Knob Creek Event – Small Arms Review

SNEAK PEEK AT THE CREEK FALL 2005 SHOOT & SHOW

SAR Staff — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 01:15:26 +0000

Text & Photos by Jeff W. Zimba

Each KCR experience has something special and memorable but this one seemed to have more than most than in the recent past. To begin, the weather was great. The mornings were “just right” and the afternoons were warm and dry and comfortable to everyone. That is about the best we can hope for in Northern Kentucky in the middle of October.

The sound of helicopters, explosions and machine gun fire filled the air the entire weekend. Add to that a few tracked vehicles on “functioning display” from the Patton museum, a few heavy artillery pieces firing rounds into unsuspecting automobiles downrange and an occasional flamethrower or two and you may be getting a mental picture of the Fall Knob Creek Shoot & Show.

Big Sky Surplus had an enormous assortment of products at their set of tables. They carry parts and accessories for firearms from .22lr to 155mm.

Shopping in the pole barn is always an interesting and exciting experience and it was obvious it would be a good show from the beginning. Most magazines were very inexpensive compared to the usual “local” prices. There were boxes of 20-round German, aluminum, dated G3 magazines for $1 each and up. To a guy who remembers paying over $40 each for those back in the late 1980’s it is hard not to get excited to see deals like that. There was also a big box of factory, Ruger 20-round magazines for sale at $29.95 each and there were all kinds available. This may very well be “the good old days” we are living in right now.

The dealer area has greatly expanded again and there are new pole barns on the right side of the drive. The “dealer circle” now continues almost all the way to the far end of the main pole building. There were dealers there this year that have been waiting for years to get in and the list is finally getting shorter. This is great news for all of us.

Looking around the pole barn there were some great new projects on display. Valerie Johnson of Valkyrie Arms had a few prototypes of her new multi-barrel Gatling-style gun. They will be manufactured in .223 and .308 and she is currently taking deposits on the few that will be manufactured. Contact her directly for information on this project. Valkyrie Arms, 120 State Ave. N.E., #381, Olympia, WA 98501. Phone: (360) 482-4036. Website: www.valkyriearms.com.

Valkyrie Arms had a prototype of their latest project, a multi-barreled, Gatling-style firearm chambered in 5.56x45mm. They also plan on making them in .50 BMG.

A little further down the main aisle was Eric Graetz at Lakeside Machine. Eric had several of his new items on display. The one that receives the most attention seems to be his LM7 Upper Receiver. For those not familiar with the LM7, it is a drop-on, belt-fed upper receiver for an AR-15 or M16 in .22 Long Rifle. He has several accessories available and several units almost ready to ship. Lakeside also had their new custom wood M16 furniture on display as well as their innovative .22 Long Rifle Cloth Belt Loading Tool. Keep your eyes on future issues of Small Arms Review for full features an all Lakeside Machine’s new projects. For information on their new items you can contact them directly at: Lakeside Machine, N5391 County Road S., Pound, WI 54161. Phone: (920) 897-4682 or visit them on line at: www.lakesideguns.com.

Once again Vector Arms had a few new offerings to show off. Their latest project is the addition of .357 SIG, 10mm and .40 S&W versions of the MP5, MP5K, and PDW. They are available in pistol form, carbine form and as NFA Short Barreled Rifles. You can see photos and get specifications on this new lineup at their website. Vector Arms, 270 West 500 North, North Salt Lake, Utah 84054. Phone: (801)295-1917. Website: www.vectorarms.com

Vector Arms announced they were adding several new firearms to their current lineup including this 9mm pistol.

One of the new participants to this show was Alex Robinson of Robinson Armament. Alex had his XCR Modular Weapons System on display and was kind enough to give me a complete “once over” on the project. For those of you who are not familiar with this new rifle system, it is an op-rod assisted, 5.56mm semiautomatic (and NFA select fire) rifle with a folding stock, quick-change barrel and adjustable gas system. Keep your eyes on a future edition of Small Arms Review for a detailed evaluation. Robinson Armament, PO Box16776, Salt Lake City, UT 84116. Phone: (801) 355-0401. Website: www.robarm.com.

