Guns: The Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot

Color me green with envy - Tam's at the Knob Creek Gun Range to partake in their spring machine gun shoot.

If you've never heard of the Knob Creek MG shoot, suffice it to say that it's heaven on Earth for fans of military firearms. Dealers, collectors, and owners from around the country make the biannual pilgrimage in order to light up targets downrange with an assortment of rare machine guns and cannons. Many of them will rent time on these guns for a nominal fee - who could resist wasting a wrecked car with a .50 cal?



There's a lot going on besides the main MG shoot, though - practical shooting competitions using pistols, rifles, shotguns, and subguns, militaria of all sizes and descriptions (including rides in tanks and helicopters), and an enormous gun show to boot. Heck, an entire half-hour episode of "Mail Call" was devoted to the Knob Creek shoot.

The high point of the MG shoot for many is the night shoot, when everyone loads up with tracers and big barrels of pyrotechnics are placed downrange: