Lost my full-auto virginity

Sgt.Saputo · December 18, 2010, 03:48 PM

Well, I went to a gun shop today that I've never been to before. It was way out in the middle of nowhere and boy did I have fun! After our purchase the owner walked over and said "Hey I brought a few of my machine guns from home, you can shoot em' if ya want. Ya just gotta pay for ammo, oh and you gotta load the magazines yourself." He had brought a Sten MkIII and a Sterling. I opted to shoot the sten, $25 got me 100 rounds, loading the mags wasn't fun but after 15 minutes of loading the 40 seconds of shooting was worth it

. I think I'm in love, the Sten looks like someone with some spare pipe and a welding torch made a machine gun, pretty much no recoil, slower rate of fire means it's really easy to control and keep rounds on target.

Please, share your first full-auto experiences!

BILLDAVE · December 18, 2010, 04:03 PM

Great, Sounds like a good deal. I shot my first full-auto in Vietnam. No, not in the war but in 2001 on vacation. I went to Chu Chi tunnels on a tour and they let you shoot Ak's, SKS, and M-60's. I chose the captured M-60. $100 US dollars for 100 rounds. They had a big cutout of a tiger to shoot at. It was really cool.
BILLDAVE

egor20 · December 18, 2010, 04:16 PM

M-14 E2 while doing shark watch in the Navy, never been a fan of full auto after that

. Had a blast once (literally) shooting a Thompson with a drum, can't remember which version it was but it had the vertical front hand grip.

dalegribble · December 18, 2010, 04:28 PM

full auto is probably the most fun you can have with your pants on....but not really practical except in limited military situations. and it's very expensive. i'm happy with my semi autos for just about any situation i can think of. they are expensive enough to shoot for me. but...everyone that would like to shoot a full auto should have the oppertunity

aarondhgraham · December 18, 2010, 04:39 PM

I always did that when I hit a new base,,,
If you are buddies you get to shot a lot of good stuff.

I was Air Force but was stationed at an Army base,,,
Camp Long, Tae Jon Dong, South Korea,,,
18 Airmen and around 400 Soldiers.

One day he called me at the barracks and said come to the range tomorrow,,,
He had a truck-load of .50 BMG that was going off inventory,,,
Wanted to know if I would like to play with a quad-50.

I said,,, Yes please!

Me and a couple of other guys had a great afternoon,,,
Disintegrating a wrecked 5-quarter truck,,,
We burned through a lot of ammo.

Aarond

jammin1237 · December 18, 2010, 04:46 PM

was in Vegas this last march, will be there again this feb, went to the Las Vegas Gun Range and Firearm Center...

http://www.lasvegasgunrange.net

they have a wall of full auto stuff you can try... im kinda thinkin im gonna do ultima package where i can shoot all of them

... good place, good guys, and a ton of fun....

here are the 45 tommy gun vids from the phone, 30 round stick mags dont last long!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T8u4xVz--o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM3OrAJLH74

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Get Shootin!

Cheers

m.p.driver · December 18, 2010, 07:41 PM

M60 range Ft.McClellan Ala.,got to light up some old 1/4 ton jeeps and 2 1/2 trucks.After that M16's,M2's,the old M3 greasegun,AK's,FAL's,UZI's and any other weapons uncle sammy would let us play with.

gyvel · December 18, 2010, 09:16 PM

It's a shame you didn't shoot the Sterling. The mags are a LOT easier to load (no tool required), and you can literally shoot it with one hand since the pistol grip is at the center point of balance. I love mine!

The very first Sterlings were issued right at the end of WWII but were known at the time as "Patchetts." They originally used Sten mags, which were superseded by the curved 34 round mag with the roller followers developed for the Sterling in the 50s. It is probably the pinnacle of development for old school subguns.

Sgt.Saputo · December 19, 2010, 10:34 AM

Quote:

It's a shame you didn't shoot the Sterling. The mags are a LOT easier to load (no tool required)

Well the guy only had Sten mags, so if I was gonna shoot the Sterling I would have had to load the mags the same way. I wanted to shoot the Sten simply because I've always loved the "ugly" look and because of the historical factor.

xMINORxTHREATx · December 19, 2010, 02:27 PM

Congratulations!!! Memorable time, huh?

First time shooting full auto on purpose was at Knob Creek. I had a wide range to choose from, but being around 12 years old, I saw the Tommy gun and got my first public .... ahhh you get the idea.

The first time shooting full auto period was the same year, earlier that summer. Had a .22 semi-auto malfunction on me and fired five or six rounds full auto on accident. Looking back, it might have been cook off, but I've never heard of a .22 having that issue.

My favorite full auto experience was in at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. M240B + 500 rounds + pouring down rain = a great time and a very bad cold after.

