My Range Burned... 

Seeing the shots of the cedar burning made me remember back to when Matt would burn Christmas trees at the end of the year… Matt… please bring that back!! But BIGGER!!

Plant your grass seed on your berm soon, Matt. That way, it has the mild winter weather in which to grow roots. It will then have a chance to survive next summer’s heat.

I know gun range “people” are not always fans of airsoft/paintball, but I feel like the ranch could have a big cool airsoft/paintball course as another attraction. It’s may not be your direction, but for your resort people that aren’t necessarily big gun people it might be another area in the trees that doesn’t have to be fully demolished. Anyway love the abandon resort series

Matt, you can try to prevent people from shooting above the Berm by adding a small roofed shooting area. The roof should slant downwards until the top of the Berm is no longer visible from the firing line, most people cannot shoot what they cannot see.

The telephone poles would be cool and would a great place for a company to put their banner for advertising or whoever is the big host of the event. All you would need is some way to lift the banners up that can take a few random shots. Bunker branding could even print them

"M" berm is the gateway. I'm calling it now. Matt's gonna just continue making berms until they spell out "MATT" because then we can see it from space.

As a kid my dad took me to archery ranges that weaved through the woods with different types of targets. You have all that land, you could easily do something like that too.

Matt, when you build the container tower, make sure you give it a wide base for stability. As a bonus, you can also make a deck space on the lower levels. If you can get a front opening container, use it under the deck space for storage, drinks, coffee shop, range control or ammo/sales. Having a central tower opens up many options for you. If the crows nest only runs hot in one direction, the safe side can even have solar panels as a roof to give guests sun protection and free power to the range.

Love these vlogs as we don't see anything like this in the UK. 38 now and been saving for a trip to Texas for 2 years now and maybe in another 2 I will be able to afford it and your ranch is a massive success and I'll swing by for a firearm lesson

14:52 Matt you should also think about putting classroom space in so that CWP classes and other training classes can use the ranges.

If you are considering nigh vision courses. Look into installing solar powered lighting on the course as well. You need the lights for getting setup, in between courses, etc.... Solar lighting that you can control would be an ideal addition to your range.

Sorry I'm late, Matt. Chainsaw guy here. Much better lately. One small basic rule: always plan an escape route when felling any tree. It should be 45° right or left from opposite the direction of fall. In other words, be ready to run when the tree falls and run away from its fall at a 45° angle. I coined the term "chainsaw diet" after my late intro to the work. Run a chainsaw all day and try to eat enough that you don't lose weight lol. My last safety comment for today: if you are minimizing risk, don't have shooters running downhill with hot firearms. Running downhill is dangerous all by itself. Distracted by targets, range rules, competition pressure, and terrain, I promise you'll have falls at a minimum, and falls with loaded firearms are extra dangerous. Sorry to be Debbie Downer.

You should consider straightening out the existing berm. The curvature of it naturally focuses people into the centre of it. A straighter berm would allow a longer gunline.

You need to get yourself a professional Caver to have guided cave adventures! Caving is extremely dangerous at any level. Be safe with that caving idea for the Resort Matt! Huge Liability

Thanks Matt for listening to all the Demolitia voices that said, "Build a gun range and they will come". Look at all the joy you have brought, like Santa Claus does. Keep it all up. You have a great group of people helping you put things together. 👍👍👍👍

what if Matt used a shipping container to make a tunnel to connect the two ranges. i think that would look so cool and be unique feature

Wow it only took ONE private event to realize your GIANT range wasn’t so giant after all 😂

I'm glad to hear you're considering a long distance range... Might we see 1000m? Also, how about a trap range? And the valley would be a great place for a sporting clays course.

YES. You built it for us, but 99% of us (or more) will never be able to join you… Even if I was to travel to Texas, I’m sure the waitlist is going to be huge and not easy to get on. Your still awesome Matt, you know we love ya 😉

Maybe you can find old shipping containers, that are meant for the scrap heap and get a good deal on them. It doesn’t matter if they leak or are rusted out. just fill them full of dirt if you don’t need the storage capacity on top of the burn and no way a stray round is going through.

This range seems like a great spot for a bunker! it could have a place to get out of the heat and away from the range noise! Plus bunkers!

