Have you ever noticed in gun stores that people always want to open the box to look at the ammo? I don't get it, and yet I've caught myself doing it too on a few occasions.
They'll open the box, slide out the tray, and hold up that round of Winchester White Box 9mm FMJ and scrutinize it briefly, as though it were going to be somehow different from every other round of 9x19 FMJ on the planet. Then, the round having apparently passed inspection for its forty-nine siblings still in the box, it is returned to the tray with a satisfied grunt, and the box is closed and purchased.
The steps seem as formalized as a Japanese tea ceremony, and I've always found this particular little behavioral tic fascinating...
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Guilty. Found myself doing it last Saturday in fact. Now that the total absurdity has been pointed out to me, I might just stop ... 'least for a while...
I've done that too, and still do.
Partly as an instinctive quality control thing (as if we had X-ray vision to see through brass!), but there's also some of the "Wow! Just think what I can do with this baby!" kind of thinking.
I'm sure that psychologists, amateur and otherwise, have a $20.00 word for it.
I thought I did it because I've bought "mislabeled" ammunition before, twice.
Oddly enough, both times the right caliber and headstamp, but ball instead of hp.
For WWB? What are they expecting to find?
I've done it with high-dollar JHP ammo only because if I'm going to dropping $0.50-$1.10 per round, I'd like to make sure it looks the part boasted on the box.
Plus those nifty JHPs look damn cool with their various cavity size and construction, as well as the etched jackets and such.
Guilty too. I've even seen the guy or gal behind the counter do it too.
Funny 'cause it's true.
If we are selling ammo at a funshow, we leave one box of each flavor open with the tray slid out a little, so folks can do the "inspection" thing. Saves mangled cardboard boxes.
For myself, I think it goes back to when I was a noob, & didn't know a FMJ from a HPLSWC; I just had to look to see if it was the one that looked like the one I liked...
Sometimes my brain just doesn't process LSPSWCWEPTSPPASD@PSDFAPDAP and I have to open the damn box to see what the bullet's made out of...
Given that I bought a box of what I thought was 500 rounds of remington 5.56 from your former employer and opened the box several months later to discover it was loaded with .303 British, I do that now too. It was OK because I had just got the Enfield.
-SayUncle
How about the wierdos at guns shows that smell surplus ammo?
Shootin' Buddy
This practice began in the 1980s when President Reagan told Boris we wanted to peek at his supposedly demilled missle sites.
Not that he thought for even a single second that Russians would fib. The Gipper just said it was a good idea to "trust but verify," and we pioneer gunners went along.
That's also the reason you'll see mature gentlemen at gun shows placing guns at their noses and inhaling deeply. They're checking for cold blue, no matter how nicely the dealer smiles.
If I had did that before I left the little gun shop on Alcoa hiway last year I would not have had a box of .38 special +p to give a friend who had just bought a S&W 642.I asked for some Super.38 Auto for my Colt and did not realize what the guy had put on the counter until I got home.
Couple of schools of thought on that one, SB. Some guys do it to see if Mao tse Tung personally peed on the rounds. Me, I do it to check for cold blue. :)
Hey now, different bullets have a different shape (even basic FMJ displays some variances) and that might affect how the round feeds into the weapon.
That's my excuse at least, and I'm sticking to it. :)
Wouldn't be the first person to open a box of JHP and get FMJ. But mostly it's the cigarette pack slapping dance for gunnies.
I do that. Maybe not at Wally World when buying WWB because that is glued shut, but at my local gun store, I always open the box. Never thought about it, but your post made me laugh.
When I worked at a range I would see it all the time.
Some look to learn.
Some look to verify.
Most secretly searching for the mythical Magic Bullet.
I'm looking for the fabled bullet with my name on it.
Gerry
I do it all the time, BUT it's with my own RELOADED ammo. "What the Hell is this S**T?"
All The Best,
Frank W. James
I do it, but for two real reasons (at least, that's what I tell myself).
One, I'm making sure that I'm getting all fifty (or twenty, or whatever is supposed to be in the box) and,
Two, I'm visually verifying that my box of 50 .45ACP is really .45 ACP, not GAP or LC, or .40 S&W or whatever. (Yeah, I know that the boxes are completely different sizes because the rounds are different sizes, but that's my story and I'm sticking with it.)
Besides, there's just something about the way the cartridges look in their neat little plastic tray.
That said, I've never opened a box I didn't buy. If I've gone so far as to open it, it's because I intend to buy it.
I take a look at everything the first time I'm buying, but after that I just make sure the box is labled correctly. Never had the experienceof right lable and wrong ammo, but I did ask for .223 at Walmart one time and was handed 7.62X39. The boxes looked exactly the same. Traded it off to a friend with an SKS and have checked the lables religiously ever since.
