Shooting on own land! Should one feel guilty?

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I do as kraigwy as well and my setup seems to mirror his too. My neighbors don't mind the shooting within reasonable hrs.

I have backed off shooting since I found out the neighbor lady has had some severe health issue's and often times has trouble getting her rest. She'll sleep when she can.

If I want to do an extended shooting session, I will give her husband a call and kinda check out how wife has been feeling. If she has been having a good spell, I'll ask him if he thinks it would be alright to shoot. If she's been having a rough time, I don't even suggest it.
 
Pax said:
Kraigwy has the right of it: talk to your neighbors and be as respectful of their schedule as you reasonably can.
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To add further agreement...:D


This is absolutely correct. Talk to them, do your best to be respectful and be reasonable but, ultimately, if you're no being an intentional ass and you're legal... too bad for them.. because if you're being reasonable and respectful and they've still got an issue, they must be being unreasonable and disrespectful.
 
I live just inside the city limits. Neighbors in front and behind the house have property just outside the limits on which they shoot. One of them is 250 yards from behind my house to what I think is their shooting bench. I always wish they would invite me.

To be honest, though, from inside the house it is hardly audible unless they are shooting something loud, and outside it isn't that bad. I know it is gun fire, but it isn't loud enough to disturb me. Some of my neighbors' lawnmowers are louder from inside my house. I suspect your neighbors were less disturbed by the noise than what made the noise, unless they are really sensitive to sound.
 
My firing range is 1/4 mile from the only close neighbors. Asked if my shooting bothered them and they responded in the negative. The husband works 6 days per week and i seldom shoot there on Sundays; then only in the afternoon.
 
If you intend to be considerate. They need to be open to compromise.
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My suggestion: Consider your neighbors problem/s. Not that you have to take action to resolve their problems if you are in the Right. The four biggest problems you will encounter with home ownership where ever one decides to put down roots. Are those neighbors living on both sides and front & rear of your property. IMHO your in a tight spot Sir. No doubt about it.
 
I was going to suggest a rack with tires but someone beat me to the draw. ;) No big deal. When I lived in Nevada, a friend with property close to town had a tire set up and it worked reasonably well. The only concern he ever had was unburned powder accumulating and a possible fire but AFAIK he's still using it. FWIW, I left Nevada in August of 1979 because of a job transfer. It did cut the noise down by a noticable amount.
Paul B.
 
In an ideal world id say to make friends w them and have good communication. Like if they have a baby that sleeps in the afternoon or are going to have a special event or something it would be neighborly for you to not disturb them. Like if you had a dirt track car...id understand if you needed to rev it up once in awhile but would prefer if you didnt at 2am. If they dont want to be civil/social, then thats on them and do what you want within reason.
 
Suppressors are like good fences, they make good neighbors.

I don't use my lawnmower on the weekend, especially Sunday, so the neighbors get some quiet. Talk to your neighbors, see what they say.

But, definitely get a suppressor.
 
No, at a couple hundred yards away, depending on terrain it's only pops they hear.... I would respect traditional quiet times,
 
So what you're doing is legal. Now you're trying to be a good neighbor which is always a smart thing.

Make sure your range is safe.

Do your best to be courteous. Ask them if there are times that are better for them than others. Ask them if there are times that are particularly problematic. Don't shoot early in the morning or late at night.

Look into a setup for your range that will cut down on the noise. This can be as simple as setting up a bunch of tires in front of the shooting line and firing through them. They act as a sort of silencer. I've seen others who construct a box or tube with sound-proofing inside and shoot through that.

http://www.shootersforum.com/general-discussion/23982-backyard-shooting-range-noise.html
http://www.longrangehunting.com/for...-shooting-tube-range-noise-suppression-13851/
http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/showthread.php/30884-Personal-“shooting-range”-and-noise

Consider getting an actual silencer.

Something as simple as a strategically placed line of shrubs and a wall might help cut down on the noise that reaches them.

Make sure that they understand that you want to avoid disturbing them and will work with them within reason. If you do come up with any good ideas to cut down on the noise, be sure to let them know--maybe even invite them over to demonstrate.
 
yep as others had said. just talk to them. I tell them if for any reason it is interfering with their leisure time to either come over and/or call. We all don't get enough of that time so I have no problem stopping now and then.
 
Sounds to me like they are already unhappy with the situation. I would look at sound suppression. If you can't get NFA items for some reason, such as no CLEO sign off available, use the other methods mentioned. Anything not attached to the firearm is not an NFA device.

Mentioning your attempt to lower the noise probably isn't a bad idea. Offering to work around their schedule when possible probably isn't either.
 
Fortunate here. Neighbors also have ranges. One is an FFL.
Still, I won't shoot after dark or late.
 
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Enclosure?

I guess you could build an enclosure to shoot from that would absorb and redirect the sound. Just a thought.
Live well, be safe
Prof Young
 
Hopefully there's a tidbit of wisdom here, or at least an answer to your question.

