I have worked behind 2 gun counters - one in Johannesburg in the 90's and one in Edmonton for a bit. I have often thought of collaborating with others (staff and customers) to compile a humorous little book of 'heard at the gun counter' stories...you could read it on the can...
Some that come to mind:
- guy buying .25-06 ammo for his girlfriends first deer hunt only wanted 75gr loads and vehemently refused to buy 100gr + ammo even when it was explained that the 75gr'ers were vamint bullets. He explained that 120gr .25-06 loads are so slow with such a rainbow trajectory she may as well throw a rock...then stomped out in a huff.
- Guy explaing that Winchester makes a .375H&H lever action and became angry when it was explained that its a .375 Win cartridge which is vastly different.
- .22Hornet is so fast it zips through big game and they dont even know they have been shot.
- 7 'em em' is so flat shooting it actually rises for the first hundred yards even if the barrel is perfectly flat.
- 7 'em em' knocks a moose back about a foot (actually the 7mm RM seems to have a disproportionately higher amount of myths and legends for some reason).
- 3.5" 12ga shells are guaranteed to fold geese at 60 yards plus
- grandpa's old 2 3/4" 870 has been shooting 3" steel just fine thank you, those warnings about shells opening into the forcing cones and high pressures are just a sales pitch to sell another shotgun...
- "Hi I am looking for my first rifle and want to shoot deer at 700 yards" this one is common....
- .30-06 is a great elk/moose round but the .308 is way underpowered.
- .17HMR is the fastest 'round' you can get
- I need a .300 mag for deer but my wife should get a .243 (because deer physiology and anatomy change when shot by different genders).
The list is endless....