I think I was a victim of gun store BS.

[John_Wayne777]

“Kimber doesn’t want you to let the slide slam home on an empty chamber.” So what do you guys say, was he pulling my leg?

It's not just Kimber.

The legend is that dropping the slide on an empty chamber can ruin a decent trigger job by causing the internal parts to bounce together. (hammer, sear, etc...)

How likely is it to actually damage a weapon? That depends on the weapon. If you are talking about a racegun with a trigger pull measured in the ounces range, I would sure as heck be real gentle in handling it. If you are talking about a combat handgun with a sensible trigger, then dropping the slide on an empty chamber once probably isn't going to kill it. Doing it a lot might.

Whether it will break the gun or not, dropping the slide from lock in a gunstore screams noob. It is also slamming around someone else's property, something I am never fond of doing.

The best thing to do when you are checking out a weapon is to handle it first of all SAFELY, and secondly like it is someone else's property. (Because it is)

[John_Wayne777]

Well I am not sure if this only implies to finely tuned 1911's. but let me say this Robb I apologize for letting the slide drop using the slip stop on that G19 I was scoping out. I was not aware it was such a NO NO however I did wind up buying it from you all. If that helps me out any..

He's probably not too broken up over it.

When I sold guns I was happy if I could just get people to stop waving them all over the place or doing idiot things like twirling them. (No kidding....I had one guy whose "prufeshunul" evaluation of the weapon included how it twirled in the hand....."Naw, this one don't balance right, see??" ....TWIRL TWIRL TWIRL...)

Believe it or not trying to communicate the simple concept of not aiming a handgun at the front door as people came into the store was like trying to teach a monkey to play chess.

Some suggestions for all gun shoppers based on my brief time behind the gun counter:

1. When the clerk hands you a firearm, always double check to make sure it is unloaded. Always do this with the weapon oriented in the safest direction you can find. Check, recheck, then check again. This never offends me or any other gunstore clerk with an IQ north of 40.

2. ALWAYS point the weapon in the safest direction you can find. (At the clerk or at the front door of the gunstore do not qualify as safe directions)

3. Dry firing the weapon once or twice is not a big deal, provided the weapon isn't a rimfire. (Never dryfire a rimfire) Pulling the trigger 30 times, however, is a no-no.

4. Don't flip revolvers shut, drop slides from lock, slam magazines home, or do anything else that makes loud noises with the weapons or that abuses any part of them.

5. Please don't attempt to leave the counter with the weapon still in your hand. If Bubba really needs to see this, he can come to the counter and take a look.

6. Please don't ask to fondle everything they have behind the counter. I know that being in a gunstore is a lot like being on a date with a pretty girl, but wanting to touch everything at the same time is poor form in the gunstore just as it is on a date with a pretty girl.

7. No, you can't have a bullet to check out how it feeds. I don't care if you actually were a Navy SEAL drill sargeant in Vietnam, you aren't getting a live round to stick in one of the guns. Period.

[Robb Jensen]

That's a good set of rules JW!

[rob_s]

He's probably not too broken up over it.

When I sold guns I was happy if I could just get people to stop waving them all over the place or doing idiot things like twirling them. (No kidding....I had one guy whose "prufeshunul" evaluation of the weapon included how it twirled in the hand....."Naw, this one don't balance right, see??" ....TWIRL TWIRL TWIRL...)

Believe it or not trying to communicate the simple concept of not aiming a handgun at the front door as people came into the store was like trying to teach a monkey to play chess.

Some suggestions for all gun shoppers based on my brief time behind the gun counter:

1. When the clerk hands you a firearm, always double check to make sure it is unloaded. Always do this with the weapon oriented in the safest direction you can find. Check, recheck, then check again. This never offends me or any other gunstore clerk with an IQ north of 40.

