Opening a indoor shooting range school me

[Milt1]

BigBore, you're on the right path! Ruger has indicated ranges in the U.S. where you can go and shoot their new Ruger American pistol for free. Me and a buddy called to do this in a town that neither of us had visited before but it wasn't far from us. It was actually a gun store with an attached shooting range in a strip shopping center. We got to shoot five rounds each but I was amazed at the number of people coming in to use that range. We were talking as we left that place that it was a little gold mine. There's a ton of people out there that have no place to shoot and this is an indoor range which completely eliminates the cold weather factor. Nothing's better than a gun store that sells pistols, ammo and targets and has an indoor range next door with access only through the gun store. Wish I owned one!

P.S., the owner, in my opinion, probably rented two store fronts side by side so that he could have his gun store in one with access to the range in the adjacent one, sweet!

 

[hso]

One thing you have to keep in mind is that it isn't just a simple high volume industrial HVAC job if you intend to recirculate any of the air in the range after you've conditioned it. Filters are required to take any lead out of the air and you have to have qualified personnel to change the filters (lead worker qualification, medical monitoring and (probably) respirator quals). The filters aren't standard inexpensive HVAC filters. You have to have a written lead program and you have to carry out PPE and lead training and medical monitoring for the people that clean the range to ensure they don't get an overexposure to the lead.

NSSF has the authoritative site on indoor range requirements.

 

[Robert101]

I think the OP's cost analysis is very low. You will also need to factor in the land, government regulations, overhead steel plating, lead removal, etc. The codes governing shooting ranges can be extensive depending on the jurisdiction. I'm in real estate development and things always look inexpensive until you actually start spending money...... then try getting to the end and occupancy. The taxes and regulations are enormous.

 

[Shootshellz]

Not to mention the insurance costs......

 

[Drail]

Be prepared for serious sticker shock when you start pricing air handling and filtration. I know a guy who opened an indoor range and that's all he talks about - how much money he spends on filters. I can't even imagine what insurance would run today for a range.