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I have seen several sites for places in Ukraine and Poland where you can drive tanks and shoot various weapons from the Soviet Union.

http://stayinkiev.com/en/shooting-tours

http://www.ukraineconnections.co.uk/military_adventures.htm

http://www.bastion-panzer.com.pl/

I will be travelling around many Western European countries which I expect to not have these sorts of experiences.

I am interested in war and weapons so if there are any places you can think of were you can fire guns like AK47 or drive old Russian tanks.

I need suggestions for these places as they are the further east I am going in Europe :

  • Slovenia
  • Croatia
  • Slovakia
  • Poland
  • Hungary

I hope some of the Eastern European members on here could point me in the right direction?

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  • I watched a documentary which mentioned a farmer (the narrator) allowing people to drive tanks on part of his land. I think it was a doco on farming subsidies, called "against the grain". – Andrew Grimm Feb 14 '12 at 11:55
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    If you don't mind being paid instead of paying, try French Foreign Legion. – mouviciel Feb 14 '12 at 15:37
  • Do you also need recommendation for the Baltic countries? – RoflcoptrException Feb 14 '12 at 20:28
  • Thanks but I am not going to Baltic countries, it is too far for me then. Too see my journey go here :) tripline.net/trip/… – tomaytotomato Feb 14 '12 at 22:05
  • Not that it make any difference but those country are generally understood (not least by their inhabitants themselves) to be part of Central Europe rather than Eastern Europe. – Relaxed May 28 '13 at 16:53
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I will be travelling around many Western European countries which I expect to not have these sorts of experiences.

Actually, some do.

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For Slovakia, you could consider the Bratislava Rifle Range:

Bratislava's premiere outdoor rifle shooting range is the setting for our most popular stag do activity. You can have a blast shooting a real Scorpion machine gun, sub-machine guns or a selection of handguns supervised by certified instructors. We guarantee you will love letting a fully loaded machine gun go off at the rock above the metal targets with unbeatable sound and smoke effects.

In Poland (Krakow), there's the Gun Shooting in Krakow option:

Our firing range offers you the chance to fire some of the world’s best know guns such as the infamous Kalashnikov, the AK47, a revolver, various pistols such as the Russian MCM Margolin and the Austrian Glock as well as a traditional shotgun.

and in Hungary, shooting near Budapest:

Heavy-duty guns and real firepower (like Kalashnikov AK47 and many more), you can experience the power in your hands, which is incredible.

In Slovenia, Shooting in Slovenia (some NSFW pics) offers the following description:

Shooting in Ljubljana for stag parties, is one of our best sellers. If you’re asking yourself, why? Then you obviously haven’t gripped a hardcore firing weapon, and blasted off a target board. The power of the gun sends a rush to the arms with a rigor of excitement….just holding this deadly gun, you have become a lethal weapon.

But stuffed if I can find anything in Croatia...

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    Thanks most of these are targetted at "Stag" people but I guess the same would apply for a tourist although I might get charged a bit more. - Also you should put a "NSFW" warning onthe slovenia link as if you click on one of the links on the site you get naked pictures of women :) – tomaytotomato Feb 14 '12 at 13:46
  • oh wow, good to know, will add it to the answer ;) – Mark Mayo♦ Feb 14 '12 at 19:05
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In Poland you can visit Wolfsschanze (Wolf's Lair), the place where Hitler stayed during the war against Russia. There you can see the older concrete buildings, but you can also fire some massive guns for not a lot of money.

From the Website about the site:

Suffering from lack of adrenaline? Want to test your sniper abilities? Visit our new shooting range in General Jodl's Staff bunker (number 17) here at the Wolf's Lair. Both adults and children are invited to test their abilities with airsoft replicas of historical WWII weapons and air-guns. Our shooting range is open daily, throughout the day. Visit us - such an opportunity doesn't come often!

But I'll leave the answer as it is, because from my personal experience, I can tell you that weren't airsoft guns...

And now some personal thoughts about this:

I'm not really happy about that. The problem is, it attracts a lot of "dubious" people that are not there to visit a historical site, but just to more or less celebrate this place and fire some guns.

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  • Whats wrong with firing guns? Bear in mind I am travelling around Europe and you can't fire Kalashnikovs in the UK so it would be a wasted opportunity. :) – tomaytotomato Feb 14 '12 at 12:00
  • It's not wrong to fire guns. I don't like it but I don't have problems when other do it. But I have problems that you can do it in places like this. That's not the place to shoot weapons just for fun immo. And most problematic are the people that are attract in this concrete examples. These people aren't visitors that just want to see a historic place. Instead they want to feel like living back in 1940 and be part of the SS or something like this. – RoflcoptrException Feb 14 '12 at 12:03
  • Actually, judging by the websites that appear in a Google search for these, I suspect most visitors to these ranges are members of stag parties ;) – Mark Mayo♦ Feb 14 '12 at 13:07
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A lot of hostels in the Baltic countries like for example the Naughty Squirrel in Riga or the Boutique Hostel in Tallinn offer AK47 shooting tours.

Also the Kiev Backpacker Hostel in Kiev, Ukraine offers such a tour.

From my experience a lot of hostels in the Baltic Countries, and Eastern Europe in general offer such tours. If not mention directly, they can surely guide you where to join such a tour.

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    From memory when I was staying at the one in Kiev, it's only certain days of the week. We were disappointed not to be able to do it. Our primary goal was Chernobyl though, so we managed that :) – Mark Mayo♦ Feb 14 '12 at 22:10
  • Yes probably it is only on certain days. I was in the Naughty Squirrel once and there I didn't saw that they really advertise these tours. – RoflcoptrException Feb 15 '12 at 8:07
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The one Western European country that you may be able to find these kind of experiences in is Switzerland. They are one of the few European states that have sensible firearms laws, and you can generally shoot without too many restrictions or hassle.

Specifically, if you don't mind giving the AK47's a miss, there is a great underground range in Brünig:

http://www.bruenigindoor.ch/

There you will be able to use modern handguns and rifles in clean, well equipped, modern facilities. They have SIG P226 pistols and SIG 550 rifles available for hire. As long as you can demonstrate that you can handle both safely, you shouldn't have any problems in spending a few hours there having some fun!

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  • -1 Beside being stupid I think political hyperbole about “sensible firearms laws” should have no place on a travel site. – Relaxed Jun 3 '13 at 13:55
  • @Annoyed You are incorrect. A statement of fact about the varying prohibitiveness of European states' laws that will directly affect the questioner in their chosen activity is entirely relevant and appropriate. – TimS Jun 3 '13 at 21:07
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    “Switzerland is one of the few European states where you can do this or that” would be factual. “Sensible” is not factual or descriptive, it's normative. – Relaxed Jun 4 '13 at 6:30
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Celeritas Shooting Club in Hungray is top shelf. It may look a bit dodgy, when you're driving towards it in the taxi, it's like a scene out of Hostel but it ended up being the most wonderful experience of the trip trying all the guns from pistols, shotguns to heavy machine guns. I got the shoot 'em all package. Sorry if this is too late but you could put on the list for next time mate!

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