practicality of private gun range?

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How much land you must have would depend on what is allowed in the jurisdiction.

There are places that do have a minimum number of acres. Some do not allow discharge of a firearm some defined distance from public roads or dwellings.

So you could have a million acres but if they are of the shape an location that keeps it from being legal to shoot, they won’t do you any good.

There are also places inside many city limits where people shoot every day that are measured in square feet vs acres.
 
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It all depends on where the land is. As long as you are within the law and reasonably safe. I would not worry very much about the neighbors.
 
It is pointless to carry regrets, but I do regret not buying land when I had the chance and the money. If you can afford it and have a shot at a good parcel of land, BUY IT. To have unfettered access to a good shooting range would be great. But, it also provides the option of creating a camp ground, a picnic area, a privacy cabin, a she-shed, a garden. The options are endless. GO FOR IT!!
 
A quick overview of NC shows that it seems to vary County by County. And that inside incorporated City Limits is a no-no for the entire state. There are numerous references to being further than 300 feet from a habitation.

I'd love to get at least 50 acres
Eyeballing the internet, looks like farmland is running $4.1K/acre, so 50 acres is around a quarter million. Tax rate in NC looks to e 0.77%, which could be a bit of a bite come tax time. So, you might have to find a way to "work" some portion of that property so as to "earn its keep." Or get, as suggested above, various exemptions for timber, ag, natural resources, use, to control the tax burden.

That, and from personal experience, fifty acres is a lot of fence. 50 acres is a square around 1475 foot square, not quite a third of a mile. Which can seem small until you start to contemplate mowing it--even if you only mow 5 acres of it, it's a lot of mowing.

So, if the County allows (and you find the land near the right neighbors) maybe 8-10 acres suffices. Out in the ticks, there will be plenty of folk on only an acre or two who routinely just go shoot up the creek bank "out back."

There are a number of ways to get this done.
 
Bailing hay satisfies agricultural exemption for taxes and gets the area mowed, also doesn’t require a fence to keep it on your property. It’s pretty easy to find people that will cut, rake, bail and haul it off, if you are otherwise uninterested in messing with it.
 
Having enough land for a private range is a dream of mine. For now, I'll settle on a rainy day at the local outdoor range. It keeps most people away and its usually only me and the range master.
 
Bailing hay satisfies agricultural exemption for taxes and gets the area mowed, also doesn’t require a fence to keep it on your property. It’s pretty easy to find people that will cut, rake, bail and haul it off, if you are otherwise uninterested in messing with it.

Which is exactly the route I take. I then "trade" the hay for other farm work, food plots etc.
 
Ah, but the given premise was that this was unoccupied land. So, fencing the range off is probably needful if only to keep critters (of any leg count) from picking up a habit of sauntering across the range unexpectedly.

Mind I'm not familiar enough with NC to know if it's a good place to raise and cut hay. Would need someone more local, like as not. But, running sheep or goats might be an option for "Ag Exemption." But, I'd wager the number one in NC is "Timber Reserve."
 
A friend and I talked about putting in a range on her land but there is no natural land feature like a bluff and a berm would have to be built at considerable cost. So we just keep up memberships at local clubs and businesses.

I am retired, so I can practice solitary vice on weekdays, but that is usually something toward making ready for a match which involves a number of other people out at the same time.
 
i've been lucky to have owned several parcels of land including a quarter section that was later sold.

The place where my range is located is 80 acres; acquired in 2001 for $450 per acre. Yearly taxes is <$200. The range has butts at 50, 78, 125 and 250 yards. The berms erode and slump. i recently added about three yards of dirt to the close in berm.

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Some nice bucks hang out there.
 
A friend of a friend had a 1000 yard range on one acre.
But he had struck a deal for a strip 14 feet wide and 3000 feet long left bare across a vast flat bean field.
 
Mind I'm not familiar enough with NC to know if it's a good place to raise and cut hay. Would need someone more local, like as not. But, running sheep or goats might be an option for "Ag Exemption." But, I'd wager the number one in NC is "Timber Reserve."

Almost every state in the mountain regions have so much diversity in agriculture you can't say without knowing the region he is in. It's not like in Texas and if land here doesn't have hills and natural berms it's actually the exception. In order to take over a 500 yard shot around here I'm usually shooting over one hill to the other or shooting up long river bottoms.

We have a combination of everything even within the same counties (or even the same farms) so it just depends on what land he buys and decides to do with it.

