Worst Full Auto You've Shot?

[JamesAZ]

"GE mini-gun from Stembridge Arms (the movie guys).

Same mini-gun that was used in one of the Rambo flicks and Predator. Gun was out of time and ruptured case head came back and gave me a third belly button right next to the one made by a .32 ACP.

Shooting live ammo in movie guns sucks"

I shot all of Stembridge's MP-5, Uzis and Beretta SMGs and they all worked flawlessly. The Beretta was the same SMG the Italian cops carry at the airport, the one with the mag well between the pistol grip and the foregrip (the SP-12?). The non-rotating bolt limited muzzle rise to up/down, just like the Uzi. Both fired moderately fast and were very controllable and didn't jam or malfunction in any way. They did feel noticeably chinsier to shoot compared to the MP-5 that rocked.

The MP-5 has a rotating bolt and not only climbs but walks to the upper left of the target with every round fired. It does shoot fast though, even the brass was ejected in tight formation, like the casings were on a belt as they left the ejection port. At the indoor range, I was 10 ringing the paper at the 50 foot extreme end of the range. It was love at first burst, just as long as the bursts were brief (3-5 rounds) and aimed. Those MP-5's could have used flash suppressors because the fireball from the muzzle obliterated my line of sight to the target; I was shooting Lapua 9mm SMG/FSJ (it's a bit hotter load than generic 9mm off the shelf ammunition) whose steel jackets send enough sparks down range to incinerate the paper if it was hung too close. Since then, the MP-5 has been my favorite SMG to shoot for pleasure.

Rental guns are usually in terrible shape, I don't think they accurately represent a responsibly owned and maintained SMG any more than a rental Beretta 92FS that has seen better days, misfiring and jamming after a hard life in the hands of renters and the often cusory maintenance performed between range rentals they get. I'll bet that a lot of botched sear guns are the ones that find their way into range rentals, so I don't see that as an accurate measure of a SMG's utility.

 

[DrDremel]

As far as the S&W 76, a lot of people shoot the MK760 and think it is the same as the S&W76. The MK760 was a copy that was not of the same quality. I have over 35,000rounds through mine and it has never malfunctioned except when I tried hollowpoints in it. But that does not really count since most subguns don’t like hollowpoints, especially those that were made before hollowpoint ammo was common. The S&W 76 is a good design, the only thing that killed it was the timing of it’s introduction and the fact that the market was pretty saturated with surplus subguns at the time. As far as muzzle climb and controllability, I can out shoot most people with a semi-auto pistol out to 50 yards. In fact during military testing it was noted that it was extremely controllable,more so than the M16. The trigger is heavy but that is not really a bad thing on an open bolt gun. I assume that your assesment was based on shooting a mag or two through it. Or was it from an article? Now to my vote for worst full auto is the Chau, Chau, (I forget the spelling) It was a French gun in 8mm Lebel. Looked like a highpowered Sten with a halfcircle mag with big holes cut out to let dirt in. US adopted it in desperation in WW1 converted to 30-06. The cartridge was too powerful and beat the gun to death quickly. My second choice would be the M14 in full-auto. Great gun in semi, but too light in full auto.

 

[Sleuth]

JamesAZ, The MP5 does NOT have a rotating bolt! Never did - it locks by two rollers that move into receses in the reciever as the firing pin moves forward.

As to the worst MG, it has to be a Chauchat (WWI French design, forced on the U.S.) I didn't actually shoot it, the owner laid down fired about 10 rounds of 30-06 (a near record for continuous fire with one), and offer it to the rest of us. We saw his bloody elbows and the 6" grooves they left in the dirt - no one took him up on the offer.