Quoted:
If you're talking fees/insurance, then I guess that's why noone's done it before.  If you're talking building costs, then I'm sure you're wrong.

Please expand.

Quoted:
I wish the OP good fortune but encourage caution.


Most all aspects of the firearms business are risky and difficult above the general pitfalls of trying to start any business .

Most folks entertaining the thought of starting a firearms business are by definition "gun nuts" . Just because you or I don't blink at spending
a certain percentage of our discretionary income for our love of firearms doesn't mean that firearms are really all that important to the general public .

To most people firearms and shooting are nothing but a hobby and when the economy is tough that money is spent elsewhere.

Creating a new range facility is very costly and has a laundry list of expensive potential problems.

Anyone who has the ability to raise money or credit to properly start and run such a business might find less risk and greater potential profit with any number of different businesses.

Knowing guns is one thing , knowing the gun business is something quite different

Quoted:
While living in the barracks, one of my biggest pet peeves was having my personal rifle in the arms room.  I never once was able to fire it the entire time I had it with me at drum.
I have a dream of solving that.
My dream is to have a gun range close to an active duty base (probably campbell) with on sight weapon storage where for a monthly fee; say, $10-20, a soldier (or civilian if they really wanted to) could store weapons.  Not sure if this is legally feasible, or how it would work

I would probably work with the mp's to ensure every weapon was registered on base

My three ideas are this
1.  Have a large vault with lockers inside, and each person gets a locker

2.  Have multiple high class gun safes  

3.  The vault idea, except I retrieve and store the weapons, and it's set up with weapon racks rather than lockers.

It could be done, but you would need a FFL for starters just to store the firearms. This concept (other than gun storage) exists at Ft Bragg (Jim's and Guns plus), both are indoor. Both stores overcharge for everything. Zoning and safety/EPA/insurance requirements alone are enough to give you a nosebleed.When i lived in the barracks (at Campbell) I kept my guns at my boss's house, in my safe in his garage (except the handguns I kept hid in my team room lol). Also Campbell isn't that large of a post in terms of personnel, which would be your client base. When I was there (1990s) I shot at my friend's property in Sango or at a old gravel pit in Woodlawn.

I'd probably have rifle range up to or exceeding 300m, pistol range to 75m, shotgun range with traps in a sandpit so you could destroy stuff i.e. an old laptop that frustrated the hell out of you, and a mil-spec pop up range so soldiers could practice their marksmanship-that would probably cost a per use premium.
I would also probably rent class 3 weapons out eventually.

Ideas? comments? information?