A few tales from the work bench...............
44pinshooter
Member Posts: 1,051 ✭✭✭
Been awhile since I shared a few tales from the work bench, so here goes......................
Remember the customer is always right, just not always correct.
Customer brings in 2 shotguns, jammed. The first was a Mossberg Model 500 with a fired 3&1/2 Winchester turkey load in it. Took the barrel off removed the fired shell and them had to unload 2 shells from the magazine tube. The other gun was an older Browning A5, with an unfired 3&1/2 part way into the chamber. Cleared that one. When I return the guns to the customer I asked him if he knew those were 3&1/2 inch shells and could not be used in either gun. He told me that was all the 12 gauge the store had and a12 gauge was a 12 gauge.
Several different kinds of .32 ACP, that would be a semi-auto, jammed with .32 S&W Short cartridges. Sorry, but a .32 ain't any old .32.
A Russian 7.62 X 54R that fired a .32 Winchester Special, that was not pretty.
More later......................
Comments
Really glad to see you're back, and hope to hear more from you...
What toad said
They are out there amongst us.
Many years ago, I went to a pawn shop and looked at a pre 64 model 70 in 257 Roberts. The owner told me it was a 243. Told him it it says 257 Roberts on the barrel. His response was, "It shoots 243s , fired it myself" . After that, I left without saying a word.
you cant fix stupid . and best no try and argue with it
It's amazing how many times in the last year of shortage customers have had to return ammo bought the day before from us because they didn't know what they have.
Oddball stuff like tcm9r mistaken for 9mm
223wssm(actually pulled that from the shelf after the 3rd time it was returned)
Don't get me started on .17s, "if it says 17 on the box somewhere it must be for my 17"
Funny how the 22wrf disappears too whenever there's a shortage.
No longer have the rifle, but as best I could reconstruct at the time, someone rechambered a 6.5 Jap. for .308 Win. and
managed to get a round chambered. Unable to open, or full close, bolt. After a week long barrel soak with WD-40 I was able to force the bolt closed with a 2X4. Tied it to a tree and tied a LONG string to the trigger. Hellacious loud noise and the 2X4 was again needed to lift and open the bolt. Will try to attach photo of case head.
Can you say PRESSSURE? I knew you could. ;-)
p.s. No apparent damage to the Arisaka. Wicked strong action, but no reasonable way to shoot after that. Eventually sold it for parts.
How many of us have been handed an "unloaded" black powder gun to fix.
I once bought a Winchester Model 64 cheaply. The owner "couldn't find any 30 WCF ammo"! I paid him what he asked for it, he refused to listen to the voice of reason.
Had a customer bring in a pump shotgun in a box. He took. it apart to clean it. I assembled it but had two small parts left over. could not find what they belonged to. Guy said must be parts from the other gun he took apart.
Frustrating.
Friend of mine had a "shop" in his basement. Low ceiling, concrete floor, maybe 8' X 12". Very small. Customer brought in a lever 30-30. Went to unload it and off it went. Fortunately round hit a bag of #4 lead shot. Said for a moment he didn't know if what he was hearing was his own guts spilling out on the floor. Turned out to be the shot emptying from the bag onto the concrete. Customer was shown the door.
Was also in a small (not that small) shop when a customers .45 ACP went off. About 12 people in the place and not much room for any more. Miracle that no one was hit. We found where the bullet hit the floor but when I left folks were still trying to find where it ended up.
People make me nervous. (Almost related: Saw a young woman in the auto repair shop yesterday. Had a t-shirt that said,
"Im not shy. I just have a wonderfully strong sense of who's worth talking to."
We had a PITA customer return a .22 AK he had bought a week earlier because it went full auto & he was ejected from a range. The hammer & sear looked like someone attacked them with a rasp. Oh, but he never touched them. Luckily, the distributor took it back. The shop owner wouldn't ban him but I refused to deal with him.