Buying a strip of land to have my own rifle range?

As the title says, I am just about done with ranges, be it public, private clubs or otherwise...

Was at GGC this morning and I had to keep looking for the Old Folks Bus.
I mean, I was the youngest one there, and I am 56...

Between hunters shooting their yearly 10 rounds to sight their rifles (friends of members, not even dues paying members) and confused old folks (also friends of members), I spent half the time on the lookout for people swinging muzzles left and right, actions closed on benched handguns with people down range during a cease fire etc...

I already baby sit unsafe and untrained shooters for a living, I don't need this shit when I am supposed to be having fun.

I might be soon in a position to buy a strip of land to set up my own range, but I am unclear as to what requirements and regulations I may have to contend with.

Before I contact my real estate lady, I would like to be able to give her some parameters to work with.

Ideally ([ROFL2]) it would be a strip of land 200 yds x 1000 yds, not more than one hour away from Wheatridge, maybe a hill as a backstop, maybe a place where I can set up a trailer...

Can anyone shed some light on how to do that?
What kind of permits would I need?
Who do I contact in any given county to make sure I will be to use such land as intended?

I recall some legislation recently that aimed at stopping recreational shooting on ones own land...

The legislature has floated allowing counties to ban shooting on unincorporated private property if a certain housing density is met. You can bet most of the high population counties will immediately enact such restrictions if permitted. In addition, fire restrictions can also impact private property shooting for a large portion of the year.

Firstly......... good luck. And I mean that sincerely.................

As you've already figured out...........
Step one is finding land in unincorporated areas. Those usually have no restrictions on shooting. I'd also think in terms of what might happen in say 10yrs from now (ie home encroachment).
Because yes, FOR NOW, you might have some protection as an existing range, but you are an individual and realistically wouldn't be able to defend yourself once they start harassing you "legally."

Step two is easy....... if it's unincorporated land, thats the whole point......... you don't need permits etc to legally use your land.

Step three gets difficult and really why I don't think this will work.............. depending on what you want to shoot, you really need to think about what is callled a "safety fan" or impact area.
If you want to do this right, you'll need a impact berm of some sort but also a land buffer for ricochets etc which means buying more land.

Step four........... finding reasonably priced and relatively speaking a large piece (ie around 80-120 acres) land in an hour or so from Wheatridge is nearly impossible. You cant go West (way too much $), so East it is.

I know this defeats the purpose, in a way, but have you considered getting some friends together (with a GOOD LEGITIMATE SIGNED contract) to pool money and do it that way?
I mean, no offense, but you'll need some coin for this......... and do you have it? :)

PS........ Hunter also brings up a good point, fire restrictions are a thing and will come up from time to time.

You're gonna need a lot of land.

Your 200x1000 range is 41.3 acres. You'll want some buffer area as well. That much land within an hour or Wheatridge is going to very expensive if you go west.

Less so if you go east, but that is still going to be a large purchase.

Not to be a smart Alec but. 200x1000=200000sq ft 200000/43560=4.59 acres?

Also here on the west side, I recently followed a bit of a saga where neighbors shut down a range due to weekend "event" type get togethers were held. IE trap type shot gunning. They got that shut down for noise complaints. So yourself shooting on your own property even with noise was one thing but other people participating got it shut down here.

One idea, become close friends with a ranch owner? Build fence, help clean up property, etc etc. I have a couple places like that on this side that allow me to shoot that are semi set up ranges.

Well, the whole idea is to be away from people ( no offense), so no weekend get togheters...

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Originally Posted by D_F

Not to be a smart Alec but. 200x1000=200000sq ft 200000/43560=4.59 acres?

Also here on the west side, I recently followed a bit of a saga where neighbors shut down a range due to weekend "event" type get togethers were held. IE trap type shot gunning. They got that shut down for noise complaints. So yourself shooting on your own property even with noise was one thing but other people participating got it shut down here.

One idea, become close friends with a ranch owner? Build fence, help clean up property, etc etc. I have a couple places like that on this side that allow me to shoot that are semi set up ranges.

