Shot a full auto today!

[Patrick L]

I realize this might not be such a big deal for those of you who live in free states, but I live in upstate NY. We are visiting our son, who is stationed in Texas . He didn't have today off, so we were on our own to do some sightseeing and exploring. Of course I googled "gun shops near me" and found a few. One turned out to be a shooting range that also rents full autos.

You would have done it. I sure as heck did!

I chose a 9mm HK MP5. I figured since I had no experience, it would be easier and more controllable than something bigger. And there were definitely bigger ones available.

Gob bless Texas!

[M-Tecs]

They are fun on the range, but they are a lot more fun when Uncle Sam is paying for the ammo.

[Texas by God]

Full auto sounds like even more fun indoors in the AC!
My only experience with full auto was through a friends friend.( Class3 guy)
I shot a suppressed Mac 10? .45 sub,an M2 .30 Carbine, and an M14 at his ranch.
What a blast it was.
Enjoy your stay!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bedbugbilly]

Sounds like fun and good you had the opportunity to do it! I have a friend who lives in Texas and he took advantage of it as well and greatly enjoyed it.

I have never had the chance to do it - the closest I have ever come to shooting full auto was over 50 years ago when I fired an original Gatling gun that a friend owned during a demonstration at a N-SSA shoot. A big thrill and rapid fire but not full auto as it's hand cranked.

Enjoy your visit with your son!

[charlie b]

It is fun, especially when no one is shooting back I think everyone should have a chance to do it at least once. FYI, there is a shop in Albuquerque that rents full auto at their indoor range.

[Mk42gunner]

They are fun on the range, but they are a lot more fun when Uncle Sam is paying for the ammo.

This ^^^ is true. It becomes even more true when you start talking about belt-fed versions.

Robert

[metricmonkeywrench]

It’s a great time till you have to clean them…. of course anything that will effectively work is banned by the military and you get to scrub with gallons of CLP, though the C part is quite dubious.

[challenger_i]

New York. Interesting place. My platoon sergeant at my unit, when I was at Fort Hood, was from New York.
As I was looking at being at Fort Hood for a while, and they had an excellent 1000m range for casual shooting,
I figured I would keep my Lil' Sweetie in the arms room, close at hand for weekend fun.
Went to my PS to fill out the paperwork to keep a personal weapon in the unit arms room. He dug in his file cabinet
and pulled out a sheaf of forms. I sat filling the forms, and he began asking what I had. Told him I had a 1915 BSA
Lewis. He looked a bit confused and said "never heard of that. What is it?" I explained that it was a First World War
squad automatic weapon used by the British infantry, and was a flexible gun on Allied aircraft. At this, he said "you mean,
a MACHINE GUN?" I said yes. He then jumped into a heated diatribe as to how I couldn't keep it in the arms room, as it
was illegal to own it. I explained I had paid for my tax stamp and all the paperwork to show proper chain of possession.
He still argued that no private citizen could own a full automatic weapon. At this, I thanked him for his time, gathered the
paperwork and went upstairs to the First Sergeant's office. Gained access to Top's Inner Sanctum, and he asked what I needed.
I explained I wanted to put in the papers to keep a personal weapon in the arms room. At this, he pointed out that my PS could
handle that. I explained the my PS had very forcefully stated I could not keep my particular arm on Post. Top looked a bit
curious and asked "just what do you have?" I stated that I had a Lewis Gun, with 4 drums and the armorer's kit. Top's response?
"Aw! COOL! You gonna let me shoot it?!"
Kept my Sweetie in the arms room until they shipped me back to Korea, 3 years later.

Yah, the Authorities in that state do have a tendency to give New Yorkers a bit of bad information...

[Patrick L]

Basically it was $35 for a magazine for the mag fed guns, $70 a belt or drum for those guns. I picked the MP5 only because I felt I stood half a chance of not totally embarrassing myself. If I did it again, I might choose the BAR, Uzi, perhaps even the MG34.

[405grain]

I qualified on the M60 when I was a petty officer in the Navy. Ah yes, fond memories of shooting the "pig" while we were out on the water. Always needed to shoot the whole belt so we wouldn't have to lug all that heavy stuff back to the armory.

[challenger_i]

Go with the BAR first, for familiarization. Then, definitely take the MG34 for a turn! I bet you will want "one more belt, please!"

[elmacgyver0]

I have a MP-40, but it just shoots BBs
Does that count?

[challenger_i]

Butterflies and soda cans FEAR you! Yah, those are fun! I'd give my eye teeth for one of those Tommy guns they had at the carnivals!

[1Hawkeye]

For a short time I had a part time job for a couple of guys that had a class 3 shop and they worked me pretty hard trying to set the hook to fund some of there full auto toys. They went so far as to set up a full auto shoot with some of there other suckers er I mean customers it was quite the set up. A browning 1917 watercooled. 1918 BAR, reising model 50 M2 carbine 3 mg34's and a mg42 one of the customers brought his M1 thompson and M2 carbine. It was kinda cool cutting a hot water heater in half from top to bottom with an mg34 and a couple of belts but these guys wern't trustworthy when it came to sales so we parted ways. The straw that broke the camels back was when they tried to sell me a mg 34 that was a post 86 dealer sample but didn't tell me the post 86 part my 1600.00 bucks would have gotten them another 34 and a rebuilt mp 40 to boot fortunatly I called the dealer who had the 34 to find out the shipping info and he spilled the beans about their deal. Saved me a lot of money for a gun I'd never be able to bring home.

[CastingFool]

I turned down an opportunity to shoot a 50 cal machine gun, because they said if you shoot it, you clean it.

[45workhorse]

I turned down an opportunity to shoot a 50 cal machine gun, because they said if you shoot it, you clean it.

Big parts easy to clean!

[gc45]

shot several different full autos in my Army days, both training and then combat. The best fun was many years later I got to fire several belts thru the German MG34, what a hoot that was spraying 8mm ammo all over the range as it was one tough rifle to hold straight. The bipod make it steady I thought until pulling the trigger that fired both semi or full auto.

[Lloyd Smale]

shot many in and out of the service. its fun but you can about buy a car for what one will set you back. add to that you sign papers that allow the batf to come in your home any time they please. for 350 bucks i can buy a binary trigger and have 90% of the fun without the cost or hassle.

[pworley1]

Congratulations. Full auto is a different world.

[FISH4BUGS]

I was lucky - I caught the full auto bug in the late 70's and early 80's before the prices went out of control due the GCA of '86.
Been shooting full auto all my (alleged) adult life.
Living in the country in NH, we can shoot outdoors on private ranges or some indoor ranges.
My philosophy is that if you are going to shoot, then SHOOT!
Live Free or Die (our State motto)!
No restrictions here!