Guidelines for finding land with personal range?

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  • Biggfoot44

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 2, 2009
    32,877
    What's wrong with shooting 100yds from your property , if it's safe , and not at midnight ?
     

    OMCHamlin

    Ultimate Member
    BANNED!!!
    May 17, 2017
    1,115
    The Cumberland Plateau
    I am in the process of heading to close on a 5 acre property in the eastern part of middle Tennessee (or the western part of east Tennessee, Crossville). As I said, it's on a mildly hilly 5 acres, not in a sub division, not within town limits, zoned agricultural. With thick woods on three sides of the property and a tree stand already set up, I'm pretty confident (like roughly 100%) that I am good to go.

    Let me tell you something, they have a different idea about so many things in Tennessee, a lot of gun owning Virginians and Marylanders would come off as liberals in their eyes. When looking for land or a house out that way, every occupied house we walked into had AT LEAST one gun safe, I've seen as many as three in more than one.

    Fellas, I cannot WAIT to kiss the perma-blue Commonwealth goodbye forever! It was a pretty conservative state when Uncle Sam plopped me down at Wallops for my last tour of duty in this man's Navy. (just think, if I was still in, and said that term "this man's Navy" in conversation, I'd probably get to have a discussion with whatever passes for the Command Masterchief these days...)

    And yes, I know, when the feds step in, it won't matter about which state you're in. Yeah, you're probably right, but when the MM1 came to our house in Sevierville at 03:30 back on 3 May '83 and picked me up, I said to myself, I'll come back here someday. And if it comes to that, I'll fight and I'll die alongside my own...
     

    rbird7282

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 6, 2012
    18,531
    Columbia
    Besides what is legal or illegal,, what is ethical?
    People buy 5-10 acres and think they are "Livin in the country"
    Hearing a neighbor shooting 600 yards away on his 200 acres is one thing,, you start shooting centerfire 100 yards from my house and we have problems.


    Odd that a gun owner/shooter would complain about people next door……gasp…….shooting.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     

    Biggfoot44

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 2, 2009
    32,877
    The big factor is the culture of the area . In most of Md , NoVa, etc the natives get panicked if they can simply Hear a gun shot in the distance . In areas with a strong gun/ hunting culture , it's entirely normal and unremarkable .

    The problems come when an area changes 5- 10 yrs after you move there .
     

    Vodnik4

    Between two waters
    Jan 8, 2021
    60
    Slower, lower MD
    Before moving we lived in a rough area where you’d hear gunshots every night, but those were “business disputes”.
    The first week of moving to the countryside, a neighbor was having a party, and unloaded two magazines of probably 9mm. I called another neighbor to ask if we should call the sheriff or anything — and got a polite explanation that here, people keep their nose out of their neighbors’ business, and they were probably just showing off a new purchase to their guests. Instant attitude adjustment for me. Sometimes a polite explanation for newcomers makes a whole lot of difference.
     

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,678
    Odd that a gun owner/shooter would complain about people next door……gasp…….shooting.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    To me it just depends. 100 yards is not far away and yeah, if I had a neighbor out shooting a lot it would bug the crap out of me. Especially if they didn’t bother being polite and mentioning something before they did (normally) or keeping “regular hours”.

    100 yards isn’t hearing protection needed if outside, but that’s close enough to be LOUD. Inside, that’s sure enough to wake you up if you happen to be napping.

    It’s sure louder than just about anything else someone would be doing outside other than blasting.

    You got some thick woods and 200-300yds between properties, okay whatever. But once ranges start getting down there to me it is polite to check in with your neighbors before shooting. Maybe it’s me transferring what I want on others, but I don’t know if a neighbor had a night shift and I am going to wake them up. Or was sitting down for their kid’s birthday party on their back deck.

    It’s a balance of everyone being able to enjoy their property and I think part of that is people being somewhat mindful of how their neighbors want to use their property.

    5-10 acres if you have the right back stops is plenty to shoot on occasionally. But to me that isn’t enough for some elaborate range that you are out shooting on an hour every day at whatever hour strikes your fancy. At least not without possibly pissing off a neighbor or two at some point. Get more land or go to an established range.

