How much Land?

[bratch]

How much land do you feel is necessary to safely shoot? Rifles? Pistols? Skeet/clay?

How much to not annoy your neighbors too bad?

Assume:

The land has good berms that are being shot into and the shooting is legal no matter the size of the land. That your neighbors live on similar sized places.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

All depends on a lot of variables. In the blue state where I currently hang my hat at night, folks aren't accustomed to guns and I'd rather expect that to avoid complaints and such 100 acres wouldn't be enough.

A few years ago I looked at a house (well, the agent said it was a house) on a 10-acre parcel in Montana. It was flat and looked like some decent berms could be plowed up, but it was surrounded by "similar sized" parcels, and I'll tell you I was surprised at just how small 10 acres is when you start thinking about rifle bullets whizzing around.

 

[M2 Carbine]

Since 1967 I've been shooting on 8.5 acres, then 19.5 acres.
Have a 25+ yard range in the back yard and a 100 yard range in the woods.
I was about the first one living around here.

I probably average shooting 3 times a week and sometimes several times a day.
Since it's grown up so much around here I have to be more careful than in years past.

There's also 4 or 5 people that I hear shooting around here.

The neighbors have to stay pretty loose. About 1968 I also licensed my place as a heliport and I'm currently flying a powdered parachute from here.
That requires flying right over their houses or yards during takeoff and landings. I may be flying an airplane from here soon.
So I guess the neighbors just put up with me.

 

[Taurus 66]

I will say 10 square acres minimum: 2 wide by 5 deep. This would give you a nice 300 yard range. This depth is minimum for me, but I prefer 500 yards max depth. To make the noise less annoying to your neighbors, shore up some hills along the sides. Put a sign out by the road "Clean Fill Wanted". The hills would deflect the sound more upwards away from your neighbors and would protect them from any ricochets.

 

[biere]

I would like to hear an answer on skeet/clay as well. Mostly for the devices you can buy and use to do it yourself and what sort of loads get what sort of distance.

I live on 9.5 acres or so and my street is basically made up of 4-5 acre lots and most folks own several lots.

The noise is loud even when I start considering how 100 acres is laid out on this street. I am honestly considering setting up some old tires I have stacked here and there and making what is basically like a roll of lifesavers out of them. You shoot through the middle and the tires reduce the noise by acting as baffles and what not.

I personally have one big pile of dirt I had a neighbor make for me and I shoot most anything into it for handguns these days. It also works well for the 40 yard shoots the locals use for their 22 rimfire stuff. I just practice and don't compete since some of these folks have some serious money in 22 rimfire rifles.

For my bigger rifles I figured out the best way to shoot on my land and have a solid backstop and it winds up being a hillside so no need to pile dirt.

The basic first answer is to check local laws. Out here other folks shoot on their land and hunt on their land so it is no biggy to shoot on the land.

In order for me to do it safely I am way more concerned with the way the land is laid out than with how much land I have. I do want some decent buffers around my dirt pile but I am more concerned with a nice big dirt pile or better yet a good hill side.

And as mentioned on the noise, I honestly know folks up and down this valley who shoot over a mile away and since it is a valley it is pretty darn noisey.

I want to sell this place but I know there have been some discussions on how best to set up the tires as baffles, and keep in mind that unburned powder can build up in them and cause a bit of a fire now and then. There have also been folks who build a sort of shooting shed and the shed kept most of the noise in the building and most of the noise outside the shed was the bullet crack. So some searches on land and shooting should turn up some other posts to examine as well.

 

[bratch]

Thanks so far guys.

I'm looking into buying a new place once I graduate. One thing I want to be able to do is shoot at my house. I'm also wanting some land to keep people off of me.

I had been looking into around 40 acres but if I could downsize to around 20 I'd save a lot of upkeep.

All the legal issues will be adressed once I actually know where I'm moving.

 

[M2 Carbine]

It doesn't hurt to try and head off trouble before it starts to.

A few years ago the empty land behind me was sold and the new owner built a house for his mother in law about 200 feet from my backyard range.
I never met the woman and still haven't but I told the owner if his MIL sleeps late or anything like that, I'd be sure to not shoot when it would disturb her.

Never heard a word,
even when I clear her house by about 25 feet when I'm landing.

 

[BozemanMT]

Couple points.
the one gun range i belong to (WCR) has everything. like 8 bays up to 200 yards, 2 skeet, 1 trap, a sporting clays course, etc, etc. it's on 160 acres and there is plenty of room.
Colorado clays has 2 skeet ranges, 5 trap ranges, a big old clubhouse, and a really nice long sporting clays course. they are on a 100 acres (right next to a golf course funnily enough), plenty of room, no issues
Berthoud gun club has 2 trap ranges, a small 22lr pistol range and an archery range. it's on 10 acres. But, it's not open when teh place behind (a waste transfer station) is open (2 days a week) and it's got a road down one side, and you shoudln't shoot when cars come down it (rare). it's on 10 acres.
I'd say more than 10 acres effectively.

skeet ranges don't take a ton of room because 8's and 9's don't travel nearly as far. I'm sure NRA has lots of things on how to build ranges for distance.
you could put a 25/100 yard range iwth berms about anywhere.

 

[alpineman]

Sorry, guys. I live on several hundred acres here in KY. And it's in "the country", so when my wife & I shoot, we usually hear others "chime in", echoing off the hills around us. Nice.

Anyway, yeah ... it's "enough" land.

 

[Chuck R.]

I just closed on 40 acres two weeks ago and have begun building a range. It really, really depends on how the land lays. The biggest concerns are a suitable impact area and the ability to get a line of sight.

Be sure to check your local zoning laws very carefully. Some places are quite specific on what constitutes a “public” range, IE number of non-related people using the range and frequency of use. IF you get labled as a "public" range all sorts of permits and insurance can come into play.

My piece has a 10 acre pond on it and the dam (170 yards) was a natural straight line for the KD rifle range (225 yards total). My land also slopes up quite a bit before the western boundary, so with a little dozer work I had a 25 meter x 25meter pistol range dug in with a 15 ft berm in the back as a backstop. This backstop is also the backstop for the rifle range. The right side is lined with trees so it helps keep the noise down. The eastern edge slopes up away from the pond also, shooting across the pond I can get a regulation 385-meter turkey swinger set-up, so it meets my needs for silhouette practice.

Since we have a nice skeet, trap, and sporting clays range on post where I work, I’m not even going to bother putting in any kind of shotgun range.

Chuck

 

[ctdonath]

On a tangent...
Dividing the Earth's land mass by the world's population, you get a "fair share" of about 6 acres each. Considering that includes all land, Everest and Sahara and Antarctica included, get yours now while the gettin's good.

Also, fully half the world's land mass is deemed "wilderness", as in fewer than a half-dozen people per square mile for at least 10,000 sq miles (IIRC).

 

[Thin Black Line]

Some of that land is right here in CONUS.

 

[Steam dragon]

If you find an old gravel pit for sale...

DON'T mention gun range where the seller can hear! (MARKUP :banghead: )

 

[Jeff Timm]

Best private range I've hear of is owned by the infamous author, investment councilor and firearms instructor John Ross. He has his own old quarry and can, from the right position shoot 360 degrees with complete safety.

Finding a good dry quarry is a bit tough, and you might have environmental hazards, "Old oil, they jest blew a hole in the rock an' dropped it all in fur the 90 years this place was workin'." or words to that effect.

Geoff
Who wishes he wuz rich instead of rotund.