What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

Went to check out a local gun shop today and bought about 300 rounds of possibly corrosive surplus russian 7.62x39 ammo. They had it at 5.50 a box which is still pretty good so I picked up 300 rounds. The silver bear was 7.50, so I figured I'd save some money on practice ammo. On the way home I was asking myself why I didn't buy it all to fill up my remaining ammo cans (yeah I'm gettin my butt back there monday).:565:

Anyway when I paid for my stuff the guy, although friendly gave me the usual "I guess you're gonna be doing alot of shooting there huh?".

Not that I mind that much but always seems like whenever I buy a decent amount of ammo from any place they always make some kind of comment like you're odd to buy that much. I mean the price is only going one direction right? You LIKE to sell that inventory right?

The other thing I find odd is that often you will walk in and they'll just be shooting the breeze with their buddies and pretty much ignore you. They must lose a lot of business that way.

Walmart is probably the only place where they are quick to ask you what you need although I do get the "are you preparing for a war" comments if I buy more than a couple boxes of .308.

I guess what I'm saying is that gun shop owners are probably the only breed of businessmen I know who act like they don't want to sell any product.

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

those buddies are probably cops. its in their best interest business wise and otherwise to pay them special attention.

still kinda irritating though. It gives you more time to look around without getting bothered though.

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

here is one of my typical walmart ammo transactions

me...i see you have some 38spl how much do you have?

them...we have plenty how much do you want

me....i dont know how many cases do you have

them...well we have (x) boxes

me....how many boxes to a case

them.....its 50rnds to a box

me....no you dont understand how many boxes to a case..and how many cases do you have

them...oh..are you sure...they cost (x) a box ...

me......yes im sure i want all you have...

them....(silence)(pause)(start clicking the computer) it shows we have (x)

me.....(getting frustrated)(what i want to say is what part of i want it all do you not understand) what i actually say...yes i am sure i want it all

them...call manager to get a key to go to lockup in the back of the store to get extra boxes/cases

me....wandering around waiting...

them...back and ring it up...it will be $XXXX

me....pulls out cash..

them...looks like they have never seen cash before...get out markers to make sure bills are legit

them.....them loads cart ..whispers...

me....oops i see you have 223 in stock...how many cases do you have...sorry i didnt see that before because you were standing in frount of the case ( just messing with them now)

them....go to computer...check inventory...etc

me....thank you...my cart is to full now i will just come back tommorow to get those...

them...more whispering as i wheel away (i fully expect the swat team to meet me at the frount door)


I get just about the exact same thing when i call in checking inventory

this is a TRUE ...multi time repeated event...

Hmmmmm maybe its the combat fatigues....(jk)

alternative....

cabelas online....3 clicks and a credit card and 3-5 days later its at my door...(not near as much fun)

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

Thinking about doin' a little shooting there guy?:111:

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

Last time I bought some 12ga slugs at Wally World the guy asked several times what I was going to hunt.

He asked "coyotes"? I said no.

He asked again and I ignored him. He dropped it.

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

I prefer to use a half-hearted attempt at humor as a distraction, just to avoid raising more red flags than necessary:


Them: What are you going to hunt?
Me: Targets! I'm a really bad shot.

Me: I'd like 50 boxes of the 9mm ammo you have on sale.
Them: Each box has 50 bullets.
Me: Oh, only 50? You're right, I probably need 100 boxes. My wife is a terrible shot.

Them: I guess you're going to be doing a lot of shooting?
Me: No, I'm a terrible shot! But I heard bullets make good Christmas gifts these days.

Them: That's a lot of bullets you have there.
Me: Yeah, I guess I have too many friends who are cops.

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

"Those zombies won't kill themselves."

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

I would guess they are just trying to make conversation. The guys at Walmart, I mean. I figured out a long time ago that most people are not as good at conversation as I am, and I am rather lousy. They guys at the gun shops are the opposite. They have learned not to bother a customer until he indicates he is ready to do business.

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

I have found that generally gun store owners can be very arrogant by design...The other comparables to this are music/guitar stores, pawn shops and Harley Davidson parts counter guys...

I don't know why this is....Maybe because they talk down to people so often?

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

I go to gun shops that can't sell me enough ammo
they hope I shoot a lot never look at me funny.
you need to find another gun shop.

and Walmart never ring it up in the back
I always say I have more shopping to do
then I take it up front.

there is no policy that Walmart has that says you have to ring it in the back

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

Gun shop and coin shop owners seem to be cut from the same cloth. Most that I run into really act like they don't care if they make a sale or not and seem to enjoy acting like pricks.

If they have what I want, I would just as soon buy firearms at Gander Mt, or Dicks than go to the local gun store. At a big retailer, I expect the clerks not to give a damn whether they make a sale or not, they're getting paid by the hour.

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

I cant even imagine ringing it up in the frount.....each box of ammo locks up the register and starts beeping wanting a age verification......i can only imagine the varying looks/thoughts/etc of those around and behind me as i ring up 50 boxes of handgun ammo that each box stops the register.

i just wouldnt do that to my fellow man

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

Once I paid for my ammo in the back but I bought some groceries up front too.