    You and your neighbors have 30 acres each that’s probably enough to do whatever and your neighbors can take a chill pill unless you are shooting late at night or early in the morning or trying to run a private range for dozens of members.

    It’s just like hunting. Maybe you are legal on your few acres to bow hunt, but you should probably talk to your neighbors about it first unless you don’t mind possibly losing wounded deer you can’t legally retrieve on their properties and possibly pissing them off that dead deer are showing up.

    If you are now hunting on 30 acres…well that’s probably way less of a concern.

    Where you buy determines a lot. You could get 60 acres and your neighbor is anti-gun and has sensitive hearing and tries to make problems for you. Maybe it’s 2 acres and all the neighbors would love for you to dump some dirt and railroad ties on your property and everyone can come over and shoot pistols on the weekends and no one minds someone shooting at whatever hour of the day anyone wants even if the houses are only 50yds apart.

    How often, how far apart, what are the neighbors are like what are the ordinances on shooting and what are the noise ordinances like (even if it is legal to shoot, it might violate noise ordinances if the properties aren’t big).

    If it was all 5 acre properties it wouldn’t bother me if my neighbor shot on rare occasions or popped me a text to let me know he was going to be shooting (with the understanding it would be okay if I asked him not to right now for some reason, which probably wouldn’t be often). But if my neighbor was out shooting all the time and various hours, yeah I’d have a conversation with them. It would make it hard to shoot my property. Not too relaxing chilling in a hammock with a beer after work to have my neighbor start popping off rounds.

    Bigger properties make it quieter and more often is less annoying.

    My limited experience in more relaxed places outside of MoCo and HoCo is only so extensive (I lived in central PA a few years also). But I don’t see or hear all that many people shooting very regularly on a small property. Most people I’ve heard and seen shooting regularly (more than some random frequency, like more than 2-3 times a month) are shooting on larger properties in the dozens to scores of acres size (or hundreds).
     

    Mr.Culper

    Active Member
    Jan 16, 2021
    858
    Same thing with the "Dildo" with his track car with open headers,, firing it up and doing 7500 rpm burnouts every weekend up and down the street.

    The "illusion" that every "country folk" enjoys feeling the percussion of your race car or 10mm 100 yards from their front porch is misguided and self centered.

    When YOUR activities make it so I can not use/enjoy my property,, there WILL be problems.

    We are not talking about folks shooting on their acreage out in the country,, we are talking about nimrods shooting 100 yards from someone elses house, to the point where conversation is impossible.


    What's wrong with shooting 100yds from your property , if it's safe , and not at midnight ?
     

    Rich1911

    Ultimate Member
    Mar 8, 2012
    3,839
    Same thing with the "Dildo" with his track car with open headers,, firing it up and doing 7500 rpm burnouts every weekend up and down the street.

    The "illusion" that every "country folk" enjoys feeling the percussion of your race car or 10mm 100 yards from their front porch is misguided and self centered.

    When YOUR activities make it so I can not use/enjoy my property,, there WILL be problems.

    We are not talking about folks shooting on their acreage out in the country,, we are talking about nimrods shooting 100 yards from someone elses house, to the point where conversation is impossible.


    What kind of problems?
     

    OMCHamlin

    Ultimate Member
    BANNED!!!
    May 17, 2017
    1,115
    The Cumberland Plateau
    Odd that a gun owner/shooter would complain about people next door……gasp…….shooting.

    In most of Md , NoVa, etc the natives get panicked if they can simply Hear a gun shot in the distance .

    The first week of moving to the countryside, a neighbor was having a party, and unloaded two magazines of probably 9mm. I called another neighbor to ask if we should call the sheriff or anything —

    To me it just depends. 100 yards is not far away and yeah, if I had a neighbor out shooting a lot it would bug the crap out of me.

    The "illusion" that every "country folk" enjoys feeling the percussion of your race car or 10mm 100 yards from their front porch is misguided and self centered.
    When YOUR activities make it so I can not use/enjoy my property,, there WILL be problems.


