I am constantly telling customers to read the instructions, and men are the worst, to the point that I have made this a joke when I have a female customer that feels a little "intimated' with a project she thinks is a "guy" thing- I say " You will do fine, your not a guy and that means you will read the instructions" I usually get at least a smile or a comment about how her husband/father/brother/boyfriend never reads the instructions, and they I say "Yea, that's how we make all of our money-selling to men twice".
If there are a few guys in earshot when I say this they will comment " I never read instructions" like it is something to brag about" I am amazed that my fellow men still have all of their fingers, well most of them do!

I wonder how many of all the nimrods that went out and bought themselves a gun during this gun craze have yet to even look at the manual much less actually read it.

Always have claimed if I could read and write could have had a legitimate job during the last sixty years.
Seriously, my children drug me kicking, squealing, and grinding teeth into the modern era by buying me a computer. They told to relax and stop hyperventilating, they would bring me the next day a book named something like, Computers For Dummy's. In the morning they were surprised to find me and the new contraption getting along fine. I indicated, " I may know nothing about computers, but I can read instructions ".

That's the manual from my Beretta, not the gun I wrote about. The Beretta manual is written in many, many languages and fortunately one is English because I have had to refer to it often.

Happy,
I know how you feel. When I got my first news job we were all using manual typewriters (talk about dating yourself). When the news director decided to replace them with electrics I protected my manual like a mamma grizzly. I told him I pounded the keys too hard to ever use something that typed a letter if you just brushed it with your pinkie finger. Came in one morning and saw him smirking. Turns out he stayed around late to replace my old machine after I'd gone.
You can imagine what happened when they computerized. The first time I faced off with one I did something I did at every subsequent stop. As soon as somebody would start "explaining" the program they used I would stop them, tell them to wait until I had a pen and paper, and then write down every single step. Then I'd tape it to my desk and go down the list every time I used it until I finally had it down. I only use a computer as a combination typewriter/library anyway. I'm afraid if I learned anything else about them it would force something more useful out of my head.
As for manuals, being non-mechanically inclined, I keep them as close to me as a kid with a security blanket. Guess it's a role reversal, because my wife regards any written instructions as a personal insult.

SMC1986 -- I have only ever replaced 1100 O-rings with factory O-rings so no, it has not happened to me personally.

You only run into problems if the O-rings you use are thicker and heavier duty than the factory rings.

I believe my beretta xtrema 2 booklet has 5 or 6 languages in it.

Good point. I think we can all pick out the manuals that have been translated from something other than English. In a Benelli manual, at least the guy in the illustrations is wearing a jacket and tie. Somehow, that made me feel better.

the reason for reading the manual is so that one gets full enjoyment or usage out of whatever he's putting together. No doubt you'll know 95% of what's in the manual, but it will be the 5% that will make it last longer, look better, perform better. ....maybe even work .

I love my Beretta shotgun but I have to keep the manual on file for maintenance.
I have been in the maintenance field for many years and the old saw around here is "If all else fails, read the instruction manual." It is amazing to see how much time is wasted by guys who hate to read the instructions.
I have finally gotten into the habit of filing instruction books in my home shop.

Instruction manuals tend to be very poorly written, but I agree on the importance of reading through them carefully. In fact, I actually enjoy the manual, as its part of the excitement of getting a new firearm.

I must concur, Beretta manuals are crap, guess they put all the money into the product? Sure don't spend much on the manual.
My son got a model 92FS and the manual that came with it looked like a crappy photo copy and told you almost nothing.

I read the manual before operating my new Remington 887. The Manual said "the bore and chamber must be cleaned before assembly." Did such and have not had a problem with the shotgun recycling or misfiring. Also read somewhere on gun blogs that owners who did not do such had had problems. Also the manual came in handy when I pulled the fore-end to far forward on a partial cleaning. Told me how to get the darn thing back on the action rails and sliding and functioning properly.