There probably hasn't been a whole lot in my life that's been blog-worthy for the past couple weeks, at least nothing more than the usual just scraping by. However, I just had a near-religious experience that I had to jot an entry down over.

See, Minnesota in general prohibits machineguns (other relevant posts: C&R FFL & MWCA). Unless the MG is classified under Curio & Relic status, basically meaning it was manufactured 50 or more years ago, then civilians can't own it in Minnesota. For most other states, civilians can own MGs that were made and registered prior to May 19th, 1986. This date was due to the Hughes Amendment of the Firearm Owners Protection Act—a piece of legislation that was probably passed illegally. Because of this legislation, MGs transferrable to civilians command huge premiums. For example, an MP5 might be had by a police department for around $1500, but for a civvie to buy, you're talking well over 10 times that. Prices will only go up as time goes by.

As such, being able to shoot machineguns in MN was a huge treat for me. The event itself was in Chatfield at Timber Creek, about a 25 minute drive from my house. I got there a little after 2 PM. The weather was in the mid-50s, a bit cold for my light jacket, and it was cloudy and damp. There were still a number of people there even though the shoot started at 10 AM. Admission was $10, paid to the attendant situated about 75 yards from the gate. Rentals were paid for at a tent in front of the firing line, which was staffed by a couple women. There was a waiver to be signed, of course. A ticket for a particular gun was given in exchange for the rental fee. Submachine guns were $20 for a magazine, full machineguns were $30 for a belt. A menu at the tent showed what was available to shoot.

As I'd never shot a machinegun before, I wasn't sure what to start out with. I picked an M4 since I'm familiar with the AR-15 platform. Amusingly enough, the M4 was only $20, as for a subgun. True to the name of the shoot, this gun was the M4A1, which is select-fire with options for semi-auto and full-auto. I was hoping for an M4A2, which has 3-round burst. The muzzle climb from full-auto was non-trivial. It would take some training to be able to squeeze off more controllable bursts. I dumped the magazine in about 30-40 seconds—it took so long because I was experimenting with depressing the trigger for various intervals! Incidentally, the targets were two shot-out cars, a couple of kitchen appliances, and a small (empty) LPG tank.

Next, I tried the Russian "anti-tank" rifle, a single shot at $6. I put anti-tank in quotes since these days, this caliber wouldn't hardly dent a tank's armor. I'm not exactly sure what model the rifle was, but it was re-chambered in .50 BMG. The original might've been 12.7x108mm. This gun was bolt-action, on skids, with a honkin' muzzle brake. Recoil was very manageable due to the weight of the gun and the brake. I liked it. Now that I've shot a fifty, I've got additional impetus to buy one.

Unfortunately there was no Browning M2 at the shoot, although this wasn't too surprising. Belt-fed .50s would cost a lot more to shoot than the other smaller calibers. The cheapest I can find good .50 is about $3/rd. Furthermore, M2s cost about $30k. I settled for the 1919, which is similar to the M2, but chambered in smaller calibers. This wasn't .30-06, though; it looked like 8mm or possibly .308. They had two versions of the 1919, the full-size and a "shorty". I chose the original full-size. I'd found out that there was Tannerite stashed in certain spots on the shot-out cars, so I took aim for the rear-end of the Jeep and dumped the belt. Ka-boom!! Apparently people had been shooting for the Tannerite, but hadn't been able to set it off. Took a whole belt, but I got it.

I'd decided to skip the MP5, Thompson, and Uzi because those are available for rent at Bill's Gun Shop in the 'Cities. However, I hadn't figured on an MP5SD, which is an MP5 with an integral suppressor. What's particularly cool about the SD version is that the barrel has a series of holes behind the suppressor to bleed off some of the gas, which allows the SD to shoot standard 9x19mm ammo. Otherwise one would have to use special subsonic ammo to avoid the supersonic shockwave that would defeat the purpose of the suppressor. While shooting, normally I use both inner-ear plugs and over-ear muffs; for the MP5SD, I took off the over-ears, and I probably didn't even need the inner-ears. This was a pretty sweet gun. The recoil was very manageable on full-auto, unlike the M4. If Minnesota only allowed suppressors.... I wish I could've talked to the owner more about it, as I am a fan of the design.

The very last thing I shot was the MG 42. I just had to after hearing the 1200 RPM fire! Plus, it was mounted on a half-track (a Sd.Kfz. 251, I think)! The dude in the German getup loaded the belt for me. The ripping noise of the MG fire was pretty wild. The vibration of the receiver due to the cycling bolt caused a weird ringing in my over-ear hearing protection. Unfortunately I wasn't able to hit the Tannerite in the other car, but it was cool just to be able to shoot the infamous MG 42.

I'd gotten a bratwurst and a soda at the concession stand for $4, bringing my total to an even $120. A bit spendy for the 45 minutes or so of entertainment—and that was stretching the time by watching other people shoot—but to me it was definitely worth it. I hope they do another shoot in the fall. I was told that due to the rising cost of ammo, the fall shoot might be cancelled. That was a somber thought, but talking about the price of ammunition and reloading with the two ladies in the ticket booth made me chuckle. This is the shoot's third year. I wish I'd found out about it sooner, and hope that they can keep it running!

Coda: When I got home, I found a spent .223 casing that had somehow bounced into the pocket of my t-shirt. I'll have to reload that little hitchhiker.