Knob Creek Gun Range

Knob Creek Gun Range (also referred to as Knob Creek Range or simply Knob Creek) is an outdoor shooting range located in Bullitt County, Kentucky, United States, near the community of West Point, Kentucky.[1] The range is a former military-munitions test range. As well as being open all year around, the gun range also hosts a biannual gun show in April and October, which is billed as the "World's Largest Machine Gun Shoot and Military Gun Show".[2] The range also hosts a number of shotgun, handgun, rifle and machine gun competitions in April.[3] The range is a family-owned business, with three generations of the founding Sumner family working there as of April 2013.[4] Both the range and the Sumner family are featured on Guntucky, a reality TV series that debuted on the CMT cable channel on April 21, 2013.[5]

A machine gun being fired at night during the Machine Gun Shoot event.
Cannons and various non-firearm weapons are featured during the Gun Show.
Young shooter at Knob Creek, October 15, 2005.

Machine gun shoot

Held in April and October, "The World's Largest Machine Gun Shoot and Military Gun Show" is an event that draws machine gun dealers, collectors and enthusiasts from all over the country.[6] The Machine Gun Shoot itself consists of several rounds of firing at a wide variety of appliances, vehicles and pyramids of tires. Participants also have the opportunity to shoot at barrels of fuel with pyrotechnic charges attached, which explode when struck by bullets. The objective for these shooters is to destroy everything down range. The presence of many rare and powerful fully automatic weapons also draws many visitors, with firearms ranging from submachine guns to .50 BMG heavy machine guns and M134 Miniguns.[6]

The main event of the Machine Gun Shoot is the "Night shoot" where, after dark, gasoline-filled metal drums and explosives are set up in and around the targets, and tracer ammunition is used.

Although reserving a lane for the machine gun shoot is difficult with a several-years-long waiting list, lane holders usually rent the use of their weapons to spectators for a nominal fee to cover the cost of ammunition and wear and tear on the guns themselves.

Firearms dealing

The Military Gun Show is also a place for dealers to buy, sell and trade Class III firearms.[6] Quote their website:

The Military Gun Show has drawn dealers from all over the country to buy, sell, and trade Class III Firearms. The show is set up in a large lighted pole barn adjacent to the firing line and Clubhouse. Security is on patrol at all times. Knob Creek cordially invites you to come and support your second amendment "the right to keep and bear arms."

Television

On December 22, 2005, the Knob Creek Gun Range was featured on R. Lee Ermey's television show Mail Call on The History Channel (in episode number 91).[7]

Current TV did a "pod" (a segment) on it.[8]

The Sumner family, in association with the producers of reality TV series Pawn Stars, has filmed 10 episodes of a reality TV series, Guntucky, about its business.[4] The show was scheduled to begin airing on CMT in January 2013, but the channel chose to delay the premiere following the Sandy Hook shooting. Guntucky aired its first episode on April 21, 2013.[5]

In October 2019, ABC News issues an apology for using the footage of the Knob Creek Gun Range gun show taken in 2010, which is named “Knob Creek night shoot 2010”, which was described as being "obtained by ABC News", to falsely depict a fierce battle between the Syrian Kurds and the Turkish Forces. The footage first aired on Sunday's "World News Tonight".[9]

See also

Notes and references
  1. The range is served by the West Point post office, which lies in Hardin County, but the range itself lies in Bullitt County.
  2. Knob Creek Gun Range. "Home page".
  3. Knob Creek Gun Range. "Registration Forms". Archived from the original on 2007-05-29.
  4. "CMT Turns Up the Heat on Sunday Nights with the Premiere of Back-to-Back Episodes of the New Series Guntucky on Sunday, April 21 at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT" (Press release). Country Music Television. April 2, 2013. Archived from the original on August 14, 2014. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
  5. Harrell, Nicole (April 17, 2013). "'Guntucky' reality show based in Kentuckiana". Louisville, KY: WHAS-TV. Archived from the original on April 20, 2013. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
  6. Knob Creek Gun Range. "Machine Gun Shoot Information page". Archived from the original on 2007-03-07.
  7. "Mail Call: Knob Creek Gun Range". TV.com. Retrieved 2007-03-10.
  8. "Shooting Machine Guns". current.tv. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
  9. "Did ABC Mistakenly Label a Video from a US Gun Range as Syrian War Footage?". Snopes.com. Retrieved 2019-10-16.

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