Another Gander Mountain Rant.

[Slider]

I was in Gander Mountain on Friday, Killing some time, looking at some firearms before a meetup with some friends. As I was standing at the counter looking around, a young 20 something guy walked up and asked the Firearms Employee about ammo selections.

His question was..."What is the difference in solid nose ammo and the hollow point kind?" The Employee told him that the solid nose ammo was for target practicing, because it was cheaper, and the hollow points are for Shooting people.

Really.......Shooting people? Not personal protection, or self defense? I told the guy asking questions to come to INGO and read up on knowledge of all things firearms related, and to take a training class of two to learn the proper handling of Firearms and Personal Protection, and walked away. Hopefully he listens.

Rant over.

 

[223 Gunner]

What? You mean you don't shoot people? Or do you buy hollow points to shoot people with for target practice?


Yes people like that don't portray gun owners in a good light, when they make idiotic statements.

 

[oldpink]

What 223 just said.
Not only that, but it's foolish to practice entirely with ammo that you don't intend to use for carry purposes, namely because there will probably be a different in point of impact.
It's fine to practice with less expensive ammo for most of your shooting, but it's always best to run a few boxes of your chosen carry ammo after that.

 

[Spear Dane]

Which is why I buy Winchester Train and Defend.

 

[TCLe]

Can you really expect a store like Gander Mountain or Cabela's to always hire people with tact? The same could be said about small gun shops where the owner doesn't trust anything made out of "tupperware".

 

[tbhausen]

He forgot about hunting, too.

 

[Shawn76]

I hate Gander Mountain. They are overpriced on most guns and half of the employees are clueless about gun laws. It should be required that anyone who works retail selling guns should be properly trained on gun laws and what products they sell.

 

[churchmouse]

I hate Gander Mountain. They are overpriced on most guns and half of the employees are clueless about gun laws. It should be required that anyone who works retail selling guns should be properly trained on gun laws and what products they sell.

That would "Cost Money" to implement and the "Trained" employee would demand a better wage.
Just is not going to happen

 

[Hookeye]

I would guess that most personal protection/defense is against 2 legged varmints.
Maybe not PC but the salesman probably gets asked that question by a zillion CoD kids.
Dumbed it down, for 95% of the populace.
Not worth getting bent about, or making any corrective/enlightenment discussion.

I'd have bought the sales guy a beer if he had said "Trump Protesters" instead.

 

[jd4320t]

I'm usually a little graphic when I explain to someone the difference between fmj and hp ammo. I think it helps them understand.

With all the things I've seen and heard about at Gander Mountain I'm happy to hear the employee knew the difference.

 

[LtScott14]

I have always used FMJ-Round nose for practice shooting. I also run some Hollowpoints for practice, but 25.00/ 20 rounds adds up. Couple of magazine loads of carry ammo bends my wallet, but I still do.

The Gander Mountain Employee is lacking experience, so .... go figure. We all were rookies too, but learning is a powerful thing. He may be the next MGR if he learned a little overtime. Probably first job. Learn on.

Have met some seasoned Gun Shop Commandos that only preach what they read. Just ask them, "Have you fired this or that?" Slows down the rant quickly. They are there to sell guns and accessories.

I have had a few friends who worked at LGS. Just a job, none really stayed in that business.

 

[femurphy77]

I hate Gander Mountain. They are overpriced on most guns and half of the employees are clueless about gun laws. It should be required that anyone who works retail selling guns should be properly trained on gun laws and what products they sell.

You ver funny man!

 

[silverspoon]

I'm still trying to determine why people wander into these places knowing what to expect then when exactly what they expect to happen happens they come to a internet forum to complain because exactly what they knew and expected to happen happened.

 

[sniper102]

Gander Employees are paid to just hand me the weapon i want to look at. I dont need to hear their opinion on what I'm looking at.

 

[jgressley2003]

Gander Employees are paid to just hand me the weapon i want to look at. I dont need to hear their opinion on what I'm looking at.

Exactly! Not sure why some seem to think that you want to hear them voice their opinion?

 

[Slider]

I'm still trying to determine why people wander into these places knowing what to expect then when exactly what they expect to happen happens they come to a internet forum to complain because exactly what they knew and expected to happen happened.

The same reason hundreds of people go to the 1500 and then come on here and complain. It is fun to go and look around, but you are always amazed with the stupidity of some people when it comes to firearms. I'm just hoping one day i will walk into Gander Mountain and hear an intelligent conversation coming from the person behind the counter. I can always dream.

