How much land do you need to shoot?

[moredes]

A lot will depend on the local municipality, your new neighbors, and the manner in which you become acquainted with them.

I bought 7 acres in MS, and I'm surrounded on 3 sides by neighbors and on the 4th side, I only have one neighbor. One of the main reasons I bought as much land where I did was so I could shoot on my land with impunity. The first thing I did was consult with the county clerk (known as the Chauncery Clerk down here) to find out where the unincorporated areas were. In unincorporated areas, there are supposedly no laws prohibiting me shooting, but I double-checked that with the Sheriff's Dept before I focussed my search in different locations.

Then I told the real estate agent what I intended, and had her looking for land that had the correct "lay"--oriented in the right geographic direction (ideally, you want to shoot towards the north, so you have sun on your target most of the day, without shadow), and high ground at the end of my northern property line. We didn't fulfill either of those requirements--I ended up building a berm (NRA minimums are 10' high on the sides, if you have any--which would help abate noise, a little--and 15' as a target backstop).

Once I'd bought the land, I went to all the neighbors and introduced myself. There are 9 immediate neighbors around my property. Three of them objected to the idea of my shooting, but I explained that I was an experienced shooter, and I would be shooting away from their direction (true in all cases--don't lie--it could get legal), into a berm I would have built according to NRA recommendations. Noise was the main objection for most people. My closest neighbor to my 200yd shooting bench objected mildly to the idea of me shooting .308's 200yd from his house. Safety wasn't the issue with him because he knew I'd be on the edge of my property shooting away from him--he objected to the likely noise. I offered to shoot on specific days, at specific times--I also told him I would be building a giant silencer to quell the .308 rifle discharges. (I built it with scrap R-19 insulation, old tires, and a couple of old scrap frames I found at a closed Target store.) The "silencer" is effective enough that I can shoot the .308 without ear protection--it's quieter than a .22. All this took a lot of time, visits, work, and some extra and unanticipated money, but...

No one has complained, and I shoot .308's about 4hr / day twice a week, and IDPA-type drills (100-400rounds) once a week. Once a neighbor and I met at the mailbox, and he asked if I could change shooting days because his schedule changed, but that's it. No one's ever "come pounding on the door". I think it's all in how you get your neighbors to understand that you're willing to cooperate with them (at least, they think you are); several others in the neighborhood have taken up shooting since I moved here. It used to be that I was the lone shooter, but now I can hear practice gunfire sometimes in the "near distance".

Edited September 2, 2007 by moredes