Someone who brought lots of noise and flash to the main line this year was James DeGroat from ArmamentSales.com. These are the “minigun guys” and they go through a ton of ammo over the course of the weekend. I was fortunate enough to be in attendance for several 1,000+ round bursts and it is really something to see, feel and hear. They also have a new “flash enhancer” they have been working on and I had the opportunity to see that operate as well. Lots of fire and a real crowd pleaser. You can contact them directly at ArmamentSales.com, P.O. Box 1358, Grants, NM 87020. Phone: (505) 285-4342 or visit them on line at: www.armamentsales.com.

There are usually a few familiar faces at each Knob Creek Shoot and Show and this was no exception. Among the notables were “The Gunny” R. Lee Ermey and his crew from Mail Call on the History Channel. They were there for two days filming a segment for an upcoming edition of Mail Call and enjoying the sights and sounds. R. Lee Ermey may be best known in our industry as the gruff Drill Instructor in the movie Full Metal Jacket though he has been in several other movies as well. When not “working,” the Gunny could usually be found around a long line of his fans taking time to talk with them and signing autographs. Keep an eye on his website to see when the Knob Creek Shoot edition of Mail Call will be aired on The History Channel at www.rleeermey.com.

The author with “Gunny” R. Lee Ermey on the main firing line prior to the night shoot. Ermey and his crew were filming an episode of Mail Call.

The dates for the Spring 2006 Knob Creek Shoot and Show are April 7-9, 2006. The Dates for the Fall 2006 Shoot are October 13-15, 2006. You can Contact Knob Creek Range at 690 Ritchey Lane, West Point, KY. 40177. The phone number is (502) 922-4457 and you can get all the detailed information you need on line at: www.machinegunshoot.com

An XCR Rifle from Robinson Armament on display in the new building.

This article first appeared in Small Arms Review V9N6 (March 2006)

THE NFATCA REPORT AT KNOB CREEK

SAR Staff — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:55:20 +0000

By John Brown

During the Knob Creek event this October, the National Firearms Act Trade and Collectors Association (NFATCA) held a meeting with a large number of dealers and collectors who were present on Thursday evening during set-up for the shoot. The group addressed an audience of approximately 100 guests at the range. The President of the NFATCA, John Brown, of Battlefield Sports, began the meeting by summarizing the short history of this non-profit trade association whose primary mission is to work collaboratively with ATF and the NFA Branch to advance the interests of the NFA community. The meeting focused on the many achievements of the group since its formation in early 2005.

Among its more substantial accomplishments, the group contracted two former ATF employees to write the first NFA Handbook focusing on providing dealers, manufacturers, and collectors with a wealth of information, currently undocumented, concerning the rules, regulations, and procedures governing the NFA community. To date, the contractors and the NFATCA have provided four draft chapters of this handbook to ATF for review. The NFATCA continues to work with ATF to review and approve the content. Once complete, ATF agreed to publish this handbook as a formal handbook much like the current “Green Book”. Both ATF and the NFATCA believe the content will be extraordinarily helpful to ATF and the dealer, manufacturer, and collector community.

In addition, the NFATCA continues to provide substantial input to ATF in order to assist with the development of electronic Form 3 and Form 5 transfer applications. We will all see the progress on this program at SHOT in 2006.

After the President’s opening remarks, Mr. Brown introduced the current members of the NFATCA Board of Directors and special guest Ken Houchens, Chief of the NFA Branch.

Mr. Houchens explained the move process from Washington, D.C. to Martinsburg, West Virginia and the changes and additions in personnel that have taken place with the move. Mr. Houchens addressed the group on many of the transfer issues that face our community and answered a series of questions from the assembled dealers and collectors. At the conclusion of his presentation, those present applauded Mr. Houchens’ efforts on behalf of the NFA community.

