I went to a gunshow once.

the dealer had a Taurus .22 pocket pistol on display with a bunch of other guns. my little brother ( about 15 at the time ), picked up the pistol and was sighting it at the ceiling, I had a thought and asked him for it.  I pulled the mag out and it was fully loaded, as was the chamber. I was a bit mad. the dealer... oh sorry, that's my carry piece.  fun and games till someone dry fires something and manages to kill someone. doubt that will be cheap.

Once saw a guy behind the counter logging in a transfer drop the mag and rack the slide only to have a live round fly out of the chamber.  The guy yelled out  holy shit then called the manager over that told him pack it up and send it back where it came from and tell them we don't do transfers from them any more.

one of my old lgs sold every big game round known to man, they also sold nitro express "loosies".

You go sell um deagles now dances with pistols.

I was in a Dunhams a few years ago and some guy with his girlfriend was asking the clerk about the WASR on the shelf, saying that he was military and those were just like the ones overseas only smaller. About 15 to 20% smaller. The clerk apparently agreed.  I chimed in and said the only real difference is full auto/semi function, but he was sure they were smaller.  Whatever man, I'm not gonna stand here and argue,  just said he was wrong and walked away.

I liked that story.

I bet he tried to make Glocks talk.      

Seen all kinds of crap including guys trying to buy loosies. You need to learn ammo gun slang like Deuce Deuce (22) Tre-Deuce (32 acp) Tre-Eighties (380) Duece fives (25) and Four Fifths (45 acp) also easier Fo-Fives and Fo-Tays. For guns you have the Choppa as well as the ever popular Deagle with or without the Beamz.

People wreaking of weed is common, or so drunk they pass out at the counter.

Guy who wanted laser mounted to 308 bolt action rifle for "Home Defense".

Then there are the "Experts" they bring.

I learned that 12 gauge slugs are best for home defense, you see the soft lead flattens and knocks you over it's too soft to penetrate. And buck shot just tears up the furniture.

Several times I was told to load the a blank first round to scare people off.

Lots of Joe Bidens who wanted to shoot into the air or the ceiling to scare people off, even one who lived on the ground floor of an apartment building.

Guy who wanted to fire a round into the air every night before heading to his garage. Just in case there was a burglar in the yard, told me repeatedly "I keep my Ginger Ale in the garage, don't want people stealing it.

Not to mention all the people who have no clue what caliber their gun is chambered in. NOT new shooters, long time gun owners and even retired cops.
Actual exchange with retired cops - You have ammo for the Glock? What Caliber I ask? What ever Glocks come in.

Do you have 17mm ammo?

Guy wanted a 7mm Rem Mag for quail hunting, bought 308 Win rifle for rabbit instead.

Guy who NEEDED 416 Rigby for hunting hogs.

Goes on and on. I lost faith in gun owners.

I don't even work at a gun shop I hear stupid shit.
It is usually a few people at a gun show with a table of sporterized bubba'd crap

" 22lr and 223 are basically the same thing"- store
"Ooh how bout the pink one?"- different store
"There is an assault weapon ban right now"- circa 2014 gun show
"The 556 round is designed to wound only"- same gun show different person
"The 10/22 is an adequate combat platform"- gun show ( I hope this was sarcasm, as I have seen it used as such before)

So I work at an LGS and we too get our fair share of noteworthy individuals.  This is probably one of my all time favorite stories.  

My boss and I were standing around one day when a woman (whose top priorities didn't include personal hygiene) came in.  Here's how that conversation went...

Her: "Do you carry extendos?"
Me: "For which gun?"
Her: "Ruger P95."
Me: "Unfortunately not.  Is there anything else you're looking for?"
Her: "Yeah, what about for an SKS?"
Me [At the time we had the Tapco SKS mags]: "We do.  What capacity are you looking for?"
Her: "Ummm.... 500 rounds."
Me: "....What?"

My boss and I just stood there in silence as we were processing what she said.  We also get a guy who reminds me of Creed off The Office.  The people who walk in, ask 50 thousand questions about a gun while using the words "I" and "me" then at the last minute say their spouse is doing paperwork really get me going though.  In what world has that actually worked?

