The first time I shot a machine gun I really didn’t know what I was getting into. It was a MAC series with a Gemtech Viper suppressor mounted on the front that you could hold with your support hand. We put a target up and just went for it. Having some experience with larger caliber rifles helped as I knew there would be some recoil and muzzle flip combined I would have to manage.
I think the first real thought I had was, damn this is going to be expensive! Full autos have their place and are definitely unique. I’m more of a short barreled 5.56 rifle kind of guy, but if the right opportunity presented itself, I could see myself being a full auto owner. I’ve looked up Vietnam era M16’s that go for $30,000 and the only thing I see is a Tacoma that I should own instead.
Most people when you go to shoot with them, or you invite out to shoot typically expect that you have firearms experience and understand your fundamentals and can manage recoil across the board from your 12 gauges to your .44’s. I’m glad I had some basic understanding or else I wouldn’t have been able to keep that Mac on the paper. It's also something to be said that non-gun people typically think we all have machine guns just hanging out, no big deal.
When I managed an indoor gun range, for any of our full autos rentals we had a mandatory safety brief provided by our staff members. This information was invaluable as we were really trying to coach you for about 10 minutes on how to manage the muzzle rise and recoil so that your first or tenth experience shooting a full auto is a great one. There are definitely ways of understanding how the human body interfaces with a firearm to optimize the interaction.
Many ask what the best machine gun is, the most popular, the best one for a first timer etc. Well here’s my opinion on it. If you’ve never shot a firearm before, and you’re going right into full auto you should seek out a 9mm full auto or something midsize. The MP5 and Sten are two fantastic firearms with the latter being a bit more for the nostalgic shooter. The Sten is odd looking, kind of uncomfortable, but down right the easiest full auto to shoot and the one word many look for - AFFORDABLE. This used to only cost $60 to rent and it has a super steady slow rate of fire at around 500 rounds per minute (rpm). The reason I always had a soft spot for the MP5, specifically the MP5SD, is you have a suppressor which makes the firing process super soft, low felt recoil and muzzle rise, a bit of a faster rate of fire compared to the Sten, and typically can mount a red dot so that the end user can just worry about the control, not trying to deal with equal height and equal light etc.
Maybe you’re a bit more experienced and have shot firearms before but it’s now time for your first full auto. Do you want to go fast, loud, or do you just want to shoot unicorn firearms? If you’re looking for compact speed you’ll notice the P90, the same gun from the original N64 007 GoldenEye video game that you could dual wield under the name RCP90. It boasts an impressive 1100 RPM and is made for all shooters being the best ambi platform we have to offer. It is much more controllable and enjoyable as it has a much larger magazine capacity than most to allow you the chance to really get into the groove, but it takes a little more effort in understanding a two stage trigger. Your first initial press of the trigger which many will press and bounce off of will fire in semi-auto, while a press straight through the first wall will send it to full auto. The only platform faster than that was our Kriss Vector in .45 ACP, and that ran like a sewing machine on cocaine.
Instead of speed, maybe you just want something loud, well then you’d have the SCAR Heavy or the Browning 1919. The SCAR Heavy is definitely a monster of it’s own. We had to add a custom muzzle break to make it rentable to help keep shooters on target while the original flash hider just created too much muzzle rise. The SCAR Heavy is definitely a popular one, and I like to think of it as if you’re riding the bull. That’s the one everyone wants to be able to handle like a champ, and a bit of proper form and muscle will help on this one. The aftermarket muzzle device did in fact though cause the receiver pins/holes to egg. The 1919 is just pure joy in linked .308 happiness. This we mounted to the booth and you take a quick look at your sights and start squeezing the trigger and you’re off! It’s definitely the party gun for large groups.
We had plenty of firearms for selection, and I've been blessed with the opportunity to shoot so many as well as learn to maintain the platforms. Certain machine guns may seem like a pain or that they aren't that unique, but with enough time you'll find that certain platforms are a literal blast to shoot. Like an UZI as an example, most people want to shoot an UZI, and when they do they have a terrible experience from not squeezing the grip safety properly. Everyone wants to shoot a full auto Glock, until they realize it's not even being an experienced shooter that really helps control it. If I had to choose, my favorite hands down is still the Remington ACR. It's such a cool modern gun that Remington/Bushmaster split the contract on (Remington handled the military/federal contract - Bushmaster handled the civilian semi auto) which came from Magpul's original Masada design.
If you're out just for a rental, choose wisely and pay attention to the details on how to make it run properly. If you find yourself in a position to LAWFULLY acquire a machine gun that is transferrable, be ready to pony up some serious coin. Just know that if you store it properly and maintain it, you've just given yourself a little baby nest egg as it continues to rise in value. They are a great investment. I'm sorry I couldn't source all of my original images especially for the 1919 and RPD, but we'll close it out with a classic.
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