So I showed the door person the receipt for the groceries on the way out and they wanted to know what was in the other bag.

So I showed her the ammo, she was like ooooh all scared.

I'm not sure how those cashiers would react if I plopped down some ammo on the old conveyer belt thing, probably just start screaming.

I bought a .22 there once and the guy said he had to walk me out to the parking lot.

I asked him joking - so once I get to the parking lot I can pretty much just take this thing out of the box and open up on everyone right?

He laughed, yeah that's pretty much it.

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

I walked into a shop in L.A. and asked to look at a Glock 22. The owner regarded me with some suspicion, before asking me why. I slowly explained to him that I wished to purchase one, and that I had made up my mind, so there would be no need to show me different guns.

That did not make him happy: it was 45 minutes to closing, and he was displeased at the prospect of filling out the paperwork. We finished the transaction well before closing time, of course, but he treated me like an unwelcome interruption during the whole transaction, to the point that I considered leaving the store.

It was the only time I have been helped by the owner of a business and he would have preferred not to make the sale.

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

I've never stepped foot into a real gunshop (just Wallyworld), but I certainly was left with an unfavorable impression a few months back during my first (and so far only) coin shop experience. The guy acted like he was doing me a huge favor just informing me of what he had in stock. I must've come off as ungrateful not jumping at those 1OZ AGE's he had for only $150 over spot. :sarcasm:

It made me appreciate APMEX, that's for sure. I don't think some of these guys understand that people have other options now.

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

Usually those yakkers the owner is talking to are pigs of one stink or another............play it cool

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

To this day my coin shop guy will be a prick to me if I go in alone; which I seldom do anymore. However, if my wife accompanies me he is the kindest and most friendly person ever. He doesn't really seem to be ogling my wife or anything. He gives me better deals every time she is with me. Normally he does not sell any of his sterling bin but he lets her pick through it for as long as she wants. Thankfully, she likes going to the coin shop!

I've never gotten any static from gun stores and I've walked out with more ammo than I weigh (which ain't much, really). I think it must be a geographical thing.

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

I always get a kick out of buying a new gun somewhere, and getting that "we have to walk you to the parking lot" thing dropped on me.

Never really understood that one. They won't give you the new, empty weapon. You'd have to use it as a bat and beat them to death with it to be any threat. Think any of them ever realize that a lot of their customers are already armed when they come in?

That's OK junior, you carry that empty gun for me. And pay no attention to that .45 I'm wearing...

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

I can believe that.

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

Ha! Trying being a female shopping for guns and ammo! Sometimes the dealer/person behind the counter doesn't bat an eye (Adventure Outdoors in Atlanta is awesome, moreso because they've had legal battles over straw purchases and still don't bat an eye at women customers, no matter what we buy!). One gunstore owner got so tongue-tied he almost couldn't talk to me. (As he saw more of me and we discovered a mutual interest in military aviation history, he relaxed.) More often I get to play 20 questions with the dealers or shop help. Of course, they have to determine that it's not a straw purchase. I hate that, but I understand it, and I can't blame them for it, although there is something kind of humiliating about having to prove that you're not some gangbanger's doormat. My husband knows that if I'm going to buy a gun, he shouldn't come along because it makes the vendor nervous that I might be buying for him because he wouldn't pass the background check. I never look at guns at busy stores. A woman almost can't get waited on without being really assertive about it. I guess they think we're not serious buyers, and they'll look right through us and go on to some man who walked up long after we did. I've had to get the clerk's attention for other women who were also waiting and getting overlooked because they weren't assertive enough.

Then there's the "no, it's not for self-defense" game in which the sellers are often amazed to find a woman buying a gun for fun instead of self-defense, and they'll sometimes call to all the other guys in the shop to tell them: "Oh, wow! Look at this guys!It's a woman who likes 1911s! She says she's not looking for a self-defense gun." Sometimes other customers will ask if I'm a policewoman. I like milsurp rifles, and that throws most of them for a loop, especially when I know what I'm talking about and know better than to buy a piece of junk (some dealers are unscrupulous enough to try to unload their junk on the unsuspecting and seem to figure female = unsuspecting idiot). Again, the purchase is likely to get announced to whoever else is in the shop, "Dang! I've never sold a mauser for a woman!" It's better than the old days, though, when as soon as one of us females walked through the door they tried to unload all their "ladies' guns" on us, telling us what fabulous guns their stupid little fake-pearl handled .25s with offbrand names were and warning us that we probably couldn't handle anything more powerful! (That's probably the root of my cringing now whenever I hear men debating how much gun their wives or girlfriends can handle. I'm picturing cheap .25s with pink or baby blue or pearl grips)

Some vendors are shocked I don't need their help to pick out ammo. Once, I apparently became the talk of a gun show after I purchased two cases of 7.62x51 and four cases of 7.62x39 from a dealer set up near the back of the hall and borrowed his handcart to wheel them out to my truck. When I brought his handtruck back, there were a bunch of men standing around the table trying to look inconspicuous, and the dealer pointed to them with his chin and said, "They were waiting for you to come back." He told me that about 15 guys had run up to ask them who that girl was and why she was buying all that ammo after I left his table. He said, "I told them I reckon you shoot a lot and that you sure as hell knew your stuff!"

