Building my shooting range

Joe C

Pass the mustard
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Feb 16, 2018
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127
Great post. I really love our farm on the river and am looking forward to making even more improvements on my ranges this spring. Right now I have a pistol range that can go out to 80 yards, a 300 yard rifle range and a gong at 485 yards. Coming this spring will be a rifle range to almost 600 yards and more pistol range stuff. You'll have to come over and see it @hendershot . Would give us a good excuse to talk about your new gun!
 

hendershot

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Joined
Feb 19, 2018
Messages
64
Great post. I really love our farm on the river and am looking forward to making even more improvements on my ranges this spring. Right now I have a pistol range that can go out to 80 yards, a 300 yard rifle range and a gong at 485 yards. Coming this spring will be a rifle range to almost 600 yards and more pistol range stuff. You'll have to come over and see it @hendershot . Would give us a good excuse to talk about your new gun!

Wow! Your farm sounds great. It would have been nice to get to 5-600 like that, but just not in the cards here. Hopefully you'll share a few pics as yours progresses.
And don't tempt me on coming over to check it out...:)
 

Joe C

Pass the mustard
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Feb 16, 2018
Messages
127
Wow! Your farm sounds great. It would have been nice to get to 5-600 like that, but just not in the cards here. Hopefully you'll share a few pics as yours progresses.
And don't tempt me on coming over to check it out...:)

Hey, someone has to help me shoot 25k rounds through the pro series guns...might as well be people that I actually like such as yourself.
 

John Galt

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Dec 11, 2018
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1,091
Location
Idaho, kalifornistan
As far as the cops...........

You are either in an area where it is legal (usually county) or restricted (cityish). If there are no SPECIFIC restrictions the police have no authority. Period!

My last house, 28 years ago was on an island of county land within the city. I set up a range and I would have a particular sheriffs deputy come over every time I started shooting to harass me.

This guy was a total AH that would come over and try to bully me. He would read me every third line of the code to BS me that I was not authorized to shoot (I am an attorney). I knew the code, word for word, better than him.

28 years ago I found a better ranch and moved but I would still occasionally have officers pull up to the gate and demand to see our guns and all kinds of ridiculous contentions (usually "shooting auto weapons") which I have no time, patience or cooperation for. JUST SAY NO.

NOTE TO SELVES........chicken little knows if she runs in a circle screaming "machineguns" the police will come.

(We have also had PLENTY of very nice officers that understood what was going on and wrote favorable reports)

We have a neighbor who made in excess of 50 complaints and sent the police out more than 50 times.

GO TO YOUR DA. Insist false complainers be charged with making false complaints and billed for wasting resources. Do not take crap from your ***** politicians and authoritarian police.

Hell, in commiefornia you can smoke pot anywhere and no-one gives it a side glance............BUT Exercise a G*D Given RIGHT to arms and it's us who are out of step.

Spare me.
 

AH00010

Fanatic
Joined
Apr 16, 2019
Messages
6
View attachment 4198

Our backyard suppressed .22 mini range.
Same here haha
As far as the cops...........

You are either in an area where it is legal (usually county) or restricted (cityish). If there are no SPECIFIC restrictions the police have no authority. Period!

My last house, 28 years ago was on an island of county land within the city. I set up a range and I would have a particular sheriffs deputy come over every time I started shooting to harass me.

This guy was a total AH that would come over and try to bully me. He would read me every third line of the code to BS me that I was not authorized to shoot (I am an attorney). I knew the code, word for word, better than him.

28 years ago I found a better ranch and moved but I would still occasionally have officers pull up to the gate and demand to see our guns and all kinds of ridiculous contentions (usually "shooting auto weapons") which I have no time, patience or cooperation for. JUST SAY NO.

NOTE TO SELVES........chicken little knows if she runs in a circle screaming "machineguns" the police will come.

(We have also had PLENTY of very nice officers that understood what was going on and wrote favorable reports)

We have a neighbor who made in excess of 50 complaints and sent the police out more than 50 times.

GO TO YOUR DA. Insist false complainers be charged with making false complaints and billed for wasting resources. Do not take crap from your ***** politicians and authoritarian police.