    Well, like I said;

    Let me tell you something, they have a different idea about so many things in Tennessee, a lot of gun owning Virginians and Marylanders would come off as liberals in their eyes.

    ...this would be a different conversation out there... :D
     

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,678
    What kind of problems?

    I am going with a neighbor whose pissed at you and acts accordingly. Maybe you’ve never had a neighbor whose just an all around dick. I have. It sucked. Sure you can both escalate and retaliate and eventually someone is getting charges pressed or a restraining order. Or you can try to work it out.

    Are the local cops going to stop doing anything if your neighbor is calling them on you for violating noise ordinances? Because far as I can tell all counties in Maryland have one. Most counties you can be free and shoot on your property, but in many cases unless it’s actually a fairly big property, you’d be violating noise ordinances (everywhere has daytime ones too mind you, they are just typically less stringent) as the sound level is measured at the property line and usually only has exceptions for intermittent use of things like power tools, construction equipment and lawn care (gun fire isn’t exempted in any local noise ordinances I’ve looked at and I’ve looked at several counties ordinances). Usually you are looking at around 75dB daytime or 65dB night time. 165dB at 1 meter is 159 at 2 meters. 153 at 4 meters and so on. So at 100 meters it is roughly 125dB at 100 meters…

    Now you’d also need to be taking in to account things like terrain, etc. a bit of trees in the way can drop the sound pressure level a ton. But part of my point is, you really need quite a bit property not to be violating noise ordinances. You are going to have a damned hard time proving to police, a DA, judge, or jury if some noise is 78dB and is just barely violating the ordinance. Another if you can whip out even a cheap sound meter and show your neighbors gun fire 70yds away is >120dB. And an easy cell phone video can provide proof it’s loud as heck. Or a few videos with date stamps showing your neighbor is out there a bunch shooting.

    And if the police aren’t going to bother with issuing citations for fines for violating them, you could probably press a civil suit.

    On the converse, I don’t want to piss off my neighbors. Let alone the ones out there shooting all the time. But I also want to be able to enjoy my property so long as my
    Enjoyment isn’t F-ing over someone else’s. Just like I’d expect the same from them. Which to me why polite neighbors talk to each other. Especially about stuff that might impact that use of their own property. Why I talked to my neighbors about bow hunting my side yard and back woods because I am on 4.4 acres and a deer is likely to end up on one of their properties some day. Plus, some people don’t want to see some hunter sitting in a stand right out their back window. Yeah part of me is “tough luck”, but I’d rather have that conversation and attempt to win them over, not just shove it in their face with an attitude of “I don’t care, F U”.

    I don’t really do fireworks, but I’d let my neighbors know before setting them off. Or at least convey that expectation of “hey, on the 4th and New Years I tend to set some fireworks off. I just wanted to give you a heads up”. I wouldn’t be that Dbag who throws firecrackers off their back deck any old time because they like watching them go POW because they are on 3 acres and it’s the country, right?

    You get stupid laws for one of two reasons. Control. Or because too many people acted like immature kids rather than respectful adults to each other (and that’s a both sides thing there).

    You need to stop and think just because I CAN do a thing, is it a good idea. A small property that’s surrounded by small properties is a bad idea unless you know all of the neighbors around you are fine with the timing and volume of your shooting. And you might want to check with the neighbors a property over too if they are small properties. Bigger properties you should probably still check, but you are probably going to be fine doing it a bit. It’s probably going to be a big property if your expectations are you are setting up a big range that you are shooting on several times a week and not piss off some neighbor.

    Look at how many shooting ranges get shut down because someone developed a property nearby? And that is not isolated to just Maryland or liberal states. It is just that conservative states tend to have a lot more land and those shooting ranges tend to be pretty far from any cities and properties tend to be a lot larger. You don’t have the guy with the $180k house and property that’s 2 bed, 1 bath and 3 acres in Charles county or whatever who wants to shoot on it. That same money would buy you a decent 3 bedroom house and 8-10 acres in Kentucky. And it might be next to a farm or two and really only have a couple next door neighbors unless it’s a house in the suburbs.

