BWSA was so close to having an 850yd range. Ultimately, it was torpedoed by some members on the board who sought to undermine it being built (read: FUDDs). Using conservative estimates, it would have provided at least an additional $48,000 in profit to the club, which would not only have made it the most profitable aspects of BWSA but would have alone accounted for almost 20% of the clubs revenue. It is truly a shame that the range never got built. There was a huge outpouring of support for the range from the shooting community, so there is definitely a desire for this type of range in SE Michigan. O well, that ship has sailed.
I commend Oakland Tactical for moving forward with their plans and support it 100%. There is nothing "unsafe" about long range shooting. Arguably, it is the most safe form of shooting considering that almost all gun handling is done from a static prone position. The shooting community needs to have more of a backbone when it comes to advocating for ranges.
If anyone had a direct line to the folks at Oakland Tactical, send me a PM. I'm the moderator for a number of online precision rifle groups and can muster some resources to help drum up support for the range.
First of all MTC is awesome. Enough said!
The only issue with most folks (i.e., the major population centers in Michigan) is that MTC is a 3+ hour drive. This severely limits how often you can use the range. The reality is that most people cannot take a full day or multi-day trip to the range - work, family, life, and other demands just don't permit for it. However, if a long distance range was built within 1.5 hours of metro-Detroit, then you'd have a lot more people who participated in the sport. I mean seriously, on any given weekend I can shoot a 3-gun, pistol match, or shotgun matches within an hour of where I live. There's dozens of small ranges and sportsman's clubs in SE Michigan that host these matches. It's surprising that there isn't anything for the long range crowd in SE Michigan, because there is certainly a demand for it.
Some enterprising farmer needs to decide that selling memberships at $300 a piece (to a few hundred people) is worth the time and effort to put up some berms!
Unfortunately, it is not as easy as just that. First, you would have to get past the local zoning board, and all of the NIMBY people. Then you would have to get insurance, and find a way to monitor the use of the range. There are toooo many that think they can shoot LD, and have no practical ability at all.
Some guy that can't do better than 10~12 MOA at 100 yrs wants to "stretch" his rifle out, because he bought an Elk hunt out west. His spread could be 10~12 FEET at 1000 yrds, that is if he can figure out what his drop (or come-ups) are at that range. A guy that runs a range like that has to account for the lowest common denominator.
Life Member, NRA, Lapeer County Sportsmen's Club Disclaimer: I Am Not A Lawyer. Opinions expressed are not representative of any organization to which I may belong, and are solely mine. Any natural person or legal entity reading this post accepts all responsibility for any actions undertaken by that person or entity, based upon what they perceived was contained in this post, and shall hold harmless this poster, his antecedents, and descendants, in perpetuity.
Thanks for the education!
Someone has to be able to put in the leg work, but its not out of the realm of the obtainable. There are plenty of rural communities that would probably welcome such a club (for the additional tax revenue and/or patronage of existing businesses). Its weird working with these rural communities (which I've done for Wind Farms and Medical Marijuana zoning), some are all about new business coming to town, others close their doors. It just depends. Anything in Oakland county is going to be a tough sell, but not impossible. I think from a community perspective, it would certainly be better to open sportsman's club with a long distance range than a long distance range only. You'd also be able to take advantage of a non-profit status, get wildlife easements, other grants, etc.
Also the phantom worry about people not being able to shoot long distance is a red hearing. It's simple, vet your members and hold them accountable, and have redundant safety features. Same thing every range does (MTC included). Make them take a class, qualify, etc. This isn't a hard concept to wrap your head around. Note, since I've been involved in the shooting sports and probably shot a few hundred different matches (shotgun, pistol, rifle, 3-gun, long range, etc.) I have never seen an accident occur at a long distance match or on a long distance range - the positions are just too static. I have seen numerous accidents occur when people are holstering their sidearms though or at ""skeet leagues"" where drinking is involved. Unsafe gun handling is unsafe gun handling, and you can never fully account for the lowest common denominator (otherwise you wouldn't run a shooting range at all). Ohio has three long distance ranges, to the best of my knowledge, none of them have any issues.
The logistics will be a nightmare. To build a range at minimum will have to strictly adhere to US Military and NRA range layout, fan, impact zone and beyond berm design rules. Finding tracts of land in SE MI where farm land sells for $4000 - $6000+ an acre in a large enough tract is going to take some deep pockets even before the lawyers spend years fighting to get zoning and govt approval. Long gone are the days of buying 20 or 40 acres and forming a shooting club and range. People are afraid of bullets period. There is always a chance that one can and will get away. There is also a pretty good chance that some idiot will buy land directly beyond your impact area if you don’t own that land and build a house.
Vetting and qualifications are fine and dandy and fail miserably at their goals all of the time. Without physical constraints (baffles, tubes, etc) there is always the opportunity to put one over the berm or out the side. Slam fires can and do happen.
SE Michigan is just too congested for something like this to be feasible IMO. I hope I am wrong. I hate having to drive 4 hours to Camp Grayling and MTC to shoot MRPA LR. Or 3 hours to Alliance in Ohio.
I'm not attacking anyone in particular, but the tone of some of the post in this thread are pretty unremarkable. Gun owners need to nut the **#$ up and stop whining about why something shouldn't happen - and instead - step aside, and let those with the resources and wherewithal to build a 1,000 yard range pursue that project. Better yet, instead of standing in the face of progress, try supporting such an endeavor by signing a petition or writing a letter. I don't see how having another gun range in SE Michigan (any gun range) is a bad thing. The collective "we" as gun owners need to support the shooting sports and ranges as a matter of policy in order to change public perception and bring more people into the fold.
Just my two cents . . .
What I am saying is that the safety of anyone and everyone inside and outside of a range needs to be priority #1. If you can’t guarantee that with some degree of certainty you need to put means in place to mitigate risk to an acceptable threshold for the public at large (IE Govt and Lawyers). Everything else is secondary. The days of being grandfathered are over. Any new range is going to have to pass strict scrutiny by any number of alphabet entities that wish to have a say in it.