Matt, one word... hesco. You need to get yourself 100-200 Hesco barriers, set them up along the sides, at the top and so on, stacked 3-2-1, all filled with sand (not dirt) so they handle the rain and such.

those drones shots in and out of the video is so amazing. Gives me a different perception on the property

Limit the angle of fire with a roof over shooting station that makes it impossible to shoot over the berm. The roof can be portable and made of light weight ballistic material like 1 in poly carbonate sheets that lets the sun in, keeps rain out and bullets contained.

Matt, I love the idea of using the telephone pole to increase the height. I'm an engineering designer, and one thing you could do to "increase" the height without actually increasing the height beyond the 12' is to angle the posts in towards the center of the arch of the range by a few degrees. You could even put two rows of the telephone posts that overlap the gasps of the other row of posts, cost permitting, of course. Keep on making great content. Thank you.

I wonder if building a tower like the fire watch towers could be possible? It would be cool to be able to look out over your kingdom from on high but it might be pretty fun to shoot super long range from one. Clear line of sight to the targets. The great thing about your situation is that you have room to install a variety of everything. It is so exciting to be able to see what you are doing. I would watch a long video every day just to feel the thrill of being there with you guys. It sparks so much joy. Thank you.

a shipping container town would be a cool idea. make some containers like stalls for events and an open air area for shaded bench shooting and a second floor for prone shooting.

I think what would be cool is if you made a clover leaf shooting range. So you have lots of room and 4 to 5 ranges in one spot. Love the vids and keep up the great work.

Front Sight range in Nevada has a walk thru range in a series of "washes" which is epic. Targets are engaged along winding trails. Most are blind until you are right up on them. There's even a hilltop target at 300 yards, which you engage from deep in a ravine (wash).

Hey just a heads up with your employee’s running saws get them a pair of chaps and a vest. It’ll save their life if that saw ever makes contact.

I'll tell you, I've seen some reeaally bad shots in my time. I had a Staff Sergeant in the Army who couldn't qualify to save his life. I was doing medical coverage, so I watched him all day. He was the first one on the range and the last one off. At the end of the day, he was given 3 full mags, 90 rounds, and still only scored 19/40! I took a few of my soldiers to the range once. Handed my Scorpion carbine to one who had been in for 4 years at this point, then stepped back. Me and my buddy watched him shoot, and I looked over and said, "Is it just me, or does it look like he's aiming a little high?" He finished his 30rd mag, loaded the next, then says, "Oh, that's how these sights work!" Four years in the Army, and he didn't know how iron sights worked... Another time, I was at a range, and I watched the guy in the lane next to me go through a 50 round box of 9mm with his Glock. From 10 feet, he hit *the paper* 7 times. Only 3 rounds actually hit the target. Then he passed the gun to his girl, who performed a similar feat. She hit the carrier, to which he exclaimed, "You do be killing him tho!" Now I work security and we have to qualify every 6 months... Some of my coworkers scare me. So, I wasn't at all surprised to see some people hitting the top of the berm, and I'm sure going over. You could make it 50 feet, but I honestly doubt it'll help much. 20 feet should be more than enough. 30 feet with the poles, I suppose, will help with liability. But really, some people shouldn't be handed a firearm at all. Not that you can necessarily help that. Just to say that I think you'll start seeing some diminishing returns after that 20 foot mark.

A 60' Container Tower would be epic! Not only could you shoot long range while up high, you'd also get a beautiful overlook of the property!

I've been thinkin. Seeing how far some of your projects have come, you should start cleaning up the runway. That way you can fly in VIPs, have Ariel tours of your land, have flight lessons for people, ya know.

A lot of people want to be able to join the 1,000 yard club, so it would be awesome to have a long range section out there!

Matt, you should try planting some tall-ish trees around the perimeter of the range for wind blocking.

Definitely a shoot house as well. Shipping container structure for higher level stuff, roof work, etc.... Range 35 up near Grandview has some cool stuff. Tactical Fitness Austin does low light/night vision classes, they would know what's up, but their founder is overseas at the moment.

