New 1,000 yd range in Brazoria County

[bobby.neal]

My name is Bobby Neal I am the owner operator of Neal's Gun Works in Hitchcock, Tx. I am interested in opening a 1,000 yd shooting range in Brazoria County, TX near Houston. The range will have shooting lanes from 100yd to 1000yds and in the future maybe a pistol range as well. I need 150 investors/club members that would be willing to invest $1,000 to get this project off the ground. The annual dues for the 150 members would be between $350 & $500 depending on how the membership wants to invest its money. It would be a non profit organization. Any earnings would either be invested into the facility or distributed amongst the members. 1,000 yd ranges are few and far between. This is your chance to get in on the ground floor of something great for the shooting community. 409-370-1946
Please understand that this is an investment not a loan to me. I am not asking for money for personnel gain. I am a working man like everyone else. I already have 26 people signed up. Each member will own his or her spot and will have the freedom to sell, lease or rent their spot as they see fit. So long as their renters or buyers are legaly able to own a firearm and shoot responsably. There will be a set of rules and the members will vote on these rules. My intention is to mimic the rules of bayou rifle or some other long range club. But at the end if the day the initial startup rules will be voted in by the members. And for those concerned with not knowing me personnely, all i can say is, if you want expensive things and you can't afford them on your own you have to partner up. And friends arn't typically good business partners.

 

[whysman]

I agree that 1000 yard ranges are few and far between, even in Texas. The thing is, there is a great 1000 yard range in Houston already (courtesy of Bayou Rifles).

Now, if you want to establish one in San Antonio, you have my attention.

 

[bobby.neal]

If your in the san antonio area and want a 1,000 yd range. Try something like i'm trying. It's not easy to do but nothing worth doing ever is. And once it's done you'll be proud of the achievement and will have made a huge contribution to your local shooting community. It will open up many more operatunities for Palma and FClass shooting here in Texas.

 

[Erik Cortina]

If your in the san antonio area and want a 1,000 yd range. Try something like i'm trying. It's not easy to do but nothing worth doing ever is. And once it's done you'll be proud of the achievement and will have made a huge contribution to your local shooting community. It will open up many more operatunities for Palma and FClass shooting here in Texas.

So you will have pits just like Bayou rifle club?

If you do all this, you will be competing with Bayou rifle club which is an established club already. I think building it somewhere else in TX would be a better idea. We have two 1,000 yard ranges in TX currently, Bayou Club and West Texas rifle club in Midland, TX.

 

[kcomeau10x]

I am pretty sure that membership in Bayou Rifles is hard to come by. If this new range were available, even if I had to pay to use it, then I would certainly be there every chance I had. And I live in Louisiana! I have relatives that live nearby so it would be a win-win for me. Given the population in that part of Texas, I think that a second range would do well.

 

[Joe R]

If you do all this, you will be competing with Bayou rifle club which is an established club already. I think building it somewhere else in TX would be a better idea.

Bobby,
Erik knows what he's talking about.

Bayou rifle has been operating in Brazoria county since 1946 has over 2,000 members (including me) with a long waiting list. Its yearly dues are $140 and no investment or start-up expenses are required.

We have a 1K yds match every 1st Sunday of the month and intermediate range match (300 or 600 yards) on the 3rd Sunday of the month. Come and visit us you'll get a better understanding of what you'll be competing against.

Kindest regards,

Joe

 

[Berger.Fan222]

Bayou Rifles is a good thing.

Competition is also a good thing.

I think SE TX can support a second 1000 yard rifle range, especially since LA only has one (up near Shreveport) and TX only has two. How far E on the I-10 corridor do you have to go until you hit another 1000 yard range?

 

[snakepit]

Bayou rifle has been operating in Brazoria county since 1946 has over 2,000 members (including me) with a long waiting list. Its yearly dues are $140 and no investment or start-up expenses are required.