Lol

Anything worth doing is worth over-doing.

Had a guy check on the 4473 that he had a DV conviction in the past. I asked him if he had been pardoned or something, he said "It was 15 years ago, it doesn't count anymore". Needless to say, we didn't even process his BGC.

We have a regular customer, who looks like a shorter version of Clay Matthews, and a bit younger. Very enthuastic about guns, will talk your ear off about them. It took him a few visits to finally buy his first gun. He's the kind of guy who will research things to death before make a decision. Didn't try to spout any BS and asked serious questions about the guns. Kinda like a future arfcommer.

Another regular customer, as in almost every day. Doesn't always buy something, but he looks over EVERY pistol case watching for something new. Not unusual for him to trade in something he had bought before, often unfired.

Then there's the guys who can't read or write English, so witness' are needed for the transaction who speak the same language and english. . They often go away empty handed, usually Hmong. They often say they will come back later with some people to be witness', but I don't know if they follow through.

My co worker asked a guy if the address on his license was still current. Guy said yes and produced the paper work for his arrest two days before. Arrest was for felony discharge of a weapon and something else. Guy claimed he wasn't shooting at the other guy, he just fired the gun into the lawn to see if it worked.

This was in a suburban neighborhood not out in the country.

Not quite a firearms story but last gun show I was at, was talking to a guy selling armor.  Dude with dreads wearing sweatpants and a hoodie rolls up in a HURRY wanting to buy, balks at the price.  Asks if he had any used armor for cheaper.  Look of confusion crosses the seller's face with a "bro.... " and a head shake.  I probably looked kinda dumbfounded myself.  Dreads starts to get mad, says he knows all about the ex army guys who use or trade in their old issue armor.  Seller: "well first of all I know you're right but that's still stealing and illegal, second, that's like asking for used underwear.  You just don't do that man."  Dreads is madder than hell at this point, yells about not being able to afford it and runs off as fast as he came.  On the bright side I think the whole thing threw the seller off and I got a better deal :)

I was working a gun show in Winchester VA. Bout an hour outside of DC but totally in the boonies. Well three ghetto thugs come into the show and start looking around. They stuck out like sore thumbs. Braided, red/blue beaded corn rows. One had a huge massive afro. It was ridiculous.  

Anyways one comes up to my table and starts looking at some handgun. Says he likes it. Says he wants to buy it. I ask what state he lived in. He said DC. I asked him what the he'll he was doing here since he can't buy literally anything here? He leans in and asks "how much to sell it in the parking lot?". "What?" "How much to sell it in the parking lot?" "Yah it ain't for sale buddy. Get the fuck out of here."

So they leave. I walk up to the state police and tell them what had just happend and they responded "We know."

"Just racking the slide will scare the robbers."

Guy walked over to the counter I was working talking about how he is going to kill someone. Asks to buy a Mossberg 500. I shake my head no, he looks at me dumbfounded. I explain there was no way I was selling a gun to a guy that just said what he did. So his friend says HE wants to buy it. Nope, not happening. They ask for the manager, I call him over and explain that they were all talking about shooting someone. Manager asks them to kindly leave the store.

Did you get the message that you're annoying then, or are you still trying to figure it out?

Those poor BPS gun section workers get the fucking strangest people who just want to stay and talk guns.

double post

Went to the LGS today prowling for a deal.  The owner, an employee and another customer were having a deep discussion about how stupid so many people were about guns, had no real training, refused to get any training, wouldn't listen to any LGS advise and couldn't hit a 3 foot wide target at 5 yards.  These posts really reminded me of my morning.  The world has gone crazy.  

Was this at the Body Renew?...I might have seen that happen

I deal with retards all day. Mostly people who don't clean their shit right or find some other way to fuck up whatever it is they own because they have no idea how to use it.

My favorite was the discussion around what the 1:9 meant on AR barrels.  We know it means rate of twist...the two idiots I was speaking with heard it meant number of barrels in sequence from the reamer... Like each was the first of nine to be reamed before the die was changed.  Priceless.