The NFATCA concluded the meeting with an appeal to the community to get involved by joining the NFATCA. Mr. Brown announced that the NFATCA would be actively participating in the Small Arms Review Show in December and the SHOT Show in January. Mr. Brown also announced that the NFATCA is actively seeking new members to continue to push an agenda for the entire NFA community that preserves the rights and interest of every dealer, manufacturer, and collector in the community. For more information please visit www.nfatca.org.

This article first appeared in Small Arms Review V9N4 (January 2006)

Kulspruta Model 1936 in the Fiftieth State

SAR Staff — Thu, 01 Mar 2001 21:25:00 +0000

By Mark Genovese

I’m sure all of you guys out there are saying to yourself, what the hell is a Kulspruta and why is it in a non free zone state like Hawaii??? The Tung Kulspruta or heavy machine gun, until very recently was the Swedish front line water cooled, in caliber 8×63 Swedish, the so-called Bofors round which has recently begun to appear in this country as a specimen cartridge for collectors.

Although the inside dimensions of the receiver and the gun’s crudely cast brass trunion are very similar to the Browning 1917 water-cooled, there are many other differences. The gun uses a spring-loaded non-reciprocating type cocking handle and an incredibly complex, overly engineered recoil-buffered gun attached cradle. The spade grips are not part of the gun itself, but are mounted to the rear of the cradle with what appears to be an articulated linkage, which will trip the sear, so during firing the gun moves back and forth within its cradle while the gunner’s hands are stable. With its tripod at 55 pounds, the whole affair weighs in at a whooping 113 pounds without water or ammunition. Unlike the Browning, the Model 36’s steam will exit the gun via the bottom of the brass trunion and it has only one filling port, with no provision under the water jacket to completely empty any remaining water after firing.

The Swedes have taken a simple and reliable Browning idea, over complicated everything they can get their hands on and then forgot the drain plug? To make matters worse, the fill port tube is recessed within the water jacket. This means that even if you were to hold the gun upside down to drain the remaining water, there will always be some left, unless you siphon it with a small rubber hose. This may not sound like a big deal, but it evidently was back then.

Just before I took my long awaited beautiful remanufactured Kulspruta out to test fire at the Ukumehame firing range, it was laying in its gun case on the floor and my eye caught an almost microscopic 8” long set of red lines on the bottom of the water jacket, up front right where the drain plug should go. I got out my trusty magnifying glass, only to realize these odd red lines were cracks right through the water jacket.

Needless to say, my heart sank. At first I thought the gun’s jacket was made of cast iron and perhaps had been violently thrown to the ground. For some reason the cracks’ strange pattern looked vaguely familiar. The best thing for me to do was call my good friend Stan “The Man” Andrewski of Webster, New Hampshire. He is arguably the best Class 2 manufacturer and gunsmith on the planet.

Just home from the April 2000 Knob Creek shoot and very road weary (plus a sight more broke), it took ol’ Stan all of about two seconds to diagnose the Kulspruta. “The gun is from Sweden, right? They left water in it and it froze.” No wonder the crack looked familiar, as a plumber on the mainland many years ago ninety percent of my winter work was fixing frozen pipes. Stan said the faster you get it here the faster it will get done. With that statement I immediately sent out a Hawaiian care package, two pounds of fresh Kona coffee beans, one extra large local style tee shirt and the gun of course.

Other differences from the Browning would be that the water jacket is slightly shorter in length due to the trunion and its wide tapered brass extension collar, which enhances the aesthetic value of the gun. Also the water jacket has a magnificently engraved royal crest. With a large Schwarzlose type cone flash hider and deep blue finish, this piece is a real looker and rare indeed. I have yet to find even one word about it in print in all my literature. A good friend came to the rescue with a copy of a Kulspruta manual, mostly in Swedish and for the air-cooled model, but a Godsend nonetheless.

