building a bunch of preteen kids learned how to respectfully and safely, handle and shoot 22lr bolt action rifles.

I learned to shoot in the basement range of the local High School. This high school and one or two others in the city had basement ranges and shooting was an elective part of Physical Education. The school club along with many private clubs shared this 20 yard .22 range from the 1950s until about 20 years ago when politics closed it down. .22 ranges were pretty common in high schools around here back then.
Every Sunday morning I practiced bullseye shooting with a Browning Medallist target pistol from age 18 until I joined an outdoor range and started shooting all sorts of centerfire guns as well.
My older brother used to take his .22 rifle to school in a zipper case around 1960 to store in his locker to use this range.
Times change.

 

[Outlaw75]

M1A1 Abrams would be nice to have too though.

Even an M-1A1 with a folding stock wouldn't be something to sneeze at!

 

[milemaker13]

Two from the times of going to the range as a kid with my dad. One was the two guys in business suits with a .22 rifle- I remember it had a green laminate wood stock (the kind that has several colors- kinda neat lookin). The gun wouldnt fire sho these two captains of industry decided to look down the barrel. They finally discovered the safety was on.
Another time my dad's friend came along. He was about to shoot my S&W 622, a .22 semi auto pistol. He had the gun right up to his eye to line up his shot. I stopped him, explaining the slide would go right thru his eye. He did not seem to appreciate being corrected by a 10 year old. Lol. So sorry!

 

[DeepSouth]

Dumbest thing I’ve ever seen was a guy About to shoot a pistol my brother owned. It was a scoped revolver, my memory is bad but it was either a 454 Casull or a 41 magnum... The guy who we had known for years, as we both went to school with him, raised the pistol and put his eye about an inch maybe an inch and a half from the scope.

At this point my brother hollers at him “That’s not how you do it” and he got the instant response, with added attitude... “I think I know how how to shoot a pistol!”
to which my brother responded “ok then big boy, have at it.”

y'all know how the story ends, a little blood and a lot of hurt pride. I’ve always wondered what he was looking at in the scope when he pulled the trigger.

 

[bikerdoc]

None of these stories surprise me.
The world is full of idiots and mental midgets.
I dont tolerate them. I'm too old to put up with their stupidity. Usually I ignore them, but once in a while my inner sergeant wins an I verbally scorch their butt.