looney tunes shooting shed idea

[AbitNutz]

I have the opportunity to buy in with a friend of mine 187 acres of land, that among its other great qualities, it has a nice rolling hill that would serve as a great bullet back stop anywhere up to 250 yards.

My somewhat nutty idea is to make a life of luxurious shooting ease. And as is usually the case with me. I started off with something that makes a great deal of sense and went way beyond. Anything worth doing is worth doing to excess.

I started with a happy and simple idea of a really stable, fixed shooting bench. Then it occurred to me that it should be under cover.

I have now ended up with idea of one of those large garden sheds. I can flip up, down or slide some various size opening to shoot out of.

I'm talking large enough to shoot (sitting or standing) from my fixed mega bench from the inside.

That all sounded reasonable and then I took into consideration the weather. Heck, this place needs to be heated!

But you know....there is not just cold weather but hot weather. I need an air-conditioner as well. So it's hot outside and I just open the small part or the door, window hatch...whatever.

There's no power where I'm considering doing this...but I have a very nasty generator.

So what this essentially boils down to is a shooting house for all seasons.

No, I'm not buying into this just for a place to shoot. My wife has wanted me to build a house there since she discovered what nails were for. I've resisted. However, this could just be the thing that pushes me over the edge.

[mpmarty]

Gee whiz that sounds familiar.
Ten years ago the wife and I were looking for a new home. We had sold our house in town and wanted to get somewhere a bit out in the country. We looked at a bunch of rural junk and stumbled on a realtor who had a "package" deal listed twenty five miles out of town. Forty acres with a large commercial type shop and an approved building site for a home as well as three acres adjoining the forty with a small mobile home on it. The mobile had water and electricity. Long story short, we bought the package and built a 3600 sq. ft single story ranch style home on the property where we now live while living in the mobile. We sold the three acres and mobile home for enough to pay off the rest of the place. The forty acres provides firewood and a place to shoot. I built a sort of a carport on the side of the shop and that's where the casting and shooting take place. It took a bit over two years to build the new house and we (wife & I) drove every nail and hung every piece of sheetrock ourselves. Took a bit over forty four squares of roofing shingles to cover the turkey as we have four foot eaves around the house and a "dutch" on each end. The floors inside are all 3/4" solid oak T&G over inch and an eighth OSB.

[old turtle]

AbitNuts, How can you go wrong. Sounds like a dream to me.

[Finster101]

Ain't it kinda LOUD inside that thing when you touch one off?

[bbs70]

I'm jealous.:mrgreen:

[44fanatic]

Ain't it kinda LOUD inside that thing when you touch one off?

Thats what I was thinking...sound baffles may be neccessary.

Ive been running the "luxury" shooting house through my mind...for when I win the lottery.

[GRUMPA]

Here I am reading all this and I'm pee-green with envy. I live on forty acres where for the most part,I can walk out the back door and shoot (to a point) anywhere. BUT where I am a person still must be cautious, the local laws\ordinances prohibit things like not allowing anyone to shoot within 1\4 mi. from a structure. Their version of a structure and yours defers greatly, even if I had 1 of those barns it would be considered a structure their-fore cutting my own throat. Even though I live very remote all it would take is an irate neighbor to make a call even though the closest one is 1\2 mi. away (after that 3mi away) and since the law is their already would make it really easy for the local enforcement agency to make ones life utterly miserable if they so choose. Just check into the local laws and find out for yourself, they may not be as strict where you are, wouldn't have a clue.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Enjoy your dream and have fun. Life is too short to put things off.

[stainless1911]

Will be easy to pick up your brass too.

[quilbilly]

Building a house can be a miserable job but you really have something to look forward to. When we built ours in the woods, the excavator took the logging slash and the dirt from the future basement and piled it 45 yards from our front porch across the septic drainfield. Instant 40m pistol target range from our covered porch. It turned out the neighbors shoot and I own the chronograph. Made the three year process all worthwhile. Build that shed and live the dream!

