Looking to build a personal range.

[rmiddle]

I am in the process of moving to the state of TN from the state of Maryland.  At the begin of May we are heading to both Nashville and Chattanooga to look at housing.  I really want to have a small personal range to shot small caliber (.22lr, 9m, .45, and maybe .223/5.56) weapons at.  we are looking at property outside city limits so hopefully local ordinances wont be an issue.  Any county's or area's I should watch out for?  Anything I need to know or should know about building my own *personal range?  Such as min size of property.  Warning such as not within so many feet of building or a neighbors building etc?  Any hints from someone who has built there own personal ranges.

 

Thanks

Robert

 

*By personal range we are talking about 25 yards that 2 people can shot at mostly for handgun training.

 

 

[Raoul]

Buy in a rural area with no neighbors close. Check your local zoning department and possibly sheriffs office about legality.

If you do it and you piss off your neighbors you will have a problem.

And finally, check the area you're moving to and see if there's not a local range you could support.

[Trekbike]

You mentioned that you're looking at both Nashville and Chattanooga.  Are finding jobs in the equation or are you free to settle where it suits your taste?  

 

If you end up wanting something around Nashville, you will need to live outside of Davidson County if you are wanting something more rural.  Your finances will have some bearing on which surrounding county you chose along with other criteria you have.    Give us some more details and we should be able to give you some pointers.        

[rmiddle]

Buy in a rural area with no neighbors close. Check your local zoning department and possibly sheriffs office about legality.

If you do it and you piss off your neighbors you will have a problem.

And finally, check the area you're moving to and see if there's not a local range you could support.

 

I will likely go to a local range for the bigger stuff.  Just looking to mostly shoot .22lr and 9m/.45 handguns to keep myself sharp going to a local range for the long guns and shotguns.  Was looking more for hints on area's to watch out for.  In the State of Maryland there is one county were the process for doing a personal range doesn't look hard.  Sensible requirements on paper but one of these requirements is to get a permit from the county.  There has been only 1 said permit issues in the last 10 years and that was for the police range.  So on paper it looks pretty straight forward doing a personal range on your property until you actually try and build one.  The locals know this someone thinking about moving there from out of state wouldn't know this.  That is kind of information is what I am looking for.  

 

For a local example is Davidson County overall friendly to guns and personal property rights or not?  Davidson County includes Nashville and some of the surrounding area.  From my reading Nashville isn't really a gun friendly city.  Does that mean that all of Davidson County isn't gun friendly or is that limited to just within the city limits?  Larger city's seems to control the county they are part of.  If so I would bet doing something like a personal range might be hard inside Davidson County no mater what the local ordinances say and moving into that area wouldn't be a good idea for me.  These are things local would know and someone 1000 miles away wouldn't know.

 

Thanks

Robert

[rmiddle]

You mentioned that you're looking at both Nashville and Chattanooga.  Are finding jobs in the equation or are you free to settle where it suits your taste?  

 

If you end up wanting something around Nashville, you will need to live outside of Davidson County if you are wanting something more rural.  Your finances will have some bearing on which surrounding county you chose along with other criteria you have.    Give us some more details and we should be able to give you some pointers.        

 

My company has offices in both the Nashville and Chattanooga areas so I am limited to within around 45 mins of those 2 city's.  My wife current job has decided to close her office at the end of this month so she will be looking for work were ever we end up moving.  So jobs are a concern but not the only factor were we end up it will largely be based on what suits our taste.

 

Because my wife is losing her job we are looking to stay under 150k for our next home.  Based on some Real Estate website that looks doable but we will get a better feel when we are down in TN in a few weeks looking at actual places.  I am open to suggested area's but have only been in the area a few times so still learning the area.

 

In the Nashville area:

I have been warned to avoid the area's north of Nashville and much of the southern parts are tied up with Franklin and Brentwood.  Those look like nice area's but not what I am looking for.  So east and west of the city looks to be the best areas but it looks like West is still part of Davidson County and I have my concerns about living in that county and it sounds like I should have my concerns and should avoid Davidson County.

 

In the Chattanooga area:

I have been told that Soddy Daisy is some nice area and not heavily regulated.  Not sure about the rest of the area.  The prices in the area look to be lower but my main concern is the number of jobs in the area for my wife.

 

Thanks

Robert

[peejman]

Noise will be your biggest issue.  An adequate backstop will be the next most important.

 

My parents live in Soddy Daisy.  It's a nice little suburb of Chattanooga, and the sound of gun fire on a nice weekend isn't exactly unusual.  But as with most any area, you'll have to be outside the city limits to do any shooting. 

[Trekbike]

On the west side of Davidson county is Cheatham county.    You might want to check out Pegram and the Kingston Springs.   Those areas will be rural enough to have some land but they are starting to push it on a normal commute distance to downtown Nashville IMO.  

 

A little south of there is Fairview which is in the more rural and affordable area of Williamson county.  I know some do it, but for me, Fairview is too far if you have to commute to downtown Nashville for work.  

 

On the east side of Davidson is Wilson county so you might want to take a look a Mt. Juliet and further out is Lebanon.   That's not my area of town so I'll leave it to others to comment about Wilson county.   

 

Are you sending any kids to public school?   If so, that will weigh in on your best county choice.  

 

Regarding traffic, commuting to downtown Nashville stinks no matter what area you live so you might like it better around Chattanooga.   

[rmiddle]

On the west side of Davidson county is Cheatham county.    You might want to check out Pegram and the Kingston Springs.   Those areas will be rural enough to have some land but they are starting to push it on a normal commute distance to downtown Nashville IMO.  

