Would you consider either of these houses backyard shooting appropriate?

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Thanks for the honest replies. Lest any new posters to the thread get confused, let's please nip this talk of using trees as a backstop in the bud as that was never part of the plans stated in the OP.
 
Nope

Assuming the lack of any perceptible elevation changes is accurate.

Roads, structures, limited visibility... Yikes.

Even with the mother of all backstops and silent shooting I'd be concerned about being the first person anyone goes to anytime a piece of anything hits their home.


Todd.
 
Fewer houses doesn't mean no houses. Neither property is suitable for any kind of firearms range. Houses or buildings in every direction and way too close. No space for a fall zone. Fall zones on outdoor CF ranges run up to 10 km. A .22 needs at least half that.
"...in their basements in cities/suburbs..." And is illegal in most places.
 
I don't see the size of the lot being a problem, but it all comes down to your backstop. There are neighbors close, and you will need something that assures 100% containment of your bullets. I would guess on either of those properties, that would involve some sort of bullet trap, backed up by a large sand berm. Also, even where legal to shoot, a few upset neighbors can make your life miserable by calling 911 every time they hear a shot or see a "man with gun".
I had a situation a couple years back where we were shooting clays at a friends farm (120 acres) where a housing development had been built about 1/4 mile down the road. Four county sheriff deputies were dispatched to a report of shots fired, one caller said they heard machine guns. Mind you this was quite a ways out in the country with most properties being 10+ acres...
 
Air rifle, Yes, so long as you have a backstop, anything else, nope. Too many people, you could have kids playing in those woods, kids do. I doubt there is a property in my hometown that we didn't explore as kids.

Air rifle, with backstop, have at it.
 
Interesting how people are freaking out that there is a home or a road nearby. Most communities have gotten to a point where, everywhere you go, there is a road or a home nearby. Are we to stop shooting? (I think the answer is probably yes.)

To put it in perspective, I was RO at a range that opened in a rural, agrarian area in the 1950. By the time I got there (1990's), whole residential neighborhoods had developed. We "clowns to the left jokers, to the right, stuck in the middle." There was a mobile home park directly in line with our hand gun range and only 1/4 mile beyond. A 10f high wall of dirt and old tires was the only thing separating our range from the neighbors. We added overhead barriers to the handgun range-4x4x10 posts stuck in the ground connected together at the top by 2x4x8's attached to the 4x4's and each 2x4 touching the next to make about a 12" wall 8' above ground level. Any high shot hits the 2x4 instead of flying over the dirt wall.

The only other thing we did, as a gesture to the neighbors was no shooting before 9am on weekdays, 10am on weekends.

So what I'm trying say is, you have PLENTY of land for what you want to do, all you need to do is put a little effort into engineering a safe set up. I don't think fill dirt and 2x4's are very expensive. If I lived on either of those properties, and it was legal to discharge firearm (it is not legal where I live-not even an air rifle), you can bet I'd have some sort of range out there.
 
Curious. How does one dispose of dead varmints if residing in a city suburb on, say, .14 acre with city trash collection service? I've a feeling a cemetery might grow to occupy too much ground.

You put them in the trash can and they go to the landfill.
 
I use a 22LR for Varmint hunting. I often shoot on a grass strip airport. It is 2800 feet long. I see dust kickups well past 400 yards shooting level. Some kills are at 340 yards, or about 1000 feet.

Better make a berm, or stick to an airgun.
 
My private gun club has houses all around it but it's been there for 65 years. The houses were all built after the range was. Anything over a berm is going into a residential area. So far no problems. A friend of mine belongs to a private range that was closed due to a house being hit. They finally opened again but had to buy the house to do it.

Where I live is a lot like your photos. Our county has tried to pass an ordinance against people shooting on their property but it always fails. Some of my neighbors shoot, I hear it almost every week and it isn't more than 1000' away. I don't have a problem with it because I haven't heard anything hitting my trees or buildings yet. When pavement dwellers move into the neighborhood they always call the sheriff because it freaks them out. Sheriff comes to my house and asks if I've been shooting and the answer is always no, because I don't. He says he has to show up so people feel better but there is no way he can stop it unless someone gets careless and hits something or someone on another's property.

