by As Greg Hickok aka Hickok45 said at the end of this video, “Life is good!” Having participated in the LuckyGunner Blogger Shoot, I couldn’t agree more. Greg and his son John shot more machine guns than I did but I think we all had a great time.
2011 Memorial Day Blogger Shoot
M3 Stuart Tank At Blogger Shoot (corrected)
Along with all the bloggers at the LuckyGunner Memorial Day Blogger Shoot, there were a number of WWII reenactors representing both German and American forces. The American forces had a couple of M3 Stuart tanks and a half-track. This video shows them in action against targets filled with Tannerite.
This video is the first that I’ve ever taken with my iPhone. I’m sure if I knew what the heck I was doing, it would have been a little better.
LuckyGunner Blogger Shoot – Day 1
It was not a bad day.
I have a sunburned face, came in as the runner-up in the 2011 Best Gun Blog – Law category to the Instapundit, shot a boat load of free ammo, and got to shoot a variety of full auto guns. Yep, not a bad day.
I shot a full auto M-16A1, a Heckler Koch G-3, a Thompson M1 submachine gun, a German MP-40, and a Smith and Wesson M76 (a copy of the Swedish K submachine gun). I almost got to shoot a Browning BAR but it was having feed problems. I missed out on firing some of the crew-served machine guns and the H-K MP-5. My favorites were the Thompson and the Smith and Wesson M76. Both were controllable and have very little felt recoil. As someone commented, imagine what the price of the M76 would be if there were no Hughes Amendment. It was a very simple stamped gun whose production costs would be relatively modest.
I met and spoke with a number of bloggers. There were too many to name individually but I hope we can get a list so we can all keep up with one another.
I think we all had a great time and are very grateful that LuckyGunner.com put on the shoot and provided the ammo. I am excited that tomorrow I’ll be taking both a defensive pistol and a shotgun course with Tom Givens of Rangemaster. One of my goals for the year was to take a training course. That I can take classes in both handgun and shotgun makes it even better.
Lenoir City, We Have Arrived
We arrived in Lenoir City, TN last night for the LuckyGunner blogger shoot. Despite being the start of the Memorial Day weekend, traffic moved along smoothly on I-40 even through the middle of Knoxville so we got here in about 2.5 hours.
The first person I ran into was Kenn Blanchard – A Black Man with a Gun – of the Urban Shooter podcast. I had just turned around from the check-in desk at the EconoLodge and there was Kenn! It was good to see him so soon after the NRA Annual Meeting. He rode with us to the pizza place to meet the rest of the bloggers along with Mike Mollenhour of LuckyGunner.
The place was crowded when we arrived. Lots of bloggers, podcasters, and others of our ilk. We shared a table with Old NFO (Jim Curtis), Sean Sorrentino, The Packet Man (Anthony), and Robert of My Tumultuous Adventure blog. Linoge came in a few minutes later and we were also joined by Rob Reed who is the Detroit Gun Right Examiner. The very attractive Angela of LuckyGunner who did a superb job in organizing the event and the facilities was also with us.
There were a number of bloggers I didn’t get to meet but look forward to meeting them this morning.
Dude! I’m There
The good folks at Luckygunner.com ammo in Knoxville, TN are sponsoring the 2011 Memorial Day Blogger Shoot featuring Class III firearms and free ammo!
And training from Tom Givens of RangeMaster Training of Memphis.
Did I mention free ammo?
You can pre-register at the link above.
The event is open to firearm industry bloggers, podcasters, and other (online) media folks (online magazines, press releases, radio shows, forums, informational websites, etc).
Unless there is another rockslide in the Pigeon River Gorge on I-40, I am going to be there. And even then, I know enough backroads in WNC and E. TN to get around a few tons of rock.
H/T Sebastian