DUMBEST things overheard at the gun store.

[Buckaroo]

Hornady Critical Defense ammunition "goes so fast that it needs the little plastic insert in the tip to help it expand." This was in reference to the .380 ammo when I was helping my wife shop for a pistol. I just said "Oh, really" and left the store.

Buckaroo

[Littlelebowski]

Count me as one of the guys who shops at VA Arms so I have a pleasant shopping experience and don't have to put up with this sort of crap.

[JSantoro]

All those WTF!? moments from prior experiences make being a patron of theirs all that much more appealing.

[Shadow1198]

A friend of mine bought his first handgun, awhile back. I took him to the range to help him out, give some pointers on shooting handguns, etc. One of the dudes working the counter must have overheard us talking while we were in the shop area and I guess he picked up on my friend being new to guns. Well long story short this dude tried so incredibly hard to push the RBCD trash ammo on my friend for self defense. The best part is when he referred to my Corbon DPX's and Pow'RBalls as being "hydrashoks" that never expand, will go right through all the walls of my house and kill my neighbors. Oh, the best part was when he quoted that BS RBCD claim about that "nytrillium" (think that's what they called it, just plastic basically) core spinning so fast and reaching critical mass to the point that on impact it would instantly cause some sort of chemical reaction causing the CNS to shut down and the attacker to drop like a sack of bricks instantaneously. Oh, and he even mentioned the "blended metal technology" claim about how the temperature of the human body was enough to "replicate the manufacturing process" and cause the bullet to come apart instantly, reducing penetration. I basically told the dude he failed highschool physics, and then we left.

[Storydude]

Dumbest thing?

"Y'all Hiring?"

[Gutshot John]

Many many times.

"I want ___ gun because ___ used it in ___ movie/tv/musical."

Less frequent variation on the theme

"Where do I get those exploding bullets that I saw in ___ movie"

[I'mGatMan!]

A couple years back, when I decided to begin learning about personal defense and shooting, I did a TON of research before ever even holding a gun, just so I knew which guns to avoid automatically.

So, after deciding that the Glock 19 seemed like exactly what I needed, I went to a shop with an indoor range and asked to see a Glock 19. The clerk, some older dood from Argentina or Venezuela tells me:

If this is your first gun, you don't want a Glock. Those things have no safety and can go off anytime without a cause. What you want is something like this: (points to a 1911 on his hip). Then he proceeded to tell me about a time back in Argentina when he was riding his horse while carrying his gun. The horse took a jump and somehow, the safety on his gun disengaged and the gun fired, sending the bullet through his thigh.

Yeh...and I shouldn't buy a Glock because they don't have safeties.

[Nathan_Bell]

This wasn't at a gun store... it was in the squad room back in the days when I wore a tin star & chased bad guys:

Officer 1: "Well the thing about a forty-five is that even if you him 'em in the hand, you're going to knock 'em down!"

Me.. and Isaac Newton:

Heard that one about the .44, .45. and .308 (guy had a M1A instock, I was asking about ARs)

[Spurholder]

At a store stocking Oly's...

"Most people that trash talk Olympic have never owned one. They're good to go!"

Ah, yeah - never owned a Yugo, either.

[shooter521]

How 'bout one from the selling side of the counter? Yesterday, I handed a Springfield XDM to a customer, who pulled out the (bright, shiny metal) mag and pronounced "that looks just like a Glock mag!"