Sgt.Saputo · December 19, 2010, 09:10 PM

Quote:

and a very bad cold after

Sounds like a fair trade for a few minutes with an M240B

I have a feeling I'll be giving this guy a lot of money in the future. Not only does he have a great shop with some awesome firearms, but he's real friendly (Did I mention he looks like Walter Sobchak?

).

alecbh · December 20, 2010, 12:05 AM

Quote:

Had a .22 semi-auto malfunction on me and fired five or six rounds full auto on accident. Looking back, it might have been cook off, but I've never heard of a .22 having that issue.

Was it an AR-7 Survival Rifle by chance? The older versions seem to have had a fondness for getting worn sears and going FA on unsuspecting victims.

And I don't believe a .22 semi-auto could ever produce enough heat to cook anything off. I know Mythbusters did tests with live rounds in an oven, and it was nearly 400+ degrees before the lowly .22LR finally cooked off iirc. I've never gotten any firearm to 400 degrees.

On topic, I need to visit Knob Creek sometime soon.

xMINORxTHREATx · December 20, 2010, 01:37 AM

Knob Creek is awesome. Anyone in the Kentucky area should go at least once in their life.

It was, I believe, a Marlin or some other similiar tube fed rifle.

kraigwy · December 20, 2010, 10:50 AM

My "first time" ................(damn this sounds like a high school -under the bleachers conversation) was after receiving my invitation to compete in the SE Asia War Games with pop-up shoot back targets.

I was in the 82nd with orders for the 101st in 1967. We used M14s so we had to go to a formalization course on the M16a1. The poor range officer tried to do it by the book, but we wanted to play. We let 'er rip, we fired every round we could steal (and they had lots of them) full auto. Didn't hit much but we had fun.............what could they do to us? Send us to Vietnam??

Now if you want to shoot "full auto" try the "mad minute" drill. I was infantry, and when we came in from the field we got rid of our old ammo and replaced it with fresh stuff. So we got on line, and tried to see how fast we could get rid of our ammo.

Later after I got out of the Army I joined the Alaska National Guard, the 38th Special Forces company. I was put in the weapons Sgt slot and was in charge of our foreign weapons, (and old WWII US weapons). I got more then my share of full auto practice in teaching foreign weapons to others.

Later when I took over the State Marksmanship Unit I ordered a bunch of M14s to issue to BN teams to practice for a chance to make the State Rifle Team.
Several of these were the full auto versions and before I converted them to semi only, we took them out to play. Couldn't hit crap with full auto M14s but it was fun.

I graduated to the theory that semi is better in a rifle. (and sub machine guns). I use to put on demonstrations showing a guy with a semi M14 could put more rounds on target (to 600 yards) faster then someone with an M60. And a guy with a 1911 can put more rounds on target, faster, at 50 yards then a guy with a sub gun.

But if you don't have to buy or reload the ammo, they are fun to shoot.

Reloading is a different matter. I was suppose to instruct some Native (Eskimo) guard units on the M1919a4 & BARs but couldn't get any ammo. I had to load about 3000 rounds. We were shooting on the ice on the coast near Nome. I wanted to keep the brass so set next to the gun with a ruck sack catching brass as it came out. My hearing has been shot every since. (some dummy didn't have ear protections).

HelterSkelter · December 22, 2010, 12:32 AM

i've never shot a full auto myself but my dad has shot the sten and the ak 47... at people in a war.

hnl.flyboy · December 22, 2010, 03:36 AM

My first FA was in Camp Pendleton in Infantry Training Battalion with a M249 SAW...LOTS of fun!!! Brass call was almost worth it after..

After the SAW, I got to play FA with an M4 with issued suppressor, M2 .50, M240G, and Mk19 40mm auto 'nade launcher in Kaneohe MCB, Hawaii.

Thanks for the ammo, Uncle Sam!!

Skans · December 22, 2010, 10:52 AM

My first FA experience was shooting my AC556 after I bought it and took possession of it. Yes, it was awesome! And, still is. The only other full auto guns I've fired are an M16 and a Bren light machine gun.

wackendogs · January 3, 2011, 12:24 AM

Mac 11 in 380 the fastest little gun around.. The 32 rd mag would be empty before the first piece of brass hit the ground. LOL

