Hanson MG Shoot...Attention Shooters...

Greg said:
Wear and tear on a MG from shooting it..OK.I kind of see what you are getting at,but seriously,I don't think you have much experience with MG's to realize just how much any parts that MAY need to be replaced cost.The differance between a M16 and a regular semi auto is a $20 in parts.The cost associated with MG's lies in getting one,not replacing parts.Parts for UZI's and MAC10's,M16's etc are dirt cheap.MG's are made to throw thousands of rounds downrange.

If the MG owners want to make some cash,I have no problem with that.The thing is MG shoots at clubs are usually to introduce prospective members to the club, and shooting MG's.

I believe the only money donated to the Shriners was the admission fee charged by the club.Now if the club bought the ammo and sold tickets to the shooters and donated the proceeds to the Shriners,that would be a good idea.

Charging people to fire a weapon is insane.When I'm at the club,people want to try out my Bushy,I never thought about charging them for it though..Maybe I have been going about this the wrong way...

Greg- if somebody came up and wanted to try your Bushmaster, and use 50 rounds of your ammo, and then a line of 45 people came up behind that person and they all wanted to try your rifle, and also use 50 rounds of your ammo... Well then I'm going to be the first one in that line.

I'm not sure why you're so defensive about the topic. Perhaps I should not have generalized by saying that ALL machine guns are expensive to maintain, and of course I know that the majority of the cost is in the buying, not the maintaining, but there is a huge difference between letting somebody take your Hyundai for a spin vs. your Ferrari.

And having volunteered at a MG shoot and having seen exactly how often guns got pulled off the line and how much time the gun owners spent working to get these guns fixed and back on the line I think they deserve to make some money.

And I might add- there was no fee for using the guns. The only charge was for entrance and then cost of ammo.
 
Greg,
All I can really tell you is come down to the Hanson Shoot and see what it is all about. I think you will find it is considerably different than what you have experienced before. That is not to say there is anything wrong with the way your club does things, simply that they are two different things.
From what you describe, I suspect your club's "shoot" is part of a club open house or similar "membership drive" type event, in which there are other shooting events going on to show off the club, and attract new members.
Whereas the Hanson Shoot is "the event", yes there is a small gunshow attached with various venders, and the club sets up a table to get new members, but the reason the people are coming is for the shoot. (it really is similar to Knob Creek, Dry Creek, or the former North Country & HMHS shoots) Someone correct me if I am wrong but a few years back I believe Shotgun News said it was the 3rd largest public shoot in the country.
So if you want to come watch come on down, If you own some MG's let me know and we'll get you on the mailing list and see if we can get you a line possition. Like everyone else on the line you set your own "prices" so if you want to let everyone shoot your stuff for free, you are welcome to do so, I will guarantee you will have the longest line of "customers" waiting to shoot...

Finnally, sure you can get most M16/Uzi/Mac parts pretty cheap, but bulged barrel on a Thompson, receiver work/new rails for an MG42, new "guts" for an M2HB, all of which are issues I've seen first hand inaddition to countless other "minor issues" in 100's of guns used during the shoot, and things aren't that inexpensive.
 
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Greg said:
Damn,ours is free and the club supplies the ammo.The MG owners just want donuts and coffee (club supplies these items as well) in exchange for the use of their weapons.

With the pricing,this event sounds more like a place for MG owners to recoup the cost of their weapons at the expense of people who are fascinated with MG's.
Greg I am not sure but the mgn owners in your shoot sound like they may be dealers? If they are it is diffrent than the Hanson shoot I doubt that you would get someone that is a private owner to put their gun's through that kind of abuse with out some kind of compesation. A private owners gun's are what is called fully transferable the dealers would be samples. Dealer samples are a fraction of the price of fully transferable and Hanson has many private venders on the line. Also Hansons shoot is open to the public with from 800+ people going through the gate. Another thing is that when you run a line position there you are lucky over the 8 hrs that the line is hot to be able to take a breath let alone a potty break.
 
Umm, have you been to some of these shoots, and spoken to some of these guy? I know several that go to the Green Mountain Boys shoots, including a couple of the "Movers and Shakers". They have no problem with other folks shooting their stuff.

Last year, I talked the guy to my left into trying my Dragunov. After he got done, he insisted I try his MP-40 out. Of course, he's one of our customers, but that made no difference.

