Having been born in the south and raised on a farm and taught to shoot by my father I was pretty knowledgeable on firearms and such.... until about 15 years ago and I wanted to see if I could get a concealed weapons permit here in S.C. which requires the basic 8 hour NRA handgun class....

Now I recognize that there is always more to learn... 150+ hours of training and an untold amount of investing and I still am not an expert at any aspect of firearms....

I still remember the day a gun store clerk told me SIG had a lifetime warranty on their guns AND magazines.

My 19 year old son works part time at a farm and ranch store that sells guns. He knows a fair amount about firearms because of my influence and his own interest. The store requires no training to sell firearms other than basic safety. Everyday that he's at work people ask him about guns and which one should they buy for self defense and of course, most of them are completely ignorant about firearms of any kind. My son could tell an old lady that a snub nose .44 magnum was what she needed and she'd believe it. Its unbelievable that with all the information that we have available at our fingertips and people will trust some random person to advise them on what they should use to defend their life with.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
I would bet a large percentage of their customers would think he was a genius and really knew his stuff.

Very true. A lot of folks think they're some IQ test given to work at a gun shop or even have an FFL. Folks often think they're an expert because they have an FFL, serve as a moderator on a gun forum, or work at the local gun range.

I just shake my head and laugh....

- About 10 years ago, I was looking at Sigs at store with a large inventory. Asked to see a new German-made 226. I asked if the frame was steel or aluminum. Guy tells me all Sigs have steel frames. I asked if they'd be interested in three 226's that were aluminum framed prototypes.

- About two years ago, I was in another LGS looking at a 92 Centurion they had mixed in with the new Beretta stuff. I commented that it hadn't been fired much. The guy behind the counter replied "No shit...it's brand new". I leaned in, and slowly moved the tip of my index finger to the "96" stamp under the front sight stamped by Trijicon. Could've pointed to the "92FS Centurion" rollmark as well...but the stamp indicating the lamps were installed in 1996 was more fun.

Always good for a chuckle.

quote:

Originally posted by sigspecops:
My 19 year old son works part time at a farm and ranch store that sells guns. He knows a fair amount about firearms because of my influence and his own interest. The store requires no training to sell firearms other than basic safety. Everyday that he's at work people ask him about guns and which one should they buy for self defense and of course, most of them are completely ignorant about firearms of any kind. My son could tell an old lady that a snub nose .44 magnum was what she needed and she'd believe it. Its unbelievable that with all the information that we have available at our fingertips and people will trust some random person to advise them on what they should use to defend their life with.

very true,


conversely, I was showing a few pistols to a couple one day,
the male, (no idea if they were friends, dating or married) was all jittery, acting like he was supposed to know it all and trying to impress, (her,, not me)

the woman asked to look at a pistol, and when I handed it to her, I could tell by her moves and stance she was familiar (IIRC it was either a 1911 or 41 smith),
she looked at me and I commented , 'Bullseye?" and she nodded,

no sure if the dude caught that or not, or would have known what it meant,

and yes, she was nice looking,


had a kid working for me, he is a bit of a tacticoolie, but a good shooter,

he was talking to a couple about a gun problem they were having and instead of listening and even observing, he was too busy trying to lay down his knowledge ,

he got schooled quickly, when he insisted limp wristing was the issue, after the couple both said limp wristing was not an issue, and both were local competitors,

the woman ripped him a new one, which of course meant I had to have a convo with him, and best of all everyone else ragged him on it for months,,

Bought a used rifle a few days back at the local CAbelas. Besides the usual nonsense, and wait, I finally got to the register. The checkout 'clerk' was like the FOURTH friggin' employee to handle the gun.

Dunce-cap rests the rifle on its butt, and leans it against the counter on his side. It promptly crashed to the floor. I said, "Heah, thanks for the extra marks on the rifle.", and he didn't so much as even apologize. Just like it was routine, no bid-deal, let's continue on.....

Got to the car, and unscrewed the trigger lock nonsense, and began to check things out. Found a nice ding on the front sight 'ear', and grumbled something NSFW. I thought about taking it back in to show Doofus, but held back. I didn't want to be in any way an 'upset' individual walking into the store with an uncased gun, LOL.

I bought a Sig pistol from someone here on Sig Form some time ago, had it sent to an FFL for the transfer. I happened to walk into the shop the same time they'd just opened the box, and found them spinning it on their fingers and tossing it back and forth. It got dropped. They stole the CD that was in with the pistol.

I didn't use them again.

The owner went to prison shortly after that, on multiple weapons-related convictions. Because I didn't go back, I didn't find out about his fate until years later.

Thankfully for me none of the LGS'S I regularly frequent are largely devoid of these Shanigans.

I find most gun shops are just as bad as car dealers. Everyone acts the expert when selling, but any knowledgeable questions gets the blank stare.

Note that I said most, and not all. I have been to some really reputable versions of both, but in my experience, they have been the minority.