
Gun and Knife Show Information Virtual Gun Show DACA's Mission Statement Club Officers Club Newsletter Upcoming Events Useful Links DACA's Book Store Club Resources Home	A novice shoots machine guns at the YO Ranch This year, I had the pleasure and unique, for me, experience to attend my first Dallas Arms Collectors, Inc. and YO Ranch-sponsored machine gunshoot at the YO Ranch. The Ranch, a 53,000-acre spread, is located near Mountain Home in the Hill Country of Texas north and west of San Antonio. It is owned and operated by Mr. Charlie Schreiner III, grandson of the Texas pioneer and founder of the YO Ranch Charles Scheiner. It’s an exotic game hunting resort and breeding facility for Texas Longhorns. Each of the 30 participants who came from as far away as Alaska and Ohio were housed in authentic historical log buildings that had been converted into guest cabins. My cabin was called the Sam Houston Lodge. It was constructed in 1855 as a schoolhouse. In the 1960s, it was moved to the YO Ranch and restored as a guest cabin. It consists of three sleeping rooms, two downstairs and one upstairs and a living room. The rooms are furnished in period antique furniture and the walls are decorated with animal mounts. A great Longhorn bull looks down on the bed where I slept. I felt as if I was back in time to the middle of the last century. However, there are modern heating systems and bathroom facilities for the modern sportsman. Lunch was being served when I arrived on Friday good timing, don’t you think? After lunch, we met in the main lodge to discuss range safety and the itinerary. Then everyone went to the range. On the range there were three awnings which shaded tables for arms and ammo. Targets were set up at about 50 yards, 75 yards and a hundred yards. The targets were telephone poles cut to four feet lengths and placed upright with a large piece of sandstone on top. There was also a moving target called the Jumping Sombrero an outline of a sombrero cut from a one-inch steelplate attached to a very large coil spring. When the Jumping Sombrero was hit with a burst, it would crazily bounce back and forth. Two old car bodies were also targets. Two mixing drums from cement mixing trucks placed on end were set at the 100-yard distance. These were painted yellow and one had a cartoon picture of Saddam Hussein painted on it. Poor old Saddam was machine gunned in effigy! There were many types of machine guns and submachine guns on the range. I saw Thompsons, sten guns, BARs and Risings. Some of the heavy ordnance consisted of Browning .30 and .50 calibers (five-fifties), Maxiums, and a forty-five seventy Gatling gun. The range was open until 6:00 p.m. I was impressed with the care and safe range etiquette that the machine gunners followed. When the range closed, everyone retired to the main lodge for a before-dinner social. We enjoyed the "YO Whitewing Dove" appetizers. This delicious treat is prepared from chicken breasts and a Jalapeno pepper wrapped in bacon strips dipped in a special sauce and cooked on a barbecue grill. Dr. Eugene Pope showed some of his very fine miniatures they were offered for sale or trade. One of his miniatures was a Hall Rifle in about 1/4 scale. It was very well done. About seven, we adjourned to the "chuck wagon" for an excellent Mexican dinner featuring all the beef fajitas that one wished to gorge themselves with. After supper there was a night-tracer shoot. This was especially dramatic when a target car with a container of gasoline burst into a ball of yellowflame when it was hit. The car was about a hundred yards from the shooters and in an area cleared of vegetation. I was reminded of the tremendous rate of fire of some of the tripod-mounted guns when they fired tracers. It looked like a red laser light shining from Frank Horak’s gun to the target. After the tracer shoot, some returned to the main lodge, some for a game of pool while the rest retired for the evening. The next morning, I was awed with the clear sky and graceful giraffes that were walking across a far pasture in the morning mist. Breakfast was delectable Mexican scramble eggs, coffee and juice. After breakfast every one returned to the firing line for a morning of machine gunning. Most of the guns worked well; however, I was surprised at the amount of attention it took to keep them firing. I paid my dues as a novice by helping to keep the magazines loaded for Eugene Pope and Richard Shea, who along with others were kind enough to allow me to fire their guns. As a beginner it took me about five minutes to load a magazine and less than a second for Eugene or Richard to empty it. Lesson One: Machine gunners spend a lot more time loading their magazines than shooting their guns! Lunch was broiled Eland with all the trimmings. This was a mild meat. It did not have a wild taste. After lunch some of the YO ranch hands demonstrated an antique muzzle loading cannon. First they fired a solid ball into a 30-gallon drum filled with colored water. Of course, water sprayed form the drum in all directions; however, to my surprise the ball did shoot through both sides of the drum. The cannon was on a ridge overlooking the shooting range that was better than a mile away. Air bursts were fired over the range. The cannon would discharge, a couple of seconds later one would see a puff of white smoke, then a good two seconds later we heard the report. I have never seen a buzzard flap his wings so much or fly that fast. I think he decided that he wanted to find lunch in the next county! After the cannon demonstration, we went back to the shooting range. Everyone shot until about 5:00 p.m. That evening, everyone went to Charlie Schreiner’s home, which is on the Ranch to visit his unusual gun room. The door is an old bank vault door. The room has no windows and at one end is a large fireplace. At the other end is an antique bar, maybe from an old west saloon. The walls are lined with display cases from a turn-of-the-century drug store. They are filled with antique Colt and Winchester rifles. Perhaps the most significant pistol in the collection is an old Martial flintlock pistol that shows much hard use. It is reported to have been recovered from the Alamo after its fall to Santa Anna. To complete the room description, there are mounted trophies and other antiques such as western saddles on display. A special treat were 21 YO Ranch guests from Norway giving the occasionan international flavor. After the tour, we returned to the chuck wagon for dinner T-bones and all the trimmings. After this western feast, the machine gunners went to the main lodge, back to Charlie’s gun room or retired for the evening. After a hearty breakfast on Sunday morning, we said our good-byes and went our separate ways with happy memories of the machine gun shoot. Rod Wright

