Opening a indoor shooting range school me

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BigBore45

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there is not one withing 200 miles and i know of lots of people that have no where to shoot. was throwing this idea around. moderators please move this if its in the wrong spot
 
Well, your post says you're in Kansas. Drive to Wichita for a day, there are two old indoor ranges and at least 3 new ones. All have pistol ranges, one has a 100 yard indoor rifle range too. Visit them to see what these places offer. Just from my visits I'd say these ranges are getting fancier all the time, some are offering video simulators and it looks like they're all paying more attention to air handlers to keep lead under control.
 
yep. wichita is 211 miles away. i am an HVAC business owner so alot of ventilation can be handled at cost. also the electrical-plumbing-and HVAC.
 
There is another fairly new indoor range in McPherson at Treasure Chest gun shop. I have not seen it yet.

I have no idea what insurance runs. Your city may also have zoning issues to overcome. I do notice that the newest range in Wichita is pretty heavy on staffing, including a range officer in every shooting bay if any of the lanes are in use (they have three separate "bays" with 8 or 10 individual lanes in each). You only have to see the number of bullet holes in the ceiling of the older ranges to realize that supervision is necessary. These ranges have a wide inventory of guns to rent including full-auto so I'm guessing overhead is fairly high. Some of these ranges have had to deal with a person renting a gun and commiting suicide on the range with the rental.

Since you're in a different city I'm guessing the owners of some of these ranges would talk with you about the business.
 
thanks guys for the reply's. called the city zoning board and insurance company. so far not to much trouble. going to call EPA for ventilation requirements next.
 
EPA isn't the right people for indoor air.

Check the NRA link I listed above. They have done most, if not all, of the leg work for you. They are the authorities which most people go to when they are looking for indoor range regs.
 
I think a million is pretty steep. I can do any construction related work, plenty of big building for sale right now with the oilfield crash. So far with a very large building made of block 150'x80'. Looking around 200k. To revamp for accommodation and target equipment
 
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I did hear a rumor of someone else buying an old school gym for this same purpose. I may be a day late and dollar short. I'm gonna call the guy Monday to see.
 
i have a friend that he and his brother were thinking about opening one. They had the plans and priced all the necessary items and found the cost to be $750,000.00 for everything. Most of the cost was air handling and bullet trap and lead capture. Needless to say that haven't opened one yet.
 
A million might be light. Cost of the building, renovations including air scrubbers, back stop, etc, etc. Plus liability insurance can kill your business PDQ.
"...legality and insurance costs..." For the former, you need to talk to the local municipal government about zoning laws(that's what it's called here.). And any Federal, State and municipal environmental ordinances. Most places do not allow any venting directly to the outside air. For the insurance just talk to your regular agent.
How does one buy a school gym without buying the whole place? Just curious.
 
The gyms around here are remote from the schools in half the cases. The air handling can be done at cost along with building and bullet trap.

Like I said someone else has beat me too it anyways. I'm gonna call the guy as I went to highschool with him and confirm, I'm sure he is though he already has a ffl and a business that does pretty well. At least see if I can bid the HVAC lol
 
Saved by the bell.
The only recently built indoor range near me cost $3,000,000 as stated by the owner.
It has a medium size store, two lane rental bays, one of those rifle capable, and space for a third bay in the dry, to be equipped when funding allows.
Lighting, acoustics, and HVAC are superior to the much older range down the road.

There is rumored to be an indoor range in my smaller market area to be done by this Fall. I doubt it because FB discussion dropped off rapidly after the initial rumor and there is not so much as a "Future Site of..." sign at the street number given. A previous rumor just kind of faded away, too.
 
after making phone calls all week i will share my costs so far.

Building 150'X80'-$60,000

Bullet trap and ceiling ar500 steel and sand- $ 15K( still waiting on if i have to do anything with walls because they are filled cement blocks)

Cost per shooting lane to 25 yards with target runners $ 4k

Store front/office/remodeling- $ 50K

Insurance liability- 4k per year

Lawyer write up of release of all liability- 2k

Store stock- 15K

HVAC-Electrical-building-plumbing- material cost 36k free labor by me and my help on slow days.

so with 5 shooting lanes im looking at roughly 200-225K if i would have to pay someone to do all the work i could easily see 500-600K. again building is super cheap because oilfield is shut down and nothing else would need a building like that.

there is small stuff not accounted for like computer and others, but really im not going to say i would go over 225k just cause i could skimp on a lot of remodel in front office area up front and stocking that much ammo and targets up front as well. i can repair and maintenance almost all of the equipment too.

we will see. i have talked it over with the county as it is out of the city limits and doesnt seem to be much fuss over it at all, building is in industrial ground so can go to commercial as well.

Interestingly the county person i was talking to also brought up the idea of taking this to the council meeting and seeing if i could get that discussed where the county would build one. they already have a golf course and other things of that nature that seem to do well.
 
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well i couldnt handle it i just got of the phone with the guy rumored to open the shooting range and............. its a go they have already started construction awhile back and should be up and running in 2-3 months.

Lol i was more than a day late and more than a dollar short on that one.

owell still awesome its only a 20 min drive from my house.
 
I think a million is pretty steep. I can do any construction related work, plenty of big building for sale right now with the oilfield crash. So far with a very large building made of block 150'x80'. Looking around 400k. To revamp for accommodation and target equipment


There was a new indoor range built in my town in an existing building. It cose much more than a million dollars by the time it was down.
 
well regardless im not to worried about it now. no way would i do it if there is one near by.
 
Which direction of Hays?! I would love to have a range near me, and I'm just 45 minutes from Hays. Hit me up if I can be useful.
 
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