My friend "Big Bob" made the mistake of letting me shoot his shorty Full Auto AR. I said I had my own ammo, and held up a 30 rounder. He handed me the gun, I tried a 3 round burst to check the climb, and let her rip. He had to oil the gun after to cool it down. Now, that sounds bad, but we've been friends since the '60's. But, he was having bystanders he NEVER MET BEFORE try the thing out with 10 round mags (in 20 rounders).

Full auto guys are some of the friendliest gun people I've met yet.
 
Yes I have been to a number of big shoots, had a line possition up at HMHS, and don't disagree that the NFA world is full of good guys. I have no problem letting a fellow shooter "trade" a gun with me, or even just shoot one of mine for nothing. And actually if I am just at the range or at smaller private shoot I am happy to let a few people try my toys, and I expect nothing from them except a smile. But at a large public shoot, ithink you will be hard pressed to find to many people who will let possibly hundreds of spectators shoot thier guns/ thier ammo for free. And this isn't limited to shoots, go up and visit JLM and see how far you will get there shooting his stuff for free (I only pick on JLM because in addtion to having his great shop/range he did a huge ammount of rentals at HMHS).
Even with all that said, the club and I as an organizer are not setting any prices, those with line possitions set there own price (which could be free) I simply posted the range I price at to give an idea of pricing, but to be perfectly honest I am "small time" (only about 8 guns) so I keep my prices low to keep a good flow of shooters on my stuff, so realisticly those who have been to Hanson (or anyother shoot that rents)can tell you $10 for a 30rnd mag of 9mm is pretty cheap...or put another way you can spend $100 with me and shoot a 250 round belt through my Maxim in a couple minutes, or you can go spend $200 and put 400 rounds through Carl's minigun in a couple seconds...some are more than happy to do both...
 
Nickle said:
Umm, have you been to some of these shoots, and spoken to some of these guy? I know several that go to the Green Mountain Boys shoots, including a couple of the "Movers and Shakers". They have no problem with other folks shooting their stuff.

Last year, I talked the guy to my left into trying my Dragunov. After he got done, he insisted I try his MP-40 out. Of course, he's one of our customers, but that made no difference.

My friend "Big Bob" made the mistake of letting me shoot his shorty Full Auto AR. I said I had my own ammo, and held up a 30 rounder. He handed me the gun, I tried a 3 round burst to check the climb, and let her rip. He had to oil the gun after to cool it down. Now, that sounds bad, but we've been friends since the '60's. But, he was having bystanders he NEVER MET BEFORE try the thing out with 10 round mags (in 20 rounders).

Full auto guys are some of the friendliest gun people I've met yet.

The M-16 is one of my favorite MGs I've shot. I guess it's because I love the way the rifle feels in my hands. And I'm not saying that with a group of 10-15 people that there is anything wrong at all with everyone having a try. In fact I would be offended if somebody had a really great gun and wouldn't let anyone else play. The way I see it, we're all friends based on gun ownership alone.

That being said- a machine gun shoot is not just a group of people hanging around popping off 10-20 rounds. It is a gun, that you paid a lot of money for, running straight for 8 hours.
OK- sure some of the guns get a break, but the fact is that some of the guns (Especially the Thompson, M-16 and AK-47) do not.

Machine guns are investments. Why are you going to risk seriously devaluing your investment just to be nice? Would you let 100 people you've never seen before in your life drive your car or come into your house?

So give the gun owners a break. Don't look at it selfishly. Do you get pissed at people who own ponies? I mean, would you just go up to a farm and say, "if I had a pony I'd let your kid ride it for free..."?
No.
And are they taking advantage of people who are interested in ponies?
No.
They are business people. And if people are willing to pay to ride their ponies, and they walk away happy, then who is anyone to complain?

If you don't like it, don't go to the shoot.

(my tangent is in no way aimed at Nickle, I think I got off course somewhere and am more more responding to previous posts. Just wanted that to be absolutely clear before I even submit this post [devil] )
 
SiameseRat said:
......Machine guns are investments.

[devil] )

[laugh2]

Do you really think that if you blow out a M16 lower,you have to pay full price for another one ?With your above little rant,I now know you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about regarding machine guns.



securityboy said:
...$200 and put 400 rounds through Carl's minigun in a couple seconds...some are more than happy to do both...

Minigun??!!! That is very tempting and I would pay to shoot something like that..LOL Will there be a list of the weapons available to shoot ? The shoot does sound interesting in the way you describe it Security.

