Stuff overheard at the range or local gun shop

[The Guide]

Whats wrong with 22lr as a personal carry round???

Nothing in my mind. No one who has said it was insufficient will let me shoot them with one. Handguns still have the magical "knockdown power" associated with different cartridges. Too many movies.

Jay

 

[Muddler]

I helped some guys looking for cheaper 308 (7.62 is the mil surplus 308 ya know) ammo by telling them they should put the 7.62x39 ammo back on the shelf because that aint it.

It's borderline scary the number of times someone wanted the wrong ammo....270 Win for a 270 WSM, 300 WM for 300 WBY, etc.

 

[TheCougar]

100% true:

I’m at the range zeroing my 7mm in a Rokstok. These two dudes plop down and take the benches next to me. I quickly glance over and make a snap judgement: 5.11pants, SIG shirts, Sig hat, matching range bags, head to toe tacticool, Garmin chrono, all the gear. I’m not paying attention to them, but I hear enough, bragging about how he’s “got $7000 in his AR”, and all about the gun and how it’s expensive and all pimped out. I know nothing about ARs, so this means nothing to me, but they are telling anyone who walks by.

Half an hour goes by, and I overhear enough to learn that they cannot get the rifle to zero. And he’s off the target by FEET. I’m still not paying attention, other than laughing my ass off every time I hear them talking about a 4 ft miss at 100 yards.

I know the RCOs, and I see them looking at these clowns and talking and chuckling. After about 100 rounds down range, the RCO comes up and says, “Hey fellas, having trouble zeroing? Does your target look really really small? You may want to turn the scopes around, that usually helps.”

Now I stop what I’m doing to really look over at these jokers. They have Vortex PST scopes mounted BACKWARDS on their ARs. For serious. I didn’t know that was physically possible, but I can tell you it is definitely possible.

 

[Harvey_NW]

100% true:

I’m at the range zeroing my 7mm in a Rokstok. These two dudes plop down and take the benches next to me. I quickly glance over and make a snap judgement: 5.11pants, SIG shirts, Sig hat, matching range bags, head to toe tacticool, Garmin chrono, all the gear. I’m not paying attention to them, but I hear enough, bragging about how he’s “got $7000 in his AR”, and all about the gun and how it’s expensive and all pimped out. I know nothing about ARs, so this means nothing to me, but they are telling anyone who walks by.

Half an hour goes by, and I overhear enough to learn that they cannot get the rifle to zero. And he’s off the target by FEET. I’m still not paying attention, other than laughing my ass off every time I hear them talking about a 4 ft miss at 100 yards.

I know the RCOs, and I see them looking at these clowns and talking and chuckling. After about 100 rounds down range, the RCO comes up and says, “Hey fellas, having trouble zeroing? Does your target look really really small? You may want to turn the scopes around, that usually helps.”

Now I stop what I’m doing to really look over at these jokers. They have Vortex PST scopes mounted BACKWARDS on their ARs. For serious. I didn’t know that was physically possible, but I can tell you it is definitely possible.

 

[ianpadron]

Man this thread is great.

Had a real doozy of a day this past week at the range with a couple groups that I swear were just pulling my leg.

First 2 guys roll up and ask what I'm shooting because it sounds like a 300 of some sort...it was a 5.56 with no muzzle device of any kind lol. We have a range that allows you to drive to set targets, but they insist on walking all the way out to the 200 yard berm and set their stuff...it takes forever. After 10 shots from their 300 WMs they ask if they can go check, so I offer my spotting scope to save their legs (and my time). Guy 1 says he felt he was hitting low and left. Sure enough, first 2 shots are 3" low and 3" left, 3rd shot is another 4" low. He goes, "yup, so just a flyer, should be good to go"....I don't even know how to respond in those situations since guys tend to stonewall you if you correct them but dang it makes my head hurt hearing stuff like that.

Next up a couple of strange lookin fellas waltz in with a braked 300 and stand there awkwardly for a couple minutes while the other 2 guys are grabbing their targets. I tell them if they need to go set targets, do it now since the line is on cease fire. They look at me like they don't even understand English...blank stares. I repeat myself in a different way "do you guys need to set targets to shoot?" Leader of the dynamic duo responds "we don't have any targets we're just going to shoot, it's my friends first time shooting a gun".

