If they built it, would you come?

If they built it would you come?

  • Yes

    Votes: 57 52.8%

  • No

    Votes: 12 11.1%

  • depends on distance

    Votes: 39 36.1%
  • Total voters
    108
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R

Rem700SD

Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2005
Messages
541
Location
South of Houston, TX
I'm seeing a disturbing trend in gun ranges. As urban sprawl progresses, I see more and more gun ranges closing down as they are surrounded by suburbs. I see evidence of this now in that there are a large amount of restrictions on what calibres one can use, no full auto, shrinking yardages. how many 1000+ yard ranges can you count in your area?
Most places I read about, or have been to, are restricted to class use, and too structured. I think rifleshooters especially need a place to stretch out.

My concept is to build a 2500m+ gun range with no restictions. Combine that with camping facilities (think state park or KOA campgrounds) for a weekend(or more) getaway shooting experience. Hold events once a month or so, and invite guest instructors for certain dates.

If you know of a place that exists like that in Texas, please let me know! I want to go! It's just a business idea I've been rolling around for a few months.
Any comments appreciated.

Dan
 
One of the ranges here had that problem about 20 years ago. There were forced to abandon their original location due to ever growing suburbia and noise complaints.

They moved to the other side of town and bought 1500 acres. About 50 acres are used for the clubhouse and shooting ranges. The other 1450 acres serve as a nature preserve where no hunting is allowed. Gives them a nice big buffer zone to keep the neighbors at bay.
 
I wish I had a rifle that could shoot minute-of-popcan at 2500m!
Just remember which end to put the campground on! :D
 
American Shooting on the west side of Houston has a 600 yard range, and almost nobody ever uses it. The 100 yard range is always in use, very occassionally someone on the 200, extremely few people ever on 300.

As a business model it probably sucks to build a 2500 yard range, how many people have firearms capable of that. Limited numbers of people to spread all that capital cost and maintenance over so the price has to be pretty high, and everyone thinks they should be able to shoot all day for $5.

If you can get monthly classes going with respected instructors that would certainly help. Probably somewhere just north of I-10 central to Houston, San Antonio and Austin would be best. You don't need any more than 1000yards which will save on capex and opex. Have some decent pistol and carbine courses laid out, decent camping accomodation, near a little town with a hotel for the non-campers and you may have a business.
 
I believe Tiger Valley has a 1,000 yard range.
Click to expand...

1200 if TJ closes down the access road and you shoot from the far side. Full auto friendly as long as everything is legal. We've shot steel, three-gun, and even a shoot house.

The staff is excellent, but check their calender as they only open to the public for certain events.
 
That's highly impractical where I live. Land here goes from $75,000 (over near the Everglades) to $250,000 (in normal suburbia) per acre. Over near the ocean, a group just offered the owners of a mobile home park $500 million (just over a million per homesite) to sell the land.
 
To ansewr you yes i would go. It's ashame about lots of ranges regulations. My local ranges wont even let you shoot reloads anymore. And yes i'm dead serious. Cause they asked me last time what type of ammo i was using. And i asked them why. And i hate those ranges that won't let you shoot rapid fire. Thats garbage. I've only been to one outdoor range and it was a two hour drive to get there. If anyone knows any central florida out door ranges e mail me.
 
The local range is lucky to have a 100yrd range.

God made our county with a lot of hills and mountains.

Our backstop is three times higher then our range is long.:D
 
"minute-of-popcan at 2500m!"

Great humor Drew!

I like the idea of a business as suggested by the OP, long range and sniper type rifles are hugely popular right now, there would definitlely be a market for this type of range particularly if accomodations were affordable. I'd say the more blue collar the better.
 
The reason I selected 2500m as a reference range is it's rarity. Many people are shooting .338 Lapua and .50BMG now. I think that people want something unique if they're going to make the trip. Also, there's no outdoor range in the Houston area that allows full auto, and certainly none that make dragging out a belt fed worth it.


Dan
 
Many people are shooting .338 Lapua and .50BMG now.
Click to expand...

Even so, I think 2500m would be alot (becasue it'll eat up lots of ground, and you need sufficient safety margins).

But, I think 1000 or 1200 M would be worthwhile. The problem almost anywhere is the cost of land. I suspect the least expensive you'll find anywhere is still at least $1500 a acre, and that's for "unimproved" land. To build a decent facility you need sewage treatment, running water, etc. With the campground you'd need to spend plenty $$$$ to get it all set up.

