Bad Info From the Gun Shop Guy?

Nothing new. I remember way back, 30 years or more, asking the gun counter geek in a large hardware store that also had a great outdoors department if they had 6MM Remington ammunition. I was told "We don't carry any foreign, military ammo". :eek
I more recently overheard a gun counter "genius", middle aged this time, telling a customer he needed a 45 for concealed carry because unlike a 9MM the 45 would "Knock a man down even if you only hit him in the finger". :eek::eek:
"We have meet the enemy and he is us"
 
I more recently overheard a gun counter "genius", middle aged this time, telling a customer he needed a 45 for concealed carry because unlike a 9MM the 45 would "Knock a man down even if you only hit him in the finger"
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Stupidity isn't limited by profession
 
I walked in to the local gun shop and told the guy that I knew very little about guns, but was thinking of purchasing a handgun for target. I was thinking about a .38, because that and a 22lr were what I had experience shooting. I am a fairly petite female. My license says I'm 5'1" and I'm sure I could reach that tall if I stretched. :-) Anyway, the guy pulls out a S&W .500, which he "highly recommended" as a target gun. What?! I don't know if he was truly an idiot or just acting like one, but I left and haven't been back since.
 
Hey come on guys! Idiot children need jobs too!

Heard someone who was old enough to know better touting the benefits of a 357. He said it was powerful enough to knock down the wall. Really??? :D
 
I don't ask gun store clerks their advice as to which gun I should buy anymore than I would ask a car salesman their advice as to which car I should buy (not that there aren't some knowledgeable and helpful people in either profession). I do my own research prior to entering the showroom arena and my questions pretty much are limited to price and availability. At the minimum, it's on the buyer to know what he wants/needs and to limit the consideration of choices within a given parameter (i.e., it's not duck guns vs quail guns or convertibles vs station wagons).
 
45 would "Knock a man down even if you only hit him in the finger"
Heck once I just showed my 45 to someone and he fell over. Boys you don't know how powerful the 45 is. But seriously I agree I would not let someone push me into something. My thing is if you get pushy I can go somewhere else. Not gun related but went to Best Buy once and had 5 people withing 3 minutes walk up and ask if I needed anything. I told the 5th one if one more person asks I will walk away and not buy anything from them. No one else ever approached me.
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At the minimum, it's on the buyer to know what he wants/needs and to limit the consideration of choices within a given parameter
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Many go to a gun shop to learn those answers
Not everyone hangs out on gun forums, and not everyone hangs out with other shooters
 
I was once encouraged to purchase a 9mm pistol because 9mm is the "most accurate round". The store is no longer in business.
 
I don't ask gun store clerks their advice as to which gun I should buy anymore than I would ask a car salesman their advice as to which car I should buy (not that there aren't some knowledgeable and helpful people in either profession). I do my own research prior to entering the showroom arena and my questions pretty much are limited to price and availability.
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Same.

But a lot of the chuckleheads are still eager to offer you their advice unsolicited. On the rare occasions that I consider spending money at my LGS, there are a couple of clerks that I look for. I don't seek their advice, but they (1) know enough about guns and (2) have enough in the way of basic social graces and general intelligence not to behave like the rest of the lot.

Betcha' a lot of gun store owners are nagged into hiring an otherwise unemployable nephew.
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Definitely. I think the main LGS in Austin employs the owner's entire nuclear and extended family. I'm not sure more than two of them could get jobs anywhere else.
 
I managed a gun counter for several years, typically with 10-16 people on staff at any given time. The staff was comprised mostly of just-out-of-high-school kids and old guys whose wives made them get a retirement job because they got too annoying around the house. I didn't find the young kids to be any more dumb/arrogant in their stupidity than the old guys generally. They do have more of a problem of hearing something one time from someone they like and taking it as gospel, which is really irritating. But on the flip side, I had a lot of the old guys who would go on and on about their marine/ army/ navy service to give them false credibility, only to go off on an ill-informed spiel about how terrible "plastic guns" are and how anything less than a .45 "will just -CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED- 'em off". They will talk about how cheep and useless ARs are compared to their A1, etc. The young guys can at least be taught- even if they're stubborn they tend to take in more information. A lot of the grandpa generation will not even consider any new information- they believe what they believe, whether or not it is based on fact. We also had a bit of an issue with 2 different older staff members who never thought twice about telling people to do something illegal. It really is not okay to tell someone how to turn their 10/22 full auto or the best place to spotlight deer without a game warden catching you.

