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Please help I need advice... About shooting range

dbasian1977

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
May 29, 2011
121
0
46
Utah, Sevier
I just purchased a good chunck of ground here in Utah and I want to put a shooting center including pistol, rifle, long range and sporting clays to come down the road. I think kids today are not getting as invloved with shooting sports as we did when we were growing up. So let me know what you really like about ranges and also what is a waste. Thx for the help. Duke
 
Re: Please help I need advice... About shooting range

Steel reactive targets are a huge fun factor.
5 stand sporting clays, trap is a bit mundane. 5 stand with rabbits, over the shoulder, over your head, straight up and any other specialty targets you can think of adds fun, keeps interest.

Good benches, also, an area to clean weapons.
Good flat, level ground for prone.

Competitions, they don't have to be serious, huge prizes etc... But competition helps breed excellence, gives people a reason to practice and stay at the top of their game.
 
Re: Please help I need advice... About shooting range

Multiple pistol pits so you can host matches.
 
Re: Please help I need advice... About shooting range

Where in UT are you setting up? I'm originally from there and still get out to see family in Sanpete every now and then.

As for the range, agree on the steel targets for both pistol and rifle. Long range rifle too. There are just too few 1k+ ranges out there, and if you have a good one you will draw shooters. Not everyone wants to haul their own targets out to BLM land, and everywhere else has been ruined with the splattering of cabins and homes everywhere.

Benches I prefer concrete with a bit of texture on them but not much, just enough to give bipod legs and shooting rests purchase but not tear up the elbows. I still prefer to get on my belly though. For the clays, yes the 5-stand and flurries are fun, but don't forget the basic skeet and trap shooters. They're the most popular at my gun club and hold regular sanctioned comps.

For the kids (and adults too), a nice dedicated 200yd rimfire range with steel would be awesome, and is something I wish my club had. Instead I have to bring my own targets out. Kids just don't want to shoot paper for very long, they want instant gratification of a hit.
 
Re: Please help I need advice... About shooting range

I live in Aurora,the property runs along the sevier river and just to the south of the highway up on the big black knoll. I now a lot of people from over there in Sanpete. Thanks for all the info I am just getting this thing started so it may be a while before I get eveerything in. I am going to start with one pistol area and a one long range area to start. I am looking into solar powere clay throwers because of the power issues I am running into. We are going to be making a lot of our own steel targets so fell free to email me pictures of some of the designs you like and alos the ones you don't. [email protected]
 
Re: Please help I need advice... About shooting range

Thanks for thinking of the kids D&D. Alot of people are too self involved for that. I've run into that problem in my neck of the woods.
 
Re: Please help I need advice... About shooting range

Covered shooting benches and concrete benches are the only way to go. Good target stands, nice pipes in the ground to put them in and marked distances. A tall tower that launches clays is also pretty coo. No range-master nazis and a cool staff is probably the most important. I avoid ranges with a staff range-masters, I've never met one that didn't want to finger fuck your rig and offer shit tons of stupid advice.
 
Re: Please help I need advice... About shooting range

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: D&DLONGRANGE</div><div class="ubbcode-body">As far as benches go what do you like concrete or steel?</div></div>

call me crazy but I prefer wood, not all of us are built the same or sit the same, I cant stand going to this local conservation range that has sorry concrete benches with concrete seats, you have to sit like a contortionist which does not lend to wonderful results. I personnaly wouldn't pour a pad for the floor either, I'd save that money and put it towards steel targets. What I would do is have sand or crushed gravel under a roof with wood benches, this way prone shooters are comfy and bench shooters are happy.

as mentioned alot of steel targets are the way to go, keeps the range going and not having to go cold every ten seconds for the delta operators to check their 1 round groups. Maybe a couple lanes off to the side for the paper punching

And a big hellz yeah for no Nazi rangemaster douchebag
 
Re: Please help I need advice... About shooting range

i like it when each shooting lane has a switch that controls a buzzer and red flashing light over the bench. when you go down range to set targets you flip your buzzer to let people know somebody is down range. some of the targets i have to walk to at 600yds require me to walk through gullys and wooded areas where it would be hard to see me. Only the person who turns the buzzer on is allowed to turn the buzzer off.
 
Re: Please help I need advice... About shooting range

Concrete slab floor at stations with benches. I like concrete top benches with adjustable seats, the kind where the seat is attached to a pole built into the table something like this.

image1.jpg
 
Re: Please help I need advice... About shooting range

^^^those are EXACTLY the ones I was reffering to that suck ass!
 
