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That time a customer brought in a 'muzzleloader' that was just a piece of pipe and a nail
Guy walks into my shop in Boise last Tuesday with this rusty piece of 3/4 inch pipe and a bent nail, swears it's his grandpa's old flintlock. He wanted me to 'restore' it and make it fire. I had to keep a straight face while explaining the whole thing was just scrap metal, not a gun. The best part was he got mad and said, 'Well, it worked in 1972!' I ended up showing him a real percussion cap rifle from the back to compare. Has anyone else had a client bring in something so wild they thought it was a real firearm?
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tarahall1mo ago
My uncle had a similar piece of junk pipe he called a shotgun, and I believed him for years. I was a kid and just took his word for it. Then I started working at a range and saw what real black powder guns look and feel like. It totally changed how I see those old family stories. Now I get why you had to show him a real one, some folks just have no frame of reference. That 1972 line is amazing though, like what even happened that year with a pipe and a nail.
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the_alice1mo ago
Wait, what did he say happened in 1972? @tarahall
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angela_patel751mo ago
Honestly, I get the point but maybe it's not that deep. People tell tall tales all the time, especially about old junk in the garage. Like young.thomas said, stories stick, but they're just stories. The 1972 thing is probably some half-remembered bit of family gossip that got blown up. Most folks aren't trying to lie, they just repeat what they heard. I doubt there's some big secret event with a pipe and a nail.
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