Home pistol range?
- Thread starter pmorrill
- Start date
- Location
- Port Perry/Toronto
I breifly looked over the guidelines, and it looks like this would be kind of expensive.
For just a 2 lane 25m handgun range with side berms, assuming you get fill delivered to you for $7/CM than your looking at around $9000 for the fill and than another $1000-$2000 for someone to come in with a bulldoser and push the dirt around.
If you have any construction company contacts, you could get fill delivered for free, assuming there is anything going on close to you, and they need a place to dump fill. Just make sure it's not contaminated.
For just a 2 lane 25m handgun range with side berms, assuming you get fill delivered to you for $7/CM than your looking at around $9000 for the fill and than another $1000-$2000 for someone to come in with a bulldoser and push the dirt around.
If you have any construction company contacts, you could get fill delivered for free, assuming there is anything going on close to you, and they need a place to dump fill. Just make sure it's not contaminated.
After a brief look, what if you had a natural hilly area that provided an enclosed area to shoot in. You throw up signage etc... how likely you could get it approved? Does it have to be perfectly man-made to get it signed off on?
- Location
- Port Perry/Toronto
Definately not. You can use natural features to your advantage. As long as it meets the guidelines your ok.
The only part I'm not too sure on is when berms are required. Making a range without berms would be much much cheaper.
- Location
- Port Perry/Toronto
Look up "field range" in the guidelines.
hmmmm couldn't find anything regarding berm requirements in the field range section...
I mean some ranges have side berms... others don't. I don't see where you'd find out if you need them or not.
- Location
- Port Perry/Toronto
I know, but that's not what I'm looking for. What about places that have no real significant natural features?
I don't think you can just put some targets against a tree and call it a field range.
You don't call it anything until it is approved as a field range. There are guidelines as to the criteria required to have a range approved as a field range. Berms are not one of them.
Whether this suits your particular application or not, well I don't know. You'll have to look it up in the regs.
Privately owned field ranges do exist.
Whether this suits your particular application or not, well I don't know. You'll have to look it up in the regs.
Privately owned field ranges do exist.
field ranges, etc
My reading of all this is that if you have a mess of open land a field range can be set up, but only if you have an adequate 'safety-area'. Adequate means that the area is in compliance with the templates on the guidelines site. That can mean alot of land down-range. You don't have to own it all but you do have to set up usage agreements with the actual owners and you may have to post.
A no-safety-area range (NSR?) on the other hand is one where the natural features are such that ricochets and on-target shots will be safely contained with the range itself. That is: you've got a small mountain as a backdrop. This looked promising for me but if you run the numbers (a little trigonometry helps) it seems that they expect a 30 degree plus slope on that backdrop, and it has to be high enough to accommodate reasonable risk ricochets off your range 'floor' surface. That means pretty high.
My property is wooded and v hilly, but I haven't yet found the perfect spot to map out a NSR, which is my only hope. If you live in Sask on 4 sections of land, you're in a position to set up a field range.
Luckily, there are compromises between the two extremes: building baffles, bunkers or shields. As someone mentioned, could get costly. Still, if you have a partial hill and can add the right baffles you might get it approved.
I don't even have my handguns in hand yet (!) so this isn't going to happen this year. but I am intending to keep at it until I get an application together...or find myself completely shut down by some regulation. In the meantime....I'll shoot the pistols at the range. But it is wise also to acclimatize the neighbors, so the hunting rifle will get some use on the property.
My reading of all this is that if you have a mess of open land a field range can be set up, but only if you have an adequate 'safety-area'. Adequate means that the area is in compliance with the templates on the guidelines site. That can mean alot of land down-range. You don't have to own it all but you do have to set up usage agreements with the actual owners and you may have to post.
A no-safety-area range (NSR?) on the other hand is one where the natural features are such that ricochets and on-target shots will be safely contained with the range itself. That is: you've got a small mountain as a backdrop. This looked promising for me but if you run the numbers (a little trigonometry helps) it seems that they expect a 30 degree plus slope on that backdrop, and it has to be high enough to accommodate reasonable risk ricochets off your range 'floor' surface. That means pretty high.
My property is wooded and v hilly, but I haven't yet found the perfect spot to map out a NSR, which is my only hope. If you live in Sask on 4 sections of land, you're in a position to set up a field range.
Luckily, there are compromises between the two extremes: building baffles, bunkers or shields. As someone mentioned, could get costly. Still, if you have a partial hill and can add the right baffles you might get it approved.
I don't even have my handguns in hand yet (!) so this isn't going to happen this year. but I am intending to keep at it until I get an application together...or find myself completely shut down by some regulation. In the meantime....I'll shoot the pistols at the range. But it is wise also to acclimatize the neighbors, so the hunting rifle will get some use on the property.
