Guns & Outdoors Forum

Not been here much or at all actually in a while. Kind of retired since chronic inflamatio in my wrist means I can't drive a mouse 8 or more hours a day any longer. So SS it is but I took a job at cabelas selling guns a few months back. More on that in a minute but those of you who have been thru huntsville before to go to the SE shoot, we have experienced rapid uncontrolled growth in the last couple of years. You wouldn't recognize the place. Houses and apartments and fast food places everywhere. I hate it. This used to be a medium sized town with a small town feel. Now it's Atlanta without the infrastructure.

Anyhow, I've learned a lot about people lately. Mostly they have to much money. You can't hunt deer in Alabama and shoot more than a couple hundred yards without trees. But people buy $2-3000 scopes with 56 mm objective so they can hunt til the last min of light. With guns meant to shoot much further then possible unless you hunt cleared land. But hey, it's their money. We have so many from CA moving here I'm affraid they'll bring their politics with them. But many are exercising their rights for the first time. They are in awe of what they can buy and leave with in 30 minutes. We are the only cabelas in a hundred mile radius so we get a lot of TN, Ms, GA and FL people coming in, especially this time of year. Black Friday was pure carnage, for 12 hours. 2.5 hour wait to get to gun counter. We sold like 300 guns. Our inventory is way low but coming back. Couple that with deer, dove and turkey seasons and some ammo is hard to come by. No two transactions seem to be the same. Some people are not to bright. They come in with an invalid license and admit it is not their address and moved a year ago. Sorry, can't sell you a gun. Get your stuff together and come back. Or at least lie. We won't know the difference. FBI might but not us. Lots self prohibit by admitting to smoking pot or something else that disqualifies them. It's an adventure for every customer.

Sorry for the long post but it's been a while.

Happy holidays to you all.

Welcome the world of working with the public ,
Glad to hear you have access to cheap guns

Sounds like a ton of fun…. I did a stint behind the counter at Gander Mountain years back. Damn, it was impossible to not laugh at times.

I worked/work limited hours at a LGS. Gotta live them holidays! Kaching!

Welcome back.

Thanks, trying to catch up some on posts. In my unscientific observation, it seems we sell more sig P365s then other pistols. More savages in rifles. Shotguns are all over but lately Winchesters cause they were on sale. 0f course 9 mm rules, 12 ga and 20 during dove season. Rifles are varied. Lots of 6.5 Creedmoor probably 30.06 next. Surprisingly .270 is up there. People ask about 30-30 but we rarely have them. We could sell lots of youth long guns if we had them. Christmas presents. Surprised we carry very few revolver. A few airweights. An occasional snake gun that doesn't last long. A few single actions and black powders. We got a bunch of marlin 1895s in 45-70 and they sold out in a couple days. Nice guns. The 1984 is coming out next in .357. Lots of tactical shotguns going out the door also.

Welcome back- sorry to hear about the wrist thing. Does it affect your shooting?

After dealing with the general public, I feel you about retail. I don’t think I could sell guns without calling someone a moron in short order

Ah yes. . .working the counter at the LGS. I did my stint.

"I used to live in a two-room apartment
Neighbors knocking on my wall
Times were hard - I don't wanna knock it
I don't miss it much at all" - Tom Petty, The Apartment Song

I loved my time behind the counter. It was fun educating the public and helping new shooters pick the right firearms, ammo and accessories. Had a lot of repeat business and a lot of referrals from folks asking for me by name, that always feels good.

I think my most irritating issue were the husbands/boyfriends trying to strongarm new women shooters into buying what THEY thought the lady should buy. I tried my best to politely educate them too while I dispelled a lot of myths about firearms with factual information, but I had more than one woman ask their guy to walk away in a not so pleasant manner.

bullsi1911 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 01, 2023 2:59 pm Welcome back- sorry to hear about the wrist thing. Does it affect your shooting?

After dealing with the general public, I feel you about retail. I don’t think I could sell guns without calling someone a moron in short order

Yea it affects shooting. Especially when it rains, I lose all strength in it. I'm really surprised I can rack guns all day but I wear a brace on it to keep from twisting it which hurts the most. I've tried a couple of matches and I'm so slow now it's embarrassing. So occasionall plinking is it anymore.

There is a company in Huntsville that has been passively trying to recruit me for the past 18 months.

I’ve been thinking about it

I would advise against it. Uncontrolled growth has ruined this area. Politicians don't care, their pockets are getting full. Roads are packed, houses are 300k and up for a 1200 Sq ft house on a 1/4 acre. Taxes have doubled, bidenomics has hit hard. Apartment complexes everywhere, 16, 1700 dollars for a 1 bedroom. Way to many californians moving in. Next city over actually elected a Democrat recently. Usually none even on the ballots.

Edit to add crime is on the rise also.

So I went to a different dr and xrays showed major amounts of inflamation and bone loss due to arthritis. Not even enough bone to fuse the wrist. He operated, cleaned it up. It's better put still painful on the side. It swells over the course of the day. Therapy has helped with range of motion but I think it's maxed out now, around 50%. Strength has improved but it's only 16% of nominal. Haven't shot since surgery. Popped off one round o5 .45 when working at range, was not to bad. Not sure if it could take full house 10mm, not anxious to try. I can rack every gun we sell now pretty easily. Used to have trouble with CZ shadow 2 and a few others so I guess it's helped some.

Went thru the Northern part of Huntsville a couple weeks ago. We were on the way to Gatlinburg. It certainly has grown.

Bamaak wrote: ↑Thu Jun 06, 2024 5:21 pm So I went to a different dr and xrays showed major amounts of inflamation and bone loss due to arthritis. Not even enough bone to fuse the wrist. He operated, cleaned it up. It's better put still painful on the side. It swells over the course of the day. Therapy has helped with range of motion but I think it's maxed out now, around 50%. Strength has improved but it's only 16% of nominal. Haven't shot since surgery. Popped off one round o5 .45 when working at range, was not to bad. Not sure if it could take full house 10mm, not anxious to try. I can rack every gun we sell now pretty easily. Used to have trouble with CZ shadow 2 and a few others so I guess it's helped some.

Glad to see some improvement. Bet that helps your spirits some.

Thanks for the update, glad you've had some improvement. Sorry for the mess building up in your area. Seems to be everywhere.

I'm very glad to hear you have improvement. Keep posting here we aren't so busy as to make it challenging, and we enjoy knowledgeable folks. Arthritis is having its way with me and I have vowed to put up a good fight! All my life I thought Snap, Crackle, Pop was a cereal. My eyesight is also changing, I will adapt to scoped rifles and shotguns with red dots, I will shoot my 22s a lot more, and put a red dot on my Ruger MKII, but I refuse to grow up, I mean give up.

Getting old ain’t for puh-sees. I ain’t old yet, but I’m feeling it. Arthritis is starting in my hands. I’m sure it’s gonna spread everywhere. Hopefully I die before I get all gimped up and unable to function. I won’t go to a nursing home, that’s a promise.

Wambli Ska wrote: ↑Thu Jun 06, 2024 9:13 pm Thanks for the update, glad you've had some improvement. Sorry for the mess building up in your area. Seems to be everywhere.

They are never going to sell/rent everything they have built. Real estate conglomerates will buy them up and drive prices down so they can make a profit. All our farms are almost gone. But mfr has moved in. Yea lots of jobs I can't do, but with rapid growth comes lots of problems.

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Glad to see some improvement. Bet that helps your spirits some.
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Makes life less challenging. Right hand was at times useless. Not so much of that anymore. Rain still hurts, maybe I should move to the desert.