Overall, it's a lot better than it used to be. More women are shooting and I know of a couple gun stores that are owned by women. More and more dealers don't bat an eye when a female customer is looking at guns or ammo, there are now a lot more women at gun shows, and it's rare to find the kind of overbearing condescension toward women that used to be the norm 30 years ago. Still, there are enough of the annoying type of vendors out that that I've been known to pay a little more for a gun and travel further to get it just to buy it from someone who treats me respectfully and doesn't make me feel like a circus sideshow.

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

One of the gun stores we frequent now knows us by name! Everytime one of the sales man see's me coming he gets out my play toy and lays it on the counter. Its a Walther 380 with a laser. I always proceed to laser the "eye in the sky" and ask if he will get in trouble for that. All of the guys at that store are very helpful and kind. Even though most of them are young, they know their guns. I think if any one would ask questions about all the ammo I would have to comment that I use them for suppositories. I always come up with really off the wall stuff and more or less shut them up!

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

I think it's a cultural thing.

Americans abhor silence.

Yakkity yakkity yakkity yak.

You probably hear it everywhere, not just when purchasing ammo by the ton.

I call it "okeydoke" talk, and try not to let it bother me too much.

I would avoid appearing testy or hostile when purchasing guns or ammo.

I have close relatives who would see 250 rounds of .38 Special as a suspiciously large stockpile of ammunition.

And not so very long ago, I would have agreed.

Nosy questions about quantity from Wal-mart clerks?

Try educating them.

"You'd be amazed at how much practice it takes to become a really good shooter. It ain't like on TV. When I'm down at the range I can go through a couple of hundred rounds like that." (Snap finger). "But it sure is getting to be an expensive sport." (Shake head in despair.)

By now their eyes will have glazed over. Don't stop. Bury them with minutia about the finer points of ammo-ology. Act as though, praise be, you've finally found someone who actually wants to talk about ammunition.

You get the idea. For most people education = boredom. It's almost a conditioned response.

At a genuine gun shop, I would just say that I'm expecting higher prices in the future, or something equally bland.

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

I'm pretty sure it's just small talk but there's always that undertone to it.

Talking too much about boring things actually works pretty well when you are trying to conceal something or draw less suspicion to oneself (not that I am).

Just start rambling and their eyes glaze over. Alright fine, fine, NEXT!

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

Then night shift in Indiana must be more laid back, 'cause I've done just that a few times. A couple 100 round boxes of 12ga and bricks of .22 makes a big thud when it's hits the conveyer. My only dilema was if I could go to the express checkout or if I had to count each round as a separate item. The clerks never batted an eye, though I always go the lanes with the older gals at the register.

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

Very true. But I would argue that it is a conditioned response.

Can't have folks who can actually realize the value of a true question. So we are addicted to MSM entertainment. It provides everything one needs to function cognitively without damaging questions, much less about answers.

I go to wally world. I always make it a point to tell the corp employee a silly joke, get them laughing. It's fun too.

Silly, non-threatening jokes, like Stephen Wright:

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

I had a funny interaction at the Walmart counter the other day. I buy my .22 ammo there, they have good prices on it. Told the guy, "I need 10 boxes of CCI Mini-mag hollow point."

"10?"

"Yes 10."

"Ok, is this for a rifle or handgun?"

"huh?"

"Is this for a rifle or handgun?"

"both."

He looks confused. hehe

"I shoot it in several weapons."

"I need to know for the computer."

"Pick rifle. I really don't care."

He didn't seem amused but I was telling him the truth.

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

Ive noticed that a lot of them can be major douchebags.

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

Maybe due to an age requirement, I think in some places you have to be 21 to buy pistol ammo, since a .22 could be either, guess that's why maybe

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

Could be but I just turned 40 last week. lol

Guess I should take that as a compliment. hehe

I don't look my age, but I don't look 21 either. It was fun answering both though.

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

Thats precisely correct.

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

If the gun store owners are unfriendly, go to gunshows...everybody is real friendly and like to buy/sell/trade.

My local coin dealer is about as paranoid as they get...he's real friendly, but he is always looking at the door. When you are talking to him, his eyes are scoping the surroundings...I'll bet he could tell some stories.

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

Yep. The closest shop to me lost pretty much all my business due to that. The owner is a good guy, but the guys he lets run it don't give a shit if the business makes any money apparently. The last straw for me was when I told the guy behind the counter that I was likely going to buy two guns that day and he was more interested in shootin' the shit with his buddy than helping a paying customer. I walked out, went to another shop, bought two guns, and the rest is history.

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

I guess we have the same dealer,I did observe the same behavior:banana:

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

especialy down here.

Re: What is it with Gun Store owners?
 

Rifle... ALWAYS for a rifle. I don't care if it's 9mm... if they ask, I tell them it's for a rifle.