WHERE
WHEN
WHY
WHOA
WOOT!
WOW!THE UNOFFICIAL DEFCON SHOOT PAGE
WHAT
WHERE
WHEN
WHY
WHOA
WOOT!
WOW!
The DEFCON Shoot is a public event that happens just prior to the DEFCON hacker conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is an opportunitiy to see and possibly shoot some of the guns belonging to your friends while taking pride in showing and firing your own steel, as well, in a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere.
The DEFCON Shoot takes place at the Lovell Group Campsite on Lovell Canyon Road, about 6 miles off of State Route 160. This spot is about 7 or 8 miles due West of Las Vegas proper as the crow flies, which translates to about 30 miles of highway time. Add on the small streets before and after, and the interwebs estimate a trip of one hour from the hotel to the range. This is an established shooting spot, and one where just about any type of safe, sane shooting is legal. Bring your Class-III and NFA steel if your paperwork is in order, because anything goes as long as you're not being a dick.
There is space at this location for us to (hopefully) set up two official firing lines. They are designated as "A" and "B" on the diagram below. Firing line "C" will be an unofficial, unregulated area where non-badged attendees can shoot in any capacity that they wish as long as they are pointed in a safe direction and as long as they observe the same cease-fire periods as the rest of us.
For specific directions to the shoot site, you can always just input "Lovell Canyon Road, Clark, NV" into Google Maps, or use this link to do so. It just so happens that the resulting marker is almost exactly on top of our designated location. For greater detail, you can drop the following Lat/Long coordinates into a GPS device... 36.09500, -115.56560
The maps on the Directions page should help give you a decent idea of how to get there, as well.
The DEFCON Shoot takes place prior to the start of DEFCON. In the past, this has meant an early start on Thursday, wrapping up around noon. However, we're trying something new for 2012...
This summer there will be TWO instances of the DEFCON Shoot: Wednesday Dusk and Thursday Dawn.
The Wednesday Dusk Shoot will likely take place from 18:00 to 20:00 (in two one-hour sessions, like we've done in the past) and the Thursday Dawn Shoot will be the same as before... with people arriving at the shoot site between 09:00 and 09:30 and two separate lane rental sessions from 10:00 to 11:00 and from 11:00 to 12:00.
Each hour should consist of about 12 to 13 minutes of shooting, followed by 2 or 3 minutes for cease-fire and target prep. That gives everyone four break periods to reset targets, etc. It might get a little hairy during the in-between segment (when all participants are changing lanes, etc) but we'll just roll with it and see how that works out.
Most people usually hope to be be back in our vehicles and departing a little after 12:00 in order to be back at the hotel with plenty of time to spare so that all folks working DC101 or attending the ToxicBBQ have time to clean up, change, etc. However, people are free to remain there after 12:00 and continue on their own, with no connection to the Shoot event itself. Anyone staying at that time will likely have to move down to the "C" range
For many years, the DEFCON Shoot was a beloved part of the world's largest hacker convention. Gun owning geeks would rally together in Vegas for DEFCON and -- in between the talks, parties, and general goings-on in Sin City -- they would take the time one morning to head out in the desert and blow off some steam by letting loose with loads of ordinance. Organized by CHS, a highly venerated DEFCON Goon, this event took place year after year until 2005.
As is so often the case with events at DEFCON, times had changed and the event had outgrown its surroundings. For a number of years, there was no DEFCON Shoot... the ranges where it had taken place in the past had been swallowed up by the city's suburban sprawl and folks just needed a break. Now, however, with the help of some new blood, the event has been resurrected. While CHS is no longer leading the proceedings, we always hope to see him and many of the veterans of past DC-Shoot events at the firing line.
I frequently used to gather some of my closest compadres for trips to local rental ranges like The Gun Store or American Shooters, but since I have only been attending DEFCON since DC8 I thus missed out on a great deal of the earlier fun. Nowadays, I have become the DEFCON Shoot's primary coordinator and have tried to whip up enough gun enthusiasts' support to see this sort of high-powered good time continue happening.
This isn't a gun range and i'm not trying to run this like a business or anything, but starting in 2011 we have established a small registration system for people to gain access to the event and reserve shooting lanes. This was necessary in order to manage the number of people (or at least PLAN for the number of people) and to keep the line from becoming unsafely crowded. Also, this was the first year that we started to have significant overhead (in all senses of the term... both in costs as well as sun shade for the participants!)
It's looking like there will be a fee to register for the event and reservation system for shooting lanes during the event...
DEFCON SHOOT REGISTRATION PAGE
We'd like to work out a system whereby people who are interested in specific calibers can let us know to buy them in bulk and have things shipped in advance, so keep an eye on the DEFCON Shoot area of the forums for details on that front, too.
So, you think you'd like to participate in the newly-revitalized DEFCON Shoot? That's great! We look forward to you joining us. Swing on over to the DEFCON Forums to talk with others or just email me... deviant [åt] deviating [döt] net
WOW! LOOKS LIKE YOU ALL HAD FUN!
Yes, indeed... it's always a great time when you get a bunch of gun people together.
Here are some photos from the 2008 DEFCON Shoot...
Here is a video montage from the 2009 DEFCON Shoot...
My web gallery has some photos from the 2010 DEFCON Shoot..
There were some great videos shot at the 2011 DEFCON Shoot...
