Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire My hair brained idea...

See, I'm not so crazy after all.

I have 100 Acres in CA, and if I could just sell the timber, which is impossible due to regulation, I would just spend my days on my range and not deal with having others share it.

Timber prices are in the dirt right now, but if you live where you can harvest fast when the prices spike you can do OK.

Your biggest PITA will be the EPA. A manufacturer in Kansas City is putting in an indoor pistol range in his gun store. Cost to meet EPA standards is $50,000.00 per lane.

Aside from all the rules and regs demanded by the EPA, etc., including a "diner" would then entail even more regulations and rules and inspections by the bureaucrats at the State Board of Health, or whichever agency controls commercial food outlets in Alabama. More headaches, in my opinion.

Best of luck, if you do this.

L.W.

There is a pawn shop here in town that has an indoor range. I'll talk to the owner to find out what hurdles he had to face.


Yup, such an endeavor would have me up to my ears in regulatory rape. Like many have suggested, it would require a LOT of research before I could even begin to give it serious consideration...


Maybe I can convince Les to try it first in Colorado....

The problem you are going to run into is there are people that do that very thing for a living and are going to be 1 step or more ahead of you.

That's exactly what professional foresters, "land men", loggers etc...are on the look out for. A cut out and get out type of deal/operation.

They'll have the tie in with the seller and the timber buyer making it tough to do.

But if you find the right place at the right time it can be done.

That's exactly how I made my money fresh out of college to buy my steel fab shop, but it was a huge risk and I had several backers with money and I had connections on both ends - the buyer of the timber and the seller of the land.

You have to sell/harvest the timber at the right time. I did it on upland land right after the area had a huge wet season and even an 18" rain which drove prices up and they were still able to get into where the timber was and most places they couldn't.

You have to watch out as well it's a pretty cut throat arena of work, if you get a forester in there to appraise the timber before you make an offer there's no reason to say they won't open their mouth (or even their checkbook) and someone else buy it out from under you or even himself.

Just saying go in with your eyes open there's a 100 ways to make a mistep. I've even seen instances where someone went up against the biggest timber buyer in an area and made enemies and they couldn't hardly give away their timber after they bought the land without hauling it long distance to another mill.

But to the actual gun range there's a guy in Huntington, TX that did exactly what you are describing on how he obtained the land and setting up a range (not as fancy). Name of it its Evans Brothers Guns (I think he has a website if you want to look it up). He got the land cheap, sold off the timber and put in a range. He didn't get mineral rights and right off the bat they put in a pipeline thru his property and that shut him down while they did that work. He has a gun shop up front. It's pretty lax - no range officer just him inside keeping an eye on people. Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen if you ask me. In the 3 years he's been open I've noticed lots of holes in the range cover. I only have gone during the week when nobody else was there.

Make sure you know your target audience. He has a nice range out to 300 yards both rifle and pistol areas etc...but he struggles to attract people who can either shoot at the house or the national forest land which is everywhere.

I did notice that everytime I would go during the week a new sign was up of rules that seemed to be so obvious but he said he had to ride people on the time about them. Stuff like not to try and shoot the powerlines that were 200 yards beyond the rifle berm and off the property, don't shoot the range markers, don't shoot the target frames etc....Stuff you would think someone with a firearm would know but obviously not. I think you have to have a high tolerance for people doing stupid stuff.

Just all stuff to think about, nobody likes suprises

As a private range owner I break out in a cold sweat just thinking about the idea. You should not live on the property if you're going to do this. J.C. Vaughn of J.C.'s in Huntville and Decatur did own, and may still own, a gun range. You could talk to him about the pros and cons but be warned that J.C. is out for J.C. so the advice you get should be filtered closely.

You will be sick of "shooters" in just a few months so you need to be long-suffering. I used to attend benchrest matches in Lafayette, LA at their gun club and the bathroom doors had bullet holes in them. You won't believe the yahoos and bubbas you're going to have to deal with.

I don't let people come to my range to sight in their "deer rifles" because the average "hunter" cannot hit a refrigerator at 200 yards. They will totally wreck your target frames, litter the premises with all kinds of junk. It's going to be a hard way to make a buck.

Don't get cocky.....all the votes aren't in yet.

hey now.

Good stuff! Thanks! These are all things that need to be considered.

I know J.C. and forgot that he had run his own range for a while. I'll go pick his brain.

I'm reserving my vote until after he starts up his Colorado Bunny Ranch.

I like the idea of the range

I like it even better with the addition of hookers out behind the diner!

I can do your advertising for you


"Hug A Jackass' shootin range, chuck wagon and gentlemen's club

come out have a bite to eat, develop a load and shoot one too!"

I work pretty cheap, just my ammo and er, uh target needs are really all I need you to provide for me, save the wages for the broom guys.

My wife would shoot me with my own Savage rifle.

Can you say "INSURANCE"?

This is starting to look more like Al Swearengens Place in Deadwood....

I've seen some in the voting booth four or five times but have not inspected their ballots yet and am not going to pay them until I do! That's final! Glad you decided to come back even though I'm tardy in telling you.

Thanks Mickey, I appreciate it. Les

While you're picking his brain make sure he does not a clear shot at your pocket. I've done quite a bit of business with J.C. over the years. Tell him that I said "hello" but he may not even remember me.

Are you ever coming back this way?

You want your home prices to drop even further,Mic?