Building a shooting range....how to guide?

[Chapuis]

majordisorder many of the commercial ranges charge by the hour rather than by the 1/2 or full day. Why don't you just have a look at what they are charging. Personally I am not prepared to pay such fees and would rather shoot with a club which incidentally works out much much cheaper.
The idea of constructing your own range is all well and nice but the reality of it is that it will be a very costly and lengthy process. Finding a suitable location and obtaining the necessary planning consent could take you several years to begin with. In reality ery few of these schemes come to fruition.

[ovenpaa]

Private tunnel ranges as an example seem to be anywhere between GBP10-30/hr. The advantage is going to be no membership fees, just turn up, shoot and leave so good for load development etc.

[Gaz]

I wonder what the running costs and overheads of a private range would be, assuming a location and building already in place? Insurance must be a big upfront cost, and then targetry, consumables like wood, etc etc.

[majordisorder]

I wonder what the running costs and overheads of a private range would be, assuming a location and building already in place? Insurance must be a big upfront cost, and then targetry, consumables like wood, etc etc.

Quite a lot based on the plans I've put together so far. For the size and take up I'm estimating it's looking more of a "lifestyle" choice than a serious money making business. It's a change from IT though and if it can pay the bills then I'm all set

[IainWR]

Hi

Assuming you aren't setting up within about 20 miles of Bisley, the NRA would be all for it. Our mission is "The encouragement of marksmanship ..." to which end easy access to ranges is a prerequisite.

If you need advice on construction do give me a call.

NRA charges £10-£12 for non-commercial customers for a lane for an hour, and reserves the right to require 2 shooters to share a lane at that rate. Our half-day and daily rates are on our website. Our commercial rates (filming, evidence production, performance testing etc) are considerably more (ie a disguised benefit for members).

Iain
NRA Firearms Manager

[majordisorder]

Hi

Assuming you aren't setting up within about 20 miles of Bisley, the NRA would be all for it. Our mission is "The encouragement of marksmanship ..." to which end easy access to ranges is a prerequisite.

If you need advice on construction do give me a call.

NRA charges £10-£12 for non-commercial customers for a lane for an hour, and reserves the right to require 2 shooters to share a lane at that rate. Our half-day and daily rates are on our website. Our commercial rates (filming, evidence production, performance testing etc) are considerably more (ie a disguised benefit for members).

Iain
NRA Firearms Manager

I'm looking at the east midlands as a location, so far enough away from "Mecca".

This part of the world is bare of any form of commercial or MOD ranges (unless someone can tell me otherwise) but has high gun ownership levels. I'm hoping that I'm not the only one who'd like a "turn up and shoot" range for a reasonable fee.

I'm also looking at a couple of electronic target systems so if anyone has any experience of either Kongsberg or Hex Systems I'd love to hear about it.

[murphwiz]

Best of luck to you!!

I'd love for there to be some regional 'pay and play' places, £10-£15 per hour, full hours exclusive use of target isn't bad.
I think of club time, can be there for a couple of hours, but only spend 20-30mins shooting, by the time you wait for a spot because half the points are filled with people having a chinwag rather than shooting, then short 10 mins shoot, then 20mins swapping targets and more chinwagging.

[IainWR]

Regarding electronic targets, I wrote the formal evaluation of the contenders for the system at Bisley (at the time I was doing operational evaluation of technical systems for the RAF). If you want to discuss it, PM me or call me in the office on Monday.

Iain
NRA Firearms