As far as our club,the only membership drive there was a GOAL table.

Sorry to somewhat derail your thread,I might just show up to piss off Siamese Rat and her little ponies>>LOL J/K..
 
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Lets put it this way there is no way to list the gun's that will be there since we are still in the planning stages. The last shoot we had conservitvly speaking around 200 guns. This one there will probably be less,or not. You would be suprised at the gun's, stuff like Micro UZI get's a lot of play with the UZI. HK51's, HK53 to AK's, MP5's, m60's, 1919A4's,BAR, mg34's, mp40's, krink's m16's m2 carbine, mini14, mini gun, macs, grease gun and many more.
 
Greg said:
[laugh2]

Do you really think that if you blow out a M16 lower,you have to pay full price for another one ?With your above little rant,I now know you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about regarding machine guns.




Sorry to somewhat derail your thread,I might just show up to piss off Siamese Rat and her little ponies>>LOL J/K..
[rofl]


It's just as easy for me to tell you that from what you've said you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about regarding machine gun shoots etc etc. And who really gives a rat's ass (pun? who knows.)?
The fact is, with the experience that I do have, I am reiterating what I have seen as well as have been told by the people that have been doing this for a very long time.
So I'll take their word for it.

If you don't want to, that's fine.

I'm defending the people that you're attacking, so of course that makes you upset. It's understandable that you' have to insult me when I am making very valid points based on experiences I have both heard about and seen firsthand simply because they contradict what you're saying. There's a difference between being pissed off and annoyed. I'm mildly annoyed by your judgments since you don't know me at all. Certainly not pissed, though.
 
There's nothing like being at the Hanson shoot and hearing...

brbbrrrrrrbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrp

And watching 1000 rounds go through that mini in 5 seconds. It's something to see. And a lot cooler in person than on a video.
 
C-pher said:
There's nothing like being at the Hanson shoot and hearing...

brbbrrrrrrbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrp

And watching 1000 rounds go through that mini in 5 seconds. It's something to see. And a lot cooler in person than on a video.

I think the mini is one of the funniest things on the face of the earth. Scared the crap out of me once. Wasn't really paying attention to the line and all of a sudden heard BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP... about gave me a heart attack [laugh]
 
Thanks for the back up, SR. You've pretty much got it right. The cost of repairing an M16 isn't usually too bad. Unless you blow out the lower receiver. Everything else runs the same price as AR parts. Some of the older stuff, like the MP-40 I shot, different story. But, most of the guns are fairly tough.

Greg, they have a smiley just for you. [troll]

You didn't know that F/A AR/M16 receivers are different than Semi's, did you? They are. I know what the difference is, but Federal law prohibits discussion of it. [troll]

ETA - Sorry for the outburst, Mod's, but it needed to be done.
 
LIST OF GUNS:

Honestly we don't know exactly what will be there until the day of the shoot, when the shooters show up.

But years past as any indicator, there will be "EVERYTHING*" ok you might not see a VillaPorosa or some of those really obscure guns, but everything is there.

* due to ongoing range renovations we will be unable to accomadate .50BMG's this year (so no m2HB's and quad fifty won't be there this year) We hope to have absolutely "everything" back next year, but that will be depend the range work, which is out of my hands.
 
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Nickle said:
Thanks for the back up, SR. You've pretty much got it right. The cost of repairing an M16 isn't usually too bad. Unless you blow out the lower receiver. Everything else runs the same price as AR parts. Some of the older stuff, like the MP-40 I shot, different story. But, most of the guns are fairly tough.
.

No prob Nickle- And thank you too [smile]
I do know that an M-16 is among the cheaper/easier mgs to repair, I should clarify I was talking about how much I like the M-16s and wasn't thinking about them as far as expense. I listed them as the ones that don't get a break. and meant that as a separate point. I guess I should have tried to make that more clear. It sounded clear to me when I typed it. [thinking]
 
Committee Members....

OK, any Members of the Hanson Rod and Gun Club, who would like to be on the Machinegun Shoot Committe or otherwise to help in the planning of this years shoot (to be held Memorial Day weekend). We will be having a planning meeting Monday, March 13, 2006 7pm at the club house. Any Club Member interested in being invovled with the shoot are encouraged to attend.

If you "just" want to help out the during the shoot (or set up/clean up) club member or not, you don't need to come to the above meeting, just get us your name and contact info.

Thanks,
Chris
[email protected]
 
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