Libercontrarian

Crushed between the wheels of capitalism and big government.

.50 - Cal. Shoot

This is your brain...

And this is your brain after the .50-cal. Shoot...

The only time I have had the occasion to use full-auto weapons was during a brief stint as an ROTC Cadet during a wild summer in 1984, when I hoped Uncle Sugar was going to give me a flight slot for Army Aviation after I attended Basic Training at Fort Knox, Ky. I was permitted to fire the M-16 on full-auto, a belt-fed M60 machine gun, the LAWS rocket, and I got to throw numerous practice grenades and one live "egg."

The effect of "full-auto fire" on my love for guns was long lasting, even if the exposure was brief. I got to fire a Vickers .30-cal belt-fed at a re-enactor's shoot in North Georgia in 1995, and found that to be an entertaining experience as well, although the weapon was worn and jammed every four or five rounds. So when my friend Jed from FreedomSight and R.G. Combs ganged up on me and forced me to go to the .50-Cal Shoot at Fort Morgan on Saturday, they didn't have to twist my arm very hard.

Things did not start out well, however. I wanted to shoot at the event, and had amassed an impressive array of shooting accessories and firearms. I was disappointed to discover that there were no firing spots on the line for free-lancers such as myself. Furthermore, I was not welcomed at the gate wearing a handgun, and the use of a camera for anything other than personal consumption was "ztrictly verbotten," so as a citizen-journalist, I would have been enjoined from posting on my blog action shots of Dicky Combs ventilating an ancient Nissan Pulsar, or Jed enjoying the "happy switch" on the legally converted AR.

I left the camera in the car, and was sorely disappointed at the rain, high winds, cool temperatures, and mildly defensive staff at the event. Nevertheless, I managed to have a good time.

When you are firing full-auto, the secret to life is CASH. Bring lots of cold, hard cash to pay for the giant quatities of ammunition you will want to send downrange. I was fortunate in taking out $65 or so, and managed somehow to restrain myself to spending a little more than half that amount in careful, three-round bursts. You see, all that time spent in front of "Castle Wolfenstien" really paid off! It's called "trigger control," and even the most mild-mannered Class Three weapon seems to reward you for not being a lead-spraying maniac.

Perhaps the best experience there was firing the .50-caliber rifles that many exhibitors had brought out. These were mostly single shot bolt guns (AR-50s), although there was at least one fellow who had a Barrett M-82A1 semi-auto, ten-round-magazine-fed rifle. The fifties produce a sound that is so impressive, that they were causing me to end conversations and to stare at them even though I had been exposed to the noise all through the day. The "BANG!" and resultant chest-thump would catch you off guard - and everybody was using tracer and armor-piercing-incendiary-tracer, and you could see the rounds streak downrange and flash as they smashed through the two shot-up trucks that were the main targets, sometimes bouncing off into the sky, reaching perhaps 650 feet in altitude before the phosphorous would burn out. I can guarantee that the hill  that was being used as a backstop is a litterground of copper and steel. I fired off perhaps ten rounds of .50-cal, and found the AR-50 rifles to be exceptionally accurate, and oddly soft-kicking. They were certainly no worse than my Garand, and nowhere near as sharp as my 8mm Mauser, which is simply awful to shoot without some kind of shoulder protection. The general consensus was that the mild recoil was due to the rifle's 30+ pound weight and oversized rubber butt-pad. Simply put, they were a joy to shoot, and I will consider the acquisition of one of these amazing rifles to be a lifetime-goal. My wife will certainly cringe at the expenditure of several thousands of dollars, but I am getting the impression that lawmakers will soon attempt to restrict our access to these fun guns, so I may have to break out the credit card in a couple of years. Well, that's my excuse, anyway, and I'm sticking to it.

I was fortunate to see Jed's friend Steve Zeigenhegen at the shoot - he brought a specially modified .50 - cal. Browning Machine Gun to the event that had been converted to semi-auto-only fire, preventing its owner from having to obtain a Class Three permit to own the weapon. Steve generously permitted our trio of gun-lovers to shoot five or six rounds out of the beast; I was never privy to receive training on this weapon during my military service. Truly amazing though it is, John Browning's .50-cal Machine Gun is a work of industrial art, made in an age which appreciated the clever works of clever men. To think that this weapon was engineered prior to our entry into World War One and that it is still being used in active duty combat this very day is an amazement; I know of no other device in the military that has had such a service life as the BMG .50!

There were also myriad other wonders - belt-fed machine guns from every country that ever produced them, submachine guns (I fired a Heckler und Koch MP-5, and BOY, is it controllable!), and even CANNON! Yes, there were several anti-tank guns there, ranging in size from 20mm Finnish Lahtis to 40 mm US guns. My favorites were a pair of Bofors 37mm anti-tank cannons, and their owners fired off several rounds out of these beautiful guns, producing a chest-walloping thump and a nice splash down range. I shudder to think about what it would have been like to be on the other side of the guns - it gives you pause to think about the destructiveness of man's warmaking capabilities. I wish we could get some legislators to think about such things, as I am betting they'd think twice before setting nations on a course to make war with one another.

I will take my camera to the next event at Cheyenne Wells (next month), and I may be camping out and shooting there. I will issue a full report when I go.

posted by: underwhelmed at April 17, 2006 18:19 | link | comments (3) |

Comments:

#1  28 April 2006 - 23:26

 

The Second Amendment means nothing outside of hunting.

Our forefathers gave us that right to fend off a military takeover in the U.S. - by either the left or the right.

Apparently, since most gun owners are far right they didn't see fit to fight the far right takeover so here we are. On the verge of martial law.

You'll imitate your German counterparts of 70 years ago. You'll allow them to take away any weapon that gives you parity with the military. You know you barely made a peep when the Brady Bill took away your assault rifles, which is what you'll need to effectively combat troops.

What a bunch of cowards, and what a sore disgrace you are to our forefathers who gave their blood for the likes of you.

In Jesus' Glorious and Holy name,
Dean Berry -- Real American

http://www.deanberryministries.org

dinoberry@frontiernet.net

Anonymous

#2  08 May 2006 - 22:53

 

Uhh, I KNOW you didn't direct this diatribe at me, right? I am the staunchest defender of our RKBA, and am FIRST ON THE LIST of people who think the NFA '34 was as big a travesty against justice as Dredd Scott.

To whom did you direct your closing paragraph to?

underwhelmed

#3  12 May 2006 - 22:05

 

I've done some investigation on this "Dean Berry" character - he's a Hellfahre n' Brimstone Leftist "Christian," if that makes the tiniest fraction of sense. Seriously - go to this utter whackjob's website, and read about this tool for yourself. I suspect this is the retard that is part and parcel of the "Godhatesfags" organization that enjoys hanging out at grieving families' funerals for American Heros and taunting them.

This guy's a first class smackwit, and I may be doing an expose post on him in the near future.

underwhelmed

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