Joe

I agree with you that Bayou is a great club if not the best club in Texas and it has a 1000 yd range but like you said it has a long waiting list so maybe those shooters on the waiting list and others would be able to have a place to shoot up to 1000 yds. I do not think this new range would siphon shooters away from Bayou whose membership seems to always be full but just give others a place to shoot at 1000 yds. Just curious, if someone put their name on the Bayou waiting list today how long do you think the wait time would be for them to become a member of the Bayou Club.

 

[ShootDots]

Getting TOO close to Bayou Rifles will hamper your growth. However, if you had matches that DID NOT coincide with Bayou, you would get shooters to show up for matches. I go nearly every month to Beaumont (Golden Triangle Gun Club) for their shoot. The 2nd weekend of the month at Bayou is used for XTC matches. No F-Class matches that weekend. Also, as I stated, I go to Beaumont for a 600 yard match. That is the 4th Saturday of the month. If you held Long-Ranges matches on those weekends, you would get F-Class shooters from Bayou to attend your L/R matches. Those are things to be thought about IF you plan on being close to Bayou Rifles.

 

[Joe R]

snakepit
Just curious, if someone put their name on the Bayou waiting list today how long do you think the wait time would be for them to become a member of the Bayou Club.

Hi Snakepit,
Gaining entry into Bayou Rifle is not difficult if you get creative or have a member that can alert you when the new member signup period is open. I joined a few months after I found the club and just last year helped a friend join at his first try. However the new member list is open for only a couple of hours before its closed again, so its not really easy for a new guy without an inside connection that can alert him when the list is open.

However, I do believe that our Directors should allow for larger membership growth because more members would mean more money with which the club could improve and expand. We have lots of unused land. The more members the more political clout the club would have and maybe we could even convince Brazoria County to pave the Juluff Manvell road. The way I see it, it seems silly to be turning people away that want to give the club money.

I also agree that competition is good and would give more opportunities to shoot. But the costs mentioned earlier may not be feasible/justifiable for some guys.

 

[jimbo88mm]

If your in the san antonio area and want a 1,000 yd range. Try something like i'm trying. It's not easy to do but nothing worth doing ever is. And once it's done you'll be proud of the achievement and will have made a huge contribution to your local shooting community. It will open up many more operatunities for Palma and FClass shooting here in Texas.

So you will have pits just like Bayou rifle club?

If you do all this, you will be competing with Bayou rifle club which is an established club already. I think building it somewhere else in TX would be a better idea. We have two 1,000 yard ranges in TX currently, Bayou Club and West Texas rifle club in Midland, TX.

Best of the West north of Austin has a 1000 yard range, although it's just steel targets.

 

[snakepit]

Best of the West north of Austin has a 1000 yard range, although it's just steel targets.

I have been to the Best Of The West north of Austin and was disappointed to find out that their 1000 yd range is only for shooting at their steel targets and I was not even able to go down range to view those up close. It is only good for plinking and not much else. Not much information to be gained when shooting at that 1000 yd course as it does not really meet the criteria of the majority of shooters on this forum.

 

[whatwind?]

I am in for a range on I-12 in Louisiana

 

[andre3k]

snakepit
Just curious, if someone put their name on the Bayou waiting list today how long do you think the wait time would be for them to become a member of the Bayou Club.

We have lots of unused land. The more members the more political clout the club would have and maybe we could even convince Brazoria County to pave the Juluff Manvell road. The way I see it, it seems silly to be turning people away that want to give the club money.

I would love to see the board use some of that land to find a way to integrate long range steel targets. Right now that doesn't seem possible with the way the berms and pits are setup.

I think that another private club would have a long list of people waiting to sign up given that we are in a large metro area that lacks many places to shoot long range. Simply offer something that Bayou doesn't. Bayou is oriented to the NRA shooting disciplines. Offer something oriented towards 3 gun and Tactical precision rifle shooting (long distance at unknown ranges). I think it would do fine. There's enough shooters in and around Houston to keep any range busy.