private shooting range

[F8ality]

how much land do you need in order to have your own private shooting range and what are some of the other rules/regs? Has anyone on here done this?

[sigstroker]

Part of it depends on how big a range you want.

[Librarian]

A search on "outdoor shooting range design" will help.

Then contact your county planning department.

[squeeze]

how much land do you need in order to have your own private shooting range and what are some of the other rules/regs? Has anyone on here done this?

May sound as if I am being silly but I am not. Do you want outside or indoors? If indoors; shoot in your basement (if you have one). I met someone who does that. I'd bet laws are different from outside if you do.

[CaliforniaCowboy]

how much land do you need in order to have your own private shooting range and what are some of the other rules/regs? Has anyone on here done this?

Good Question, I have often wondered about that, I live out in the country but there are other homes around here. I was curious about the rules on the subject as well. I am assuming you mean setting some targets and a berm up in your backyard type deal?

[theLBC]

too bad we can't create a co-op range.

[BigPimping]

My coworker has a shooting range on his property which we use all the time. It goes out to a hundred yards

[The Shootist]

My coworker has a shooting range on his property which we use all the time. It goes out to a hundred yards

[audiophil2]

how much land do you need in order to have your own private shooting range and what are some of the other rules/regs? Has anyone on here done this?

Don't know about CA law but in unincorporated parts of AZ rule is 1/4 mile from any structure a person could walk into like a shed. We have a 10 acre lot 40 minutes from Phoenix in a subdivision that never took off. It has a few residents but they are the type that live and let live.

As far as how much land is need that depends on what you want to do. People shoot at indoor ranges as close as 20 feet. My range goes as far as 2000 yards but that is with the long range gong set on BLM land on a hill behind the property. Inside the property we can do about 400 yards and have about 20 gongs made into a run and gun course over about 5 acres of the property.

When you look for land find something that is in a flood zone but never floods. It is very rare to find a normal house on that type of land so you can buy a small property an not really worry about neighbors building anything. Also find something below a hill or mountain. Usually the mountains are BLM or trust land and no one really hikes them so they are just there to look at. Land near hills and mountains will have natural berms and not very flat so that makes a great gun range but lousy home construction land.

The first few seconds of this video shows out setup. The gong point to is at the far end of a 1o acre rectangle about 1/4 mile long. The hills in the back are all public land that no one ever goes on so we put a gong out there. The high spot where we are hooting is about 1250 yards from the hills and 400 from the gong on the end of the property. The low section is out run and gun course. We never use both at the same time for safety but if we want to extend our shooting distance we will shoot all the runand gun gongs form the top of the hill with pistols, rifles, or even scoped .22lr bolt guns. The top of the hill is also used for camping. The bare spot downbelow is the parking lot we made that fits about 10 trucks. With the natural berms the land is mostly untouched except for the parking lot and the running path made for the course.

[theLBC]

^ nice!

[wpage]

Check with your code or zoning official.

[audiophil2]

^ nice!

Thanks. Calgunners come out to rent it or rent my machine guns. I have a few coming out this weekend to get some night vision practice. With AZ starting fire restrictions already this season it is great to have private property so close by that is unrestricted. Only other private range I know of nearby that is a little bigger is McMillans north of Phoenix. I think they can stretch out to about 2600 yards but they are more long range focused.

[L84CABO]

Much can depend on the topography of the property, it's location and what is around it. For example if the property butts up against a large hill that can serve as a natural berm for containing rounds, the property may not need to be that big. And it can save you a lot of money since you don't have to build a berm.

But you should make absolutely sure you do your due diligence...you want to understand the status of the surrounding parcels, who owns them, who lives there, which ones are for sale, etc. It would suck, for example, to buy a piece of land only to have someone buy a surrounding parcel later on and build a home or something right in the trajectory of your range. Or it would suck if one of the neighbors started complaining about the noise. And sure it may be your property to do with as you please but nobody needs the hassle of living with an angry neighbor.

As an example, here's a picture of my buddy's property. He owns 40 acres if I remember correctly but the actual range portion covers just a couple with a nice large hill to contain the rounds. Obviously it also depends how big of a range you want. If you want to be shooting 1000 yards, you'll need a lot more property.

[colossians323]

how much land do you need in order to have your own private shooting range and what are some of the other rules/regs? Has anyone on here done this?

In California, we only had a few acres, and had a pistol and 100 yard range

[Calif Hunter]

As noted above - check with the local zoning/code enforcement people. I have heard, but not confirmed, that out here it is 10 acres - but you also have the legal shooting distances of 1/4 mile or whatever from roads and buildings. In short - I do not think there is one answer for all of CA.