Business & Tech
The Zen of Shooting a Buffalo Rifle
Robert Weaver, owner of the Old West Gun Room in El Cerrito, can tell you everything you need to know about guns – in a peaceful, no-nonsense way.
Name: Robert Weaver
Age: 55
Occupation: Owner of the
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How did you inherit this shop? I bought it from the second owner, Dave Cumberland, who bought it from George Repaire, who started in 1953 down where the El Cerrito Lumber building is.
It’s been around for a while, then? The business has. I bought it in 1984.
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When did the store move to this location? 1969. That was before I was here. I worked in San Francisco for the San Francisco Gun Exchange and I heard that they wanted somebody here. I came over, worked for him for six years and then bought it.
Were guns an interest or a hobby for you? Ever since I was a kid I kind of got wound up in that. My father owned some guns and we shot as kids… we never hunted, he wasn’t a hunter.
The bottles on the fence? Cans, so we could pick them up and not litter.
What’s a day in the life now? It’s what gets me out of bed. You never know what might walk through the door. Since I do sell new guns I have a certain regular inventory, but I’ll buy used guns. You never know what someone’s going to walk in with, which is really what makes it exciting.
You have some antiques here, too? I have antiques, middle-aged guns, old guns...
Do you ever get any characters in here? Oh, every day. You never know who is going to walk in the door. Every stratum of society owns guns. You have no idea who is going to come through that door tomorrow.
What’s your favorite gun? I hate playing favorites, but I have an affinity for the older single shot rifles of the buffalo-hunting era – Sharps, Winchester High Wall, Remington Rolling Blocks – the old single shot classic wooded steel.
They only have one bullet? One bullet.
And you have to reload it every time? Yep. It makes you hunt harder, it makes you get closer and it makes you pay attention. You don’t want to substitute technology for skill.
Gun shooting as art. It’s extremely Zen, if you do it right; it’s extremely relaxing to me. I rush off to the range and when I drive back it’s very much below the speed limit: I’m happy.
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