[XWrench3]

to me, there are three really good shooting ranges. one is a small room built onto the roof of your house. easy enough to heat or cool as the house systems are right there. the second, is a10'x15' glass walled room with a sliding glass door to shoot out of that would stick out off the back side of your house,(or walkout basement). again, use heating/cooling systems from your house. the third, is a bit more expensive, but would make a PERFECT range. the PERFECT range would be underground, built out of 6'-8' concrete sewer segments. every so often, a short step up to vent and let light in. it would need some kind of sound redcuing treatment for the first 100 feet or so to break up the sound waves. you could make it as long as you like and would automaticly be heated / cooled to a certain temp just by being underground. a SLIGHT downward slope would keep water from collecting. you would never have to deal with wind, rain, snow, or whiners screaming about bullets "ricocheting" two miles away. of course, building the PERFECT range would be very expensive. but pefect things are seldom cheap. that would be my "if i won the lottery" range! at 500 yards long.

[stainless1911]

I'd want mine at a mile ans a half, that would give me an excuse to get a .50 lol. Would be fun on a crotch rocket too. : )

[stainless1911]

What happened to the smileys ?
: *(

[fishhawk]

:-) still there?

[mpmarty]

My only neighbor is a shooter and hunter as is his wife. Laws here say if you have 40 acres in a designated fish and game zone you automatically get a tag for any critter on your property. No stupid laws about shooting except in the cities.

[Shiloh]

Ain't it kinda LOUD inside that thing when you touch one off?

The shooting shed I used to use had ports for the barrel to pointed out of. there was a short baffle after that. It was loud but sort of a muffled loud. A Coleman catalytic heater made it quite tolerable in the winter.

The current range could sure use one. It is brutal shooting outside this time of the year. Temps run from below 0 to the mid teens.

Shiloh

[shooterg]

On 187 acres, got to be a way to have more than 250 yd. range. Think 600 at least !

[HeavyMetal]

Here's my thought build the "Shooting House" and then add on some living quarters!

[azjohn]

If you win the lottery you could do something like this.
http://www.thehighroad.us/showthread.php?t=331301

[joesig]

It won't take much to heat it. I built an 8x8 shooting shack from T-111. It's toasty warm with a 1500W space heater. I haven't tried to cool it yet but figure with all of 64 square feet, it won't take much. Any decent generator will be more than adequate. I usually stick the muzzle out of the window so can't comment on the noise though I suspect and soft insulation will dampen a lot of it.

[geargnasher]

You can use kerosene or portable propane heaters for small spaces without needing electricity, but if you already have a generator make an insulated shed built off the back of your Shuetz-haus, you might even be able to make it really quiet. I'd recommend a coffee maker and small pantry for snacks as well, maybe even a single stage press and powder measure for occasional on-site load development.

Gear

[beagle]

Go fer it. It won't take much. I bought a place in the country that has a hilly backstop. After the first year, a shooting shed was in order. I had some 5" timbers around and when they redid my barns, I had barn siding and some tin roofing in the barn loft. After several weeks of part time work. I now have a tin roofed shooting shed with two benches, swing in windows and is insulated. Cost? Some 2 X 6s and some particle board for the floor. Window companies will usually give you old windows for free. A kerosene heater makes it cozy inside.

Then, there's the back patio which has two steel plates at 100 yards and there's the reloading shed with a move in and out portable bench with a 100 yard setup and posts for the chronograph.

Nothing fancy but life is good./beagle

[mdi]

When we moved to Oregon, my wife insisted I get a dedicated "Mike's shed". We sold our house in So. CA and used the money for a home and "Tuff Shed". Put down a 8' x 14' concrete slab and put an 8' x 14' Tuff Shed on it. The sheds are offered by Home Depot, and usually are installed free. 2" x 4" construction, available in several different configurations. Works great as my Reloading, and general pharting around room...

http://www.tuffshed.com/

[BLTsandwedge]

Having lived in urban areas all my life this sounds wonderful. But. Yep, always a 'but.' Should you go forward, don't fail to have an attorney represent you in the purchase. Your friend will need to hold up his part of the deal i.e. mortgage and liability insurance plus whatever else you want insured and improved. Money'll make a friendship turn to dog doo at the drop of a hat. Unless you can- and don't mind- potentially carrying the entire financial load, bind up your 'but' with legal duct tape.

Best of luck!

[nanuk]

for baffles, I think I read in a magazine, use old tires... wire them together to make a tube about 8 ft long, and instant rubber baffles

[AbitNutz]

I have several pair of those electronic ear protectors. I know they must be great. I can't even hear my mother in law when I have them on.

[ghh3rd]

Will be easy to pick up your brass too.

...and don't forget to build a heavy duty boolit trap so you can use you lead, over and over :)