    Our “country living” is also pretty different from a lot of other states country living. And heck, here too it just depends so much on where you are, what it looks like and who your neighbors are.

    At the end of the day, I don’t know anyone or run in to anyone where it’s a smaller property where either they or the neighbor is out shooting all the time. Big properties yes (like 30+ acres), but small ones its more like someone setup a few steel plates, or a plate rack and a 25yd range that they shoot 22s on and the occasional pistol shooting. Maybe out there 2-3 times a month and shoot a few boxes of ammo and call it a day. That’s not like to make a lot of neighbors mad.

    PS the point of polite neighbors use suppressors is dead on too. Especially cans and subs (and maybe not shooting steel targets). Shooting a suppressed handgun or rifle with subs is the equivalent of being about 15-30x further away in terms of how loud it is. 100yds from your neighbors would be like shooting a mile away unsupressed (if it was flat open terrain all the way).
     

    Park ranger

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 6, 2015
    2,315
    And not during deer season.

    So the deer that hear gun fire all year and care less now all of a sudden will freak out by it. Odd, on my club 600 yard range, deer walk between the shooter and the targets/pits during live fire. The shooter is perched above the ground enough the deer are not in danger, but bullets 10-15 feet above their head.
     

    F-Stop

    Ultimate Member
    Feb 16, 2009
    2,484
    Cecil County
    So the deer that hear gun fire all year and care less now all of a sudden will freak out by it. Odd, on my club 600 yard range, deer walk between the shooter and the targets/pits during live fire. The shooter is perched above the ground enough the deer are not in danger, but bullets 10-15 feet above their head.


    I have seen this on a pistol range with woods on both sides. We would have to cease fire for them to walk through.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,678
    I have seen this on a pistol range with woods on both sides. We would have to cease fire for them to walk through.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    I see it all the time with clubs. I also see deer bolt with "private" ranges on people's land where they are only shooting on it occasionally, not daily adn likely for multiple hours a day.

    The deer need to get acclimated to it, not to get spooked by it. And a gun shot from hundreds of yards away is usually not going to be enough to do more than get their attention. Gun shots from a couple hundred on in if they aren't used to it are likely to spook them even if they don't take off.

    Hell, I've missed deer at 30yds with a muzzleloader and watched them both spook a few yards, get curious and then wander off. You aren't likely to empty the woods, but an alert and cautious deer...

    I guess I am conveying that a range in regular operation is not the same as a neighbor that shoots on their property every once in awhile for how wildlife is going to react to it.

    I've shot over and around groundhogs on ranges before and they won't bat an eye. In some cases within just a foot or two because I didn't want to stop shooting and the F-er was directly under my target taking his time eating (so I put one round right over top of him trying to scare him off. Nope). I do that on my property and the ground hogs run for the hills (or their holes more like)
     

    Bisleyfan44

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 11, 2008
    1,755
    Wicomico
    Lots of people here telling other people how to live their lives ON THEIR OWN PROPERTY. And all for the "common good". At least it's revealing. SMH
     

    Mr.Culper

    Active Member
    Jan 16, 2021
    858
    Yeah,, them damn people wanting to enjoy their properties without a douche thinking he is the center of the universe.

    But years ago I did solve my problem with the noise maker, I saw they had balloons set up down the road for a birthday party the upcoming Saturday.,,
    I had one of my farmer buddies swing by and spray my fence line that abuts his backyard with fish emulsions,, hey it's my property right??

    Lots of people here telling other people how to live their lives ON THEIR OWN PROPERTY. And all for the "common good". At least it's revealing. SMH
     

    Batt816

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 1, 2018
    4,087
    Eastern Shore
    Yeah,, them damn people wanting to enjoy their properties without a douche thinking he is the center of the universe.

    But years ago I did solve my problem with the noise maker, I saw they had balloons set up down the road for a birthday party the upcoming Saturday.,,
    I had one of my farmer buddies swing by and spray my fence line that abuts his backyard with fish emulsions,, hey it's my property right??

    I’m sure that solved the “problem”.
     

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