Okay what are the legalities of renting a machine gun? Insurance? Background check before rental? A signed disclaimer/waiver? Price per hour? Price pre session? Price for ammo? And most of all good or bad idea?
Are you aware that there is a store in Las Vegas, NV that does just that? They have billboards everywhere and ads. They cater mostly to tourists or those who have never shot full auto before.
It is perfectly legal to rent a machine gun. The key point is that you are not taking possession of it. As to the fees, that is decided by the free market…
S/F
B
Yeah I’ve seen the stores in Vegas. I’ve got 4 posties I want to rent/demo, AK47, HK51, MP5 and 10.5" LMT. Ive had people offer me $1.00 per round on the 51, at 800 rounds per minute you can see why I want to know. I’m assuming I’ll have to have some kind of liability insurance? A disclaimer/waiver is I’m sure a must…
If you can get a PKM that might be another popular choice for rental since 7.62x54R is relatively cheap.
You’ll first want to run this through a Corp/LLC as a first layer of liability protection. Liability insurance next. A signed waiver/release from customers as well.
This will give you three layers of liability protection.
What he said.
In my area they charge either 40 or 50 bucks for the rental and that comes with the first 50 rounds of ammo. The range makes you use their ammo onsite which means buying extra ammo at their marked up price.
Bingo. This is the ingeniously named: “The Gun Store.”
Its located here in Vegas and it caters to the tourist shooting crowd. Very lucrative. My sources peg his annual PROFITS at anywhere from $10 million to $18 million. He has a major advertising campaign here too (billboards, taxis, signs in the airport, etc.).
I have a current client who should be opening up his own indoor range shortly. I also know of two other gun stores in town in the process of opening up their own ranges. Plus, I’ve had at least one more potential client come in and discuss opening a gun store/firing range.
If the numbers above are true (and they could be, that place is always packed), it would explain why everyone else is jumping on the bandwagon. As stated above, your primary clientele will be tourists and the like who do not have access to full autos.
Ammo for house guns must always be house ammo as well. No customer supplied ammo. This is obviously where the profit is made. Rental can be made cheap (loss leader) and ammo priced high. People will burn through ammo like crazy (maybe have a minimum purchase or something). You can get creative with pricing and do really well.
Good luck!
Yeah, I had a guy offer $1.00 a round. 1000 rounds will last a few minutes, a few seconds trigger time. No need for a degree to figure out theres money to be made here…
I’ve been to “The Gun Store” on my last trip to Vegas. I thought it was fantastic to shoot the m249 they had. Indeed the place was packed, and it sure as shit was expensive, but what isn’t expensive in Vegas… I also noticed that they must be using extremely downloaded ammo because the M16 that I shot had much less muzzle flip than I’m used to an AR having.
Another point is if they are raking in 10-18 million dollars they really need to perform some maintenance on those weapons, they were just in generally rough condition. The Thompson SMG my father in law shot stayed Full Auto even after he let off the trigger for a few seconds. Also they had el-cheapo Chinese knockoff EoTechs on them as well.
In the end we left there having spent around 400$ and I only got 30 rounds for the m16, and 40 rounds for the m249, my father in law shot the Thompson and the German MP40. If someone is opening up a shop like this down there that isn’t going to be an anal raping price I’d love to know for my next trip.
there are actually several places in vegas you can do that.
the one your thinking of “The Gun Store” which has tons of billboards and sponsors UFC fighters, has a line out the door and around the block on weekends, full of tourists who are just itching to spend lots and lots of money to shoot a FA firearm, indoors, at a papertarget, with a range officer standing right next to them.
never underestimate peoples need to find something they ABSOLUTELY NEED to put pictures of on facebook.
Thanks for reminding me how lucky I am, OP 
Calibers in ABQ rents machine guns
They’re charging $99.99 to rent an M4 with 5 boxes of ammo and they waive the range fee for you an a friend. So yeah about a buck a round sounds right.
Just an FYI for anyone that might be in Vegas, American Shooters on Arville and Spring Mountain is a better place to shoot full auto. A nicer facility, more professional staff, by the sound of it the guns are better maintained and is closer to the strip. It does not get quite as busy as they don’t do the full marketing campaign that The Gun Store does.
I was in the The Gun Store one time to check out a pistol and poked my head around the corner at the range. Reminded me of cattle being herded through
ETA: More on topic, all the stores here have you sign waivers to my knowledge. IIRC, Gun Store does a package price where as American Shooters has flat rental fees for weapon, plus range fee and then regular ammo prices.
At DFW Gun Range they will rent an UZI for $30. You have to buy the ammo from the range though.
Their total package for the UZI includes:
Range Fee (normally $18), Gun Rental ($30 by itself), Target, Eye/Ear Protection, 100RDS of ammo: $75.50
Certainly not in your neighborhood, but might give you an idea on pricing.
I went to the gun store when I was 14 with my dad for my birthday. He just payed, I picked out what I wanted to shoot, and off I went. 
The range officer stood behind me, and they threw in another belt of ammo for free (must have been the grin on my face)! There was no line when I went, and I had a great time.
Hypothetically,
Say someone wants to build a indoor range. I am thinking approx 15 lanes of 100yards for anything up to .308/.300WM. All would have modern electronic control. This could also be used to training classes and LE cert/SWAT training. Would 15 lanes @ 100 yards be enough?
I also want a seperate partitioned ~20 or pistol lane with 2 isolated booths for private instruction. There would be Machine gun rentals and classrooms for training.
This would be a gun store/gun range/ Class 3 Dealer/SOT that also does rentals and LE Sales.
The reason for the two seperate ranges is LE or groups could rent one of the sections and be completley issolated from the public for their training. Would incorporate large reinforced garrage doors on 100yard range so LE/ect can drive their trailers in and have privacy while they unload.
I would also want to build a vault on site to house guns/MG’s. Thinking poured concrete with rebar and steel plate. Would 20x10 be large enough? I am thinking about NG arms room size.
A gunsmithing Area where SOT can be put together maybe a lathe/bridgeport and some areas to work on customers guns and basic shit like installing sites and replacing barrels/parts on AR’s.
Budget around 5-8 Million give or take a few. Estimate 200x350 so approx 60-70K sq.
Any more ideas to incorporate?
I’ve rented tools from Home Depot before.
Scottsdale Gun Club in Scottsdale, AZ rents F/A. I do not know their pricing because I don’t rent what I have access to. My understanding is they have different base rental fees depending on the gun. The rental fee includes X amount of ammunition. I believe it is 50 rnds, or may depend on the cyclic rate of the gun. With a higher cyclic rate gun you receive more ammo with the base fee, but the base fee is higher. All ammunition must be purchased from them and it is expensive. Also, and I am sure you know this, take into consideration the maintenance/upkeep on the gun. Some guns are more expensive to keep running than others.
Call around to the different places you know of that rent F/As and ask about their rental policy and pricing. We all know Las Vegas is “its own breed of animal.” You may not be able to duplicate what the Gun Store does, or charges, unless you live in a city that draws in hordes of tourists from around the world.
I know some here will remember and others don’t like history lessons, but in the late 70’s ATF was trying to stop rentals by claiming it was an unlawful transfer. I believe this was based on the exchange of money in order to shoot the gun. People began to wonder if you could even let a family member or friend shoot your gun. At that time I was shooting at a place called Buffalo Rock outside Ottawa Il and was friends with the owner. ATF was giving him a hard time about his machinegun rentals. They backed off that stance by 1980 and I have never heard of ATF raising the issue again
I’m also aware of a range in Baltimore that does the same. I suspect it is about as legal as renting any firearm out as long as it does not leave the premises.