Land to Shoot On...

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Chris Rhines

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Entirely theoretical question here...

If one wanted to set up a shooting range on their property, for personal use only, what is the minimum acreage they could get away with?

For the sake of the exercise, let's stipulate pistols, shotguns, and .22LR rifles only. Range dimensions of, say, fifty yards by twenty.

- Chris
 
Chris,
It's going to depend on how big a berm you can construct and what is on the land surrounding your range. If you can construct a high enough berm you don't need a lot of surrounding property for your safety fan.

Jeff
 
That, and the county/area you live in. Every place has different regulations governing what you can and can't do in regards to land usage.

Space restrictions aside, you may have to deal with concerns over lead, which may have you formulating some type of lead-recovery/abatement program.

Definitely check out local laws - we can only do so much to advise you.
 
Berm is the biggest issue. If you live on the foot of a mountain, you could probably get away with an acre or less, so long as part of that acre is the mountain, acting as a berm.

Noise might be a bigger concern, depending on how close your neighbors live.
 
I used to shoot Bullseye in a completely urban environment. The impact area was under ground (excavated) and roofed. Next to the 25 yd pistol/.22 range was an enclosed 100yd concrete tube for center-fire rifle. You could hear firing from outside but it sounded like a mechanic banging on a car.
Shotguns? No.
My current club has trap houses and a 200yd impact area beyond which is private property. If any other than target loaded trap 7 1/2 or 8 shot is used; pellets leave our property. Not good.
We have another situation where an we think an ill-placed pistol berm resulted in damage to a storage shed 800yds down range from a SASS cowboy shoot:banghead:. Also: Not good
YMMV
 
It's going to depend on how big a berm you can construct and what is on the land surrounding your range. If you can construct a high enough berm you don't need a lot of surrounding property for your safety fan.
Click to expand...

No slam intended... the rationale quoted above wouldn't work where I live. The county laws state that there must be 300yd of clear land (no buildings, nor obvious signs of 'domestication'--tents, parking lots, etc.) in the direction of fire--the sheriff and I both interpreted that to mean that from my firing station, for 300yd in an arc of 180 degrees, there is 'nothing' threatened. Funny, I dunno of any bullets that stop at the 300yd mark... The height of my berm wasn't even a consideration 'legally'. By the way, the NRA advises that a berm's minimum height is 15'.

And it's not the acreage, it's the shape of the parcel.... I wish I had an acre (or whatever it took) to measure 1500yd long and 20 feet wide....

You should be able to surf the 'net for your county's laws regarding shooting and land ownership. That's how I found all the information I needed.
 
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