I hired one guy, probably in his mid 60s. We'll call him "Jim", because that was his name. He'd been working at a gun range for years, he claimed to be a Glock armorer (though I once watched him struggle for several minutes to field strip one as he tried to push the nubby thing down on only one side. Also saw someone ask for a Glock 17 from the wall and watched him take down and read the slide on 3-4 different glocks before grabbing the 17. Our wall was organized by caliber, then brand, then full, compact, sub...), and he had a military background. He is the only person I ever fired, because he gave so much ridiculous misinformation to customers that many people ended up with guns that suited them horribly, based on some ugly old man's supposed personal experience.

While a lot of the kids on the counter had stupid opinions about some guns and accessories, I found that they nearly always had their facts right, or actually took the time to look them up if they didn't know an answer rather than pull something out of their butt to maintain the illusion.

I think the moral of the story is that people are dumb and impressionable as a species and it has little to do with age, and a lot more to do with how seriously the person takes their job and how willing they are to learn.
 
Whoa! Hold on! Glocks have a "safe action". Can't be any safer than that!;)

If those othergunswereok, they would be called safeby there makers. . .huh??:confused:

Did you ask him if his Glock leg heeled up well?:eek:

On the other hand, I'm an XD man myself. Like the grip safety, price, accuracy and lack of Glock over marketing.:rolleyes:
 
It's like the gents, young and old at the range who say that their accurate guns are in the shop getting custom work. I guess they are explaining their extremely poor shooting with their very pricey equipment. It happens on the rifle range much more often than on the pistol range.
 
Barry Lee -

I don't know about working gun retail, but I used to work photo retail. One shop I was at would receive kickbacks from the photo companies ( cameras, film, etc ) to push their products - knocking down the competitor's product was the salesperson's choice. Is it possible that this goes on the world of selling guns?
 
250 savage

I had a 99 Savage in 250/3000 cal. Every one in my neck of deer woods called
them 250 Savage. I live in Ohio and was headed for eastern WVa. I stopped
in Maryland at a big box store to pick up extra box, in case. I ask the pimply
faced kid for 250 Savage. He tries to sell me 22/250s. Tells me my rifle must
be mismarked. Manager happened to be in ear shot,said they didn't carry them
and gave me directions to shop that had them. As I left I heard clerk getting
reamed on his gun knowledge.
 
I'm retired but wouldn't mind working at an LGS.
If the owner had an oversupply of a certain brand of firearm & wanted to move them, I think I'd "gently nudge" an undecided customer toward said firearm. But if the customer knew what he/she wanted, I'd do my best to make the sale & answer any questions I have the knowledge to answer....without the BS. I'm not scared to say "I don't know, let me find the manager to help us" instead of trying to BS my way thru it.
I refuse to subject a customer to something I wouldn't want to be subjected to.
 
I don't know about working gun retail, but I used to work photo retail. One shop I was at would receive kickbacks from the photo companies ( cameras, film, etc ) to push their products - knocking down the competitor's product was the salesperson's choice. Is it possible that this goes on the world of selling guns?
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It doesn't. I work in a gun shop now and there are no spiffs. I worked in a camera shop for almost eleven years and loved spiffs (I made $3, 000-$4, 000 a year extra in spiffs). They didn't quite work the way the companies wanted them to work with me though as I never pushed anyone to buy a product just so I could make a few extra bucks. That went on with other sales people, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.
 
I've heard all sorts of bad "numbers" from the gun shop commandos, both from in front AND behind the counter!

But the one that takes the cake was a remark I heard recently from the owner of a local shooting range. It's a class 3 range, with numerous submachine guns for rental, but he can't put out his 1928 Thompson SMG because it weighs 35 pounds and hurts his back. :rolleyes:

He said this with a straight face, but I had to turn and smirk when I heard him say it.
 
Maybe he was counting the drum magazine, too.
And all the long stick ones on his belt, when he uses it.
And his WW2 GI pack he wears for authenticity, when he shoots it.
It's not just the gun, but the entire ensemble.
:)
 
If the owner had an oversupply of a certain brand of firearm & wanted to move them, I think I'd "gently nudge" an undecided customer toward said firearm
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Just my 2 cents worth, the above quote is what should NOT take place.
My take on this is, you go in for tires and get nudged to over stock. Absolute BS,BS. My take is show them what they ask for and offer your advice when asked for it. Other wise keep your personal preference to yourself and let them decide what they want. Your thought may be good for the store owner, BUT bad for the customer. '
Again just my opinion and looking at how I want to be treated whenever I am shopping at any given store.
 
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