Texas is big. Real big (no offense to our Alaskan brethren).

Even so, there's virtually no public land available, and on the public land that there is, there's no chance to shoot. That leaves ranges. Yuch. Boring. My brother-in-law has a friend with a 100 acres where we can go shoot, but I can't go as often as I like for fear of abusing my priviledges.

Arrrgh. At this rate, an ammo stash of 2000 rounds will last me a while.

Where do ya'll shoot ?

On private land or at one of the ranges in this area.

Private land ownership is a big thing in Tejas because:

1)folks way back in the early days came here mostly for land (and/or to get away from their debts in TN or AL).  After the freedom fighters kicked Santa Anna's behind, the new gov't was big on giving away grants for multiple sections (one square mile) of land to those who served.  Lots of other land was already spoken for, having deeds that could be traced back to Spanish land grants.  As a result, there's not very much state-own land hereabouts.

2) since TX was once an independent republic, there's very little land owned by the feds.  Contrast this to Nevada where something like 80% of the surface is federally owned.  

I'll take Texas any day.

yeah in texas my self now, originally from good ole Utah where most land is BLM. we would just take a bunch of rifles and drive 5-10 minutes and be miles away from anyone and shoot for hours.

We own a nice hunk in mid and north texas.  Yall are welcome to come and shoot whenever you want.. hell.. i set up homemade targets and shoot all day.

Welllllll - I'd never turn that down. I'm in Austin. How close is your mid-Texas range from me ?

Same prob in fl.There is a lot of open land but try and go shooting on it.I go to a pretty good range with 300-200-100 yrd range's plus shot gun,plinking(for f/a)pistol etc.I work night's so it's usealy pretty empty in the morn.BUT,the range nazi's can be a real pain in the ass.arizona,here i come.

i'm going to buy some acreage in texas. how many acres do you need to have a nice shooting area? not anything to hunt on, but a place to take the family shooting.

Good luck. I've been confronting this very problem with no great luck so far.

Land in the East Texas / Smith county area seems to go for $700 - $1000 per acre, which puts a decent plop of 100 acres out of my reach.

Public WMAs tend to have tons of restrictions on dates/times since they are really hunting oriented.

I have yet to find anywhere to shoot other than the range. Let me know if you manage anything.

I thank my lucky stars that I have family land to shoot on here. Other than that, the outdoor ranges are few and far between here in NC.  The summer sucks in the fields where I shoot though (heat, humidity, flies, skeeters, snakes) but from about October-April I have a blast.

i hail from lexington tx. about an hour from austin.  Im serious about yall shooting out there whenever you want.  here we have around 250 acres with no neighbors for more than 3 miles in most directions.  If you come, be of sound mind, i dont want any richocets killen my friends livestock.
We have several places to do some serious shooting.. I would like to build up some dirt backstops but i dont have alot of time.. Im usually busy building motocross track.
we have some dams and some feilds that are longer than most shots youll ever take.
anyway if your really serious, (im not saying this is a professional range, just open land... you can hunt anything but deer including coyote which run for $20 bucks bounty.)
heres my email - [email protected]

zhukov, I'm also from Austin.  I moved here several years ago from El Paso.  The sad part is that I used to have to go to New Mexico to shoot (lots of open land out there).  If I come across a place out here, I'll let you know.

Man I would love to take you up on that, but it is quite a drive from Smith county... about 5 hours / 200 miles one way. May do it anyway though.

i shoot in my back yard (i live in the country). or if i want to go longer range we go to one of our hunting club dirt paths, its about a 20min drive

someone is always home. well leave the lights on for ya.
I forgot to mention, my dad is a certified shotgun instructer for shooting clubs, so he built a little trap operation, its not the best but it works, and its pretty difficult.

I'd really like to shoot against some of you (ar-15), i practice all the time (about 4 times a week).  just like to see how a young un' (im 18) holds up against some of ya old farts.