by John Boch
Darnall’s Gun Works and Ranges in Bloomington is making some of their Class III inventory available for mere mortals to shoot on Friday, February 13 and Saturday, February 14th.
There’s quite a collection of guns available to shoot – although they’re a little picky and choosy about who they’ll let shoot the Russian PPSH because it can be a little too hot to handle for inexperienced shooters (900 rpm).
Here’s the table of goodies.
Given Illinois has a bill pending to legalize suppressors, I shot the MP5S, a suppressed subgun. In the name of research, of course.
Yes, from first-hand experience gleaned today, suppressors are very much like mufflers for guns. Like a car’s muffler, a suppressor simply attenuates the noise of the gunfire, making it much less noisy. As I was shooting it, I was thinking to myself, “I’m surprised government hasn’t made the use of suppressors mandatory!”
All in all, it was a good time.
Someone from the range was always close by to the shooters. Ron wasn’t within arm’s reach of the gun because he was reasonably sure I wasn’t going to rake his ceiling with gunfire. “I’m usually right there in case it wants to get away from them,” he said of the shooters earlier today.
It was really busy this morning, they said, with some folks shooting three and four different guns.
I chewed up the middle of my target in a series of two-, three- and four-shot bursts.
Of course, I had to let it rock and roll a couple of times. Still respectable for less than 100 rounds experience with genuine full auto.
Rentals are available until 3p on Saturday. Get there early and bring your camera and your grin. You’ll need both.
The highlight of Valentine’s Day weekend, for most people, is a date.
With John, not so much.
Schwing!
Don’t give those pols any ideas about making the use of a $200 tax stamp item *mandatory*.
Did they comp you, John?
Cause the natural tendency of the reader is to ask, “how much?
Yet, that’s the one question you didn’t address.
Been hangin around with your buddy Brian WIlliams, or somethin?
Just sayin…………….
$70. No comp. Fair question i guess.
Brings back the time of the Valentine’s Day massacre Ouch !!
If you look farther down the blog (third story on page 2, a few days ago) you will find the story about this shooting opportunity, with prices listed.
I think in that story he said it wasn’t a paid ad, just a fun opportunity.
I’ll let him answer if he was comped, as I wasn’t there.
I paid. I did get to shoot a dozen rounds on unsuppressed mp5 for comparison. LOUD comparably speaking.
thats a lot cheaper than vegas
Was there a favorite sub-gun among the participants?