It was not shown how Rick acquired the gun to travel between dimensions, we will only find out during this third season.
If you're talking about ep 1 and season 3, it also reversed the mind of other Ricks, that is, it's basically done and undone at the same time..
Well, yes, he outmarted the Devil, not that the devil proved himself clever or something.
Yes, i watched the two shows, Including it was I who got Bill for 1-C and Rick for 2-A, that is, I love these two cartoons.
Well, yes, Rick is smarter, but because he's smarter, it does not mean Stanford is dumb.
Stanford drew energy from a dimension of paradoxes to make the quantum disintegrator, has 12 PhDs, apparently visited higher dimensions, since he knew about the race of the pandimensional beings, created a portal that in case it was wrong, would destroy ALL reality and used technology of the ship of the beings of Trilazzx Beta.
So yes, Rick is smarter, but Stanford does not stay so far, moreover, it's 30 years vs. 1 year.