How much land should you have to shoot on?

[velomaxx]

OK,marginal 6.5 Grendel content, but if you were buying some land with the intention of living and shooting on it, now much would you want if:

You didn't want neighbors to hear and complain? And/or

You wanted to be sure someone couldn't shoot onto someone else's property?

I guess you would need to assume that you are not shooting off a ridge or extreme high point and that only conventional handguns, shotguns and rifles less than 50 cal BMG, 338 Lapua Magnums, & similar extreme long range rounds. 6.5 Grendel likely the longest range rifle. This would just be private use. Any thoughts or experiences you'd like to share?

[Frontier Gear]

It all depends on your terrain. I have a 100 yard max shooting range on my property. But is is in a ravine with steep embankments on your sides and at the end of it. There is no way a bullet is getting out of there unless you shoot your rifle like you were duck hunting. My wife can't hear the rifle shots at the cabin just 200-300 yards away when she is in the cabin.

My friend has a field that is just about 1,000 yards long that we shoot at quite often. He has a nice hillside at one end of it for a backstop but the rest is flat and open. You can hear the shots clear across the river.

[mdewitt71]

You might want to check local laws before hand (State, City, and County regulations) ....
Here in Missouri you must be outside city limits and have over 3 acres of space.
Having said that, I would ensure you have adequate backstop and a impact area.
A 6 ft high dirt pile between two houses is hardly adequate like the idiot in Florida that made national news a year or so ago.

[A5BLASTER]

25 linear rural acres preferably timbered acres, buy with timber rights and mineral rights.

Log the timber and make a profit build the house and the range and enjoy life away from people in town.

[Sticks]

I can not afford to by large parcels of land, but in searching for shooting spots, I require a minimum of 2 miles of safe shooting direction [READ - nothing down range...houses, livestock, outbuildings, and now oil and gas wells], in a 90 fan (45* left and right) and nothing within .5 mile in a 180* (90* left and right)...my requirements as there is an attorney attached to every bullet that heads down range and shit happens. The only thing that would shorten that is shooting in a valley, or a backstop is a hill with at least a 200' rise above my position.

[tomc]

It would be a big piece of property if you don't want your neighbors to even be able to hear your shots.

[1Shot]

You can build a range with proper shooting baffles and a proper berm and be safe even in the middle of down town if done right. Check out the National Shooting Sports Association and the NRA for their ideas on range constriction. I know of a fellow that built a little lean-to style shed with back facing a highway about 100 yards away. He built this shed on a built up mound of earth that made his angle of fire downward toward his berms. He then built 6 baffles out of 2"x12"s as headers attached to 4"X4" on each side that were just tall enough to allow you to shoot under them but would not allow you to shoot high enough to shoot over his berm at 300 yards and they were just wide enough to not allow you to be able to shoot past the berm on either side. He spaced these about 5 yards apart down the range. You could hardly hear the report of a rifle on the other side of the highway and even then it was just a muffled womp. He built his berms using old phone poles about 15' tall set in the ground in a rectangle with open front and stacked car tires placed over the poles. He then filled the tires with sand. Then he covered all this up with clay dirt making a berm that you could not shoot a cannon through. He built smaller berms of dirt staggered one side then the other down the range for shorter ranges. Where their is a will there is a way.

[dammitman]

as frontier gear says it all depends of the terrain. I have 158 acres to use but the best I can find in distance is 400 yards. I would give a lot to get out to 800 or more safely. its just not in the cards on the land.

[The Profit Joseph Sith]

25 linear rural acres preferably timbered acres, buy with timber rights and mineral rights.

Log the timber and make a profit build the house and the range and enjoy life away from people in town.

Getting to be a dream for the younger gen. I miss living in the woods.