perdurabo93
Member
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2006
- Messages
- 121
Well, another range in Central Texas bit the dust. Austin Skeet and Rifle Range outside of Manor, TX closed its doors a couple weeks ago. This wasn't my favorite range by any means, but it does limit my options even more.
Hill Country Rifle Range (aka Crazy Richard's for the locals), the only range anywhere near Austin that allows NFA firearms, rapid fire, steel targets, .50 BMG, etc. might be going out of business soon as well. Richard has been claiming he's about to close down for the past year or so to run off to West Texas to wait out the End Times. This leaves us Austin area/Central Texas folk with a quandary as to that to do about a decent place to shoot. All the other outdoor ranges in the area have too many unreasonable restrictions on firearm types, ammunition, target composition and rapid fire.
Here are my options:
Eagle Peak in Jonestown: Anti-FMJ, Anti-EBR. Lots of pointless range rules. Must be boycotted at all cost.
Austin Rifle Club: No NFA firearms allowed, no rapid fire, no steel targets. Very much a Bubba/Elmer Fudd/Hunters only sort of group. You have to be "sponsored" to join.
Red's Indoor Range in Pflugerville and Oak Hill: Indoor only, no NFA, overpriced ($13/hour/head), paper targets only.
Stan's Outdoor Range in Seward Junction: very small, only 100yds, no rapid fire/NFA, no steel targets. Very Bubbafied.
Cedar Ridge in Bulverde: Very small, no rapid fire or NFA, no steel targets, too far from Austin.
Tiger Valley/LT Dillon in Waco: Too far from Austin, hardly any public range time as there are always classes going on.
Fayette County Gun Club near La Grange: I don't know much about this range, but it appears their rifle range is kind of an afterthought and its mostly a skeet range... anyone know more? Their website isn't all that informative.
Am I missing any others? Are there other range options I don't know about?
I'd absolutely love to be able to buy a piece of land out in the boonies to turn into a private range for myself and my close shooting friends, but I simply don't have the available income to make that happen with land prices the way they are. We've talked about the possibility of forming some kind of club and raising money to buy land collectively, but its really bloody hard to herd enough cats to get that kind of thing done. I know I sure don't have the knowledge and resources to make that kind of thing happen.
So what we've considered is the relatively rare practice of leasing land for the express purpose of having a place to shoot (as opposed to hunting or cattle grazing, etc). Anyone know one can go about getting information about this kind of thing or how to find landowners interested in leasing their land to shooters? What are the usual market rates for this kind of agreement? Are there generally paperwork/insurance/liability concerns involved (I assume itd be about the same kind of deal as leasing land for hunting, though i hope a lot cheaper)?
Does anyone around here know any landowners who have appropriately sized and located parcels of land within 75 miles of Austin who are willing to lease their property to a group of safe, responsible and respectful shooters? This landowner would have to be willing to have few if any restrictions on the weapons employed and would need to allow things like NFA firearms, steel targets, ideally explosive targets (such as tannerite), 50 BMG rifles, rapid fire, FMJ bullets, etc. In exchange for this leniency, we would be contractually obligated to keep the range safe, clean and build the necessary infrastructure (berms, tables, etc if needed) to ensure liability concerns, that projectiles would not leave the property and that the property would not suffer unreasonable damage. Said parcel of land would also have the ability to support unobstructed (or clearable) firing lanes up to at least 300 meters and optimally up to 1000 meters.
Hill Country Rifle Range (aka Crazy Richard's for the locals), the only range anywhere near Austin that allows NFA firearms, rapid fire, steel targets, .50 BMG, etc. might be going out of business soon as well. Richard has been claiming he's about to close down for the past year or so to run off to West Texas to wait out the End Times. This leaves us Austin area/Central Texas folk with a quandary as to that to do about a decent place to shoot. All the other outdoor ranges in the area have too many unreasonable restrictions on firearm types, ammunition, target composition and rapid fire.
Here are my options:
Eagle Peak in Jonestown: Anti-FMJ, Anti-EBR. Lots of pointless range rules. Must be boycotted at all cost.
Austin Rifle Club: No NFA firearms allowed, no rapid fire, no steel targets. Very much a Bubba/Elmer Fudd/Hunters only sort of group. You have to be "sponsored" to join.
Red's Indoor Range in Pflugerville and Oak Hill: Indoor only, no NFA, overpriced ($13/hour/head), paper targets only.
Stan's Outdoor Range in Seward Junction: very small, only 100yds, no rapid fire/NFA, no steel targets. Very Bubbafied.
Cedar Ridge in Bulverde: Very small, no rapid fire or NFA, no steel targets, too far from Austin.
Tiger Valley/LT Dillon in Waco: Too far from Austin, hardly any public range time as there are always classes going on.
Fayette County Gun Club near La Grange: I don't know much about this range, but it appears their rifle range is kind of an afterthought and its mostly a skeet range... anyone know more? Their website isn't all that informative.
Am I missing any others? Are there other range options I don't know about?
I'd absolutely love to be able to buy a piece of land out in the boonies to turn into a private range for myself and my close shooting friends, but I simply don't have the available income to make that happen with land prices the way they are. We've talked about the possibility of forming some kind of club and raising money to buy land collectively, but its really bloody hard to herd enough cats to get that kind of thing done. I know I sure don't have the knowledge and resources to make that kind of thing happen.
So what we've considered is the relatively rare practice of leasing land for the express purpose of having a place to shoot (as opposed to hunting or cattle grazing, etc). Anyone know one can go about getting information about this kind of thing or how to find landowners interested in leasing their land to shooters? What are the usual market rates for this kind of agreement? Are there generally paperwork/insurance/liability concerns involved (I assume itd be about the same kind of deal as leasing land for hunting, though i hope a lot cheaper)?
Does anyone around here know any landowners who have appropriately sized and located parcels of land within 75 miles of Austin who are willing to lease their property to a group of safe, responsible and respectful shooters? This landowner would have to be willing to have few if any restrictions on the weapons employed and would need to allow things like NFA firearms, steel targets, ideally explosive targets (such as tannerite), 50 BMG rifles, rapid fire, FMJ bullets, etc. In exchange for this leniency, we would be contractually obligated to keep the range safe, clean and build the necessary infrastructure (berms, tables, etc if needed) to ensure liability concerns, that projectiles would not leave the property and that the property would not suffer unreasonable damage. Said parcel of land would also have the ability to support unobstructed (or clearable) firing lanes up to at least 300 meters and optimally up to 1000 meters.
