Land for personal shooting "range"

[swede4198]

I have 136 acres in Ohio in the hill country along the Ohio River. I have a 125 yard range set up from the porch on my house to a nice 200 foot high hill. All of my neighbors shoot so no one minds hearing a few shoots. Just be aware that backstops should not contain rock because even a small rock can send a round flying into the next county to land who knows where.

 

[Cee Zee]

Just be aware that backstops should not contain rock because even a small rock can send a round flying into the next county to land who knows where.

I like digging holes into the sides of hills and shooting so that my bullets all end up back in the hole. When I was shooting my 30.06 a lot I did that at home right where the target is in my range photo. It would take a miracle to top the magic bullet from the JFK killing to get a ricochet out of spot like that. It would have to come straight back out of the hole then hit another rock to send it up, up and away. Never going to happen that way in a million years. But when shooting .22 I didn't worry too much about it. They lose most of their energy as soon as they hit something solid if they don't completely turn to fragments and dust. I liked shooting a metal target that was tilted so that it turned the bullets down into the ground and even with .22's I often set my target up in front of a hole back into the hill. That was mainly because I do have neighbors and I don't want any stray bullets going their way but on the farm a bullet would have to travel a mile after a ricochet to find something to hit that I wouldn't want to hit.

BTW you probably aren't too far from me if you're along the Ohio somewhere. I live in Brown Co. now but I lived in Scioto Co. for a very long time (over 25 years) and across the river from there in KY before that. I hope to be going back to Scioto Co. soon. That's where my house is that's shown in the photos. I may actually have a better place to shoot where I'm at. There's a lot of space behind the hill where I shoot not. It's over a mile of open farm land away. I know it's possible someone could be out there on a tractor at times but not likely and besides I shoot into a hill here too.

 

[Grumulkin]

First check on the state. Some states such as Ohio are relatively NFA friendly and some like Indiana are not if that matters to you. You then need to check on the county and city ordinances.

I've had 2 properties that allowed shooting right out my back door. One was in Pennsylvania on 43 acres surrounded by houses and businesses on three sides (yes, really). It was a bit hilly so my range was in a depression and surrounded by trees and bushes so there was no chance of a stray bullet getting away. Before I started shooting there, I checked with the chief of police and he said no problem.

My current property is a 100 acre piece in Ohio. The area behind my range is a flood zone so will never be built on. The closest homes are around 300 yards away. Though there is no requirement for me to do so, I generally don't shoot on weekends unless a varmint needs killing and on weekdays try to keep my shooting in the 10 AM to 3 PM range. Despite my shooting things like the 17 HMR to the 460 Weatherby Magnum, I've never had any complaints from anyone.

I know some people with ranges do a bunch of plinking going through bunches of rounds. My shooting is a bit different with each session having a purpose. I usually don't go through more than 15 to 20 rounds and 40 rounds would be a great exception. Of course when my grandson is here, things get a bit more lively.

 

[Delford]

"I like calling NC home." The TV ads from some years ago say it well. 10 months a year. I'm not fond of July and August but the mountains are a great getaway. My "range" is a 148 acre farm where friends and I can safely shoot using the terrain or other features that prevent long flights of ammo. The farm is one of 2 in Union County about 6 miles south of Locust. East to west is about a mile.

From where my family lives it's 3.5 hours to Myrtle Beach and 2 hours to Boone or Pineola in the mountains. We've never had a Deputy Sheriff visit (he'd be welcome) but the NC Wildlife Sergeant hunted on the other farm. He recently passed away but his son in law still can hunt on the farm, as can my neighbor to the NW. There are no restrictions on shooting at either farm but we are aware of safety; we practice the 4 Rules.

On our range we shoot defensive pistol drills and shoot targets and we can safely shoot 200 yards along the edge of the field shown in the picture of the field when fallow.

You'd be welcome and thank you for your service.

 

[Damien45]

Delford, that is some beautiful land. Southern NC is on the list. Wife and I need to take a drive that way and check out the areas. We have been to Willmington once.

 

[Sav .250]

50 states with different requirements/laws. 8 years till you retire.

Seems to me you`d learn more by doing the research yourself.

An awful lot of information involved in the project.

 

[Damien45]

There is a lot of information for sure. This way I was able to narrow down the list of where to look.

 

[redneck2]

First check on the state. Some states such as Ohio are relatively NFA friendly and some like Indiana are not if that matters to you. You then need to check on the county and city ordinances.

Dunno where you get that. My neighbor shoots his full auto most every week end during the summer and I've also got other friends that do full auto. And supressors are legal for deer hunting.

I'd still not move here because the climate stinks. It's almost April 1st and we're gonna have sub zero wind chills this weekend

I'd be thinking low mountains. In AZ, etc.

 

[Cee Zee]

I'd still not move here because the climate stinks.

If you live in the flat part of IN it gets pretty breezy and that makes for cool winters. But parts of the state aren't so bad. I guess most of northern IN is flat though. Great farm country but I'll take genuine rural life myself. Give me a hill in every direction. Makes for great shooting conditions most of the time.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Here in Texas, in certain counties, 10 acres is minimum. I doubled that but it is a bit on the small size. In all counties if you have 50 acres, you can shoot any centerfire. My recommendation would be to buy in the range of 50+ acres, but that is a lot of land to maintain in some areas. I like my 20 as I can maintain it without extensive power equipment.

 

[Chuck R.]

I have 80 acres here in KS, bought the 1st 40 when I retired from the Army, bought the 2nd 40 a couple years later. It really, really, depends on terrain and zoning. Dozer work to make berms etc. is expensive, zoning can be prohibitive. In my county anything that's construed as a business or club requires a special use permit complete with environmental impact study. Took me about 5 years to find a suitable spot with a hill to shoot into.

So I only allow shooting when I'm present, no money every changes hands, and I'm respectful of the neighbors, even though their quite a bit away. No one, not even me wants to live next to a range. I have a pistol range out to 50, and use that same backstop/berm for 100-200-300-400 rifle. I also have swingers with berms out at 300-500. I have the ability based on terrain to go out to 800. Getting there, but will have to put in another berm.

1st thing I'd look at before retiring is the job prospects in the area, 8 years out is quite a long time. An awful lot of people buy land and never end up building on it because chit happens and plans change.

Pistol range:



300-400 off back deck:



100-300 Bench:


Target barn:


Chuck

 

[Damien45]

Hey Chuck,

You are right about plans changing due to circumstances. If I do buy in the next couple of years, I could sell if the plans change and I do not end up going there. The goal is to have the land and house fit within the retirent so that it isn't as job dependent to be there. That's the goal anyway.

 

[Chuck R.]

Hey Chuck,

You are right about plans changing due to circumstances. If I do buy in the next couple of years, I could sell if the plans change and I do not end up going there. The goal is to have the land and house fit within the retirent so that it isn't as job dependent to be there. That's the goal anyway.

Cool, the other thing I'd caution you on is to save now!!! Developing "raw" land is expensive and everything, I mean everything, seems to cost more "in the sticks". For instance I now "own" (or at least paid for) a 1/4 mile water line. Based on the cost, it was hand dug by elves at night. Access roads etc. also run the total up. Check out your county carefully, some have "strange" building fees and assessments. In our's for instance, the building permit for 4000 sq' was only $450, but the road access fee was $4500, which was strange cause we used the same exact rd we put in when we had the 60x40 barn built. Only then it was agricultural (free), when the house went in it was residential.

Chuck

 

[oneounceload]

It really, really, depends on terrain and zoning.

Exactly. There were places when I lived in NV that were considered off limits to shooting even though the large parcels bordered BLM land. This was due to "population density". Exactly WHO got that instituted and how we never found out so make sure wherever you wind up to check local laws. Some may not restrict the entire act of shooting on your land, but might regulate the time of day you can do that.

Good luck!

 

[Sheepdog1968]

Where I debate back and forth is if I had land, would I want to deal with potential lead remediation issues down the road. I know it sounds kinda silly but I'm a chemist and have had to deal with hazardous waste issues for a long long time. I wouldn't be worried about hunting on my land. But, I can see down the road where if I had a regular range that laws will change and I (or my heirs) will be responsible for having to clean up the land before it can be sold. Yes, may be a bit paranoid about this but going to a range and depositing my,lead there makes me a bit less concerned.

 

[LRShooting]

I dont know your situation, so I wont act like I do...BUT:

Have you thought about buying a larger piece of land, say a section or even just a quarter? With a quarter (160 acres) depending on the layout, you could have lots of land, hunting, and have somebody farm it to pay it off over time. Of course land is high right now, so cash renting, sharecropping etc may not be feasible to make land payments.

But it would give you some options and would give you your own land to do more than just have a shooting range. If you just want a shooting range, you may as well find a range and get a membership. Depending on your state, your yearly property tax, payments, and overall cost will probably less than a very long membership at a gun range.

Of course this is all based off my area (MO) so it may not apply depending on where you are.