Re: Please help I need advice... About shooting range

You say "good chunk of land".... hmmmm. Considering the ambiguity, and yet you are looking for ideas, let's go to the far end of the spectrum.

1,500 yd range (so very few places out there offer this possiblity)
1,000 yd range
600 yd range
200 yd range
200 yd range (shotgun)
25 yd range (pistol)
10 yd range (pistol)

Obviously, the rifle ranges could all have the same bench/berm shooting positions, with different target locations. At said locations, could be stationary stands, moving stands, steel targets, etc.

You mentioned "power" being a concern. Wind is quite a bit more robust (from what I've been learning) in the generating side, while comparatively, the sun DOES come up every day.

The possibilities are huge, and you didn't state whether this was going to be a personal range, a private membership one, or a public/for business type.

Control and safety being paramount, I'd lean towards the second, at best.

Firing point(s) also depend on what your preferences are. There are some situations where a bench is convenientest. Then most things should be done prone. (
wink.gif
) Then there are the 'barricades' and/or obstacles that can/should be utilized.

How far are you going with this? Are you including the concept of vehicles, too? A tower has already been suggested.

The "individual shooter" cease-fire control is also Universally a better suggestion. Don't forget a few tables behind the firing line for people to put their gear on.

Illumination at the targets, because they play baseball and football at night. If they can, why can't we enjoy our sport? And not everyone can enjoy the luxury of "night-vision" yet, eh?

All this is in a perfect world, with unlimited resources including time/funds/land.

Only other thing to look into (also discussed elsewhere on the 'Hide) is a video target monitor, with the display at the firing point as well as onto a hard-drive. This definitely is not as 'impossible' nor as 'expensive' as one would initially guess.

Not only that, but the rewards are definitely ongoing. So, short of asking "what is the best car out there".... give us a bit more of an idea as to your intended goal/direction. Then things could be "specific'er".
 
Re: Please help I need advice... About shooting range

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: VAJayJayPunisher</div><div class="ubbcode-body">^^^those are EXACTLY the ones I was reffering to that suck ass! </div></div>

You said you didn't like seats where you have to sit like a contortionist, but the seats I posted are adjustable.
 
Re: Please help I need advice... About shooting range

not trying to argue with ya merlin but those style seats "adjustable" is not my definition of adjustable. how would one adjust the seat further away from the pole its attached to?

can I screw a bipod stop to that concrete?

what if I was LL height, would my feet have to swing freely cause the table obviously cant be shortened?

took my 4 year old 22 shootin on benches like you posted and shit just didnt compute, so he went ahead and went prone on the ground
 
Re: Please help I need advice... About shooting range

Duke,

1. Pistol License classes

2. Hunting License Classes

3. Home firearm safety classes
 
Re: Please help I need advice... About shooting range

If you have the room save some room so you can build a berm for steel target pistol shooting and competetion. Shooting steel dynamically is fun as hell.....their are just are not too many places to do it anymore.
 
Re: Please help I need advice... About shooting range

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: VAJayJayPunisher</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> not trying to argue with ya merlin but those style seats "adjustable" is not my definition of adjustable. how would one adjust the seat further away from the pole its attached to?

can I screw a bipod stop to that concrete?

what if I was LL height, would my feet have to swing freely cause the table obviously cant be shortened?

took my 4 year old 22 shootin on benches like you posted and shit just didnt compute, so he went ahead and went prone on the ground </div></div>

Oh, I see what you're getting at. The benches we used to have at a local range had seats that were rectangular instead of round, so you could slide the seat away and have a little more room if you needed it. Granted, if you're on the far side of large/tall, then yeah, it's going to be hard to accommodate everyone. When they rebuilt the range I go to, they decided to do all wood benches with non-adjustable seats. I hate them, I can shoot on'em but they're just a little too tall for me and I'm 6'1, so kids that come out there are SOL.
 
Re: Please help I need advice... About shooting range

Thanks guys I will have to take some picts of the site and post them for you. I have room to grow and for now I am thinking of doing this as a members site, I am looking into classes like hunters safty, concealed carry, reloading, long range and more. I live in a farly small area and we are going to have to do all this in stages. We plan and putting in the rifle and pistol areas this spring as soon as we can start working the ground.