 

A little south of there is Fairview which is in the more rural and affordable area of Williamson county.  I know some do it, but for me, Fairview is too far if you have to commute to downtown Nashville for work.  

 

On the east side of Davidson is Wilson county so you might want to take a look a Mt. Juliet and further out is Lebanon.   That's not my area of town so I'll leave it to others to comment about Wilson county.   

 

Are you sending any kids to public school?   If so, that will weigh in on your best county choice.  

 

Regarding traffic, commuting to downtown Nashville stinks no matter what area you live so you might like it better around Chattanooga.   

 

Personally I only go into the office around once a week but my wife is going to have to find a job and commute so I guess I need to map out some of these area to see how far out we are talking about.

 

No kids going to public schools so that isn't a factor in where we choose.

 

Thanks

Robert

[JWKilgore]

This is in regards to Chattanooga:

 

For a more rural experience I'd honestly suggest checking out north Georgia. A friend lives in Lookout Valley near Rising Fawn, another friend lives up on Sand Mountain, and another friend lives on Lookout Mountain. All are in rural areas, and two live on small farms. TN has the huge advantage of no income tax, but therefore it's more heavily populated in general. It'll be difficult to find enough land for a personal shooting range at your price point with a reasonable commute to downtown. Not saying impossible, just difficult.

 

For Tennessee, maybe look up on Signal Mountain/Walden Ridge. Maybe even Montlake, which is above Soddy Daisy. You'll face the difficulty of getting up and down the mountain for commuting, but some parts are very rural. There's a popular public range at Prentice Cooper, and by "popular" I mean "often crowded".

 

A friend lives in the Sequatchie Valley, which even more rural. It's in the Central Time Zone, and you have to either go up and over the mountain or go south through the Nickajack Pass to get to downtown. Commuting can be a bear, but she survives. If you can find some land that backs up to Walden Ridge or the Cumberland Plateau you'll have the best backstop nature can build.

 

Next would be the Harrison area in northern Hamilton County on the opposite side of the river from Soddy Daisy. Lots of farm/ranch land as long as you stay away from the river, and the existing Chattanooga Rifle Club is nice.

 

Finally would be way out east in the Apison area. Very rural with farms and ranches everywhere, but a fairly long commute. The Cleveland Hunting Rifle and Pistol Club is out there and is a good one. If you're sensitive about such things, the primary religion in the area is 7th Day Adventist (to the point where neighboring Collegedale is the only zip code in the USA where weekend mail is delivered on Sunday instead of Saturday, but that's only for the SA-University).

 

Incidentally, are you working downtown or elsewhere?

[herr.baer]

Congrats on your move. I am half way there. As soon as the house sells here in Maryland I will be on my way!!!!

[rmiddle]

This is in regards to Chattanooga:

 

For a more rural experience I'd honestly suggest checking out north Georgia. A friend lives in Lookout Valley near Rising Fawn, another friend lives up on Sand Mountain, and another friend lives on Lookout Mountain. All are in rural areas, and two live on small farms. TN has the huge advantage of no income tax, but therefore it's more heavily populated in general. It'll be difficult to find enough land for a personal shooting range at your price point with a reasonable commute to downtown. Not saying impossible, just difficult.

 

For Tennessee, maybe look up on Signal Mountain/Walden Ridge. Maybe even Montlake, which is above Soddy Daisy. You'll face the difficulty of getting up and down the mountain for commuting, but some parts are very rural. There's a popular public range at Prentice Cooper, and by "popular" I mean "often crowded".

 

A friend lives in the Sequatchie Valley, which even more rural. It's in the Central Time Zone, and you have to either go up and over the mountain or go south through the Nickajack Pass to get to downtown. Commuting can be a bear, but she survives. If you can find some land that backs up to Walden Ridge or the Cumberland Plateau you'll have the best backstop nature can build.

 

Next would be the Harrison area in northern Hamilton County on the opposite side of the river from Soddy Daisy. Lots of farm/ranch land as long as you stay away from the river, and the existing Chattanooga Rifle Club is nice.

 

Finally would be way out east in the Apison area. Very rural with farms and ranches everywhere, but a fairly long commute. The Cleveland Hunting Rifle and Pistol Club is out there and is a good one. If you're sensitive about such things, the primary religion in the area is 7th Day Adventist (to the point where neighboring Collegedale is the only zip code in the USA where weekend mail is delivered on Sunday instead of Saturday, but that's only for the SA-University).

 

Incidentally, are you working downtown or elsewhere?

 

Thanks for the breakdown will need to check out those area's.  I known the office is inside Chattanooga city limits because they use EPD for Internet service but based on maps from Google I doubt it is anywhere near downtown.  Based on the map it is about half way between the Airport and the Tennessee River on route 153.  I would put it in the North west part of the city.  Since it sound like you know the Chattanooga area pretty well what is the job market like in the area.  Stats only go so far it doesn't tell you if there is a large percentage who just stopped looking because there really isn't any jobs in the area or there are jobs in the area and most people who are looking are going to find them.

 

Thanks

Robert

[rmiddle]

Congrats on your move. I am half way there. As soon as the house sells here in Maryland I will be on my way!!!!

 

Glad for you.  I have been working on getting out of the state of MD since SB171 passed.  It has just taken me this long to get everything in place.  Looking forward to heading down there in May to look at housing.

 

Thanks

Robert

[Chris]

I'd get outside of Davidson County if you can... it's a blue island in a sea of red.