The top target shooters spend hours honing their skills on the shooting range improving their accuracy. If you’re ready to develop your own skills, take a look at what you need to know about building a shooting range at your home.
You Don’t Need 10,000 Hours of Practice
You’ve probably heard the theory that it takes 10,000 hours of training to become an expert at something. Well, it turns out that researchers don’t believe you need anywhere near that many hours to master a skill. Instead, scientists argue it isn’t just the number of hours spent practicing that makes the difference, it’s the amount of time you spend on focused practice.
You can vastly improve your skills with a firearm if you’re willing to spend focused time working on each element of your shooting on a firing range. Most of you likely have access to shooting ranges in your community, but if you’re lucky, you can set up a custom range in your backyard.
Check Out Shooting Ranges Near You
There is a fantastic variety of places for you to practice your sport. Public and private organizations operate both indoor and outdoor shooting ranges for people with all levels of experience and skill. The National Shooting Sports Foundation lists shooting range offerings throughout the United States on its WhereToShoot website.
Shooting ranges are becoming very popular due to both a rising awareness of the health benefits of shooting and the increasing requirements for concealed carry permits. The average range offers a selection of courses including
- Women’s self-defense
- Concealed carry permit
- NRA Firearms Safety Course
- NRA Basic Pistol Course
It’s a great idea to visit several ranges to find one that fits your style. One of the best reasons to spend time at a gun range is the chance to work with experts in the field. Choose a gun range that has upfront and reasonable prices, sells ammo and safety equipment, has a variety of target experiences depending on ability, and offers expert assistance.
In addition to formal shooting ranges, look for public lands near you that allow firearms. A great perk to shooting on public areas is that you’ll have the chance to practice long-range shooting before the start of hunting season. Reacquainting yourself with your rifle scope before you take your first deer hunting trip of the season is a sure way to make sure that you’re ready to hunt.
Read the Making the Most Out of Shooting on Public Land on the NRABlog before you grab your rifle and ammo box for a day trip to federal and state-owned land.
Is a Backyard Shooting Range a Possibility for You?
Have you exhausted everything that your local ranges offer? Are you yearning to construct your shooting range? Before you do anything, you’ll need to answer two essential questions.
1. Is a home shooting range legal in your community? The NRA-ILA website is an excellent place to start researching gun laws in your area.
2. Do you have enough acres for a safe gun range? Let’s be honest; you probably can’t build a shooting range in your half-acre suburban backyard. However, a large rural lot could work perfectly.
What Type of Home Setting Works for You?
Assuming that a home gun range is legal in your community and you own a large enough piece of land, the next thing you’ll need to think about is what type of setting works best for your needs. Do you want an indoor or outdoor environment?
The benefit of an indoor shooting range is that you won’t need as much land. An indoor target range is an excellent place to focus on the mechanics of target shooting. There’s no doubt that your skills at hitting a target will improve the more that you practice in your indoor range. A downside of an indoor target range is that you probably won’t get much practice firing from multiple positions at moving targets.
An outdoor range gives you an opportunity to spread out and practice with a wide variety of target placements. Outdoor spaces make it possible to hone your long distance rifle skills in time for hunting and competition seasons. An outstanding benefit of building a shooting range outdoors is the ability to keep changing out the target set-ups to challenge your shooting skills.
Find An Inspiring Shooting Range Design
Perhaps the best reason to create a custom shooting range is that you can keep your range so exciting that you’ll eagerly practice on it. Here are some fun locations to find ideas for building a shooting range that will delight you and your friends.
- Pinterest: Forget all of those stories you’ve heard about Pinterest only targeting suburban moms who want to decorate their homes! Pinterest is chock full of awesome ideas for designing a custom shooting range.
- YouTube: Check out some of the DIY videos. Personal shooting range owners share a ton of expertise in these instructional videos.
- Local gun store: Head into your favorite local gun store for assistance with your shooting range design. You’ll receive experienced advice and the joy that comes from chatting about shooting with a fellow firearms enthusiast.
Building a shooting range might be the best thing that you can do to encourage the consistent practice necessary to improve your skills. With a little bit of research, creativity, and effort you can grab your favorite firearm and shoot off a few hundred practice rounds from the comfort of your own home.
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