Knob Creek machine gun shoot?

[MT Gianni]

Has anyone ever been to this? My nephew has invited me to accompany and chaperone him on his "Senior Trip". His brothers all chose Hawaii, but he wants to go to the machine gun shoot and general family concensus is " I'm the most stable weird one" that could be trusted with him. I'm wondering about the availability of guns to rent and shoot. I have been to their site but wanted personal stories. My thing is more slower, aimed fire, but this could be a kick. I have shot a BAR and a Mac10 but he hasn't. Gianni.

[mooman76]

I never been there but there was a piece on it on Mail Call. It looked great. Every kind of full auto you could think of was there and yes allot was to rent too. They had a night fire at the end with tracers. I'd love to go!

[sundog]

Gianni, don't know what it would cost (mine was always free compliments of Uncle Sam), but if you afford it, ya gotta get on a Ma Deuce! Gotta. Just absolutely GOTTA! If nothing else, an M60 would tickle ya, too. They got that knda stuff there? sundog

[Dale53]

I went and observed a couple of times. It IS a hoot but a bit scary, also. Sometimes, their enthusiasm outruns common sense. There have been an occasional mental lapse, AD and the like. We took a motor home and spent the weekend. It was definitely worthwhile but not something that I would want to do very often.

I cannot speak as to what may be for rent. However, they use up ammo at a prodigious rate (understatement:roll: :roll: :roll: ). I am pretty much of the "One shot, one kill" brigade and don't appreciate the rate of fire as a good many others might...

Dale53

[beagle]

Worth seeing once anyway. Be sure to get reservations as things are full around that time.

Plenty of guns to rent and plenty of milsurp ammo for sale.

It do get a bit wild./beagle

[Old Ironsights]

Ma Duce? Boring. WhompWhompWhompWhomp.

Try BZZZZZT!

Glock G18

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBjUDCyDCuI

298 rds - including a 100rd, 6 second burst, no meltdown.

[Scrounger]

There is a dealer here who has a bunch of machineguns that he lets people shoot (if they can afford it). His rate is $1 per shot, Ma Deuce slightly higher. My wealthy friend from California burned up $300 in little more than an hour. He had M60, MG42, Bren (steady there, BruceB), M16, Thompson, Smeisser, and others I can't remember. Laws rockets too at quite a bit more money. And there is at least one indoor gun range in Las Vegas that will let you rent submachineguns to play with, but you got to buy the ammo from them. I don't know what their prices are.
Another edit! Forgot to say that the gun club I belong to in Vegas ($50 a year for old farts) has a machine gun match once a month. Would you believe that range is less than a mile from the Red Rock Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas????

[kenjuudo]

Total disrespect for brass, it will give ya nightmares!

jim

[Jack Stanley]

I've been taking my little brother there for therapy every spring for several years now . He has a condition that causes him to spend lots of loot around Thompsons but is not limited to them alone . Two years ago a fella brought in a quad fifty complete with a deck mount and was renting it . After burning up the ammo he paid for , it took them about ten minutes to get him out of the gun bucket . It seems his smile was getting caught on the sides of the mount :roll: [smilie=1: Last spring a fella rolled in with a live ninety m/m at least that what he said it was , the ammo crates said one oh five . Any way I was out chasing down parts an' brother comes up wantin' to borrow money . He is good at payin' back quick so I start counting out four hundred and fifty bucks to him and ask him what's he buying . He points to this huge cannon and says a shot on that ! Well ..... ok , you go lil' brother , I did get a picture of him with the gun in full recoil ... impressive to say the least .
Lots of guns to rent , brother likes the 1919A4 , I am partial to the FND . Take your pick unless it's a fifty it's about a buck a shot .

Jack

[DLCTEX]

During cannoneer school at Ft. Sill in 1967 I had the opportunity to fire the Ma Duece, M60, the 3.5 rocket launcher, and a grenade launcher one day. Ammo had bddn drawn for two companys to shoot, but only our co. showed up. We had to shoot up all the ammo so as to save a lot of paper work. Some guys only fired what was required, but I fired every round they would let me. What a hoot! The 50 cal. with it's chuga, chuga, chuga was awesome, what a sense of power sitting behind it and pressing that butterfly looking trigger. I would love to attend Knob Creek, But it's not in the cards this year.
Dale:Fire:
PS. Direct fire with a 105 was also a hoot. We fired on old cars at 800 meters until we blew thw away, then fired at junipers on a mountain about a mile away. Impressive accuracy.

[schutzen]

Take him! It will be a blast for both of you. My youngest son wanted to go when he was in Jr. High School. We went and had a ball. Take plenty of money and EAR PLUGS. Food on site is high, about like a fair or a ball game. However, you can go through some change if you chose to shoot the rental MG's. I limited my son to $100, but he got to shoot an M16, an MPK5, a full-auto 12 ga., a .30 cal air cooled and MIA Thompson (this was 9 years ago). We both had fun and came home with a few goodies. We even saw a few items the "Old Man" had never seen before. While you are there, take time to visit the Frasier Museum of Historical Arms in downtown Louisville. The have a large display of unique firearms and edged weapons. In the same area are Fort Knox, KY and the Patton Museum. They have a fine display of WWII era equipment and weapons. They also have many of George S. Patton Jr.'s personal firearms. I'm not sure about this year, but many years the Spring MG Shoot falls on the same day as the National Gun Day Spring Show at Freedom Hall in Louisville ( That is Feb 24-25 this year). A mere 3600 tables of firearms and military surplus gear.

