UZI Talk - Minnesota Machine Gun Shoot

Minnesota Machine Gun Shoot
2003

The Minnesota Machine Gunners Association hosts two machine gun fairs a year - one in the spring and one in the fall. They are held in Princeton Minnesota, about 25 miles east of St. Cloud and only an hour or so northwest of the Twin Cities. Minnesota is a curio and relic state and a lot of what shows up at their fairs are C&R guns, although not exclusively due to the class III dealers that are also present. The majority of the guns that do show up at the fair are available to rent so it's a great place to see and try out a variety of weapons. Rental prices vary but a typical price is $10 for one full magazine in a mag fed gun or $25 for 50 rounds on a belt fed gun. Also present are some WWII vehicles. Rides in them are available. Food is sold there and parking is close - though muddy if it has rained recently. There are no organized events or matches at this shoot. It's all about sending lots of lead down range as fast as possible.

The only drawback of this event is the limited space. The shooting line was jammed with shooters and there really isn't any room for this event to grow without some significant construction at the site. The Fall 2003 fair had somewhere on the order of 500 attendees. More info on the fair can be found at www.tankride.com.

Here are some some of the things seen at the Fall 2003 shoot. Click on the links below so see photos:

- Belgian Model 30 BAR
- Belgian MAG58
- British Sten Mk II
- British Lanchester
- British Vickers
- British No. 1 Mark III SMLE
- Czech ZB30
- Danish Madsen M1950
- German MG08/15 Maxim
- German MG13
- German MG34
- German MG42 (1200 RPM!! There's no mistaking the sound of this gun.)
- German HK UMP
- German MP44
- Israeli FAL
- Israeli Galil
- Israeli UZI
- Italian Breda model 37
- Soviet RPD and PKM
- Soviet PPSh M1941 (This gun shoots brass straight up higher than any gun I've ever seen.)
- Swedish K
- US Browning 1919
- US BAR
- US Barrett M82A1
- US M3 Grease Gun
- US M60 (A big crowd pleaser. The shooter gets pretty happy too.)
- US Thompson

- Downrange targets take a beating
- Need more belts!
- Beautiful spectators
- British Ferret armored reconnaissance vehicle
- Russian T-34 Tank (captured by the German army)

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