Indoor gun range business?

[ToyotaMan]

This idea came from my wife on our way home from the gun range today. The gun range is really just a junk filled drainage retention pond out in the middle of an as yet undeveloped housing subdivision. The spot is really quite a mess with broken tv's, computers, trash, old shells and weeds all over the place. And my wife likes to go shooting with me, except for having to shoot at this place.

So, she mentioned that maybe I could start an indoor gun range in our county. We don't have any gun range, indoor or outdoor, and so there is a possibility that there is a market for it.

But how would someone go about starting a business of this type? If it is indoor, could you start the business just like any other or would you have to go through any type of special regulations because it is a gun range?

I've never been to an indoor gun range so I don't know how they are run as far as member fees or daily or hourly fees. But I know how to start and run a businesses books and people. So I definitely could get it started.

What do ya'll think?

[Glkster19]

It's a great idea, if you have alot of money to get rid of. I looked into it several years ago. Ventilation system alone was like $250k. Special bullet stops, bulletproof glass depending how you set it up, etc. Would've been alot of money. Throw in things like insurance and utilities in running the vent system and even after you're open, you still have hefty monthly bills. NRA website does have good info on it though.

[peter3334]

NRA website does have good info on it though.

Right, check out the NRA websight,
also ...
travel around to your nearest indoor ranges.
ph.

[ToyotaMan]

I did look on the NRA website but I could not find any mention of this topic. Can anyone provide a link?

[Glkster19]

http://www.nrahq.org/shootingrange/


It's a start

[Everest]

I'm trying to do the same thing in Texas....If you go through with it and don't want to actually have a gun shop you should think about building a large enough building so that you can rent/lease space to an FFL holder. That way you will have a source of income to offset expenses until you get enough paying users at the range. It also will help if you have a well known gunsmith with experience in the gun shop.