Im not huge on shooting ranges personally because i dont have the money and resources to shoot that much. But as a member of a family of farmers and starting up myself, i have over a thousand acres of private land I can shoot on. I usually stick to the hill looking over the river bottom just to give me a few miles of vision and the ability to shoot as far as I am capable of doing .

 

[Cee Zee]

Cool, the other thing I'd caution you on is to save now!!! Developing "raw" land is expensive and everything, I mean everything, seems to cost more "in the sticks".

Wow your stories have nothing in common with what goes on in my area. Certain things, like a water hookup, can cost a good bit because the water systems are already stressed to the limit. But for the most part everything is much cheaper in the country. I grew up building houses with my father among other things. We would sometimes build 4-5 houses a year with just me, dad and one guy who worked with us. We never once had to pay a building permit, never had to get and special easement rights and for many years the only inspection was electrical. That has changed but it isn't really a costly thing. Power companies will run a line a certain distance and beyond that you have to pay unless you live in a REA area (Rural Electric Association) but those charge big money for electricity. Water isn't expensive unless you want to build half a mile off the water line or something. You can't really expect the government to pony up the money for a line like that. Same goes for the power lines really.

Land is definitely cheaper in the country. I paid $6000 for 5.5 acres of land that had $10,000 worth of timber standing on it. It was basically old growth forest until some schmuck came along and stole some of my timber it was like walking back into virgin forest. It still is in places but oak wilt has really hurt the trees. I ended up cutting the timber because all the oak trees were dying anyway and that's about all that was on the property. I hated doing that but it was stupid to watch all that money just turn to rot and fall down. I didn't even cut all the timber and still got over $10,000 from it. I could have almost doubled that. The people that owned the land when I bought it had moved to another state and didn't really know what they had except a tax bill. I sure didn't tell them. I'm not saying everyone can find a deal like that but I did. People cut every tree in the area not too long ago and many people bought up land just to cut the trees and they made a fortune. Some of them just let the land go back to the government once the trees were cut. And in about 60 years it will all happen again.

I've worked in cities building houses too. The fees for stuff there are incredible. It was far more expensive than building in the country unless you wanted to build way off the beaten path and you wanted city water. Most people who live that far off the highway just drill their own well and forget paying for water. Electricity is the one thing that can cost a lot to get run to a remote location. At least it's the only one that you can't really provide for yourself (yes it can be done but it costs more than getting a power line ran to do it).

I don't know what state you were building in but it doesn't sound like real rural stuff to me. There's farm land and then there's genuine rural like in the mountains etc.. I can still but hillside land for $300 an acre if that tells you anything. And with a little imagination not only can you build on hills but you can make a great looking place. I see you live in Kansas. I imagine building in the country there is very expensive because you're building on farm land usually and that isn't cheap anywhere. And it really isn't all that great for shooting either unless you own a lot of it and there's nothing surrounding you for a long way. I live in flat country now and shooting here can be tricky compared to where I've lived most of my life. I have done some hunting in Kansas and I know there are some places that would make good shooting areas but they are not that common as far as what I saw. The only good places I saw were in the draws which can keep your stray bullets contained if you do it right. But shooting on the flat stuff is pretty tricky compared to many places. I live in a pretty flat area now and I'm lucky there's a hill behind my house or I would have to go to the range to shoot. But I live where the hills end and the flat starts basically. The last place I lived didn't have one good spot for shooting and I'd bet that almost everyone would say it was rural. But farm land is what I would call it and there wasn't a direction to shoot where my bullets had no chance of hitting something. There was one place but it was so thick with brush I could shoot there.

 

[nathan]

Montana and Idaho are nice...

 

[LRShooting]

Wow your stories have nothing in common with what goes on in my area. Certain things, like a water hookup, can cost a good bit because the water systems are already stressed to the limit. But for the most part everything is much cheaper in the country. I grew up building houses with my father among other things. We would sometimes build 4-5 houses a year with just me, dad and one guy who worked with us. We never once had to pay a building permit, never had to get and special easement rights and for many years the only inspection was electrical. That has changed but it isn't really a costly thing. Power companies will run a line a certain distance and beyond that you have to pay unless you live in a REA area (Rural Electric Association) but those charge big money for electricity. Water isn't expensive unless you want to build half a mile off the water line or something. You can't really expect the government to pony up the money for a line like that. Same goes for the power lines really.

