Cu Chi Tunnel Shooting Range Honest Review
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This blog post provides a full review of the Cu Chi Tunnel shooting range, including bullet and gun options, price, regulations, and whether it is worth it.
First, the shooting range is part of wider attractions in the Cu Chi tunnel (or Ben Duoc Tunnel area). It is located at the “National Defense Sport Shooting Range” point at the bottom left corner of the map. You shall have no trouble locating it via the “The Plan Of Visiting Point” information board there.
Not to mention, it is just located near the souvenir shop and exit, so you would not miss it.
Despite being the only place, where you can have real-fire arm experience in Ho Chi Minh City, the experience may not be worth it. From my experience, it feels more like pressing a button and firing the bullet (or USD) than shooting. Because all the guns there are fixed with anchors in a very controlled environment, the experience is not as real as other shooting ranges in the world, despite its cheap price.
The shooting range is an optional paid activity of the Cu Chi Tunnel experience (to know more, check out our Cu Chi Tunnel Full Review). After all, you just need 15 minutes or so to finish this attraction (it does not take much time to fire 10 bullets). Yet, together with the tunnel visit, it is one of the must-visit items for your Ho Chi Minh City itinerary.
Booking Of Cu Chi Tunnel Shooting Range
No booking is required for the shooting range. It is a paid add-on option for most of the local Cu Chi Tunnel tours. Your tour guide will advise you of the bullet price in advance and you can purchase at the booth on sight.
For booking of Cu Chi Tunnel Tour, it is available on multiple online platforms.
I used the one on Klook during their seasonal promotion, you should check the offers before booking. At the time of writing, I find this one from GYG cheaper. You can choose to have a half-day tour of Cu Chi Tunnel only or a full-day tour with a visit to the Mekong Delta.
Half-Day Tour To Cu Chi Tunnel Only
I picked the half-day tour to Cu Chi Tunnel only. The tour usually starts at around 7 am and return to HCMC at around 2pm, sparing me times to rush for other attractions during a short visit in the city.
Bullet & Gun Options & Price
The shooting range provides you with options to choose various bullets & guns. That includes M16, AK47, K63, RPK, RPD Machine Gun, Grand-M1, and Carbine. The most popular options are the M16 or AK-47. However, I would suggest you do Grand-M1 or Carbine, given it seems to be an option not available in other shooting ranges in ASEAN Countries.
You just simply go for the booth at the resting area for bullet purchase.
As for the price, regardless of the option, 1 bullet is 60k VND (~ 2.3 USD), paid in cash only. And you have to buy 10 bullets each time and all 10 bullets must be the same. For example, if you picked an AK-47, then you need to buy 10 bullets of the same AK-47. That means a round of firing shall cost you around 23 USD.
From the price point alone, it is worth comparing to real-fire shooting in Indonesia or Cambodia.
Regulations
There is a regulation board near the bullet purchase booth. There are 4 regulations that you need to abide by for using the range. First, you need to follow the employee’s guidance such as guns, cartridges, and shooting stands. Second, you should not consume alcohol before shooting.
Also, you must wear ear protection while shooting. The ear protection is just near the bullet shop, where you can take it for free. Also, for the last regulation, for non-shooters, it requires permission for photo shooting at the firing range and wearing ear protection.
Based on my experience, the last regulation is not that strict. You can sneak to the fire range for photo shooting and even without wearing earplugs. The shooting range is just 20 meters from the resting area or bullet booth. So you shall have no problem taking photos there when it is crowded with tourists.
As for safety, as mentioned earlier, the guns are fixed with anchors and point at the targets only. So you should be safe taking photos from the shooting area.
I am not aware of any age limit for the usage of the firing range and I also did see a group of families firing there. So I suppose kids or teenagers, are allowed to use the fire range.
Is Cu Chi Tunnel Shooting Range Worth It?
As I mentioned, the shooting range is not worth an exclusive visit itself. One major drawback is that you can only fire in a very controlled environment, the guns are fixed with anchors, and you cannot even move them.
However, it is also one of the cheapest locations in the world where you can use real firearms. It has multiple gun options, and because of the very controlled environment, it is safe even for kids and teenagers.
More importantly, it is only part of the attraction in the wider Cu Chi Tunnel area. After all, the tunnel shall be the main dish for you. With that, I would say it is a good add-on for the wider tunnel tour. If you have never fired a gun before and happened to go on the tunnel tour, you should give it a try there.
Interested in other parts of Vietnam? Feel free to check out our itinerary for Hanoi and Nha Trang.
For booking of Cu Chi Tunnel tour, check out the below
