AMVCC TONOPAH TRAIL RIDE AND SHOOT

10 MARCH 2001 

We all had a great time out south of Tonopah near Saddle Mountain. Thanks to Idan for scouting this site out well before we arrived. The drive to the foothills was very easy, a high clearance vehicle would be best, but you could probably get in with a short wheelbase sedan. But the side trip into the wash was a 4x4 only trip. The angle of the exit along with the wet weather required us to use a winch. 

We had two Military Vehicles at the trail ride, Ed's Land Rover displayed in civilian finish, and Matty's  1948 Willys Jeep with an retrofitted with many military parts and original field radio.

The group was small, but we all had a lot of fun. Ed made the statement about how could someone choose to stay home and watch TV when such wide open vistas exist. Then you could not pass up the honor bestowed on us by Idan. He dragged out his huge and heavy Maxim water cooled machine-gun in 8mm Mauser and we took turns emptying the belt. Then he had a civilian version the early US SAW, the Browning Automatic Rifle! The heavy shoulder mounted select-fire 30.06 was very pleasurable to shoot. Also both he and his friend, had brought different manufacturing's of the famous Thompson sub machine-gun. No real recoil in the steel machined carbines firing .45acp.

Nothing beats the camaraderie of having a meal around a campfire at twilight. The Papago MV show sized hotdogs were grilled over the coals of desert hardwoods and conversation faded into the darkness at the end of the day. We all decided to do this again very soon. Hope to see you there!