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A novice shoots machine guns at the YO Ranch

This year, I had the pleasure and unique, for me, experience to attend my first Dallas Arms Collectors, Inc. and YO Ranch-sponsored machine gunshoot at the YO Ranch. The Ranch, a 53,000-acre spread, is located near Mountain Home in the Hill Country of Texas north and west of San Antonio. It is owned and operated by Mr. Charlie Schreiner III, grandson of the Texas pioneer and founder of the YO Ranch Charles Scheiner. It’s an exotic game hunting resort and breeding facility for Texas Longhorns.

Each of the 30 participants who came from as far away as Alaska and Ohio were housed in authentic historical log buildings that had been converted into guest cabins. My cabin was called the Sam Houston Lodge. It was constructed in 1855 as a schoolhouse. In the 1960s, it was moved to the YO Ranch and restored as a guest cabin. It consists of three sleeping rooms, two downstairs and one upstairs and a living room.

The rooms are furnished in period antique furniture and the walls are decorated with animal mounts. A great Longhorn bull looks down on the bed where I slept. I felt as if I was back in time to the middle of the last century. However, there are modern heating systems and bathroom facilities for the modern sportsman.

Lunch was being served when I arrived on Friday good timing, don’t you think? After lunch, we met in the main lodge to discuss range safety and the itinerary. Then everyone went to the range.

On the range there were three awnings which shaded tables for arms and ammo. Targets were set up at about 50 yards, 75 yards and a hundred yards. The targets were telephone poles cut to four feet lengths and placed upright with a large piece of sandstone on top. There was also a moving target called the Jumping Sombrero an outline of a sombrero cut from a one-inch steelplate attached to a very large coil spring. When the Jumping Sombrero was hit with a burst, it would crazily bounce back and forth.

Two old car bodies were also targets. Two mixing drums from cement mixing trucks placed on end were set at the 100-yard distance. These were painted yellow and one had a cartoon picture of Saddam Hussein painted on it. Poor old Saddam was machine gunned in effigy!

