Sunday, April 10, 2011

Range Report - KCR Machine Gun Shoot

Girlie Bear and I just got back from the Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot.  This is her second time going, and she had a ball.  This was the first time she's ever seen tracer fire, and she thought that was the neatest thing since sliced bread.  Next time, if it's wet enough for tracers, I'll take her at night so she can fully appreciate them. She also thought it was funny to watch an a machine gun steam as it boiled of its water reservoir.  Her aunt and uncle met us there, and we all had a great time watching the shooting and walking through the gun show.

As always, the staff at KCR ran things like clockwork.  Safety was the first thing they ensured, with lots of firing line staff and a reminder to have ear protection at the gate.  The same lady who sang the national anthem as last time did a wonderful job.  One thing about the crowd there:  When she was singing, no-one moved.  Go to any high school, college, or professional sports event and see how the crowd acts while someone sings the Star Spangled Banner.

Girlie Bear decided not to shoot a machine gun, and I was saving my money for the gun show.  After walking around the show, I can definitely say that the ammunition shortage is over.  There were cases of every caliber I could imagine, except for the 7.62x54R or 9x18 Makarov that I was looking for.  There were several magazine dealers there who were heavily stocked, especially with the high capacity magazines that some politicians want banned.  I was able to find one dealer that had magazines for my CZ-82.  $34.95 for a new factory magazine.  Ouch.  I will probably save up and just buy 5 or 10 of the milsurp ones that some of the on-line dealers have for about $25.

The things that seemed to be moving this time were MRE's and other long-lasting food, bulk ammo, and surplus clothing.  One lady who was selling gold and silver coins said that she had almost sold out of the stock she brought with her.

The AR-15 dealers were also doing a brisk business. I saw just about every variation of that platform being bought today.  The supply of surplus guns was pretty well exhausted by Sunday morning, but there were still a few M-1 Garands and Carbines for about $800.  Inside the KCR main building, I saw a used Charles Daly 1911 for about $500 that talked seductively to me.  I may have to go out there one of these weekends, take her out for a shoot, and maybe free her from her bondage under the glass.

Girlie Bear was on camera duty this go-round, so I'll pull her efforts off of the camera later and post the best pictures.

2 comments:

Old NFO said...

Sounds like a GOOD day! KCR is always fun!

DaddyBear said...

I love going out to Knob Creek. Any given Saturday will have everything from the latest carbine to replicas of 200 year old black powder's. One vendor was selling a couple of bowling ball mortars, which I've seen shot out there every so often. It's really great when the AR-15 or M-2 owner's clubs come out for a group shoot.

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