Matt, thanks for being one of my inspirations of my RU-vid channel. I'm a quadriplegic that can hardly talk and hear, but you are someone I wish I could have been. Don't change

Hey Mat, maybe get the boxes they used in FOBs in Afghanistan, they'd be easy to fill and wouldn't need to be as wide, they're stackable too for the second range could use them in a few places, whether as a safety barrier between ranges or make an FOB replica as a chill out spot

at 22:30 - Matt, I really respect your approach here: everything you can do to make it as safe as possible. . . that's the way to do things. this range is gong to be so awesome. it will be so awesome. . . it will be the most awesome thing since the invention of awesomeness!

I love the idea of adding the second berm. I also love the container tower idea. Lunkers did that a couple years ago and it was epic. I think the range should be at least 300 yards but 500-600 would be amazing. At least the effective engagement yardage of a 5.56 round to do all forms of practical training.

I love brain storming. I was thinking something along the line of a building to house a lounge, kitchen, restrooms, pro shop...maybe. Something to make the range experience more inviting and enjoyable with the added amenities.

I love the telephone pole idea. That sounds like it will be great. You should make some smaller little private ranges as well with smaller walls to protect behind them.

This is what demo ranch was meant to be. The best things come naturally with hard work❤ because of your work ethic I see from your videos over the years I strive to be better today than what I was yesterday.

You could install Hesco ballistic barriers on top of the berm. They are kinda expensive, so a good alternative is DIY barriers out of welded wire fence, landscape fabric and dirt

21:50 you can shoulder to shoulder stagger them too, like you were gonna build a pyramid shape of only 2 layers. That'll cover high kinetic ricochets with things like a 50

Matt, why not put 2 40' containers on end side by side with a deck on top to use for rappelling as well as observation? By using 2 containers, you can have stairs in one and landings/platforms with a window cutout like every 10' in the other for different shooting heights. 👍

That range is coming along nicely!! You could also use more timbers like you have below to build a wall on top of the berm and fill it with dirt

I love the stacked container idea, like top golf/big shots but with guns!

A cheap alternative would be using concrete bin blocks,easily moved and stacked 2x2x6 foot. They fit together with male/female groves. On a side note,if you stack it 5 high and 10 long it would give you a 10 foot high by 60 foot long backdrop to put up a kickass logo.

I know you already have enough heavy equipment, but have you looked into a Forestry Mulcher attachment for the skidsteer? It'll turn those trees to mulch in seconds and eliminate the need for burns.

In the military I shot a rifle range that had pop-up moving targets you only had 3 to 4 seconds to engage the target. The rounds striking the top of the berm were a little concerning, ran a few machine gun ranges and crazy things can happen like a misfire on a crew served weapon and opening the feed tray to soon and a cook off sends the brass straight at your face. we had a fatally from that and other stupid things soldiers do. Be safe, Love you back.

I'm looking forward to the next range day and everyone's videos. Even if it's a year away. If you need help with some rv hookups, let me know. It's super simple in theory, but having some electrical knowledge will help, and I know it's rocky out there, but a ditch witch can drop in 3 rows of camp sites in less than a week. 😊

Hey Matt, when I was in the Military we had drop down targets for qualifying at 50-300 yards. Would be cool to see something like that mixed in with the shipping containers.

Uspsa matches would be awesome there! I know uspsa is always looking for a range to hold nationals this would be the perfect place with camping and the amenities at some point you would have I would come to that match with a open wallet every time! Very few ranges offer camping or housing so something to think about I would love to get you in contact witb contacts from the organization to discuss it further.

With all this range making, it would be awesome to see you visit some ranges at people’s houses, help em build it bigger and better. I like seeing this type of range construction! Keep it up!

Every time Matt builds something, as soon as it’s done, he takes one look and says “It’s too small, need to make it bigger.” The Demo HQ, the mansion, the river front property, the gun range. Next time when you’re planning to build something, just make it twice as big from the start, man!

Talk with Lunkers he was at one point involved in a range startup that was doing a shoothouse and tower with shipping containers. He may have some insight or be able to get you in contact with the people he was working with for some brain storming.

For checking out terrain for shooting ranges, see if you can find LIDAR data - it will give you a really good idea of the land to spot possible locations without having to bushwhack around trying to explore initially on foot.

using the hesco barriers would be alot quicker. just fill them and move/stack them with the bobcat

You could also incorporate classrooms on the property, to supplement the range work. Even open-air classrooms for simplicity so range classes can eat lunch, discuss methods, etc. Consider other forms of training props used at other training facilities such as shoot-houses with movable walls, etc.