I used to jockey a gun counter at a shop in central Ohio for a few years before I went in the military.  90% of the customers were really cool people and I learned so much from them and enjoyed their company in the store.  The other 10% were the biggest window licking booger eating inbred fuckwits I ever met.  Aside from some presidents, statesmen and astronauts, Ohio doesn't produce much in the way of brain power.  You want proof?  Go to any gun store and you'll see.  Here's a sample of the wastes of humanity I had to deal with.

1) "Gun Safety is for Everyone else" guy, muzzle sweep me and customers while running his suck saying that the Ruger P-95 was just like what he had in "tha armee".

2) "Hey dawg, I doan hafta do the papers." guy, GTFO and go buy a gun on the eastside of Columbus you saggy pants wearing asshole.

3) "You gots any musheen guns or silencers here" guy.  Um, seeing as we aren't a SOT dealer, no. Then to watch what gears he has in his mind turn and break down when you try to explain buying Class III stuff wasn't one stop shopping.  "Well when was that changed? He asks.  "1934."  I reply. Then he frowns and then gets distracted by some other shiny thing and goes away.

4) "Mr. Finger Fuck Every Pistol in the Case" guy, The sorry mofo bever buys, just fondles and they never leave the shop.  

5) "Gawd, I'd Love to buy this but my wife will kill me" guy, grow a pair or save your nickles.  I don't want to hear your wife keeps your balls in her purse.  Time wasting asshole.

6) "I've been shooting longer than you young man" Yeah that may be true but I've seen your targets on the range, Hellen Keller got tighter groups on her worst day.

7) "I was drug in by my husband and I think guns should be banned and I hate you all" lady.  They're a real ray of sunshine.  Looks at me down her nose and says to her husband every three minutes in a nagging tone, "Can we go now?"  I finally said to one lady, "Hey lady, theres a waiting area out by the dumpster out back."  

8) "I'm a boot fresh off of Paris Island and I know everything about guns." guy.  Thanks for your service but you don't need to snap in when you're checking out that Marlin Model 60 there Devil Dog.

9) "I wear a Rolex and a $1,000 suit but I still want you to knock $100 off on this Ruger Single Six" guy.  I fucking hate you, ya cheap fuck.  

10)  "The Creepy Militia guy who creeps around the shop for 15 minutes and then asks if I heard anymore about Clinton taking all our guns next week" guy.  Get home, your elderly mother with whom you still live with, needs her Depends undergarment changed you wanker.  

Everyone suggest I should work at a gun store when I retire in a few years, I'd rather hammer my own nuts flat first.

The sales guy at Cabela's pointed the Glock19 I was buying at me and my son. A coworker asked him who he was helping and he used the pistol as a pointer and said "those guys right there." Between him, the autistic busybody new guy (anothe story on its own) and their prices it'll be a LONG time before I shop there again.

What's a loosie?

A marine corp armorer proceeded to tell me in great detail how a .50bmg round passing within 6 inches(not into just passing by) of your arm would rip it completely off of your body.  He had seen it happen.  

 

I've got just over a year behind the counter at a fast paced gun store. As mentioned. stoners, drunks, goblins, ghettos, red necks, illiterates, senile, but they're all customers and so it goes. Have had four loaded guns handed to me, one guy needed seven 4473s to get get one right, dozen attempted straw purchases, seven or eight purchases denied,but the what really annoys me is the so called "expert" who always wants to be part of a sale. Just can't shut up. Folks ask me what its like working there - always answer PT Barnum and Bailey - three ring circus every day.

Single cigarettes technically illegal to sle like that but your local Haji Mart probably does.

I had a fucking E6 tell me the same thing during weapons training last month. I went full

Then you are definitely shopping at the wrong place. Every single guy behind the counter of my LGS is a retired police officer or military vet.

Having shopped and worked at gun stores with both, neither precludes being misinformed or providing misinformation.

Had a guy that wouldn't provide his address.  When asked about it he said "I live free man and with god, you don't need one."  