I just bought my first house, out in the country, and I can comfortably shoot to about 100 yards. Everyone in my 'hood owns firearms, including my nearest neighbor, who is 83 yards up the hill from me. Before I met him, I noticed he had an NRA sticker on his truck. Seemed like he's the type of guy I want to meet. I was wrong.

About a month after moving in, I mosey up the hill because I heard him outside talking. I introduce myself, tell him I just moved in down the hill, etc. Without so much as a "Hey kid, damned glad to meet ya," he immediately breaks into a rant about "what's all the noise! we moved here to be quiet" blahblahblah. I explain that I'm a young collector and target shooter, and I like to shoot on my land. He just kept rubbing his hands together, repeating the same "I moved here to be quiet why is it so loud??". The worst part is, he never once looked me in the eye. That bothered me.

Anyway, I tried to explain that I try to be courteous about it. I never shoot on Sunday. Never shoot more than 20 centerfires. Never shoot before 2 pm or after 6pm. He wanted none of it. "What is all the noise, we moved here to be quiet, I own a gun, but what is all the noise?" Meanwhile, this guy runs chainsaws and weedeaters all day, and practices opera singing, so his noise is OK.

My blood started to boil, and I'm not proud of this, but I got a little belligerent. I said something along the lines of "OK buddy, well, it's my property, I try to be considerate, I'm here trying to be a friendly neighbor, and you're obviously unreceptive to an actual conversation, so you have a nice day." Here's my favorite part. As I was walking away, he brightened up and said "well thanks for coming by! let me know if you need anything!"
Yeah right, this phony bastard wouldn't douse me with water if I were on fire.

Anyway, here's what I took away from the experience-
-Just because they're gun owners, doesn't mean they're on our side.
-It's thoroughly impossible to please everyone, all the time.
-I'm more of a courteous person than I thought, because yes, I do feel a tad guilty for bothering him...but
-Generally, I'm apathetic to his woes. I'm not breaking the law, or causing a racket at all hours of the night. I will enjoy some harmless plinking in my country yard.
 
I happen to find myself currently in the position of no longer owning any real estate. I see myself rectifying that down the road, but shooting & guns are such a tremendous part of who I am, that while nothing is certain in this life -- I can say with confidence that the NEXT time I consider purchasing a home on piece of land, it will be with the intention of shooting on that piece of land. And if that's not possible, I don't see me all to interested in buying it.

To answer your question directly & specifically, I'm not sure if you should feel "guilty" or not, I can absolutely see where you are coming from. If I were you:

No, I would not be visiting 3 miles or 25 miles (or more) to a public range as an alternative. But I can tell you that I absolutely would be likely to open a conversation with my neighbors, especially the closest of them, and especially if they otherwise seem like decent, reasonable folks.

This is (really) one of my biggest fears of looking for a home to own in the future. I would actually like to do a short interview of the neighbors... to find out ahead of time what I might be up against. I could sit here and puff up my chest and spout about my "RIGHTS", but I'm a good guy. If I could find a place where the shooting (that I will absolutely be doing...) is somewhat less than a complete menace, I'm much more interested in going there.

As a side note, a buddy of mine had a 13-acre place a couple years back before, well, that went away. :( We specifically crafted a purpose-built shooting range on it and it was nearly a "dream come true" kind of private range, except for the fact that it was 50 minutes away from me and I didn't own it. The neighbors were cool with our shooting, but did ask us to suspend the shooting as we approached and were knee-deep in to deer hunting season. Quite simply, nobody liked the idea of spooking all the deer.

Me? I know less than squat about hunting except that I fully support it. Does massive amounts of recreational shooting through dang near all of the non-frozen months not scare deer away, generally? I have no idea. But when it was time to suspend the shooting at the general request of the neighbors, we were happy to do that.
 
kraigwy said
Anyway we learned to get along. She works at the coal mine, rotating shifts. She gives me her work schedule, when she's working nights and sleeping days. I work around that and wont shoot while she's napping.
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That's terrific. Not just the quoted part, the entire post. I feel me being in a similar situation -- I want to find a place the way you did and be THERE for the rest of my days, much of which... so I can shoot.

You do have it differently than the lion's share of the U.S. populace, however... :p You live in Wyoming. Man, if you can't find yourself a great place to shooting in Wyoming, Montana or one of the Dakotas... you just ain't trying hard enough! ;)

kraig, I hope you live a HECKUVA long life. Because I've got another good 30 years of work in me (I hope) but when I retire, I wanna come out that way, and I'll be looking for you to help me find a place! :cool:
 
I live in the sticks a basically just step outside my back door and I am at my shooting range. To my right, my nearest neighbor is 1/2 mile away and to my right my Brother-in-law is a few hundred feet away but he loves to shoot and joins me frequently. The problem is they are selling their house, I hope they sell to someone who appreciates what I do.
 
Things to consider:

Air rifles
Rimfire rifles
Noise abatement
A suppressor/silencer

I imagine that even a berm in between your house and theirs would help some of the noise.

Ask them if you can work out times to shoot that are good. If they're church-goers and you're not, Sunday mornings might work. Things like that.
 
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