For rough affordable land for just a getaway and shooting timber may well be the only thing suitable to be grown but I'll take the wager number one ag product in NC is not timber even though I know the state harvests a lot. I just sold a farm that had river bottom very suitable for corn but the rest is just rough land great for wildlife and hunting and long term timber reserve. I did on that land exactly what the OP is wanting.

My limited travels through NC I'd wager number one cash crops today would beans and corn but Tobacco and Cotton are still grown a lot there. The state raises a lot of poultry and beef cattle too. It all depends on the land and the region of the area he is in.
 
How much land is enough, depends upon what you want to shoot. I go to a machine gun shoot that is on 6 acres and the owner has a Lahti cannon, granted the “range” has a mountain said as a back stop, so there is that. With it being “not lived at” I would be more concerned about unauthorized use…IT’S GOING TO HAPPEN, no matter what you do at the gate. People are generally nosey and a PITA…I would think long and hard about it. Yep, you have it posted and fenced and security and whatever else you can think of…some idiot goes on it and shoots himself of someone else, I would bet the farm you’d be on the hook for some if not all of it…could be wrong, but probably not.
 
I'm fortunate to have my own range on my property out behind my shop. Fortunately, my neighbors are shooter's to so there is no concern from them. If you have the property to put in a range, you should. Some of the ranges shown in this thread are near perfect.
 
I nailed two deer from my porch yesterday. With my sling shot though and only to get them to realize I am there to keep them for eating the flowers. Based on the local ordinance, I was probably in a big violation even with a sling shot.

Bob
 
Ah, but the given premise was that this was unoccupied land. So, fencing the range off is probably needful if only to keep critters (of any leg count) from picking up a habit of sauntering across the range unexpectedly.

The only critters a fence would keep out is the same stuff they keep in, cows and horses. Unless your going to put up game fence ($27 a foot 20 years ago) you’ll have to stop shooting if a deer runs past and if you get a coyote dumb enough to walk out on the range, you need to remove them from the gene pool.

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My limited travels through NC I'd wager number one cash crops today would beans and corn but Tobacco and Cotton are still grown a lot there. The state raises a lot of poultry and beef cattle too. It all depends on the land and the region of the area he is in.
Our family has some land in Eastern NC, and there's a lot of cotton, poultry, hogs, and timber around there. We lease the cleared land for farming and have the lower deferred taxes for both timber and farm. It would be fine to shoot there on occasion (neighbors are family), but it's too long of a drive to go often. So I've been looking at land West of the Raleigh/Durham area; mostly looking at undeveloped, wooded parcels rather than farms with structures, etc. that would need upkeep.
 
How much land you need is all in where you live and the neighbors. Around my house some weekends it sounds like a war zone and probably most of the properties where they are shooting are not over 10 acres.
 
mostly looking at undeveloped, wooded parcels
That's the smart choice.
I'll glom on to this, as well:
probably most of the properties where they are shooting are not over 10 acres.

Do some research on available properties in the general area. You especially want the orphans and problem children that have been hanging around on the market (partially so the don't vanish while you're searching).
You will not need what other land buyers will need. Areas for septic fields, bad drainage soils, contrary easements and the like, that would keep others away will not be an issue for your intended use.

Schedule some time and visit a few of the sites, the selling realtor's assistant will have keys to the gate or the like. Keep your ears open as much as your eyes. If the neighbors are shooting, no one will much notice (nor care) about your own shooting.

Might be worth looking at how far to the nearest ranch & farm supply and if there are any contrary roads or bridges between that place and the one you are looking at. You will want to have some amenities. A dry deck to shoot from, maybe a shade structure to get out of the sun. Backstop parts to support targets, etc.

Ideal range orientation is from SW to NE, so that's another thing to look at in picking one location over another.

The little things can matter.
 
I have 2 that I built on my place. A rifle/pistol range and a skeet field. I have 60 acres. Both are just a couple of minutes from my house. I can't measure the enjoyment that they provide to me, ( and friends when I invite them.)
 

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I have 2 that I built on my place. A rifle/pistol range and a skeet field. I have 60 acres. Both are just a couple of minutes from my house. I can't measure the enjoyment that they provide to me, ( and friends when I invite them.)

Thread drift! How's the 35P holding up??

I've still got mine, finally had to replace the printer a few years ago. I've since moved to a LabRadar mostly due to the ease setting up as it allows my to chrono while practicing. Keeping the 35P as a back-up.

Back on topic with range pic (and 35P):

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Practice and chronographing:

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