(Warning, two relatively long stories, please be advised.)
I have a couple of stories, one funny and one not so funny. I just did a PPT at Triggernomics there not long ago. I used to work at the O'Reilly's down the street for a bit during HS and also when Triggernomics used to be American Gun Works, I had a malfunction with my then newly acquired M1 Garand. My M1 Garand was my first long gun semi auto centerfire rifle I ever got and I had just picked up the damn rifle from the FFL the day before after waiting ten days and was messing around with it when I decided in my then very finite wisdom (I've since never done this and never will I do this again and this was before I knew about snap caps btw) to load a fully loaded enbloc clip of 8 rounds of 30-06 Springfield to make a short video with the ping. Well, I get the rounds loaded but I must've put too much upwards pressure on the op rod because low and behold I get an Op-Rod Dismount! Basically I loaded the rifle almost correctly but when I locked the bolt back to the rear via the charging handle, I pulled the charging handle too far and upwards and got it basically out of its track. So I had a rifle that was fully loaded with 8 rounds of 30-06, its my first rifle ever, I can't get the rounds or the clip out so what do I do you may ask?
Welp, I started calling around to gunsmiths, almost everyone was backed up and said they had six weeks of backed up requests, while I'm calling around I'm disassembling the rifle slowly to try and see if I can get the rounds out myself thanks to a few awesome redditors when I had posted a help request on the /r/M1Rifles subreddit and I had managed to actually get one round out but I couldn't get the rest out. So I come across American Gun Works on Google and I call them and a very nice lady answers the phone and I frantically explain my situation and she tells me straight up, "Bring that damn rifle over here now and don't get pulled over by any cops, drive really slow!" Lol, so I go over there and I have it in its case and everything and she inspects it and calls the gunsmith over and he takes it away and while I'm sitting there they're all looking at me like I'm some dumb idiot who doesn't deserve that rifle (they were right and knowing me now, I would've done the same in their shoes) and eventually the gunsmith comes back with the rifle all fixed up and basically he showed me how to properly load it and not just with the blade of your hand but also make sure to pull the charging handle back overhanded, not underhanded. He basically explained to me that what happened to me was a freak incident where I basically put too much upwards pressure on the charging handle and oprod and basically caused an op rod dismount that would normally happen when the rifle is partially disassembled. So yeah ever since then I haven't had one incident with my M1 Garand, I've never replicated the problem and I even tried to once replicate it with a gunsmith in the room to no avail so it really was just a freak incident.
The other story was I was looking for an M1903A1 or M1903A3 Springfield Rifle. I wanted one specifically with a Type C Stock and I didn't much care for manufacturer or year as long as it was a high serial number and a C stock. So I go looking around Burbank, I go to Burbank Ammo and Guns and check their consignment out, nothing. I go to Gun World and check out their consignment, nothing. I go to Guns Direct, I go to Gun Gallery. I go to Turners. Nothing from any of them. Not even a regular 1903. Just nothing. So I said the last place I haven't checked was American Gun Works who specialized in American Firearm C&R. So I go over there and I ask if they have a 1903 Springfield Rifle with a Type C stock for sale. The guy behind the counters eyes just widen and he has this like wide grin and says, "hold on one second, I want to show you something." So he goes and he comes back after a couple of minutes and he shows me this beautiful Remington M1903 Springfield Rifle with the exact stock I'm looking for, making it a M1903A1 rifle. I ask him how much and he explains that it's his neighbor's rifle and he's trying to find a buyer for him and so he told me to give him my phone number and we'll agree on a date and a price later on. So I get a text from him the next day telling me the price and the date and so I go in and I give the old guy (guy is like in his 80s) the money and we do the DROS and that's that. But I just thought it was funny that both times, the place provided exactly what I was looking for in every way, shape, and form.
Sorry for the long stories, just wanted to share my two wild experiences with American Gun Works, now Triggernomics. (I miss the inside interior of American Gun Works, goddamn it was so cozy in there. It kinda looked like a bar from the outside too. The new store, Triggernomic's inside interior is very modern, futuristic, and sleek.)
