Shooting Range

A shooting range, gun range, firing range, or shooting ground is a specialized venue, facility, or field designed for firearm usage qualifications, practice, training, or competitions. Indoor shooting ranges are generally constructed as standalone structures, though they can also be housed in larger buildings in areas such as the basement. The components of most indoor ranges basically consist of firing lines/lanes, targets, and bullet traps/”backstops” (which prevents stray shots and over penetrations). Designs may vary depending on the use but they all must address the basic requirements of operating with the range safely which involves providing ballistic protection, safety controls, acoustic isolation, proper ventilation, and appropriate lighting.

Types of Rifles

Air rifle

Outdoor air rifle ranges can have a fixed distance such as 10 meters (11 yd) or 25 meters (27 yd) or be an area for the practice of the sport of field target shooting, where reset metal targets are placed in natural surroundings at various distances and elevations, with a pellet trap behind the target.

Small-bore rifle

Small-bore (22 Long Rifle) rifle ranges are typically 50 meters (55 yards) to accommodate the Olympic 50 m Rifle event, but they can also extend to 200 meters (219 yards).

Full-bore rifle

Target shooting range for larger-calibre centre-fire rifles are no shorter than 100 meters (109 yards), except in the case of “Zero” ranges which are used for setting or checking the open or aperture sights of the rifle and the telescopic sight “Zero”. Military ranges are usually at least 500–1,000 meters (547–1,094 yards) to safely accommodate the range of most rifles.

Public ranges can be as long as 1,829 m (2,000 yards) and typically accommodate sportsman participating in sports such as 300 m Standard Rifle, benchrest shooting, or metallic silhouette.

Shotgun

Specialist ranges cater to various clay pigeon shooting events and require special equipment and layouts.