A guy about a mile away built a range on private property and I hear people shooting there a lot. I think I've even heard some full auto fire over there.

The best policy is respect your neighbors. You seem to know where they are. I would ask them if shooting small caliber stuff would bother them. If they say yes I wouldn't do it. If they don't care I would go ahead with a berm and be extra careful.
 
I am used to shooting at the old homeplace in the mountains, where the nearest neighbor is over a quarter mile away. We shot with lines of fire into clay banks. The neighbors were kin and my uncle let them graze cattle in his field.

I would be hesitant to set up anything other than an air rifle range on those properties in the aerial photos.

The way I interpreted local law a few years ago, if you launch a projectile that crosses a property line or a public street or road, you can be in deep muck. That includes bullets, arrows, rocks, sling shot pellets.
 
Look into how much land you need and consider noise as well. You wouldn't want to buy a house and land then get shut down.

I didn't want to have to maintain a dirt berm and wasn't exactly sure where I might want it so I made my backstop out of steel. .


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OP: Doc7; que up this site "Teds hold over". He reviews PCP air guns and he shoots out to 100 yds with one. His 10 shot groups measured 1". He isn't shooting a $29.00 pump up gun but he seems to know pretty much about many air guns.
 
Fewer houses doesn't mean no houses. Neither property is suitable for any kind of firearms range. Houses or buildings in every direction and way too close. No space for a fall zone. Fall zones on outdoor CF ranges run up to 10 km. A .22 needs at least half that.
"...in their basements in cities/suburbs..." And is illegal in most places.

Correct me if I'm misunderstanding you but are you saying that you don't shoot .22s on a range in Ontario that closer than 5 km to a residence? (Thats a shade over 3 miles for those of us from south of the border). If that was the rule here there would be very few ranges on private land in the US east of the Mississippi. In many states there would be none.
 
Not particularly cheap or easy, but you could buy 150-200' worth of old shipping containers, hire an excavator, and bury them end to end. If you or a friend have some fabrication skills you can weld up an above ground entrance with stairs down, and you can open them up and connect them end to end to make a decent underground range. Fab up a bullet trap at the end, build a partition at the firing line so you can ventilate one small area with fresh air at positive pressure and put a small vent outlet at the trap end so you have airflow down the range rather than having fumes back up on you.

It's a PITA but it's the only safe and neighbor-friendly way to use either property as a range IMHO. A side bonus is that you have a storm shelter.
 
If your not violating any county/state laws concerning back yard gun ranges.......... Plus, your not going to get your neighbors up in arms,
You do have to still live there. Get the proper insurance.

The rest is up to you.
 
Not sure why so many people are against the OP setting up a range? Are most people from very rural areas?

Obviously it's your call op, but I would have no problems setting up a range in either property with a VERY good backstop and bullet trap.

I'm going to try to attach some picture of Freeport Revolver & Rifle Club Range (Long Island, NY). It has 25 & 50 yard outdoor range where you can shoot all handgun calibers (except magnum) and .22 cal rifle. As you can see from the pictures it is in a VERY urban area with a road right past the burm and many buildings and housing. The range been there for many years. The local police department uses it all of the time for training.

In the second picture the range it in the top middle and it is facing down towards all of the building and houses.

If it's legal and you set the range up properly, I don't see any issues.
 

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There's no such thing as shooting inappropriate real estate (in rural/suburban areas), only shooting inappropriate neighbors. I've trained mine quite well; whenever I start practising someone is bound to show up shortly and ask if they can shoot, too. ;)
 
Blackbeard,

That would mean I would have no ranges in my area at all! I did a search of all of the ranges in my area and not one would meet your criteria.
 
You need at least a couple miles of no houses and no roads to set up a shooting range. Nothing but pellets in these yards, I say.

There are very few places east of the Mississippi where that's possible. None within at least 120 miles of me and I live in what many would consider to be the boonies. Does your range meet that criteria? I seriously doubt it if it's in Illinois.
 
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