This project started at Knob Creek in April 1998, talking with machine gun Dave of Sarco Inc., Sterling, New Jersey. He casually mentioned he had several of these oddball Swedish water-cooled kits he thought were very similar to the 1917 Browning design. Later that month, I talked with my very favorite lady friend and talented inventor/ gunsmith, Valerie Johnson of Valkyrie Arms, Ltd., Olympia, Washington about doing the work. Apparently she also thought it was a good idea and bought every kit Dave had. There would be serious custom fitting in some areas before this project was over.

For starters, the 8×63 Swedish barrel is a larger diameter than the .30-06 1917 Browning barrel we would have to use, requiring a new design for the front water-packing gland. This was beautifully executed by machining an oversized brass doughnut, the male end threaded to the gun, the smaller female end threaded for a normal 1917 packing gland nut. The kit would also need a 1917 type top cover and ladder sight, very rare and hard to find. Thanks to our friend Mr. Bob Landies of Ohio Ordnance Works, Inc., Chardon, Ohio, who came through with flying colors and believe it or not, it was brand new in the box. Although the brass trunion would accept stock right and left Browning side plates, the original Kulspruta had no pintle bolthole. As noted above, it utilized a buffered cradle. The bottom of the trunion protruded into the area of the new pintle bolt requiring Valerie to drill through what she thought was a solid brass trunion. It turned out to be a hollow interior. To keep water from leaking through these holes, a tube was fitted and welded on both side plates. The complete front sight and the brass threaded filling port plug were missing as well and required manufacturing from scratch.

Since a 1919 left side plate was used, welding and dressing of the three original sight bracket holes would be mandatory. The remainder of the conversion was achieved with Valerie’s stock semi 1919 parts she’s so well known for. Her right side plate is thicker than a full-auto, requiring the bolt, barrel extension and lock frame to be extensively machined to fit the tighter tolerances. The real heart of her semi conversion is the trigger lock group – this is poetry in motion, pure and simple. Starting with a solid block of 4140, a new trigger lock is fashioned to accept a modified AR15 hammer, an unmodified AR15 disconnector and AR15 trigger. A new pivoting sear trip is also used. What you end up with is the exact trigger pull as your tried and true, run forever old friend the AR15.

This will be my third Valkyrie Arms gun. My 1919A6 in .308 has over 20,000 rounds through it. Twice, using a Pact timer, I fired in excess of 650 rounds per minute in semi auto, and never ever had a problem, period. It’s the same with my 1917A1 water-cooled – about 10,000 rounds without a glitch. Although Dave from Sarco Inc. has an original complete Kulspruta tripod and cradle, it is of no use to me, because with Browning side plates and pintle it no longer functions within the cradle. To get over this hurdle, I purchased one of the Stembridge 1917 tripods from the good folks at Long Mountain Outfitter, Harmony, Maine and a D37915 elevator for anti-aircraft use from Hayes Otoupalik in Missoula, Montana. The cherry on top would have to be the spade grip assembly from Ohio Ordnance Works, Inc.

The deep perfect engraving KULSPRUTA MODEL 36 on the upper rear of the right side plate, in my opinion is a work of art Aloha nui loa from upcountry Maui.

This article first appeared in Small Arms Review V4N6 (March 2001)

The Spring 2000 Knob Creek Belt-Fed Competition

SAR Staff — Wed, 01 Nov 2000 20:33:28 +0000

The balloons are the targets and the white paper represented hostages. NO hostages were hit!

By Vince Oliva

The American Class 3 Association sponsored and put together a Belt Fed Match. Tony Gooch, President and Chairman of the American Class 3 Association molded and put forth a new event that will be a regular feature at KCR.

The rules of engagement were that any belt fed machine gun of less than .50 caliber may be used and fired only from a mount. The mount for the gun may be a tripod, quad leg mount, sled or wheeled mount.

Mike Bergmann, Drew Kretzschmar, and Ed Beyer appear to have been confused in leaving the 9th hole. Tony Gootch (in red) officiates.

The gun shall not be mounted to the mount until the crew has entered the “bunker”. The bunker in this scenario was square bales of hay stacked to create a wall with a port hole.

