What does it take to open a Range

[G.C.Montgomery]

What Laws, Insurance ect, do you need to open your own range?

I haven't looked through all the replies but since this is a current project for me, are you talking about a commercial range or just a private berm in your backyard? If it's a commercial range, are you thinking indoor or outdoor? I can throw a thousand more questions at you that will either make you run and hide or sit down and do some serious planning. A range is no small project even if it's an outdoor range. There are federal EPA and OSHA regulations to consider as well as local and county ordinances that will vary from one location to another. It looks like you guys already found that 50acres is the magic number to prevent encroachment by a local government.

[TheBrit]

Um, so if you have an 11-acre range in the county, and the nearby town expands and annexes your property, you are now subject to regulation and they could shut you down? My assumption was that you'd want a plot of land large enough to eliminate being hassled. (Well, any more than necessary, anyway.)

Any land a city annexes does not automatically fall under the restricted uses a city imposes. A range would be grandfathered in.

Here is an interesting point that turns your statement on its head. My county recently passed an ordinance restricting shooting on tracts of land less than 10 acres, BUT my city does NOT have such a restriction. So being annexed by my city would allow you to shoot on land less than 10 acres.