I do it on ammo for guns that I don't even own. I'll open a box of .243 and wonder, "Is that it?" or ooooh and aaah at the 458 BigStick.
I do it to verify all the rounds are there.
I do that at one of my local dealers as he has the bad habit of borrowing a round to show somebody and forgeting to replace it,with him you always make sure the seal is unbroken on Powder as well.
People steal single rounds out of boxes. I inspect to be sure their are 50 in that box, and not 47.
Guilty!
I got a box of .38 Spl. for Christmas last year. The label says "Lead SWC" but the boolits are a truncated cone.
I didn't look the gift horse in the mouth.
Jon B.
If you shoot a lot of furrin' surplus, I personally think it a good idea to scrutinize the living Hell out of everything you might be considering for purchase.
That said, I think you are correct, it's a tea ceremony thing.
It's just pretty to look at. Sort of like a teenager picking up a "gentleman magazine" and opening it to the centerfold first off.
My local fun shop has a sign on their ammo shelves, "Please do not open boxes. Any box damaged by you will be purchased by you."
The sales staff is plenty happy to open any box for you though.
Tam,
Checking for corrosion or spills (the dreaded Pepsi Syndrome - I still see Gerrit Morris sweeping up around the nuclear plant, on SNL) as well as irregularities in the brass just make sense. Sometimes Stuff Happens. It makes sense to know that the rounds aren't deformed or crudded up.
Plus, there is the pleasure of looking at well made tools, and the smell of just-from-the-box rounds. Checking the box is a guilty little visceral preview of when you open it for effect, to load mags or firearm for some shooting. You are doing a gut-check, that using this box of ammo will work "right" in the gun and on the range you envision.
Opening the box of ammo to check it... that's almost as crazy as buying a $700 handgun model you've never tried shooting prior to purchase. :-)
Yeah, we have customers do that all the time. Mostly I think they're checking to make sure they got JHP or SWC or FMJ or whatever it is they're trying to buy.
We sell a lot of Wolf ammo, and most ranges (even the outdoor ranges) won't allow FMJ rifle ammo, so customers buy the Wolf HP (which some ranges still won't allow because of the bimetal jacket).
Problem is, the boxes look almost exactly the same, and we've had more than one customer get the wrong box and try to return the box - and ammunition is non-returnable.
I think the non-returnable aspect is the main reason people look. I know if I'm going to buy something and once that cash is on the barrel head it's a done deal, I'm certainly going to look at whatever it is I'm purchasing.
All of our local shops have neatly printed little signs requesting that you don't do this very thing...
I just check and double check the label very carefully.
I don't do it at my "regular" stores, but when buying at gun shows, or stores I haven't been to before - always. Checking for:
- all rounds are there
- correct caliber
- same brass on all rounds
(all - things I've run into before)
Once failed to partake in the time honored ammo examination ritual.
I was shorted 5 rounds.
I open the ammo box to make sure it looks full and is not mislabeled. I also check each and every egg in an egg carton atthe grocery store.
My favorite gun shop does the checking for you because they somehow managed to sell one customer a box that was missing several rounds. They still aren't sure of exactly how that happened, but they decided to start checking every box that goes out the door in order to be sure that it doesn't happen again.
I do this occasionally. If I'm buying, say, S&B FMJ just to plink on the range at then no, I don't. But sometimes I open the box to see if it's the right bullet type (FMJ vs. JHP or something). If I'm buying something labeled as "M855" or "SS109" I want to see green paint on the bullet.
If I'm buying surplus and the lot numbers don't specify the year, sometimes I'll look for it. Also whether it's NATO brass or not, L.C. or not.
I don't do it with WWB.
gvi
WV: aneonos, n. the name for the box-checking phenomenon
Iz checkin fer gremlinz. none? KTHXBYE.
Really, I got a box of Blazers awhile ago, and found several of the rounds were seated waaay deep in the case. If I had shot them through my 1911, there could have been trouble. Since then, I always try to spot check my ammo. Also, I've come across a box or two with missing rounds. Now case lots are another story...
WV: waker - n. a person holding an inflated paper bag over a sleeper's head.
I can honestly say that I have NEVER opened a box in the store. I generally shop at smaller stores, so I feel safe and fine with their products. When I do check the local Meijer for ammo, though, it's generally pretty bad. They've currently got about 15 boxes of "Target Grade 9mm FMJ 50rds" for $25, and EVERY single box has been opened and taped back shut. No one ever buys them. The .25ACP, .40S&W, .44Mag and .38SPL are never open.
I've never done it. I don't think I've ever SEEN anyone do it.
Maybe an east coast thing?
I did that at our local shop a few weeks ago. The manager asked what I was looking for. I told her "making sure none of the shells are cracked."