 

[Gluemanz28]

I thought FMJ were for Gangsta Hi-point toten YUT's that hold their guns sideways and throw the gun towards their target while chooting.

HP are for stopping the YUT's with their FMJ's

 

[HKUSP]

Sadly there's no room in budgets to pay actual professionals that know about and are enthusiastic about what they sell. If you don't believe me, go buy some car parts. Retail is all about warm bodies occupying space. It's about the same as asking your Wal Mart cashier for investment advice. Most of them are there because they have to be, not because they want to be and it shows.

I know this personally from being on the other side of the counter. I spent (read wasted) a lot of my younger years in retail, and I worked at several auto parts stores. I've always loved cars and machines. I worked in a machine shop rebuilding engines. I also spent a few years as a professional mechanic. I've forgotten more about cars than 90% of these key punchers will ever know. There's not a parts store in existence that will pay me what I'm worth, which is why I drive a truck.

This applies to guns too, but with a twist. I tried to get out of retail parts at one point and applied to every gun store I could find for a sales position. I've pretty much figured out that the only hope I had was a big box store environment. That's not something I wanted to get involved with, so I gave up. I wasn't a retired LEO, or someone's brother, cousin, brother-in-law, or son, so getting hired at a privately owned gun store was impossible. The tragedy is, I love guns. I read about them. I talk about them. I try to keep up on the newest developments. I also learned through all of that retail suffering how to deal with customers with tact, and to leave my own opinions out of it which is something that's a dead skill. I would make a great gun store counter employee but I doubt there are any stores needing help that would hire me and pay me what I'm worth, (which is also about what I need to make) so again I drive a truck.

How would I have answered that customer's question? Like so: "Full metal jacket rounds out of a handgun are generally intended for target use, and leave a clean hole in the target. A hollow point round is intended for defense or hunting because upon impact it fills with material from the target and expands to make a larger wound channel and it dumps most of it's kinetic energy into the target giving it a greater chance of stopping a threat or taking the game. Rifles are a different animal, because of their generally much higher velocity which creates a bigger would channel from pure shock". If they understand that they might get "force=weight X velocity^2". Nobody pays for that unless you're related. So I drive a truck.

Chris /rant off/

 

[shootersix]

I was at the eville store a few weeks ago, and a guy asked an employee about putting a scope on a shotgun, the employee told him it was 10 bucks to drill and tap a receiver, so 20 bucks for his shotgun, I said bad math dude, each base has 2 holes so 4 holes=40 bucks, the employee said no you only need one hole per base!

all I could think of was

View attachment 46148

 

[churchmouse]

Sadly there's no room in budgets to pay actual professionals that know about and are enthusiastic about what they sell. If you don't believe me, go buy some car parts. Retail is all about warm bodies occupying space. It's about the same as asking your Wal Mart cashier for investment advice. Most of them are there because they have to be, not because they want to be and it shows.

I know this personally from being on the other side of the counter. I spent (read wasted) a lot of my younger years in retail, and I worked at several auto parts stores. I've always loved cars and machines. I worked in a machine shop rebuilding engines. I also spent a few years as a professional mechanic. I've forgotten more about cars than 90% of these key punchers will ever know. There's not a parts store in existence that will pay me what I'm worth, which is why I drive a truck.

This applies to guns too, but with a twist. I tried to get out of retail parts at one point and applied to every gun store I could find for a sales position. I've pretty much figured out that the only hope I had was a big box store environment. That's not something I wanted to get involved with, so I gave up. I wasn't a retired LEO, or someone's brother, cousin, brother-in-law, or son, so getting hired at a privately owned gun store was impossible. The tragedy is, I love guns. I read about them. I talk about them. I try to keep up on the newest developments. I also learned through all of that retail suffering how to deal with customers with tact, and to leave my own opinions out of it which is something that's a dead skill. I would make a great gun store counter employee but I doubt there are any stores needing help that would hire me and pay me what I'm worth, (which is also about what I need to make) so again I drive a truck.

How would I have answered that customer's question? Like so: "Full metal jacket rounds out of a handgun are generally intended for target use, and leave a clean hole in the target. A hollow point round is intended for defense or hunting because upon impact it fills with material from the target and expands to make a larger wound channel and it dumps most of it's kinetic energy into the target giving it a greater chance of stopping a threat or taking the game. Rifles are a different animal, because of their generally much higher velocity which creates a bigger would channel from pure shock". If they understand that they might get "force=weight X velocity^2". Nobody pays for that unless you're related. So I drive a truck.

Chris /rant off/

Post #8..........