Sales guy: "well the ATF doesn't answer to God so I still need an address."

He eventually got banned from the store for being nucking futs and also cause of the BO that would clear out the storefront.   Gross motherfucker

Having worked with both of those groups; that alone does not inspire confidence. Most military folks are NOT shooters, and most officers are a toss up.

While on the subject of gun store workers and customers, If you two want to stand around and shoot the shit for 30 min How about moving the fuck out of the way so someone who wants buy a gun can see what's in the damn case! 

Why interject in their conversation?

Also, with the new 4473, it baffles me how many people don't understand that "N/A" means not applicable.

It's not that bad...  The Winchester area is rather different though.  Everything from trailer and ghetto trash to yokels from the holler to old money and Loudoun/Fairfax exiles, not to mention the boat load of Feds.  It's an interesting dynamic.  I am a fan of paying half as much for my house compared to NoVA.  I'd consider staying after my next overseas tour if they can get an ice rink.  Driving the kids to Ashburn for hockey is getting old...

I was at an LGS in Winchester a few years ago after I moved to the area - I saw a pistol suppressor of some sort and asked to check it out.  While looking at it, I asked the clerk about the process of filing the Form 4 (potentially my first Form 4) and if the shop sends it in or if I do.  I then tell him that I have a trust and he completely shuts the whole thing down.  He claims they won't deal with trusts because he doesn't want the responsibility of selling silencers and machine guns without a background check.  In hindsight, despite the anti-BHO stickers and shirts all over the store, he must have been an Obama and 41F supporter.

Needless to say I won't go there any more.  For anything.  I'm all about kitchen table FFLs and a certain shop down in Culpepper for my NFA purchases.

All sorts of sketchy stuff happens there...

Not to "profile" but the last time I was there we saw some distinctly Arab gents buying up all the AK mags from every table.  I wonder if they know about ITAR export restrictions?  LOL

I was BSing with the guy running a pawn shop gun counter. I saw a customer come in with a big case and said he wanted to sell. I move off for a while so they can talk business.

After opening the rifle case packed with 4 rifles in it, the employee discovers not one, not two, but all four rifles are loaded! If that wasn't stupid enough, two of them had the wrong ammunition in the magazine...

I think they ended up doing a deal. But the stupidity here made me wonder how many more idiots like this are around.

Back in my gun slangin' days, I sold a lot of Gold and Tiger stripped deagles to LaRome and his homeboys.  Good times.

What?

Elmer Keith would be proud.

Well try this. Go to the nearest major mall/shopping strip in your area. Put a lounge chair in the terrace next to the sidewalk and watch traffic. You'd be entertained about every 30 seconds.

Had a buddy tell me how he was in a gunshop one day when he observed a fussy Asian customer had asked the salesman behind the counter to show him a particular pistol in mind. There wasn't any on display in the counter, so the salesman returns from the backroom with a new-in-box pistol the guy requested on seeing. The salesman carefully opens the factory sealed box, removes the factory packing from the pistol, racks the slide back on the pistol, and hands the pistol over to the Asian guy to look at it. The Asian guy carefully looks the brand new pistol over and approves of it. He then says to the salesman, "I'll buy it. Would you please go get me a new one.This box is open."  

Whew.

Don't recognize myself in any of these stories...yet.

(but I'm sure I'm there)

I was in my LGS recently and as I was browsing I couldn't help but overhear a conversation between a slack jawed yokel of a fudd and the counter jockey. Basically the fudd bought an AR with a slick side upper, as in there was no dust cover, brass deflector or forward assist. The fudd just wanted a cheap gun as his first AR so he got that but now he wants the dust cover and such so they are discussing the process to machine his upper and weld on the forward assist and shell deflector

As I walked by I casually mentioned how fucking impossible that would be and he should just drop $50 on a proper upper and swap them out. What was the response? no shit, the fucker said, "I aint got $50"

Oh, ok. Then go to town with a welder and sawzall.

for fucks sake....

I've actually bought 2 guns from the guy in the video. (And many more from the shop)