I packed up and dipped, have zero interest in being around a potential range safety issue. You really do see/hear it all at the range lol.

 

[seww]

I can share a couple of stories from the old country, first one my dad being my dad that he was

It was days before the annual moose hunt and my dad needed ammo, so he goes to the local sports store. He happen to see this burly, big guy looking all serious and what have you and my dad decided to prank him.
So dad kind of pushed his way ahead of this big guy, the big guy got annoyed but didn't really say anything. So the clerk asks my dad what he needs etc. And my dad starting counting, loudly and using his fingers "Let me see now, we have 1,2,3 tags so give me 3 bullets" And the big guy just lost it and started swearing at my dad wtf he is doing. Mission accomplished.

The other story I heard from an old colleague who was at the range when an older man pulled up in his car, I believe it was a Volvo which is a given in Sweden... The guy pulls up his gun, hold it across the roof of the car, first shot scrapes part of the roof, second shot hit the target. The man says "that'll do" and leaves.

 

[Harvey_NW]

I packed up and dipped, have zero interest in being around a potential range safety issue. You really do see/hear it all at the range lol.

Yep, it's infuriating. Before they redid my local range it was just kind of a wide open shooting spot into a slight draw with a couple busted and vandalized concrete benches. Guy beside me wants to check his target and was looking at me so I verbally asked if everyone was good to go cold and clear, everyone nods and acknowledges, guy starts walking down. I'm talking to my wife and hear *pop* *pop*, instinctively whipped around and scream "ARE YOU F*'N STUPID!?!?", the young jackass on the end looks at me as I'm pointing to the guy half way down hunching for cover and says "Oh, I'm shooting off to the right" and points at a target in front of him maybe 30° right of what the firing line considers down range. I was about to come unglued and the guys on the end waved me off and engaged with them. We left, lol.

 

[tim tarras]

When I was working in Iowa I had limited time to have a scope mounted, and all my gun stuff was 6.5 hours away, I had sportsman warehouse mount it. When he came out with it he wanted me to mount it so he could adjust the reticles for the cant of the gun with my shoulder. I told it was good that weekend went back to WI and ended up remounting it myself. I couldn't trust him after he said that.

 

[Harvey_NW]

When I was working in Iowa I had limited time to have a scope mounted, and all my gun stuff was 6.5 hours away, I had sportsman warehouse mount it. When he came out with it he wanted me to mount it so he could adjust the reticles for the cant of the gun with my shoulder. I told it was good that weekend went back to WI and ended up remounting it myself. I couldn't trust him after he said that.

That reminds me of another one, bought an AR during the Obama grab crisis and took it to my new local Cabelas outpost to get some rings and a scope. The counter guy asked if I wanted it mounted and bore sighted for free and I thought sure, why not. Went to the range and 2nd shot the scope and rings flew off and hit the dirt. Looked at everything and could tell by the small scratches he didn't put the through bolts down into the Pic slots, he set them on top and the clamps had almost no contact

 

[ODB]

"We are on our way to camp and need to get set up with a rifle, what do you recommend."

 

[Amos Keeto]

Gent brings in an old Damascus double.
"Is it safe to shoot?"
"Well, no. Not with modern powder."
With a grin, "What if I drill a vent hole just in front of the chamber?"

Academy, Padre Island Dr, Corpus Christi, TX
All the ammo is behind the counters.
"Do you have any .308 ammo?"
A middle aged, heavy set woman with her blue Academy shirt on perused the ammo.
"No sir. We don't have any .308."
Well, I'm trying to feed more than one rifle, so I ask, "What DO you have?"
"We have......yada, yada, yada, 7.62×51....."
"Wait. Did you say 7.62×51?"
"Yes."
Shaking my head, "I'll take 2 boxes!"

Young man walks into the gun shop. "Do you have a firing pin spring for a Colt 1911?"
"Yes we do." Jim answered.
"I need one that is stronger than a factory spring." he stated.
Jim, curious, asked, "Why would you need a stronger firing pin spring?"
"Well," the kid stated, "I'm not getting the muzzle velocity I'm looking for. I figured if I got just a little stronger firing pin spring..."

Any gun knowledge, standing in a gun shop, WILL be tested!