Having regular events, and the campground are good ideas (but get situated someplace where there are other activities (for the wife/SO (if she/he is not a shooter) and/or kiddies, and even yourself) fairly nearby(say within an hours drive).

For safety on a 1000m range you need a BIG berm (think about using the natural terrain, and plenty of "safety area" behind. Add that + the campground area (which would need to be a bit away from the shooting area) and your land requirements will end up being quite large.

I doubt (much as I'd like it) you could do it anywhere in the NorthEast, or North Central areas of the country (cost of land is too high, and hard to find large tracts of land)....Would probably have to be in South West area where there's still alot of open spaces/less expensive land. Also better in that you could use it year 'round.
 
Probably somewhere just north of I-10 central to Houston, San Antonio and Austin would be best. You don't need any more than 1000yards which will save on capex and opex. Have some decent pistol and carbine courses laid out, decent camping accomodation, near a little town with a hotel for the non-campers and you may have a business.
Click to expand...

I know it fails on the "easy to get to"/central to the three major urban areas of TX, and I don't think it had a 1K range, but...

Anyone know/remember what happened to cause Tin Star Ranch outside of fredricksburg, to quit holding CAS matches?

If they had/have the land to do so, TSR redone as a shooting center for more than just cowboy action would have worked well i think. If you could get folks to accept the part involving "go to Fredricksburg (90mins to two hours from San Antonio), now get on that Farm to market road that may or may not be on your AAA map and drive about 14 miles out of town"

for those who don't know, for a time Tin Star Ranch, in addition to it's Bed and Breakfast and conference center business, once held fairly large scale CAS matches. this was the fuction of the "old west town" listed and pictured on their website (if you look you can see that many of the town photos on the site show the berms/bays built behind the facades). many thought that TSR should have become the next home of the "End of Trail" (SASS world championship) but a (i think undeveloped) site in NM was chosen instead.


other than that, my only thoughts are, someplace like Tiger Valley but with more time open to the general shooting public would be nice.
 
2500 meters would be fantastic. Mostly to hear the comments about who needed a ten mile range.:neener: Riflemen really need to shoot long range more than a hundred yards. Most won't because of the embarrasment factor. Ain't as easy as it looks.
 
I used to drive from San Diego up to San Gabriel Valley Gun Club, (Sometimes called Fish Canyon,) in Duarte, so I would definitely go a distance for a good range.

That is as long as they didn't restrict the 300 yard line to members only and have Fudd rules like "One round per magazine."
 
Try looking for land where Drive-ins have been and not being used in the commercial sense. Their are a lot still standing in Texas. Texas had about 400 of these from the 50's. Some are still standing, but are "dark", not gone, still being used for storage (junk) and rising useless vegetation.
 
I voted no. I love the idea, and I'd be very happy to see one around for people to use, but I honestly have no use for a range over 100yrds. I rarely ever shoot rifles and usually stick to pistol calibers. So I would love to see one built, but I personally probably wouldn't use it. I'd like to see some more interesting pistol ranges too. renting a lane at a gun range gets old.
 
my only question is "2500m+"... wow, what are you shooting that needs over 2500 meters?
Click to expand...
by Hemicuda

If you've ever been to Knob Creek, you'd see. Some people have artillery, belt fed quad 50s, mg 42s, among others. Think black powder morters, home built black powder cannon, all looking for a place to play. Among the more conventional are the bolt ation .50s, .338s and .408 cheytacs.

Dan
 
1000 yards is a long ways. We've got it, but it's surprising how few people shoot it (in my personal experience). The number of shooters who can and would shoot 2500 yards/meters is pretty small in any given area.
 
I drove through Texas once many years ago. As I recall it was fairly flat. I don't remember any mountains or hills. It would seem more practical to locate a range/campground in a hilly or mountainous area. You could use the terrain in place of berms, otherwise I would imagine you will have a lot of bulldozing that will need to be done.Can anyone shoot with any accuracy at 2500M ? As I recall, a meter is approx. 3 inches longer than a yard and there are I believe 1760 yards in a mile so 2500M would be ......in the neighborhood of a mile and a half? Sounds like an artillery range to me! lol. I do like your idea though... I hope you come up with something.....where I live 100yds is the max and that is definitely not as long as I would like.:banghead:
 
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