New from Illinois, How to build a homeowners range?

[Douglas Page Chapman Sr]

Hello One & All,

I have been wandering around in cyber space as of late attempting to bring myself up to speed with the latest gun owners issues?

First an introduction, I'm a RETIRED TEAMSTER in the Chicago Illinois area. 36 years in the Teamsters got me a great pension combined with SS insures a comfy life for Saint Wanda and me.

My interests are, RELIGION, HISTORY, WOODWORKING, MOTORCYCLING, BUILDING, LABOR LAW, GUNS, and a few others.

I am researching how to... build a home shooting range that can be done correctly and as reasonable as possible. I'll be shooting an old, old 12 Guage, an old old, .22 squirrel rifle, a Taurus .357, a Smith ad Wesson 9mm, a.380 Bryan Jennings, and a new RUGER RS40c.

My property is 200' wide, x 600' deep. I am planning on a 4' deep x 8' wide, x 6' high, backstop area shooting towards the back of my detached garage. My logic is that I will contain each and every round fired to our property. My latest thought is to create a 2' x 6' x 4' high x 1/4" thick bullet catcher in frot of a solid stone wall made of interlocking 8" deep x 8" wide x 4" thick stone behind the above mentioned bullet catcher. In addition the inside of the stone will have sandbags stacked along both inside and back stone walls.

It may seem like over kill, (PUN INTENDED) however, over the last 35 years I have had my share of problems with the local county land use, will county building and zoning, and yes the Illinois State Police, and Will County Sheriff's Department. So far I have managed to come out on top of the above mentioned entities and would like to keep it that way.

Thanks in advance and any and all suggestions will be greatly appreciated,

Regards,

Doug Chapman

[ogilvyspecial]

Hello Doug & welcome aboard from Michigan!!

[Hobie1]

Welcome Doug.

1'st question: do you live in a rural area? 2'nd: any neighbors nearby? 3'rd: Have you checked on your area's zoning? 4'th: Is this an outdoor or indoor range as you mention shooting to the back of your detached garage? If indoor you'll need adequate ventilation.
A 6' tall backstop won't keep an accidental discharge contained if it's let off while the gun's elevated. A .22 round can be dangerous at a 1/2 mile or more. A 12 guage shot-gun makes lots of noise as well as a .357. A stone backstop has the potential of having a round come back at you. I see you mentioned sand bags which would help with that.
Hope it all works out for you.

[S&W Oldtimer]

Welcome from Va.

[novalty]

Greetings from Maine. Welcome aboard!

[24spenser]

They still have those funky FOID cards there?

[C Islander]

Welcome from an Ohio retired teamster!!

[deralte]

Doug, welcome from North Carolina. Good luck on your project.

[pawncop]

Welcome from Texas Doug. Great forum for all things S&W, have fun, learn lots, share what you know.

Best of luck, I doubt if I can help very much at all as I am not familar with Ill. state requirements. (My gut reaction is there will be a bunch of hoops for you to jump through.)

[Hobie1]

Did a little googling and here's a link to different sites that may help you accomplish your goal:

Google

The link's safe, I use a little app called Tinyurl to compress the actual link down to less than 3 pages.

Hobie

[Biker Bill]

Greetings and welcome to the forum from Wisconsin!

[Hobie1]

Doug? Are ya out there?

[vytoland]

welcome to S&W. glad you are here.

regarding your firing range, step one is .....get the blessing of the Illinois State Police, and Will County Sheriff's Department.

step 2.......get the necessary permits from your local zoning and building commission.

good luck

[2fingers]

Welcome to the forum from central Illinois, Glad to have another in state person here.

[fyimo]

Welcome to the forum from Arkasas