 

[Amos Keeto]

Whats wrong with 22lr as a personal carry round???

My wife's EDC is a Walther P22. I despise the thing!
Safety is set up all wrong! But she loves it!

Much rather have a .22LR than a pointy stick!
;-)

 

[Choupique]

Guy had a .270 wsm. Couldn't get it to chamber a round. I took a look at it, it was a regular .270 win cartridge. I asked him why he was trying to do that? "I'm just deer hunting. I dont need the magnum bullets."

 

[grfox92]

I worked part time behind a local gun counter a few years ago. It was during the Covid ammo shortage period.

Anyway this young guy who looks like he might not be playing with a full deckor is on the spectrum starts frequenting the store. One day he comes in with a 1911 in a leather holster on his belt.

He in some way shape or form tried to non chalantly make sure that every living human in the store knew that he was carrying his gun.

What came next was the really crazy part. I heard him multiple times make the joke how "it's a 10mm so you know it's not loaded." Because at the time 10mm was impossible to find anywhere.

We came to the conclusion that the guy was open carrying an unloaded firearm.

Sent from my SM-G990U using Tapatalk

 

[BravoNovember]

I saw a gun shop owner pull up and point a Glock at a customer and said “don’t worry, it’s not loaded, I just want to show you how to aim it”. I turned and walked out

 

[COJoe]

I almost want to go to a local gun store now just to get something to post now... Free entertainment!

 

[GoneFullTrad]

Whats wrong with 22lr as a personal carry round???

First and foremost, if that is what you carry, then go for it. I am not here to tell anybody what to do however I would never recommend to any body I know for the following reasons-

1/. Rimfire ammo like .22lr is notorious for ignition failure and ejection failures. You can negate that by carrying a revolver but....,.22LR is not manufactured to the same standards as defensive centerfire ammunition.

2./ .22 LR is notorious for corrosion and when you have a smaller surface area (a .22LR cartridge) you are prone to more failures via corrosion. If you carry a pistol in your pocket like a lot of .22lr carriers like to do you are adding sweat and moisture constantly to that highly corrosive cartridge. This makes it worse with a revolver with its open cylinder design.

3./ .22 LR are one of the most inconsistent ballistic cartridges made. Plenty of testing has shown this. You can take a ballistic gel dummy and shoot it plum in the sternum and the .22LR will just lodge into the surface area of the bone. Then you take the same gun, same ammo, new dummy and the .22LR will go through the sternum and go about a half inch into vitals. When it comes to cartridges it is one of the most inconsistent when it comes to fragmentation, piercing, rolling and so forth.

4./ There is ZERO conclusive reporting or evidence that indicates a .22LR in a handgun is a useful or valuable defensive carry round. No large scale testing via any legitimate military, law enforcement, security agency or any other large scale case use has ever been done with the .22 being effective in any capacity against human targets in defensive case uses. It is backed entirely by .22 case use studies that are often results from accidents or cheap saturday night special loadouts like .22 / .25 etc in gang conflicts where people are getting shot multiple times and suffering damage hours after the event.

5./ The cycling rate even on semi autos is slower than centerfire unless you are running competition standard .22s.... But you would probably not be carrying competition standard .22s

6/. Stopping power is often a misnomer in the firearm communities. "Stopping power" is often thought of as a powerful thud or taking a large chunk out of a person but it has more to do with - The psychological reaction to gunfire (loud versus quiet) and the .22LR fails at that. The ability to fragment bone and penetration through vital organs causing large wound channels and disrupting nerves, tissue, arteries etc as a .22 has very little or no "CNS disruption" power behind it. Think about what happens when a round hits bone, if even a modern 9mm hits the sternum it will split the sternum and that bone split causes larger arterial and tissue bleeding and damage. A .22 is going to hit, impact and either penetrate or lodge itself into the bone. A centerfire defensive hollowpoint bullet is going to mushroom and fragment and cause a much larger surface area of potential bone breaks, tissue damage and a wound channel that flares out causing more bleeding and damage. A .22LR causes little CNS disruption unless you are "lucky" and the .22 manages to deflect and hit off of several internal bone structures and goes through nerves.

7/ .22LR ammunition is not manufactured even the nicer more expensive rounds to the same manufacturing standards as defensive American made centerfire ammunition.

