So.
I went into my LGS the other day and was looking at their AR's. They never carry quality rifles. They stock DPMS, Stag, Bushmaster, Rock River, Olympic Arms, Windham Armory, and other assorted junk.
I was at the counter and the guy asked me if I needed help with anything. Here's how it went:
Me: Why don't you guys carry any quality rifles like Colt, BCM, or Daniel Defense?"
LGS dude: [insert smirky, 'matter of fact' face here] -- With
those guns you're paying for the name, not the quality
Me: Really? Colts are good enough for the US military. That must mean something, right?
LGS dude: ACTUALLY, I was in the Marines. They are moving away from Colt's and going to FN because they are way better. Colt's are honestly junk.
Me: REALLY.. Wow, I didn't know that (still playing dumb)...
LGS dude: Yup. But what you really want is a Rock River. **Points to some incredibly stupid looking RRA rifle for $1299 that had some kind of name like Tactical Operator SWAT or some other wannabe shit** They are the best; them and Stag rule the AR industry. Army is even switching over to Rock River."
Me: So is the Rock River better than Colt?
LGS dude: Oh yeah! You're paying for quality, not the name with RRA. This is what I shoot. They're better than the Colt's, hands down. We sell mostly these and the Stags, sometimes DPMS.
At this point I'm expecting that ol' Mr Stoner was about to roll over in his grave. I really wish I had brought in like a "hidden camera" deal or something. This really was golden. I continued to ask about some Rock River uppers they had on display.
Me: What's the twist rate on this upper?
LGS dude: Huh? It's a Rock River.
Me: Right, but what is the twist of the barrel?
He starts looking around, presumably looking for the manager because he had no idea what I was talking about. Here comes the manager.
Manager: What'd you want to know?
Me: What's the twist rate of this Rock River upper?
Manager: It's just normal.
Me: Normal???
Manager: Yeah.. Like a 1/9 or something. That's what all AR's are unless you're buying something like a
Colt. (very negative tone)
Now, at
this point, I was about ready to shove the Junk River upper down his throat. I asked him if he could order most any upper I want because I've got a spare Bravo Company lower than I'm looking to build. He shook his head a bit and said we don't care anything like
that, implying that it's a no name, generic piece of crap.
OK. They know nothing. Fair enough. Mind you, this is the largest firearms shop this side of the state. They have one quality rifle in the entire building, a lonely Knights Armament SR15, possibly the finest AR in existence just begging for an owner. It's an all FDE model and it's dripping in sexiness.
Just as I'm about to finish my handgun fondling of all different sorts this other fella walks up and starts talking about AR's. He's talking to a totally different employee -- one that I had not spoken with. He says that he wants the best one there is but he doesn't know much about them.
I was thinking "Yeah! Here we go, he's gonna get the SR15!" (a bit jealous, I admit)
What does the gun shop guru grab? The SR-15? Nope. You guessed it. Rock freaking River. I don't remember the exact price on the particular model but it was close to
two grand.. It really was quite fugly and I didn't see one quality part on it. At this point, I could not take anymore and I just left with my tail between my legs.
Sorry for this fairly useless post, but I just don't get it. Why do gun shops push the commercialized junk rifles? Do they make more on the mass produced ones? Bias because that's what they own?
I know something like this should not bother me but to be misinforming literally hundreds of customers every week/month does piss me off just a tad!!

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