Then three days later she walked around the end aisle in the grocery store and caught me checking out a dozen eggs. She smiled and asked if there were any cracked ones? With as straight a face as possible I replied "just making sure they are all FMJs" and I walked way.
I've seen gunshops put up signs asking the customers to please stop opening the ammo boxes.
Do you want to buy ammo that some clod off the street has fondled?
I'll do it sometimes. If it is a caliber I have never seen before, I'll open the box and see what the round looks like. The only other time I do it is when I am buying for an existing caliber, but from a manufacturer I have never bought before, for example Privi Partisan started making 30 Mauser and before buying some, I opened the box to see if they looked decent.
Who doesn't like to look at ammo?
I only buy "pretty" tap ammo.
"But Officer, I shot him with the pretty ammo."
Every time I see someone doing it, I have to supress the urge to say "At there's a boolit!"
Sometimes I don't supress it well enough.
WV: Exalotl: The type of gilled fish often found in partially opened ammo boxes.
So far, I've found a damaged box of Remington .44 Magnum JHPs (water/corrosion damage), 19 instead of 20 in a box of .300 H&H, crushed/setback 9x19 Remington FMJ, and a mix and match of three different manufacturer's head stamps in a box of Remington .25 ACP. All of the boxes looked pristine, and the Remington boxes were all glued shut, except for the .25 ACP - the gun shop had bought a used box off of some guy (!!!). This is why I open and check.
I open the ammo box to make sure it looks full and is not mislabeled. I also check each and every egg in an egg carton atthe grocery store.
This.
I open the ammo box to make sure it looks full and is not mislabeled. I also check each and every egg in an egg carton atthe grocery store.
Thirded.
Never seen this particular custom you speak of, but it would not surprise me...
I open my egg crate as I've found some of those damaged. I never open an ammo box before I purchase it. The only exception is if I'm faced with a new to me hollowpoint, somehow I feel like if I inspect it, I'll be able to tell how well it'll work. "Ah, that right there will expand nicely.."
Once I bought a box of 9mm w/o checking it - supposed to be nickle plated, according to the bimbo behind the counter.
It was Blazer - aluminum trash.
Rats. No wonder the price was so good.
If I want to crack a box of ammo, I'm intending on buying it. Besides checking the label carefully, pulling a random round for a spot check allows me a second chance to notice I might have misread the label. I also like to verify that everything looks consistent and clean.
I also check my eggs as well.
So here i am, at a local shooting range in Richmond, VA. I finally get a chance to shoot my very first Springfield XD subcompact. A 9mm. this is important.
the guy behind the counter hands me the gun in its basket, a box of ammo, and the large mag. i ask him for the shortie mag, the 10 rounder, so i can shoot it in its carry configuration. no problem.
off to my lane i skip. target hung, mag out, and for some reason i can't get 10 rounds into the mag. "well," says i, "maybe my fingers aren't as strong as i thought." so i load the mag, press on the slide release, and the gun fails to go into battery. in fact, no matter how hard i pounded on the back of the slide, it wouldn't close.
as i was unloading the mag to take the whole thing back to the counter i noticed that while the gun was 9mm, the ammo was .40SW.
sure, he was a moron for handing me the wrong ammo, but it was me standing out on the line banging the back of the slide trying to force .40 to fit into 9mm.
i pay more attention to ammo these days.
I think half your readers misunderstood your point. I do it, and it feels good...........
I was doing this at a gunshow whereupon I was scolded. I think if someone took my picture I would have looked like a 4 year old that has been told he's bad. So with a tear running down my cheek and a sniffle I slinked away.
I recently saw a new brand of ammo, RWS 9mm, I would really like to open a box and give it the magnet test.
There's a big, 16 point buck running around central MO right now because someone didn't check that box of Remington Core-Lokt .30-06 from Wal-Mart. There were 4 rounds of .270 in the box, and two of the .30-06 in the box had crushed brass from bullet seating that looked like that .308 Indian surplus ammo from a few years back.
Pop (miss) jam, clear, pop (miss) jam, clear, jam - stuck.
Well, I did once sell a guy a Ruger P90 and threw in a free box of ammo to close the deal.
He appreciated the freebie, but not so much the trip six miles out to the range only to find a box of empty brass.
Yes, I should have not had the returned brass near the full boxes, and I should have noticed the weight difference. Point being, though, if he didn't have the open-and-check habit when buying ammo before, he probably did afterward. I know I started doing it on the selling end of the transaction.
AT
wv: outid
I was a closet ammo checker before, but now Tam has outid me.
Hell, I do the same with every dozen eggs I buy at the grocery store, too.
I buy my carry ammo, but as a hard-core reloader I want the stuff in the box to look as good as, if not better than, the stuff I make in my garage. So yeah, I'll open the box and look at the rounds, too.
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