8. / Manufacturers do not recommend .22 for defensive use. My dad has worked in the firearm industry his entire career from manufacturing to retail and he has never heard of a company suggesting .22 as a reliable and effective defensive carry round. .22 handguns just do not produce the velocity and power that even .22 rifles do.



If a .22 is what you have then use it. If you have some medical issue or preference for it then use it, however, its not nearly as effective and has more shortcomings than say any modern .380 or 9mm especially in the last 8 years where manufacturers have been making the various lighter recoil controlling "EZ" systems and what not to make it easier to carry defensive centerfire calibers.

 

[RockAndSage]

First and foremost, if that is what you carry, then go for it. I am not here to tell anybody what to do however I would never recommend to any body I know for the following reasons-

1/. Rimfire ammo like .22lr is notorious for ignition failure and ejection failures. You can negate that by carrying a revolver but....,.22LR is not manufactured to the same standards as defensive centerfire ammunition.

2./ .22 LR is notorious for corrosion and when you have a smaller surface area (a .22LR cartridge) you are prone to more failures via corrosion. If you carry a pistol in your pocket like a lot of .22lr carriers like to do you are adding sweat and moisture constantly to that highly corrosive cartridge. This makes it worse with a revolver with its open cylinder design.

3./ .22 LR are one of the most inconsistent ballistic cartridges made. Plenty of testing has shown this. You can take a ballistic gel dummy and shoot it plum in the sternum and the .22LR will just lodge into the surface area of the bone. Then you take the same gun, same ammo, new dummy and the .22LR will go through the sternum and go about a half inch into vitals. When it comes to cartridges it is one of the most inconsistent when it comes to fragmentation, piercing, rolling and so forth.

4./ There is ZERO conclusive reporting or evidence that indicates a .22LR in a handgun is a useful or valuable defensive carry round. No large scale testing via any legitimate military, law enforcement, security agency or any other large scale case use has ever been done with the .22 being effective in any capacity against human targets in defensive case uses. It is backed entirely by .22 case use studies that are often results from accidents or cheap saturday night special loadouts like .22 / .25 etc in gang conflicts where people are getting shot multiple times and suffering damage hours after the event.

5./ The cycling rate even on semi autos is slower than centerfire unless you are running competition standard .22s.... But you would probably not be carrying competition standard .22s

6/. Stopping power is often a misnomer in the firearm communities. "Stopping power" is often thought of as a powerful thud or taking a large chunk out of a person but it has more to do with - The psychological reaction to gunfire (loud versus quiet) and the .22LR fails at that. The ability to fragment bone and penetration through vital organs causing large wound channels and disrupting nerves, tissue, arteries etc as a .22 has very little or no "CNS disruption" power behind it. Think about what happens when a round hits bone, if even a modern 9mm hits the sternum it will split the sternum and that bone split causes larger arterial and tissue bleeding and damage. A .22 is going to hit, impact and either penetrate or lodge itself into the bone. A centerfire defensive hollowpoint bullet is going to mushroom and fragment and cause a much larger surface area of potential bone breaks, tissue damage and a wound channel that flares out causing more bleeding and damage. A .22LR causes little CNS disruption unless you are "lucky" and the .22 manages to deflect and hit off of several internal bone structures and goes through nerves.

7/ .22LR ammunition is not manufactured even the nicer more expensive rounds to the same manufacturing standards as defensive American made centerfire ammunition.

8. / Manufacturers do not recommend .22 for defensive use. My dad has worked in the firearm industry his entire career from manufacturing to retail and he has never heard of a company suggesting .22 as a reliable and effective defensive carry round. .22 handguns just do not produce the velocity and power that even .22 rifles do.



If a .22 is what you have then use it. If you have some medical issue or preference for it then use it, however, its not nearly as effective and has more shortcomings than say any modern .380 or 9mm especially in the last 8 years where manufacturers have been making the various lighter recoil controlling "EZ" systems and what not to make it easier to carry defensive centerfire calibers.

You spend a lot of time at gun stores, it seems...

 

[Wyo_hntr]

I sincerely feel for anyone that has to shoot at a public range.

 

[Clayman77]

You spend a lot of time at gun stores, it seems...

Hahahaha