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Your math is just a little off, you calculated a range 200ft x 1000ft, the OP specified 200yds x 1000yds. [Beer]

Math is ok, my reading skills suck. LOL

The other problem beyond the above mentioned is the right topography.
My land is 1 mile by 1 1/2 miles. On many parts of it I cant see 1000 yards. I do have plenty of spots where I can easily see almost the whole mile and a half prone. You will more than likely be buying a minimum 80 acre parcel. 1/4x 1/2 mile. I doubt you will find may parcels that are the size you mentioned because that is so narrow. Finding anything in the mountains you can shoot 1000 yards I bet is very difficult anymore. Now head towards Deer Trail and its doable. Grover, New Raymer, etc up north. Good look with your search, there is plenty of land that fits your needs out east and up north.

Here's an example.................

https://www.land.com/property/74-acr...rado/21467931/

[hahhah-no]

BTW, is there any kind of maintenance legally required on private land (fire mitigation etc.)?

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Originally Posted by bellavite1

BTW, is there any kind of maintenance legally required on private land (fire mitigation etc.)?

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No, unless you have some agreement in place.

BTW, I did grab that piece of land pretty much at random........... but if you look at the topo map of the area......... it slopes west which means a better chance of getting a range in there, facing west the sun is more consistent (less shadows of the targets-shooting north would be the best though ), good space-- as in not some hinky jenky random weird piece that you can't get distance with.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bellavite1

BTW, is there any kind of maintenance legally required on private land (fire mitigation etc.)?

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You will probably be in litigation with some neighbors 1-2 miles away after the first year. All they need is a water sample showing there's an increase of metals in their well. I know there isn't, you know there isn't, hell they know there isn't. However with the abundance of liberal, tree hugging fuktards who scrwed CO years ago. The court and attorney cost for a meaningless lawsuit will bankrupt you.

Or even easier, the sound of gun fire traumatized an already unstable mental health issue from some cat lady who relocated from CA X year[s] ago due to the crime issues.

Forget it if the epa hobo's get involved, due to concerns over lead removal. For what you will spend buying the land, including travel time. Might as well join pawnee shooting sports outdoor range, which goes out to 1k yds. Is closed to the public , or used to be during the week. When i was a member there, we rarely saw anyone on the rifle / steel plate side weekdays.

I live just over an hour(in light traffic) northeast of you. I bought 40 acres southwest Morgan county in 2001 for $61,000. Quick search showed 36.7 acre lot nearby for $149,000 and it is not big enough or shaped to get range longer than 400yds.

Farm ground will usually be too large(unless to want to invest, buy, split, sell off some to pay for range land) and therefore too expensive and good home site land will be asking for too high price/acre to use as range land.

There is land available for reasonable price but it is going to be another 30-60 minutes out and going to take some effort to find. There is always land available that is not listed for sale.

Landowner will often let landman/realtor know he "might be willing/looking" to sell "to right person or circumstance" but not want it listed - gotta dig and put in some time for those.


If you're unarmed, you are a victim.

Oh well, it would have been nice...

Is this in your budget? LOL. Prob not, but lots of room for activities. I know the owner if anyone is interested. This land has been part of my playground for my entire life. (I'm not the owner, but had access)
https://www.mirrranchgroup.com/ranches/tolland-ranch/

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Originally Posted by colorider

Is this in your budget? LOL. Prob not, but lots of room for activities. I know the owner if anyone is interested. This land has been part of my playground for my entire life. (I'm not the owner, but had access)
https://www.mirrranchgroup.com/ranches/tolland-ranch/

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That is sweet.

I was going to buy it but my dog told me she needs at least 3500 acres.

I'd get some land in the mtns. It will be more than an hour away. Bugout land is the best. My favs are Lake County and Chaffee County. If it has an old mine, the better. Usually you can get water from an old mine. Distilling it will make it pure. Use Google Earth PRO for satellite images. Below is a random example. I am sure you can find cheaper if you look around.

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...=srp-list-card

Here is a solution that is cheaper...

Go to Chaffee County range on the weekdays.

Cost is an annual hunting / fishing license

Steel targets all over out to 650 yards...

Middle of the week you will be lonely there...