Hell, in commiefornia you can smoke pot anywhere and no-one gives it a side glance............BUT Exercise a G*D Given RIGHT to arms and it's us who are out of step.

Spare me.
In the midst of a genius thread, a valuable post (for me at least). I thank you for sharing your EXPERIENCE!
 

John Galt

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Joined
Dec 11, 2018
Messages
1,091
Location
Idaho, kalifornistan
Same here haha

In the midst of a genius thread, a valuable post (for me at least). I thank you for sharing your EXPERIENCE!



Note: commiefornia RED FLAG LAWS have changed everything..........they have put your asshole neighbors in charge.

In commiefornia a RED FLAG ORDER automatically comes with a SEARCH WARRANT.

Your neighbors are among the special group of "statutorily authorized reporters"

Your neighbors can now complain anonomously, ex parte, with ZERO CONSEQUENCES and have you raided and your home / property searched and your guns confiscated. if you have black rifles you haven't declared.......they (and you) are in jeopardy as is anything you may not want exposed.

AND NOTE II........any guns you have been collecting for 20, 30, 40 years that are not papered to YOU, that you bought in private transactions........forget about ever getting them back........prepare to be treated like you stole them.

Mentioning this because in commiefornia, your outdoor range may bring it on. Split up your collection to multiple locations at least.

FYI
 
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ltcfb

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Joined
Oct 10, 2018
Messages
2
This is my 100 yard range. Had a backstop excavated this summer.
 

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Pierre

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Jul 29, 2020
Messages
225
I apologize for a long thread with lots of pics, but it's often how it happens to go when I start one.

Seeing another current thread here about indoor/outdoor ranges made me want to share what I've been working on for the last few years. It has been a pretty slow process for me. Factoring in young kids, work, and weather that often does not cooperate, my time to spend on it each weekend is not as much as I'd like.

The back story.... I've had a small pistol range behind my home for a while now, and nobody lived on the land behind it. That is, not until 2017, when someone did buy that land and built a house. I didn't know what I was going to do. My passion and hobby took a serious blow. I had looked at other land in my vicinity previously and knew that prices were insane for the area required to make a range.

One day while looking, I happened upon non-prime land for most buyers. It was about 30 acres and bordered by a river on 2 sides, with no homes close by. Tons of wildlife, secluded, and a close drive from home. I wasn't sure on buying it until the wife said go. She knows how much I truly enjoy shooting and the outdoors in general, so I tossed an offer out and bought it.

I took my gps and compass, and marked out a few different options for the range location and direction. I figured out which one was best, and began making trails and cutting down trees at the end of 2017. I did work for a while with my chainsaw and skid loader, but it was rough for the bobcat and slow going. While helping a coworker build part of his garage in Spring of 2018, I saw an old Link Belt excavotor in his yard. It was his dad's, who I also worked with, and he was done with it and looking to sell. It is old, slow, tired, and is basically a big POS, but it can dig holes and move trees. It could blow at any time, and I often have to give it rests after working for a bit, but it's getting the job done.

As of now, I have a pistol range that allows me to sweep a pretty wide angle, a small berm to allow shooting up to 200 yards, and a medium berm at the end to shoot up to 380 yards. I still have a lot of work to do. A guy could spend months just cleaning up and burning all the downed trees and undergrowth. I'd like to add another pistol range just opposite of the current one for full movement, and build up a large flat area at the rear for the longer range shooting. I foresee this as being a place to spend quality time with the kids as they get older, time with friends, and the much needed time to self. I absolutely love it out here and think it's going to be worth my time and effort.

Video of it in January, 2019


How it all began in late fall of 2017
View attachment 4141


After some chain sawin'
View attachment 4140


View attachment 4143


Time for real progess! Summer 2018
View attachment 4142



View attachment 4146


Angle looks good! Now to make it taller and wider
View attachment 4144



Making sure I'm lined up before adding the far berm
View attachment 4147


Handgun range end of 2018
View attachment 4148


Range a few weeks ago.
View attachment 4149

Great work...looks great. I miss that white stuff on the ground...forgot what's it's called.
 
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