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Club membership is all well and good, but it's hard to beat being able to step out the back door and sight in your hunting rifle.

sugar land dave wrote:

Rex B wrote:Years ago I spent some time with a guy that had an auto parts store in downtown Brownwood. After work one evening he asked me if I'd like to do some shooting. "I said "Sure!".
He took me across the alley intot he back door of a very old 2-story masonry building. Then we went downstairs, below street level. There he had a nice handgun range set up. You could not hear shots from outside. He said the local police borrowed it occasionally. As far as i could tell, that was the only reason he owned the building. Probably bought it cheap on a tax foreclosure.

Sounds like Massey Auto Parts? That would have been a long time ago.

Sounds right. This was 1993, owners name was Eddie, wife Jeanine?

Years ago I spent some time with a guy that had an auto parts store in downtown Brownwood. After work one evening he asked me if I'd like to do some shooting. "I said "Sure!".
He took me across the alley intot he back door of a very old 2-story masonry building. Then we went downstairs, below street level. There he had a nice handgun range set up. You could not hear shots from outside. He said the local police borrowed it occasionally. As far as i could tell, that was the only reason he owned the building. Probably bought it cheap on a tax foreclosure.

As to the original question, I think I'd make sure my new homesite is in an unincorporated area, and not likely to be annexed by some hungry city anytime soon.
Then I'd build my house. At the same time, have a 40x100 steel shop building built. Build your range into that.

Another alternative might be something like the rifle tube at Bass Pro.
Butt several lengths of big concrete tube at the corner of the house, opening to a corner of your basement.
the concrete could be partially or totally buried. Use the rectangular cross-section stuff and leave the top just above the dirt, and you have a driveway ;)
Have a standard bullet berm at the far end - angled steel plate over sand.
You also want a big exhaust fan at the far end pulling leaded air downrange and out.
This would be pretty quiet.