Beware the Man with One Gun…

The old line goes “Beware the man with one gun, because he knows how to use it.”  Or something along those lines.  From my experience, that old line is a poor excuse for not buying more guns. The most experienced shooters I know have a ton of guns, and they know how to shoot all of them.

The old duffer that never shoots – he’s the guy that only has one gun and he’s lucky to even know how to load it. Or what Caliber it is in.    I have guys like that come in to the gun shop all the time.  They’re One Gun is an old pitted, rusted up POS and the guy doesn’t even know what it is half the time.  He’ll ask for ammo for it, but wont know what he needs.

We had one old guy that said “Just give me a box of shells.”  When asked what cartridge he needed, he said, “Oh hell, it don’t matter.  My gun shoots all of it.”  And he was actually offended that we asked for clarification.   He ended up buying some .270 Winchester.

I work on a lot of these One Guns a lot too.  Replacing scopes, and cleaning rust out of the rings.  Eons of Neglect and unrealistic expectations go hand in hand with these things.   And then I have to listen to all the whinning about how guns are so expensive now and how that 500 dollar gun now only cost him 125 back when he got it.  No, we don’t have time to explain economics either.

So, yeah… maybe we should all beware of those guys with just one gun.

27 thoughts on “Beware the Man with One Gun…”

  1. Reminds me of the guys who bring the rifle out for deer season, miss the deer, complain about the rifle, scope, weather, sun in their eyes… and put it away till next deer season.
    I enjoy my firearms… all of them.
    big bore, plinkers, revolvers, semi autos, pumps, break actions.
    If I had my way my job would be to burn ammo with them.
    May be part of the reason I want my own gun shop one day.
    I am one of the guys who actually likes talking to the newbies, explaining things… usually.
    Then again… you have to deal with morons who “know more than you” also, who actually are hard pressed to tell the end of the thing to point at the target.

    Jim

  2. I think a good shooter should at least be familiar with the operation and firing of many different guns, Glocks to 1911’s, AR’s to AK’s. They should know how to shoot it all.

    1. Zach, I fully agree.
      I like to think I can pick up almost any weapon I may commonly run across and run it well.
      I am a gun owner, I am a shooter, I am a firearms enthusiast.

      I am a gunny… and not only proud of it… but and happy with my choices in life that lead me there.

      Jim

  3. OK, beware of the man with 3 guns! It seems they’re all I shot last year. No rust or pitting on those 3 or any others for that matter.
    McG.

    1. She is wrong, sorry. I can double fist a few of our guns. So..ya can at least shoot two at a time.

  4. Now the way I heard it, from Bill Jordan, was
    “Beware the man that brings one gun to a shooting match, he probably know how to use it.”
    As for the guy that only owns 1 gun, poor deprived soul.
    Aloha,
    Storyteller

  5. If that story about the guy that came in asking for a box of shells is true, it may be the funniest true story I’ve ever heard. Or at least in a long while. “What caliber would you like?” “Hell, it don’t matter. My gun shoots them all.”

    Classic.

  6. My late father only owned two guns.
    A sporterized 8mm Mauser and a Winchester Model 12. He basically only fired them when they were pointed at game.

    He wasn’t much of a rifle shot but was better than me with a shotgun even though he never practiced.
    Lots of hunting waterfowl in his youth, I think.

    So, beware of the guy with two guns who is holding his shotgun?

  7. *from the gun shop horror files* and this happened at least three times a day in Bemidji, MN.

    Phone rings…
    (local aboriginal) “You’s got any shelllss?”
    (me, looking at WALL O’ AMMO) “Yeah, whatcha need?”
    (l.ab) ‘I neeed some shelllss for my gunnn.”
    (me) “And what caliber do you need for this gun?”
    (l.ab) “I neeed some seven-six-tooo.”

    *facepalm*

    Solidarity, Ogre. Solidarity.

    1. We get that all the time. We also get AK’s with .308’s jammed in them. And .308’s with x39’s jammed in them. Its crazy.

  8. My favs from my prior gunshop employee days were the caliber queers. Every saturday I would end up with the guy that wanted to compare obscure and unused calibers for an hour. What these idiots never understood was that a given caliber “could” be a light or heavy load. For instance weak 10mm vs hot 40sw. Tiresome.

  9. Gunshop emplyees are very much idiots also. Like the idiot at Coal Creek Firearms in knoxville that tells people he was a SEAL in vietnam and was issued a glock 17…….in 1966.

    1. I wouldn’t even be polite about that level of BS. I’d call him out of it and yell at the Manager and point to this guy and ask how he was hired.

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