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1999 Machine Gun Shoot and Funfest bang-up success
Members at the Annual D.A.C.A. Machine-Gun Shoot and Funfest enjoy-ed a beautiful spring-like weekend on March 1921 at the YO Ranch in the Texas Hill Country about 30 miles southwest of Kerrville. The 37 paying guests came from several states to participate in the event.
The shoot started on Friday at 2:00 P.M. as everyone checked in and went to the range. Targets consisted of railroad ties, spring targets and two ready-mix concrete mixing drums that were painted yellow. One had the picture of Mickey Mouse painted on it and the other was adorned with a picture of the Wart Hog from the Disney movie, the Lion King. Also, a target was a derelict car.
These targets were soon riddled by machine gun fire from Thompsons, Reisings, MACS and tripod mounted .30 caliber and .50 caliber guns. I counted 12 tripod mounted guns of various descriptions.
Phil Schreier from the NRA let me shoot his MP-40 WWII German Machine pistol. It may be an ugly gun, but it sure shoots good. To me it handled better than the Thompson or the Reising. However, it was a little fussy and jammed a couple times that afternoon.
Around six, everyone retired to the lodge for a before-dinner social. Supper on the verandah consisted of barbecue chicken, beans, mashed potatoes and salad. That was topped off with cake for desert.
After supper some participants retir-ed to Charlie Schreiner's very unique gun room for gun talk while others watched a video, Fire in the Desert, which was about the sport of machine gun shooting.
Saturday was clear and cold. After a ranch style breakfast of bacon and eggs, everyone went back to the range. New targets included an old freezer and a yellow commercial dryer. The morning was spent punching holes in these new targets.
After lunch several people participated in a machine gun shooting contest. The idea was to knock over all of your steel targets and hit the attached target before your opponent did using only 32 round magazines. The umpire was Don Raspante of the DACA. Winner was none other than Frank Horak with his Thompson. (It might be noted that perhaps 100,000 rounds were expended by the 37 participants. A viable commercial venture for the YO might be to open a lead and copper mine at the ranges.)
After the contest, everyone retired to Charlie Schreiner's gun room for refreshments. Then we enjoyed another ranch style dinner at the chuck wagon.
That evening, I got a good look at the YO's White Axes Deer along with some Texas White Tails. There are many interesting animals on the YO. After supper at the chuck wagon we enjoyed a mini-gun show at the Lodge. Some of the more unusual items for sale were an early Colt Woodsman in the box, military holsters and some collectable Remington knives. There was also a number of fine hunting rifles and shot-guns for sale or trade.
by Rod Wright, editor