{"id":24,"date":"2014-08-11T15:14:20","date_gmt":"2014-08-11T15:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.the-armory.com\/blog\/?p=24"},"modified":"2014-08-26T12:10:50","modified_gmt":"2014-08-26T16:10:50","slug":"times-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.the-armory.com\/blog\/times-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Times Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

Times change. \u00a0I started working at the Armory in August 1999, mostly because I liked guns, was single, had free evenings during the week days, and the store’s hours on weekends still fit in with my lifestyle and the store was flexible with my hours whenever I had to go out to sea (or in later years, move overseas and deploy). \u00a0As time moved on, I picked up a little IPSC shooting and Service Match (I competed in college and strayed for a few years). \u00a0Somehow I’ve spent more time deployed to deserts in the Navy than deployed on ships and add in a family and the time to shoot and my consistency working in the front of the store has definitely shrunk. \u00a0Three more years and I will finally transitionfrom full-time Sailor to full-time gun junkie. Click READ MORE for the rest.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

With lots of free time in the evenings during SHOT Show 2001 in New Orleans, I started populating content on the original website. \u00a0We could not have predicted how much of Pandora’s box we were opening at the time, but it is undeniable how much the internet has changed business in such a short amount of time. \u00a0The vision at the time was a niche: \u00a0“your friendly neighborhood gunshop on the internet”. \u00a0It was a place where if you wanted to order a single pack of Hoppe’s cleaning patches, Butch’s Bore Shine and a box of Federal Hydra-Shok along with some milsurp ammo, you could do it. \u00a0We used to fill orders in the retail store during the slow periods during the day. \u00a0As time moved on and our popularity grew (of course, I was living in Japan at the time and only caught a grumpy earful from everyone when I called home), our small store (only 400 square feet of retail space back then) was just too small and we grew into a full-time warehouse crew just to cover the internet orders. \u00a0Many thanks (or for the Hawaii Ohana from my time out there: Much Mahalo) to our customers over the years who shopped with us both in the store and on the internet and spread the word to their friends. \u00a0We are still very much the same mom and pop store that we started out as.<\/p>\n

Other than time marching on, how have things changed at the shop? \u00a0Now with truly skilled young guys like Pat and Ron working on the website, The Armory website will finally get a chance to mature into something more user friendly and helpful while still keeping the sharp prices customers have come to expect. \u00a0Plus you get to hear from me on our blog from time to time (soon to be from exotic Saudi Arabia). \u00a0Many of the old faces are still around as well. \u00a0The number of employees have grown, but so have our families–as a family business, there’s about a 50\/50 chance someone you talk to at the store is related to someone else working at the store. \u00a0We are family-friendly so please don’t feel the need to leave the family at home. \u00a0We remain a pro-military shop in a military-town. \u00a0Mostly Navy vets, you’ll find Ralph, Bill, Dave, Mo, Mary and Ernie, but you also find representation from the other services. \u00a0After serving in the Navy, Ernie dedicated some hard years to the Virginia National Guard, deploying to Iraq. \u00a0Steve served in Marine Corps. \u00a0For Tim out there serving in the Marines: \u00a0we still have your job waiting for you whenever you get back to town!<\/p>\n

Our families have changed as well. \u00a0I went from the energetic single Sailor to getting married to a feisty Thai woman when I was in Japan. \u00a0This weekend was probably one of the most enjoyable in my days as a father as we grasp those fleeting moments before I head to Saudi Arabia for a year. \u00a0After a grueling Saturday at Busch Gardens (they do a great service for military families in providing up to four free daily tickets per year), we spent Sunday at a friend’s farm and my soon to be five year old daughter, fired her first rounds. \u00a0She was a little intimidated at first and didn’t want to shoot the .22 pistol (an old High Standard I found used at a gun shop in Poulsbo, Washington). \u00a0She just wanted to sit in daddy’s lap while daddy was shooting. \u00a0Then she went away and played with horses for a while and came back when the rifles were out. \u00a0It wasn’t the GSG-522 or the Beretta ARX-160 .22s that she wanted to shoot, it was my friend’s black-synthetic stock, stainless steel Crickett single-shot rifle. \u00a0The stock was still too long for her, so she couldn’t even get her head down low enough to use the sights properly and I had to aim from over her head (poorly at that since I only managed to hit a paper plate from 50 ft just once, but the worms were sure scared!). \u00a0But she figured out how to work the bolt and squeeze the trigger (still not strong enough to cock it). \u00a0What really made me proud was that she knows and remembers to only handle a firearm when daddy is with her. \u00a0Whether she sticks with guns in the long run, only time will tell, but for now, the tradition is getting passed on: \u00a0first to my wife who never shot before me and now loves her 20 gauge SIGARMS Aurora TR-20 (discontinued, but it’s a good looking gun) and more often that I would like to admit, has beaten me on the sporting clays range (I’d say I am probably handicapping myself with a 16 gauge pre-World War II Belgian Browning Auto-5, but she’s shooting a 20-gauge). \u00a0Perhaps four years old was a little young for my daughter to learn to shoot, but it was getting to be time. \u00a0She spends lots of time around the shop and she’s starting to get curious and wants to play with toy guns. \u00a0While most of my guns are not accessible to my children, those that could be are either my carry guns (usually a Walther P99 in .40 S&W and a Kel-Tec P3AT while are holstered), or my nightstand gun (an H&K P7M8). \u00a0As time goes on, the nightstand option will probably change into a digital keypad safe, but for now, my daughter still can’t squeeze-cock the P7 and my son is even farther behind.<\/p>\n

