Are these legal in Virginia? I looked at a house in NoVa the other day, custom build job, and found something very interesting. The house is still in construction, but in the finish out process. When they poured the concrete for the foundation, they accidentally poured it in the wrong place originally, so they left the original incorrect wall, and repoured the correct wall about 7 feet closer in. They used 1 foot thick concrete all the way around. Now the builder was smart enough to save this space for storage or whatever, so it's finished out. What's nice about it, was that it was 7 feet wide and 42 feet long, and straight. Perfect for a pistol range if you wanted it.  He also built a wine cellar into the basement using 1 foot thick concrete for all the walls and ceiling, which I think would work better as a safe with a vault door on it.

Thoughts? Legality? Special zoning?

Probably depends upon the location.

I've been looking at relocating to Orange or Louisa counties.

The municipal codes of each site exemptions for residential-based shooting ranges, but these are outdoors, I believe.

Here's a link to the municipal codes of Virginia counties.

Municipal Codes

btw: If anyone lives in Madison county and knows where I can get a copy of their codes, I'd appreciate the input.  Madison County's codes are not on the liked site, and their Zoning Department has not answered my email of last Sunday.

I'd be concerned about lead.

It's always wise to obey the law.

I don't know that occasional use by yourself would ever be noticed or dangerous (lead).

Makes me miss the farm I grew up on .... not enough to go and work it tho ...

Sounds like little to no fresh air ventilation, meaning lead build up would be an issue.

I doubt anyone would know if you were shooting down there, but if they found out when you went to sell the property you would be responsible for some serious lead remediation.

42 feet long would make a great air gun range, without the lead hazard.

It's in your basement, your business. Now if your neighbors can hear you that might be an issue, but what .gov doesn't know won't hurt them. I'd say that is reason enough to get a suppressor for a pistol and a 22 and shoot all you want in the basement. Set up some kind of ventilation to keep the crap out of your lungs.

BTW. YOU SUCK!

I cannot speak to the legal aspects, but, as for lead;

The solution is simple:

Frangible, Non-toxic ammunition.

It is made in all the popular pistol calibers.

It is more expensive than regular ammo, but, there are no lead or riccochet hazards.