Since I manage an indoor range I can provide some useful info on this one.
First, for those that would like to bring your own ammunition, how do you expect the range to make enough money to stay in business? Most ranges require you to use their ammunition because they have to cover the expense of building and running the place. The bullet trap probably averages $2,200.00 per linear foot. Ten lanes, four foot on center, will run you 88,000 and this does not include the air handeling units and filtration (probably the most expensive part), the target carriers, lighting, the building itself, insurance, electricity, payroll, retail goods, advertising, security.... I could continue but I'm sure you get the point. It will cost about 2 Million dollars to build a decent indoor range to do much of what people here want and that money has to come from somewhere. Along the same lines some have mentioned a reasonable price for ammunition and I can agree with that, as long as you understand that many of you are likely being unreasonable. We have a shop and range in Virginia that used to have a sign at their place that said "If you bought it at Wal Mart, shoot it at Wal Mart". I always kind of liked that, I often hear people complain about having to buy ammunition from us because it is cheaper at Wal Mart. You see, Wal Mart is not paying my overhead and I don't have several thousand locations across the country bringing in a few billion dollars a year that allows me to use loss leaders to draw in business. That multi billion dollars of business also gives them purchasing power far beyond my means but I digress. A dollar more a box than a regular gunshop (not wallyworld) is certainly reasonable. Another ammunition related point, some types of traps require certain limitations. Some traps can be damaged by hollow points and some surplus ammunition can be a fire hazard. Some of the cheap surplus ammunition (and even new commercial stuff now that I think of it) has a mild steel jacket. This can throw a spark under some conditions and most every range will have a certain amount of unburnt powder littering the floor along with paper debris from targets and target backers. A mild steel jacket can also cause some types of traps to spit bullets and bullet fragments back at the shooter with enough force to break the skin from time to time. Every supplier of ammunition used on our range is backed with a certificate of insurance and a million dollar bond (or better), do you have that for your reloads?
Capt. Bligh was concerned about those pesky bulletholes overhead and, quite frankly, so am I. Please remember that most ranges have been in operation for quite some time and run through quite a bit of ammunition. In our case about 800,000 each year, invariably some of them don't go where we want them to. Good news is we have never had one cause any real harm. A good safety plan is necessecary, all staff should be at least NRA Range Safety Officers and if the place is busy a range safety should be on the floor but this will add to the overhead. During slower moments electronic monitoring should suffice. To add to your piece of mind I will tell you that most all range dividers on the market will stop even the nastiest handgun rounds and you would probably have to put some effort into accidently lob a rifle round into one.
My idea of a quality indoor range? I will give you a short list of what we are trying to build, let me know what else I should add.
34-36 lanes in three bays (10, 14-16, 10) all rifle rated out to 35 yards
AIS interactive system in middle bay
Well lit range, controled from each position
Decent climate control (hard when you need to exchange air 10 times each hour)
Good sound abatement
Range floor visible from the retail shop
At least 75 rental guns to include machineguns and other NFA items
2 classrooms, one must be big enough for 30+ students
Running man target and 180 degree capability in one bay (10 lane) to be used for IDPA and advanced training
Turning targets in above mentioned bay
3+ lanes of reactive targets, mostly steel
All I need is about 2.2 million dollars...