2. ALWAYS point the weapon in the safest direction you can find. (At the clerk or at the front door of the gunstore do not qualify as safe directions)

3. Dry firing the weapon once or twice is not a big deal, provided the weapon isn't a rimfire. (Never dryfire a rimfire) Pulling the trigger 30 times, however, is a no-no.

4. Don't flip revolvers shut, drop slides from lock, slam magazines home, or do anything else that makes loud noises with the weapons or that abuses any part of them.

5. Please don't attempt to leave the counter with the weapon still in your hand. If Bubba really needs to see this, he can come to the counter and take a look.

6. Please don't ask to fondle everything they have behind the counter. I know that being in a gunstore is a lot like being on a date with a pretty girl, but wanting to touch everything at the same time is poor form in the gunstore just as it is on a date with a pretty girl.

7. No, you can't have a bullet to check out how it feeds. I don't care if you actually were a Navy SEAL drill sargeant in Vietnam, you aren't getting a live round to stick in one of the guns. Period.

HAHA, did we work at the same store?

I always took the pistol out of the case, locked the slide back, ejected the mag, and set the pistol and the mag on a mat in front of the customer with the ejection port up. It was my way of testing the customer to see if they knew how to handle the gun or not. I atually had one idiot stick his finger in the ejection port on a Glock, managed to mash down the slide stop from inside, and caught his finger. I damn near pissed myself laughing so hard.

[snacks]

that is funny i would have probably just pissed myself.

[John_Wayne777]

HAHA, did we work at the same store?

I have noticed the same behaviors at gunshows, so I can only guess that there is a certain portion of the population genetically predisposed to pointing weapons at other people or claiming to be a former special forces super-Rambo killer.

I am pretty good at dealing with those pretender types, seeing as how I was a screen door gunner on a nuclear submarine. I won the silver heart and the purple star (and I was reccomended for the green clover) for singlehandedly fighting off a cracken while one of my arms was trapped in the treads of the submarine.

That combat duty in Afghanistan back in '88 was no joke....

I always took the pistol out of the case, locked the slide back, ejected the mag, and set the pistol and the mag on a mat in front of the customer with the ejection port up. It was my way of testing the customer to see if they knew how to handle the gun or not. I atually had one idiot stick his finger in the ejection port on a Glock, managed to mash down the slide stop from inside, and caught his finger. I damn near pissed myself laughing so hard.

I think the funniest one I ever saw was a female police officer (a real newbie) who was issued a Sig P229 but who came in to buy a Glock 23 as an off-duty gun. She came back a couple of days later saying that she had let another one of the officers who was a "gun guy" take a look at the weapon and he had managed to disassemble and then re-assemble the weapon with the recoil assembly in BACKWARDS.

I didn't even know it was possible.

Took us 3 hours, a big rubber mallet and a whole lot of swear words to get that resolved.

[subzero]

he had managed to disassemble and then re-assemble the weapon with the recoil assembly in BACKWARDS.

Anything is possible with gun folks. One of my biggest brainfarts ever involved assembly of an AR minus buffer and buffer spring, then wondering why the bolt carrier was stuck to the rear when I function checked it.

I wish I could find that picture of the Glock with the round stuck in the breech backwards. Nothing says "duh" like a bullet pointing in the wrong direction.

[baffle Stack]

Anything is possible with gun folks. One of my biggest brainfarts ever involved assembly of an AR minus buffer and buffer spring, then wondering why the bolt carrier was stuck to the rear when I function checked it.

I wish I could find that picture of the Glock with the round stuck in the breech backwards. Nothing says "duh" like a bullet pointing in the wrong direction.

The dumbest thing I have done is put the magazine in backwards in my friend’s Ruger .22 pistol. You're right. He looked at me with that "duh" look in his eyes. I was probably in middle school at the time so I’m not too shook over it. 10 years later and he still laughs at me about that one .

[Jay Cunningham]

I ease the slide forward on an empty chamber, even on on my Glock 19. This is a behavior which I learned within the last year. I have learned quite a few things (mainly about how little I actually know) in the last year...