December 18, 2010, 03:48 PM	#1
Sgt.Saputo Senior Member Join Date: July 20, 2010 Posts: 201	Lost my full-auto virginity Well, I went to a gun shop today that I've never been to before. It was way out in the middle of nowhere and boy did I have fun! After our purchase the owner walked over and said "Hey I brought a few of my machine guns from home, you can shoot em' if ya want. Ya just gotta pay for ammo, oh and you gotta load the magazines yourself." He had brought a Sten MkIII and a Sterling. I opted to shoot the sten, $25 got me 100 rounds, loading the mags wasn't fun but after 15 minutes of loading the 40 seconds of shooting was worth it. I think I'm in love, the Sten looks like someone with some spare pipe and a welding torch made a machine gun, pretty much no recoil, slower rate of fire means it's really easy to control and keep rounds on target. Please, share your first full-auto experiences! __________________ "Keep the Vaseline off the guns, and keep the guns out of the oven." -Bill DeShivs "Stock padding? Mosin not cater to girly men. Mosin tough like hammer, take abuse, keep fighting. Defend homeland!!!" -spetznaz1337

December 18, 2010, 04:16 PM	#3
egor20 Senior Member Join Date: November 14, 2010 Location: Northern Virginia Posts: 1,824	M-14 E2 while doing shark watch in the Navy, never been a fan of full auto after that . Had a blast once (literally) shooting a Thompson with a drum, can't remember which version it was but it had the vertical front hand grip. __________________ Chief stall mucker and grain chef Country don't mean dumb. Steven King. The Stand

December 18, 2010, 04:28 PM	#4
dalegribble Senior Member Join Date: August 4, 2007 Posts: 861	full auto is probably the most fun you can have with your pants on....but not really practical except in limited military situations. and it's very expensive. i'm happy with my semi autos for just about any situation i can think of. they are expensive enough to shoot for me. but...everyone that would like to shoot a full auto should have the oppertunity __________________ Waltzes with woofs

December 18, 2010, 04:39 PM	#5
aarondhgraham Senior Member Join Date: December 1, 2009 Location: Stillwater, OKlahoma Posts: 8,638	Always make friends with the Armorer,,, I always did that when I hit a new base,,, If you are buddies you get to shot a lot of good stuff. I was Air Force but was stationed at an Army base,,, Camp Long, Tae Jon Dong, South Korea,,, 18 Airmen and around 400 Soldiers. One day he called me at the barracks and said come to the range tomorrow,,, He had a truck-load of .50 BMG that was going off inventory,,, Wanted to know if I would like to play with a quad-50. I said,,, Yes please! Me and a couple of other guys had a great afternoon,,, Disintegrating a wrecked 5-quarter truck,,, We burned through a lot of ammo. Aarond __________________ Never ever give an enemy the advantage of a verbal threat. Caje: The coward dies a thousand times, the brave only once. Kirby: That's about all it takes, ain't it? Aarond is good,,, Aarond is wise,,, Always trust Aarond! (most of the time)

December 18, 2010, 04:46 PM	#6
jammin1237 Senior Member Join Date: July 16, 2008 Location: Wisonsin Posts: 269	was in Vegas this last march, will be there again this feb, went to the Las Vegas Gun Range and Firearm Center... http://www.lasvegasgunrange.net they have a wall of full auto stuff you can try... im kinda thinkin im gonna do ultima package where i can shoot all of them... good place, good guys, and a ton of fun.... here are the 45 tommy gun vids from the phone, 30 round stick mags dont last long! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T8u4xVz--o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM3OrAJLH74 Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Get Shootin! Cheers __________________ "sir, it's quite possible this asteroid is not entirely stable" - C3P0 "it's the frost, sometimes it makes the blade stick" - Gladiator

December 18, 2010, 04:03 PM	#2
BILLDAVE Junior member Join Date: September 17, 2006 Location: In the Mid-West Posts: 321	Great, Sounds like a good deal. I shot my first full-auto in Vietnam. No, not in the war but in 2001 on vacation. I went to Chu Chi tunnels on a tour and they let you shoot Ak's, SKS, and M-60's. I chose the captured M-60. $100 US dollars for 100 rounds. They had a big cutout of a tiger to shoot at. It was really cool. BILLDAVE

December 18, 2010, 07:41 PM	#7
m.p.driver Senior Member Join Date: January 25, 2009 Location: Ohio Posts: 552	M60 range Ft.McClellan Ala.,got to light up some old 1/4 ton jeeps and 2 1/2 trucks.After that M16's,M2's,the old M3 greasegun,AK's,FAL's,UZI's and any other weapons uncle sammy would let us play with.

December 18, 2010, 09:16 PM	#8
gyvel Senior Member Join Date: August 30, 2009 Location: Northern AZ Posts: 7,172	It's a shame you didn't shoot the Sterling. The mags are a LOT easier to load (no tool required), and you can literally shoot it with one hand since the pistol grip is at the center point of balance. I love mine! The very first Sterlings were issued right at the end of WWII but were known at the time as "Patchetts." They originally used Sten mags, which were superseded by the curved 34 round mag with the roller followers developed for the Sterling in the 50s. It is probably the pinnacle of development for old school subguns.