[DanWalker]

I was stationed at Ft KNox from 1994 to 1998 as an instructor at the armor school.
Yup, they had a few of us Gyrenes running around loose on an ARMY base.
I went to the Knob creek shoot every year. Heck of a lot of fun. I had more than my fair share of full auto fun, courtesy of uncle sam. I served as a gunner on an m60 crew, and got to torture test the m60hb when it hit the FMF. 14 gun crews from my battallion were taken out to a range and given a 5 ton full of ammo to blow off during a week long series of tests to wring out the new guns. You really have to try a 300 round continuous burst from a 60 sometime.(this was done as part of a test to make the gun cook off.) You'll wind up with a grin they can't wipe off with a 2x4!
I also crewed a 50 for 5 years. We fired from a ring mount and ground mounted. We used to go on what they called, "DUMP-EX's" We'd have to go out in late september and fire off all our remaining ammunition allottment for the year so we wouldn't have any left. if we didn't they'd reduce our allottment for the following year. Every time I think of ma' deuce two memories come rushing back. The first is watching the trees behind the target explode as we were firing long bursts, trying to catch up with the 2500 meter moving target that was the last stage of our battallion machinegun championship. We won it two years in a row.
The second was walking up to the "target of opportunity" that a young lieutenant had given all 7 gun crews permission to fire on, and discovering that it HAD been a new road grader that the maintenance crews had left downrange on accident.
You ought to see what 700 rounds of API and APIT will do to a grader.
AHHH, the good old days..... Man! Hanging around you old guys is really starting to rub off.

[DonH]

I'm thinkin that if a guy ever fired a minigun no other full auto would impress! I watched the show on TV and seeing the night sky full of tracers going off God-knows-where scared the bejeebers out of me.

[johniv]

Yup , a must see. Just about the most fun ya can have with yer pants on. Be sure to see the night shoot.
John

[Cherokee]

Go Go Go Go !!!

[MT Gianni]

It looks like it is a go for now. The patton museum is on tap as well as some suggestions from members here. It should be a great time. Gianni

[Boz330]

I've been through there once while the shoot was going on and safety was a little on the lax side compared to what I'm used to. It is deffinately awesum though and loud.
As someone else pointed out the Frazier Historical Museum is a must see in downtown Louisville as well as the Patton Museum. Frazier needs a day all by itself to really appreciate all of the displays. There is also a Civil War Museum in nearby Bardstown that is first rate as well.
I went through Tanker School back in 66 at Ft Knox and got to shoot most of the weapons mentioned of that era. 90MM, 105MM, M2, Grease Gun, M2 Carbine, 30 cal Browning coax MG, etc. As I remember we went through a quarter million worth of ammo in 3 days. That doesn't sound like much now but it was mutiple truck loads of ammo. We were sure to get rid of it or we had to take it back and put it back in the bunker. It was bad enough loading and unloading it once let alone twice and having to do the paperwork to.

Have Fun
Bob

[TAWILDCATT]

I Went To Nh To The Minute Man Shoots Twice A Yr,they Lost The Site And Moved To Maine To Town Sand Pit In Dover/foxcroft.in The End The Town Used Up The Sand Hill And Now No Mg Shoots In Northeast. But It Was Great Fun While It Lasted.i Shot French Hochkiss/german M34+42 Also Max 08/15 Bren, Bar, Subguns Lewis. Art Chiener Had His 308 Mini Awsum.even A Browning Potato Digger.i Brought My Own Belts And Clips.i Would Like To Go To Knob Creek But I Guess I'm Gettng To Old To Travel Much. Go For It Before Its Gone.

[schutzen]

If you are in to the Civil War Era, don't forget the Kentucky State Arsenal in Frankfort. During the Civil War, Kentucky's Legislature and Governor were on opposing sides of the issues. The State Militia assembled to march south to join the Confederacy, but the Governor had the State Arsenal manned and locked up all the militia’s firearms. 150 years later, the State Arsenal has a wonderful collection of Civil War Era firearms.

[DanWalker]

It looks like it is a go for now. The patton museum is on tap as well as some suggestions from members here. It should be a great time. Gianni
Speaking of the Patton museum, I bet my wife is probably the most knowledgeable woman in the country when it comes to that place.
When I was stationed at Knox we were pretty dang broke most of the time, with barely enough money to cover living expenses, let alone any left over for entertainment. As a result we both spent a lot of time at places that didn't cost much to visit. When a weekend would roll around when we didn't have any cash to spare for fun,we'd donate a buck each and spend the afternoon in the patton museum.
She actually became quite interested in the light tanks and halftracks. The renault light tank is her favorite and she still recognizes it when she sees one on TV or in a movie. She also thinks pattons sixguns are pretty cool too. She's also one of VERY few women you'll meet who actually knows what a panzerfaust is. Some may find that silly, but I think it's pretty darn cool.
As you drive around Ft Knox,please take notice of all the armored vehicles on display around the base. Want to know a little secret? MOST of them were DRIVEN to where they sit. There's a group of people who actually seek out the old relics from around the world, get them shipped there, and then restore them to operational condition. Their shop was behind the building where I was an instructor. The knowledge contained within that group could fill a small technical library.
My favorite memory of that place is a personal one. My daughter was just a toddler when we lived there, and whenever asked about her daddy, she'd say,"My daddy is a jarhead on fort tucky!"