There were many types of machine guns and submachine guns on the range. I saw Thompsons, sten guns, BARs and Risings. Some of the heavy ordnance consisted of Browning .30 and .50 calibers (five-fifties), Maxiums, and a forty-five seventy Gatling gun.

The range was open until 6:00 p.m. I was impressed with the care and safe range etiquette that the machine gunners followed.

When the range closed, everyone retired to the main lodge for a before-dinner social. We enjoyed the "YO Whitewing Dove" appetizers. This delicious treat is prepared from chicken breasts and a Jalapeno pepper wrapped in bacon strips dipped in a special sauce and cooked on a barbecue grill. Dr. Eugene Pope showed some of his very fine miniatures they were offered for sale or trade. One of his miniatures was a Hall Rifle in about 1/4 scale. It was very well done. About seven, we adjourned to the "chuck wagon" for an excellent Mexican dinner featuring all the beef fajitas that one wished to gorge themselves with. After supper there was a night-tracer shoot. This was especially dramatic when a target car with a container of gasoline burst into a ball of yellowflame when it was hit. The car was about a hundred yards from the shooters and in an area cleared of vegetation.

I was reminded of the tremendous rate of fire of some of the tripod-mounted guns when they fired tracers. It looked like a red laser light shining from Frank Horak’s gun to the target.

After the tracer shoot, some returned to the main lodge, some for a game of pool while the rest retired for the evening.

The next morning, I was awed with the clear sky and graceful giraffes that were walking across a far pasture in the morning mist. Breakfast was delectable Mexican scramble eggs, coffee and juice. After breakfast every one returned to the firing line for a morning of machine gunning. Most of the guns worked well; however, I was surprised at the amount of attention it took to keep them firing.

I paid my dues as a novice by helping to keep the magazines loaded for Eugene Pope and Richard Shea, who along with others were kind enough to allow me to fire their guns. As a beginner it took me about five minutes to load a magazine and less than a second for Eugene or Richard to empty it. Lesson One: Machine gunners spend a lot more time loading their magazines than shooting their guns! Lunch was broiled Eland with all the trimmings. This was a mild meat. It did not have a wild taste.

After lunch some of the YO ranch hands demonstrated an antique muzzle loading cannon. First they fired a solid ball into a 30-gallon drum filled with colored water. Of course, water sprayed form the drum in all directions; however, to my surprise the ball did shoot through both sides of the drum. The cannon was on a ridge overlooking the shooting range that was better than a mile away. Air bursts were fired over the range. The cannon would discharge, a couple of seconds later one would see a puff of white smoke, then a good two seconds later we heard the report. I have never seen a buzzard flap his wings so much or fly that fast. I think he decided that he wanted to find lunch in the next county!

After the cannon demonstration, we went back to the shooting range. Everyone shot until about 5:00 p.m. That evening, everyone went to Charlie Schreiner’s home, which is on the Ranch to visit his unusual gun room. The door is an old bank vault door. The room has no windows and at one end is a large fireplace. At the other end is an antique bar, maybe from an old west saloon. The walls are lined with display cases from a turn-of-the-century drug store. They are filled with antique Colt and Winchester rifles. Perhaps the most significant pistol in the collection is an old Martial flintlock pistol that shows much hard use. It is reported to have been recovered from the Alamo after its fall to Santa Anna. To complete the room description, there are mounted trophies and other antiques such as western saddles on display.

A special treat were 21 YO Ranch guests from Norway giving the occasionan international flavor. After the tour, we returned to the chuck wagon for dinner T-bones and all the trimmings. After this western feast, the machine gunners went to the main lodge, back to Charlie’s gun room or retired for the evening.

After a hearty breakfast on Sunday morning, we said our good-byes and went our separate ways with happy memories of the machine gun shoot.

Rod Wright

The Dallas Arms Collectors Association, Inc
P.O. Box 704
DeSoto, Texas 75123
(972) 223-3066

dallasar@dallasarms.com

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