December 19, 2010, 02:27 PM	#10
xMINORxTHREATx Senior Member Join Date: November 25, 2010 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio Posts: 286	Congratulations!!! Memorable time, huh? First time shooting full auto on purpose was at Knob Creek. I had a wide range to choose from, but being around 12 years old, I saw the Tommy gun and got my first public .... ahhh you get the idea. The first time shooting full auto period was the same year, earlier that summer. Had a .22 semi-auto malfunction on me and fired five or six rounds full auto on accident. Looking back, it might have been cook off, but I've never heard of a .22 having that issue. My favorite full auto experience was in at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. M240B + 500 rounds + pouring down rain = a great time and a very bad cold after. __________________ Glaine ár gcroí Neart ár ngéag Agus beart de réir ár mbriathar Last edited by xMINORxTHREATx; December 19, 2010 at 02:34 PM.

December 20, 2010, 01:37 AM	#13
xMINORxTHREATx Senior Member Join Date: November 25, 2010 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio Posts: 286	Knob Creek is awesome. Anyone in the Kentucky area should go at least once in their life. It was, I believe, a Marlin or some other similiar tube fed rifle. __________________ Glaine ár gcroí Neart ár ngéag Agus beart de réir ár mbriathar

December 20, 2010, 10:50 AM	#14
kraigwy Senior Member Join Date: June 16, 2008 Location: Wyoming Posts: 11,061	My "first time" ................(damn this sounds like a high school -under the bleachers conversation) was after receiving my invitation to compete in the SE Asia War Games with pop-up shoot back targets. I was in the 82nd with orders for the 101st in 1967. We used M14s so we had to go to a formalization course on the M16a1. The poor range officer tried to do it by the book, but we wanted to play. We let 'er rip, we fired every round we could steal (and they had lots of them) full auto. Didn't hit much but we had fun.............what could they do to us? Send us to Vietnam?? Now if you want to shoot "full auto" try the "mad minute" drill. I was infantry, and when we came in from the field we got rid of our old ammo and replaced it with fresh stuff. So we got on line, and tried to see how fast we could get rid of our ammo. Later after I got out of the Army I joined the Alaska National Guard, the 38th Special Forces company. I was put in the weapons Sgt slot and was in charge of our foreign weapons, (and old WWII US weapons). I got more then my share of full auto practice in teaching foreign weapons to others. Later when I took over the State Marksmanship Unit I ordered a bunch of M14s to issue to BN teams to practice for a chance to make the State Rifle Team. Several of these were the full auto versions and before I converted them to semi only, we took them out to play. Couldn't hit crap with full auto M14s but it was fun. I graduated to the theory that semi is better in a rifle. (and sub machine guns). I use to put on demonstrations showing a guy with a semi M14 could put more rounds on target (to 600 yards) faster then someone with an M60. And a guy with a 1911 can put more rounds on target, faster, at 50 yards then a guy with a sub gun. But if you don't have to buy or reload the ammo, they are fun to shoot. Reloading is a different matter. I was suppose to instruct some Native (Eskimo) guard units on the M1919a4 & BARs but couldn't get any ammo. I had to load about 3000 rounds. We were shooting on the ice on the coast near Nome. I wanted to keep the brass so set next to the gun with a ruck sack catching brass as it came out. My hearing has been shot every since. (some dummy didn't have ear protections). __________________ Kraig Stuart CPT USAR Ret USAMU Sniper School Distinguished Rifle Badge 1071

December 22, 2010, 12:32 AM	#15
HelterSkelter Junior member Join Date: December 14, 2010 Posts: 79	i've never shot a full auto myself but my dad has shot the sten and the ak 47... at people in a war.

December 22, 2010, 03:36 AM	#16
hnl.flyboy Senior Member Join Date: May 3, 2010 Location: Honolulu, HI Posts: 126	My first FA was in Camp Pendleton in Infantry Training Battalion with a M249 SAW...LOTS of fun!!! Brass call was almost worth it after.. After the SAW, I got to play FA with an M4 with issued suppressor, M2 .50, M240G, and Mk19 40mm auto 'nade launcher in Kaneohe MCB, Hawaii. Thanks for the ammo, Uncle Sam!! __________________ God gave you a mind. Your parents gave you a body. The Corps gave you a rifle. Keep them all clean.

December 22, 2010, 10:52 AM	#17
Skans Senior Member Join Date: November 20, 2008 Posts: 11,132	My first FA experience was shooting my AC556 after I bought it and took possession of it. Yes, it was awesome! And, still is. The only other full auto guns I've fired are an M16 and a Bren light machine gun.

January 3, 2011, 12:24 AM	#18
wackendogs Member Join Date: January 26, 2010 Location: ohio Posts: 30	Mac 11 in 380 the fastest little gun around.. The 32 rd mag would be empty before the first piece of brass hit the ground. LOL