Ok, I have to chime in about Richie's. I have an old 1969 grade I Browning .22lr semi auto rifle that has never liked hollow point ammunition. My dad purchased the rifle new in 1970 so I know the history of my hand me down. Anyway, I called Richie's looking for CCI Mini-Mag FMJ .22lr ammo, not really a big deal since I used to purchase it at Bob's all the time (not a big fan of Brian who worked at Bob's but that's another story). Anyway, I spoke with someone at Richie's (whose named escapes me) and inquired about the ammo explaining my reasons as I did. The guy curtly informed me that my rifle didn’t need FMJ ammunition and the CCI Mini-Mag hollow point .22lr he had in stock would work just fine. I was curious to hear how he came to his conclusion based on my phone call. He informed me that he was a retired “Failure Analysis Engineer” and it was impossible for my rifle’s failure to feed hollow point ammunition to be an ammunition problem. It had to be the rifle. He then explained, in detail, his background and how many times he had seen similar problems on other semi-auto rifles. He had been able to solve everyone’s problem so mine shouldn’t be remarkable. He told me to drop the rifle off and he would take a look at it and let me know what’s wrong with it. To his credit however he did say that he wouldn’t charge me for his service. That was a good thing because I had just finished replacing all the worn parts and knew from knowledge and experience that it just didn’t like hollow point ammunition. Show of hands here, how many of you have a finicky firearm?
Long story short, and his wasn’t a short story, I think I left me ear on the phone that day. He talked, and talked, and talked, and talked. If I hadn’t interrupted him I would have known his life’s story. It doesn’t surprise me to hear that the shop is more of a sewing circle.
You certainly can’t say that he gentleman I spoke with wasn’t overly helpful, just the opposite. Needless to say, I did find my FMJ CCI Mini-Mag .22lr. Thank God I did otherwise I might have just brought my rifle to Richie’s and been trapped in the land of talk your ear off.