Land is definitely cheaper in the country. I paid $6000 for 5.5 acres of land that had $10,000 worth of timber standing on it. It was basically old growth forest until some schmuck came along and stole some of my timber it was like walking back into virgin forest. It still is in places but oak wilt has really hurt the trees. I ended up cutting the timber because all the oak trees were dying anyway and that's about all that was on the property. I hated doing that but it was stupid to watch all that money just turn to rot and fall down. I didn't even cut all the timber and still got over $10,000 from it. I could have almost doubled that. The people that owned the land when I bought it had moved to another state and didn't really know what they had except a tax bill. I sure didn't tell them. I'm not saying everyone can find a deal like that but I did. People cut every tree in the area not too long ago and many people bought up land just to cut the trees and they made a fortune. Some of them just let the land go back to the government once the trees were cut. And in about 60 years it will all happen again.

I've worked in cities building houses too. The fees for stuff there are incredible. It was far more expensive than building in the country unless you wanted to build way off the beaten path and you wanted city water. Most people who live that far off the highway just drill their own well and forget paying for water. Electricity is the one thing that can cost a lot to get run to a remote location. At least it's the only one that you can't really provide for yourself (yes it can be done but it costs more than getting a power line ran to do it).

I don't know what state you were building in but it doesn't sound like real rural stuff to me. There's farm land and then there's genuine rural like in the mountains etc.. I can still but hillside land for $300 an acre if that tells you anything. And with a little imagination not only can you build on hills but you can make a great looking place. I see you live in Kansas. I imagine building in the country there is very expensive because you're building on farm land usually and that isn't cheap anywhere. And it really isn't all that great for shooting either unless you own a lot of it and there's nothing surrounding you for a long way. I live in flat country now and shooting here can be tricky compared to where I've lived most of my life. I have done some hunting in Kansas and I know there are some places that would make good shooting areas but they are not that common as far as what I saw. The only good places I saw were in the draws which can keep your stray bullets contained if you do it right. But shooting on the flat stuff is pretty tricky compared to many places. I live in a pretty flat area now and I'm lucky there's a hill behind my house or I would have to go to the range to shoot. But I live where the hills end and the flat starts basically. The last place I lived didn't have one good spot for shooting and I'd bet that almost everyone would say it was rural. But farm land is what I would call it and there wasn't a direction to shoot where my bullets had no chance of hitting something. There was one place but it was so thick with brush I could shoot there.

300$ an acre??? Even for hills, I didn't realize it was that low. Im not even in that good of land (silt loam majority, but isn't super deep and high shrink/swell clays seem to be an issue), yet land still runs up to 7-9k/acre. I dont usually complain too much though with land over in central IL running up past 15k/acre. Of course it also raises an average of 200 bu corn with 350 bu/ac on a good year. Most anybody sees around here is maybe 250 if you just pour the fertilizer on it and everything goes good

 

[Hammer059]

My family has 350 acres in the Flint Hills region of Kansas, it's got to be one of the best locations in this country for shooting. Beautiful, flat prairie so remote that I doubt our closest "neighbor" can even hear us shooting. I don't hunt, but my uncle that does has phenomenal success on our land, huge freakin deer. After I finish college I plan on moving back to Kansas, so if you're ever in the Wichita or Flint Hills region of Kansas send me a message!

Land there is relatively cheap and plentiful, if you're fortunate enough to be in the market for buying land. The best part: back in the first few decades of the 20th century, Uncle Sam went around digging ponds all over that region of Kansas to stimulate wildlife and such. We have 9 on our property, if you count the smaller ones for the cows...

 

[Arizona_Mike]

I have 136 acres in Ohio in the hill country along the Ohio River. I have a 125 yard range set up from the porch on my house to a nice 200 foot high hill. All of my neighbors shoot so no one minds hearing a few shoots. Just be aware that backstops should not contain rock because even a small rock can send a round flying into the next county to land who knows where.

High angle ricochets (greater than 60 degree deflection form original path) are generally highly inelastic collisions that are not a threat to people or property and don't go far.

My backstops usually don't have rock, they are rock.

Mike

PS. That said, I no longer shoot bowling pins with birdshot. (Highly unlikely * several hundred chances per shot) has stung me a couple times.
PPS. At Rio Salado Sportsmand's Club where I shoot SMG competitions, you are not supposed to shoot steel targets closer than 23 feet in the pistol and training bays. That said, "Major Pandemic" at alloutdoor.com claims to have gotten contusions and broken ribs twice from .45 ACP recoils at a distance of 60 feet or more and he will only shoot steel with .22LR.

 

[alexander45]

Main problem is if you don't get 100+ acres your quite likely to have track housing and a strip mall at the end of your range in 8 years

 

[Chuck R.]

