World's Largest Working Rifle

Ishpeming, Michigan, United States

Roadside giants

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Current

Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

Big Ernie is a working rifle 33 ft 4 in (10.18 m) long, displayed at Da Yoopers Tourist Trap in Ishpeming, Michigan. Guinness World Records measured it on 1 September 2008 as the largest working rifle.

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PLAN YOUR VISIT

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This takes you to the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

World's Largest Working Rifle

This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

Site-level location · 46.4922° N, 87.6981° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Big Ernie is the oversized rifle among the outdoor displays at Da Yoopers Tourist Trap, a roadside gift shop with outdoor displays on US 41 in Ishpeming, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Guinness World Records lists it as the largest working rifle, 10.18 m (33 ft 4 in) long, measured in Ishpeming on 1 September 2008. A 2019 radio-station feature instead gave 35 feet and 400 pounds.

Da Yoopers' website shows a staff member rebuilding Big Ernie. An older Roadside America visit quotes a guide saying the rifle once fired a rock wrapped in duct tape 2.5 miles into a cornfield, and that the recoil and shock wave knocked it off its truck mount and smashed the windows of a nearby farmhouse.

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PRACTICAL

Plan your stop

WHAT TO EXPECT

Outdoor display at a roadside gift shop on US 41, next to Big Gus the chainsaw. A Tripadvisor reviewer quoted by Islands.com in 2025 called it a free outdoor museum. The shop's website (June 2025) lists Monday to Saturday 9 am to 7 pm and Sunday 10 am to 6 pm.

ACCESS

Da Yoopers Tourist Trap, 490 N. Steel Street, Ishpeming, visible from US 41. A private business. Shop hours are published; hours for the outdoor displays are not.

COMMUNITY