Knob Creek Gun Range, located just outside of Louisville, KY (in Bullit County, no less!), plays host to the largest machine gun shoot and military gun show in the nation. Their semiannual three-day machine gun shoot and military gun shows held every April and October have become THE show for Class III weapons collectors and history/firearms enthusiasts to attend. Nowhere else can you see a larger assemblage of civilian-owned machine guns, flame throwers, restored armored fighting vehicles, artillery pieces and associated hardware!
Contrary to popular belief, Class III weaponry is actually legal to own in *most* states. The number of states currently allowing civilian ownership of fully automatic weapons is something like 33 or 35 I believe; but as one naturally expects, California happens to be one of the states prohibiting the average citizen from owning guns equipped with Giggle Switches. The Class III category includes such fun hardware as machine guns, sound suppressors, short barreled rifles/shotguns, grenade launchers and even artillery pieces (which are sub-classified as Destructive Devices). Owning the "fun" stuff not only involves dealing with the very strict and requisite Federal hoops to jump thru (along with special taxes) but having an extremely large bank account as well. The number of civilian-legal machine guns on the market is finite due to stricter Federal legislation that presently only allows the military, law enforcement and commercial dealers/manufacturers to possess newly manufactured MGs. We have Ronnie "Bedtime for Bonzo" Raygun's administration to thank for that 2nd Amendment restriction (Hi, we're from the Gummint...we know what's best for you!). In a nutshell, the stricter regulations limit your average collector to purchasing only hardware manufactured prior to the 1986 Federal cutoff date, and those specimens are a finite quantity whose price and value continue to skyrocket. Feh! In addition to machine guns, the buying and restoring of MiG jets, Panzer tanks, etc. with original working armament is also a fully legal (but EXPENSIVE) segment of the Class III hobby!
When I attended, the first day of the show was spent gawking at all the older nifty belt fed machine guns set up on one of the firing lines. I got to see all kinds of WW1 era Maxim guns, WW2 German stuff like MG34s and MG42s and quad mounted .50 caliber Browning M2s (Ma Deuce!) chattering away. Neat-o!!! Another cool thing was witnessing Jonathan Ciener's ground mounted electric Mini-Gun in action (this is the type of electric gatling gun usually mounted on aircraft); I just heard one fast Zzziiiiiiiiiip and the next thing you know there's a HUGE pile of expended brass on the ground! I didn't check out any of the submachinegun competitions but got to spend trigger time on the M1918A2 BAR (just one of the fruits of John M. Browning's genius), an M3 Grease Gun and the belt fed Vietnam-era M60 GPMG. It was a such a great experience walking M60 fire into one of the many bullet riddled target cars downrange! Knob Creek is where automotive failures like Pintos, Vegas, Pacers and Gremlins redeem themselves and actually become useful! Flame throwers were also available to satisfy your Inner Pyromaniac but I didn't partake because I aint much of a firebug. I definitely felt the heat radiating from the ribbons of ignited napalm while milling behind the firing line though!
We only went for the evening portion of day 2, which featured the night time shoot. The entire firing line lighting up the range with tracer fire made for a pretty awesome spectacle. Day 3 was spent wandering the gun show tent and just marveling at all the old WW1 and WW2 era hardware for sale. So many neat goodies that I had only previously seen in reference books! So I went to the famed Knob Creek, blasted away at an old car with some neat-o hardware and all I got was a lousy tee-shirt!
Five stars...the KCR machine gun shoot is an event and destination well worth taking a cross country roadtrip to check out!
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Addendum on accommodations and the locale: We stayed at the Louisville Holiday Inn off Eye-65 which was a very short drive from the range and close to local points of interest. Louisville is a great town that's totally worthy of exploration! Things I liked about Louisville, KY:
1) ear X-Tacy - A very well stocked indie record store!
2) Thrift shops and used bookstores - Found some really great 1950s lesbian pulp fiction paperbacks for cheap. Also bought some nifty vintage Old Man shirts in excellent condition and a Super 8 reel of "The Creature From the Black Lagoon." Thrift score!!!
3) Very nice, older houses in charming neighborhoods with tree lined streets (like Midtown Sac, but with a Southern feel). Couldn't find Hunter S. Thompson's mother's house though. We tried.
4) Drive-thru liquor store read more