Cee Zee,

Yup farm land and to make matters worse, not your typical KS county. Leavenworth is more of an urban county now, there are some counties that still do not have codes or inspection requirements. Our raw land depending on size parcel is anywhere from 3-6 K per acre. Land close to post can go for over 12K per acre. Across the county rd from me, they were selling 10 acre plots that backed up to a nice lake for 80K a couple years ago. A lot is due to proximity to the Fort and a large number of 6 figure incomes due to army pensions and either contractor or GS jobs, double dipping is the norm. Not complaining cause "I are one", but it does drive the costs up. Then there's a decent amount of money coming in from the prisons (3-4 here, not sure).

Get away from the major cities, and it's true rural. 1/2 mile down the road starts another county where things are more reasonable.

Chuck

 

[CapnMac]

You will hear that 50 acres is the "magic" number for Texas. In a sense, this is true.
The current laws in Texas restricting fire-on-your-own-land all exempt at 50 acres. But, most of those only apply in limited areas. One of which is in or immediately adjacent to a county with 500,000 residents. The other is within either city limits or RTJ for cities over 150,000 population.

That's really only about 25 Counties, and probably the same number of Cities in Texas--there are 252 Counties in Texas, you just have to be willing to live "rural."

If you can't live rural, then it get complicated. As alexander45 points out, you'd probably have to buy 100 acres in Colin County just to have 50 to shoot on. That's assuming uou could find 100 contiguous for under 8-9 grand an acrer (and more like 10-12). Denton County, ditto, except then you have a giant lake and three Water Authorities (and land prices closer to 15 grand).

If you wanted to look, check out east of Waco, towards Mart, Mt Calm or the like. Off to the east, down along a line from Paris to Crockett to Palestine there will be old farm and played-out timber acreage. Some of the area du north of Austin (but not on the I-35 corridor) will be good places to lock.
Probably some good places to look at along the break of the Edwards Plateau, but the land owners there buy and sell by the section,rather than the acre.
Get down between Boerne and Ft Stockton and San Angelo will be good areas to scout.

Yes, I've roughly outlines all the major geological zones/areas in Texas but the coast (and omitted the coast because it's expensive and heavily regulated).

 

[Cee Zee]

Just as an example here's some acreage with a place suitable for building a home apparently. That adds a lot to the price of land in the area. And this is through a realtor so that bumps up the price. Still they want $65,000 for 71 acres. And trust me there are places that go much cheaper. This is just one I found looking in a local newspaper on the first try. I've seen lots of land in very remote locations with no good access, water or electricity go for $300 an acre. It's all hillside stuff too so it's hard to put a house on it. But it generally isn't hard to find a place to shoot there. In fact those are often the best places to shoot because you can surround yourself with hills and have little fear of bullets getting away and since you're in a remote location there isn't that much to hit anywhere close anyway. Most of that land is bought up to get the timber rights and once the timber is gone the value is gone for a long time. But eventually the trees come back so it can be a good long term investment. The best trees come from hillsides like that too. I had dozens of veneer trees on my 5.5 acres and I only cut about half of that. I'm sure I still have more veneer standing not to mention cherry trees etc.. Like I said they basically paid me to take that land considering how much timber was there. That's what happens when you move away from an area for 30 years and then decide to sell the land your parents left you that wasn't worth a lot when you moved away. Most people couldn't see the potential for a house site where I built my house but when I was done with it they couldn't believe how well it worked out. I built it to look like a park setting to be honest. And I think it worked out pretty well.

http://marketplace.dailyindependent...creage/st.-r.t-2/C0A8015407fcb347FBbtxKF8EECC

I looked around a little more and found this land for under $1000 an acre but it has some flat land and some timber on it. It's a great place for hunting or just shooting if you want to set up a place. There are power lines running through the land which means there is a long, straight area that might be developed for shooting. I would have to be there to know that of course. It's ove 200 acres so it wouldn't be cheap but it's a pretty decent deal. And remember this is what they're asking. They might take a lot less. This is in the same county my house is in. Trust me this is a "rural' area. There are some houses around but there are enough hills that a person should be able to find a place to shoot. It might take some development for that but it's going to be a great place for hunting if you're into that. This land is not far from a huge national forest BTW. Lots of trails, creeks, ridges and hollers - I'd buy it myself if I didn't already have a place. My farm isn't that big but it has cleared bottom land on it.

http://www.landwatch.com/Scioto-County-Ohio-Land-for-sale/pid/200692650