No tracer or incendiary ammo was allowed. Belt length restrictions were that the first belt must contain no more that 50 rounds and no less than 25 rounds and there shall be one mandatory belt change. There were no belt length restrictions after the first change.

Two separate classes of entries were set up for this match, Tripod and Bipod. Bipod had the same rules except for the mounting portion.

The RED (Russian) Team. Trigger man Bob Raymond, Sue Bennett (wearing helmet) and Randall Raymond (far left).
Bob and Randall display their award for “Best Appearing Crew” presented by the American Class Three Association.

The scenario for this event was to have a crew (3-person max limit) from the starting line (about 20 feet from the bunker) have their ammo, gun and mount separated. At the signal from the range officer the crew would enter the “bunker” area, set up the mount, gun, load the ammo and begin firing. A 10 minute time limit was imposed.

The targets were of 18 different colored helium filled balloons set up in 3 separate sections of 6 balloons per section with 2-3 feet of sting tied to a base. If a shooter cut the balloon string it was a “lost” target. The amazing part was that most competitors completed the course. Have any of you ever tried to hit a balloon at 100 yards especially when the balloon is bobbing up and down and waving side to side due to the wind. Let me tell you that it was a very breezy day and the competitors had to really work. I especially commend the tripod shooters. The gunner had to work the T&E constantly. One amazing thing that was observed by this writer and other spectators, during an engagement of fire a balloon would jump to the side caused by a near miss or shock wave of the bullet. Thus making the target even more difficult to hit.

Tony set up a separate class for the bipods. The bipods had a very big advantage due to the maneuverability of the weapons. The resulting scores display the big difference in set up time as well.

Joe Carrere and Paul Winters complete in the Bipod Class.

A separate and special plaque award also went to the most authentic appearing gun crew of the competition. With only one entry, the most authentic appearing crew, the Russian Red Army, went to Bob Raymond (Gunner), Randall Raymond and Sue Bennett. This crew did it right. With an M1910 Russian Maxim and a shouldered PPS41, dressed in the proper period of military garb it set the stage for a very colorful event.

This writer believes this new belt fed competition will be an ongoing event and as the word gets out more entries for the most authentic appearing crew will materialize. With the 1919MG one could be wearing WWII, Korean or Vietnam period uniforms.

All in all the competition was a great success and fun was had by all. Looking forward to attending the next belt fed competition this fall shoot. Any one who would like to attend this event can contact Tony Gooch AKA mguntony@yahoo.com

Bill Owenby, Malcome Davis and the BIG Spotter with his head exposed to the enemy is Matt (Mongo) Bright.

TRIPOD CLASS RESULTS:

83.1 Seconds, Gun – 1919A4
Team: 2 man crew
Keith New – Missouri
Steve Reece – Missouri

193.4 Seconds, Gun – 1919A4
Team: 3 man crew
Joe Carrere – Tenn.
Bill Ownbey – Tenn.
Paul Winters – Ky.

194.5 Seconds, Gun – 1919A4
Team: 3 man crew
Bill Ownbey – Tenn.
Malcome Davis – Alabama
Matt (Mongo) Bright – N.C.

233.1 Seconds, Gun – 1910 Russian Maxim
Team: 3 man crew
Bob Raymond – Tenn.
Randell Raymond – Tenn.
Sue Bennett – Louisiana

666.4 Seconds, Gun – 1919A4
Team: 3 man crew
Mike Bergmann – Ohio
Drew Kretzschmar – Ohio
Ed Beyer – Ohio

No score, Gun Malfunction, 1919A4
Team: 2 man crew
Tim Hakenwrth – Missouri
Mike Klos – Missouri

BIPOD CLASS RESULTS

58.82 Seconds, Gun – Stoner (.223)
Team: Single man team
Mike Homberger – Illinois

117.9 Seconds, Gun – MG42
Team: Single man team
Dave Wright – Illinois

165.2 Seconds, Gun – 1919A6
Team: Two man crew
Joe Carrere – Tenn
Paul Winters – Ky.

This article first appeared in Small Arms Review V4N2 (November 2000)