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| - There are a number of shooting ranges in Las Vegas which offer rentals of NFA-controlled firearms, so deciding on which one to go to was not an easy task (they all look quite good, and all appear to be highly rated).
I ultimately settled on Strip Gun Club for a number of reasons, the principal one being that while their rental selection did not appear to be as comprehensive as the one offered by Battlefield Vegas, SGC does offer the option to purchase additional pre-loaded magazines of ammunition to add to your base package at a lower per-round cost than that of the base package, which SGC's competitors do not appear to do (The Range 702 allows you double your base allotment of ammunition at reduced price, but that's about it).
I found the staff to be friendly, courteous, and accommodating. Our range safety officer was Ernie - he was very relaxed and patient, particularly with my companion (who had significantly less experience with firearms).
I selected the Submachine Gun Package ($259.95/person, not including tax), which allowed me to shoot a HK MP5, FN P90, and HK UMP45. At the time of this writing, this appears to be the only package offered by the range that *only* includes NFA-controlled firearms (other than *possibly* the Assault Rifles Package). So if you don't want to waste money/time shooting easily obtainable Title 1 firearms, the SMG package is definitely a good way to go.
The package included 2 magazines loaded with 25 rounds per SMG, making for a base total of 150 rounds. For the MP5, the girl at the counter allowed me to choose between a MP5A2 (full sized variant with fixed stock and safe-semi-auto trigger group) and MP5K (compact variant) with folding stock. When I wasn't sure which one to pick, she allowed me to rent both and fire one magazine through each without any additional charge.
Ernie started us off with a crash course in firearms safety in the lobby, and took us down to the firing line. He then showed us how to operate the selector lever for each SMG, had us dry-fire to become used to the trigger characteristics, then loaded the SMG, placed it on safe, and handed it to us for firing.
We were encouraged to first fire a few shots in semi, and then once comfortable, transition to auto fire. Once empty, we would transfer custody of the SMG to Ernie, who would reload it for us, place it on safe, and hand it back to us to fire off the 2nd magazine.
This process was repeated for each SMG. Ernie started each of us off with the MP5, then P90, and then UMP45. I am pleased to report that Ernie did not place a hand behind our shoulder to brace us during the course of fire (which I see the RSOs apparently do at Battlefield Vegas), which enhanced the authenticity of the experience.
Both MP5 variants I was supplied with were iron-sighted. I found them to be the smoothest and most pleasant of the 4 to fire (hardly surprisingly, given the roller-delayed blowback action of the MP5). The MP5A2 suffered a stoppage during my session (if I recall correctly, it appeared to be a failure to feed), which Ernie cleared for me.
The P90 was equipped with a Trijicon RMR (or similar) red dot sight mounted on top of a Picatinny rail (and not the factory optic/reflex sight). I did not particularly care for the mushy trigger quality (should've expected it from the bullpup action). The recoil characteristics were interesting - light, but sharp (likely due to the higher chamber pressure specs vs. 9x19mm/.45ACP). The P90's selector lever has 3 settings - safe, semi, and progressive (press the trigger lightly for semi, and press harder for full auto). Short bursts with the progressive trigger weren't as difficult as I expected.
I also suffered a stoppage with the P90, apparently due to a blown primer from one of the fired cartridges (the range appears to be using Federal AE5728A for 5.7x28mm ammunition, for those who are wondering). Ernie also cleared that stoppage, and no more were encountered afterwards with the P90.
The UMP45 was equipped with a small tubular red dot sight (I think an Aimpoint Micro or similar optic, I don't remember the exact make/model). I found it to be significantly bouncier than the other SMGs - the disruption to my sight picture between each shot was definitely the greatest. Still fun to shoot, though.
The UMP45 was equipped with a 0-1-2-25 trigger group. When I switched to the fixed 2-round burst setting, I noticed that the UMP45 would only fire single shots for some reason. Taken into the account with the stoppage I experienced with the MP5A2, it appears that the range would be well-advised to implement a more stringent maintenance schedule/program with their rental firearms.
I did think it was a bit lame that only 1 target is included per shooter package. Given the cost of each package, I'm pretty sure that including 1 target *per firearm/magazine* would not significantly impact the profitability of this range.
Overall, it was a marvelous experience, and I would come back.
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