Private Gun Club

[glockman19]

How many would join a private gun club? What I was thinking was a place where there was limited membership, like a country Club. It would sell NO ammo, have personal storage for members belongings, ear & eye safety items, 6-8 shootong bays. Depending on how it was constructed we could offer handgun, shotgun & rifle shooting up to 50 yards at the right place.

It would resemble a Club house with Flat Screen TV, Full Kitchen, Sofa's, Desks, Pool Table, bathrooms, a separate cleaning & Gunsmithing room and other private extras you would expect in a private club. access would be controlled by key card. Web based reservations and usage.

Other than rent/mortgage, insurance and utilities I don't see a downside. Dues & membership fee's would be structured to cover all expenses. Maintainence would be contracted out as it was needed, backstop repair & replacement. A bullet trap would be created so you just sweep spent shell casings into area that could, through conveyer belt be moved to a sorting area.

Imagine a place where you and the people you know including their guests could hang out, at any time, and shoot, smoke (cigar's and cigaretts), drink (after shooting), play cards, eat dinner have a private lesson, or just get a way with other like minded people. NO restrictions on ammo, except for tracers & armor pearcing, and rapid fire all you'd like.

Limited to no more than 100 members, with a one time membership of $1,000, and annual membership of $500.

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome.

[hitman13]

id be balls deep in that.

[Fjold]

If you're talking about an indoor range, $100K doesn't seem to be enough to cover the cost of the facilities. The backstop and ventilation system alone could cost that much.

[Blue]

Shooting up to only 50 yards?

[Gunaria]

You've already have a piece of property for this because if not then you got to purchase that as well as pay for the property taxes. Other than what you already mentioned, insurance is going to be a killer.

[Slowshooter]

The cost of setting an indoor range is pretty high. The backstop could cost several ten thousand dollars, air system would cost you a lot not to mention setting up the side and lane walls. My guess is that it will be upwards of $250,000 just to get the shooting are set up. That is assuming that we are not dealing with hassles of buying property, insurance and etc. With those I'd suspect any where from $500,000 to $1 million.

Second problem is staffing. Who will be there? It is no laughing matter. It doesn't take much to start some problem and when that happens to range facility, it means several hundred dollars if not thousands to fix it. Although we want to have perfectly safe shooters, it is inevitable that someone innocently destroys a part of the range. It is also inevitable that someone will abuse the club house. You mentioned drinking, and how will that be done? We don't need to mix alcohol with shooting at the same time or before shooting, so there has to be some sort of procedure to ensure that. Perhaps better plan is to not do it. And all these require someone to be there to fix it.

Let's look at it from an end-user's perspective. If I'm paying for $500 range, I want a private bay since for basic plinking all I have to do is goto a local place and do it. For those who live in crowded areas, it is difficult to get to the range to begin with, but it is also difficult to do more than simple plinking. The setting you described doesn't really give us advantage of going to closest one.
Also, getting a permit and building one in middle of metropolis is not feasible as you probably would run into problems. Zoning will be a PITA and even if you manage to get through that the cost of running would be high. If you build one outside of high population density area, then what will attract people to drive out there? As I mentioned above, people will be driving for what? If people wants to drive far out there better be a good reason for it. A Clubhouse setting is not sufficient. If you can get it so that there are some ways wife and children can do what they want while the father shoots at your place, good. Otherwise I see little advantage.

[cnyankee]

the clubhouse thing sounds nice and i would be in if it was close to me. i already belong to a private range though it doesnt have the clubhouse thing it goes out to 500 yards has several bays and on weekdays is virtually empty. only drawback it you can only shoot paper or the gongs they have up already but as far as ammo goes any rounds work. pmed for further info

[ar15barrels]

Web based reservations and usage.

you and the people you know including their guests could hang out, at any time, and shoot

If reservations are necessary, you can't go there just anytime.

Have you priced out insurance for something like this?
When our gun club was only 400 members, that was the most expensive thing.
As you get MUCH larger, like around 1400 members where we are now, the cost per shooter goes down.
Of course when you pass about 600 shooters, you start gettting some bad seeds in the bunch.
These are the guys that shoot up the target stands and leave trash on the range.
With the range already being private and un-supervised, it's hard to police these people.

Gun Clubs are great for retired people or people with non-standard jobs that have free time during the week.
For those of us working 9-5 m-f, the clubs are always going to be jam packed on weekends.
If you had only 100 members, you can bet your *** that 40 of them (and their 80 "friends") would want to be there every saturday morning.
Just make sure you can accomodate that and you are good.

[randy]

Sounds like Oaktree. Except you don't pay a membership, and they do sell ammo.

[ar15barrels]

Sounds like Oaktree. Except you don't pay a membership, and they do sell ammo.

Link?

[What Just Happened?]

http://www.oaktreegunclub.com/

I've thought about what it would take to open a gun range. The building and the property alone would kill you.

Oh, there's a club in Arizona that's kinda like what you're describing

http://www.scottsdalegunclub.com/

[rg_1111@yahoo.com]

Sounds good. You will need alot more members that 100.
Insurance is going to be threw the roof.

[Mssr. Eleganté]

I'd join a club like that for sure. As long as there were no left handed people allowed. I'm a member of Chabot Gun Club and southpaws there are totally ruining the club.

And the restrooms would need to have quilted toilet paper, otherwise, no way!

[AfricanHunter]

If reservations are necessary, you can't go there just anytime.

Have you priced out insurance for something like this?
When our gun club was only 400 members, that was the most expensive thing.
As you get MUCH larger, like around 1400 members where we are now, the cost per shooter goes down.
Of course when you pass about 600 shooters, you start gettting some bad seeds in the bunch.
These are the guys that shoot up the target stands and leave trash on the range.
With the range already being private and un-supervised, it's hard to police these people.

Gun Clubs are great for retired people or people with non-standard jobs that have free time during the week.
For those of us working 9-5 m-f, the clubs are always going to be jam packed on weekends.
If you had only 100 members, you can bet your *** that 40 of them (and their 80 "friends") would want to be there every saturday morning.
Just make sure you can accomodate that and you are good.

What club do you belong to? Is it in OC? Rifle or just pistol? Just moved down here and am looking for a nice place to shoot so any info appreciated. Thanks

[ar15barrels]

What club do you belong to? Is it in OC? Rifle or just pistol?
Just moved down here and am looking for a nice place to shoot so any info appreciated.

https://www.wegc.org