Watching my daughter smile with her first shots made me reflect back to when I first learned to shoot. \u00a0I started “hunting” yellow jackets with a Crossman BB pistol when I was ten years old and we just moved to Clearlake, California (rural) from Santa Rosa, California (suburban). \u00a0Going from an apartment to running around on a acre (and several acres in the walnut orchard behind us and the field across the dirt road) was big change for me and the yellow jackets at the spigot became my nemeses. \u00a0I heard tales of my dad and his first cousin growing up and shooting and despite my mother’s objections, I wanted a real gun. \u00a0The Christmas after I turned 13 was met with a Marlin Model 600 (the “golden” edition Model 60) and 500 rounds of CCI Mini-Mags. \u00a0I still have Marlin to this day. \u00a0My first time at the range was with my Dad and his cousin Roy and I couldn’t even hit a five-gallon bucket from 25 yards. \u00a0It was frustrating. \u00a0Eventually Roy let me try out his Luger he won in a poker game when he was flying with the Marines during World War II along with every thing else in his collection. \u00a0The bug had bitten at that point and my lifelong pursuit of firearms began. \u00a0My 16th birthday present was a left-handed Remington 700 BDL (still have it) in .30-06 and Christmas that year was a Sears\/Boitto 12-gauge Over\/Under (while I had it for many years, I didn’t shot it for many years since it was fixed chokes and heavy for a shotgun, so I sold it to someone more deserving who would appreciate it a little more). \u00a0It’s hard to believe how much times have changed–I kept my semi-automatic .22 rifle in a case under my bed from the time I was 13 until I could later afford and had the seasoned wisdom to want a safe. \u00a0In my high school, you knew who was going hunting after school by those who had rifles in the gun rack. \u00a0Guns weren’t unusual or out of the norm. \u00a0Hopefully, my children will grow up to both respect firearms and also understand that they are perfectly “normal” tools used by people and normal to have around.<\/p>\n

Today, I will be taking a new shooter to the range. \u00a0First I’ll size her up for something that she might like and then she’ll try out some pistols and revolvers in different calibers to get a feel for what works for her. \u00a0She’s not the “normal” profile shooter–single mom and one of my wife’s Thai friends. \u00a0Her boyfriend is leaving for deployment and she wants something to protect her and her children both at home and while carrying out and about.<\/p>\n

So plenty to discuss on my mind today:<\/p>\n

– What was your first shooting experience?<\/p>\n

– How did you and how old were your children when they learned to shoot?<\/p>\n

– What were your first guns?<\/p>\n

– Have you noticed how things have changed?<\/p>\n

– What have you done to promote the tradition<\/p>\n

–have you made any new shooters\/gun owners?<\/p>\n

– What’s on your mind?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Times change. \u00a0I started working at the Armory in August 1999, mostly because I liked guns, was single, had free evenings during the week days, and the store’s hours on weekends still fit in with my lifestyle and the store was flexible with my hours whenever I had to go out to sea (or in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[45,44,69,57,70,71,56,73,51,50,72,37,8,24,42,55,43,54,33,63,38,49,31,75,76,41,25,60,46,35,74,32,34,26,58,65,36,64,66,27,40,79,78,59,61,30,47,67,68,48,62,28,23,77,53,52,39,29],"class_list":["post-24","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-45","tag-22-lr","tag-30-06","tag-40-sw","tag-12-gauge","tag-12ga","tag-16-gauge","tag-16ga","tag-20-gauge","tag-20-ga","tag-20ga","tag-ammo","tag-ammunition","tag-armory","tag-arx-160","tag-auto-5","tag-beretta","tag-browning","tag-butchs-bore-shine","tag-cci","tag-cleaning-patches","tag-crickett","tag-federal","tag-firearm","tag-firearms","tag-gsg-522","tag-guns","tag-hk","tag-high-standard","tag-hoppes","tag-hunting","tag-hydra-shok","tag-internet","tag-ipsc","tag-kel-tec","tag-marlin","tag-milsurp","tag-mini-mag","tag-model-60","tag-national-match","tag-navy","tag-ou","tag-over-under","tag-p3at","tag-p7m8","tag-p99","tag-pistol","tag-remington","tag-remington-700","tag-rifle","tag-safe","tag-service-match","tag-shot-show","tag-shotgun","tag-sig","tag-sigarms","tag-veteran-owned","tag-walther"],"yoast_head":"\nTimes Change - 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