I’m definitely going to do a holiday there over the next couple years. I want to line it up with a cleetus event and maybe a spaceX launch so I can do Florida and Texas in the same trip. It’s a long way from Australia though lol

Lots of respect for you talking about the rounds going over the berm saw a lot of comments on it. I’m happy you’re thinking about it.👍🏽

You might be able to stop bullets from going over your berm by creating a shelter. Wherever people are shooting from could have a metal plate ceiling that would ricochet bullets aimed above the berm into the ground. If you make them moveable you could change the distance or use them as a covered seating. The further back you go the lower the ceiling would need to be so you could have a crank that changes the angle of the steel plate or just design it with the longest range in mind.

Merry Christmas!! God bless all y'all...praying for you guys. Peace

Hey Matt! can you make the railroad tie wall 20 ft high and then backfill behind the wall? That would be epic!

it seems like a telephone pole supported wall of horizontal railroad ties on top would be easier to build out and repair as needed

I'll definitely keep an eye out for the progress of this project. Seems like it's going to be a great shooting range. The night vision idea sounds really cool.

Back in my airsoft days, one guy ran very dynamic games within a very small sort of studio apartment sized room. He had wooden boards, some with cutouts and windows, tied together with cable ties and paracord, and would assemble them as walls into various environments and scenarios. We had like small shanty town setups, a train/airplane setup, IPSC obstacles courses, it varied a lot for such a small setup.

Love seeing dreams come true. I remember when you did a video about your master plan to have a place for people to come and shoot. Do you remember that do you still have that white board? It would be interesting to see how close you're coming to achieving that dream

One of the best time I had in the Navy was attending a Visit Board Search and Seizure school for weapons handling drills. There was a Container stack that had been refit to simulate the interior of a ship with hatches and ladderwells and such. We used Simunitions for training in that structure with alternating teams playing BLUFOR/REDFOR. Right next to their outdoors qualification range.

I would think about how the aerial shot will look. It might end up looking like and E or a 3 but it would be cool to incorporate your brand with the imagery of your resort or brand from the sky for those epic drone shots

Love the fly over the range looking real good Matt will love to come see it in real life once it’s open to the public been to Texas once and I loved it

typical pole setting depth is 10% +2' in average ground conditions. So a 40' pole is typically set at 6' depth. This would leave you with 34' above ground. You would probably want to set a bit deeper since you don't have a large solid area around at the top of the berm. It would be better to set them in deeper to have more stability.

Loved all these range day vids, would be cool to have a list of all the videos to look for. Gotta collect them all!

I just want to say to you and your family and your team have a merry merry Christmas I appreciate all your content!!

Look into tree pullers for the front of the skid steer. It’s pretty amazing how well they handle removing trees.

You could make a container command center with two side towers (standing containers) surrounding four containers stacked in between. It could have a small lounge, merch stand, multiple floors of shooting and sniping with some possible storage.

Man you really are making a dream destination!!! Awesome work so far!!! Love the dedication you have to getting things done.

I love even tho you are a big youtuber u still get out there with ur ppl and work just as hard as they are you have a good group of people around you and I can't wait till you open for business I will be there to show my support for you and I wish you the best of luck and hope for success in the future

Maybe look into the permits to dredge the river in a spot or 2. To have a river pool and deep enough area for a tire-swing/dive able area? Those kinds of permits take a long time to get approved, so inquiring now would get the ball rolling. If you wanted too. I think it would help guarantee a nice running water area.

Whats up Matt demo in the house the range and the inn are gonna be beyond epic congratulations on all ur business ventures

3:23 Matt should be in charge of building the border wall.

With a range that large, and growing, having a control tower would be beneficial in general. A place that can keep tabs on all range activity and issue control orders/warnings. Could just be the Army in my though.

Hey Matt you can put in bolt heads like they put in tears down at the river or around Bridges behind berm with the train rails behind to stop the bullets

I definately vote for a long rang and a high tower. 1000+ yards would be amazing. Also i find it crazy with $30,000 you have the choice of a range of this caliber, or a set of nods lol

What a fantastic series. Can not wait to come stay there when you open it up!

We call those cedars junipers in Oregon. We have an abundance of them on the east side of the Cascades. As you delete those 'cedars' you are likely to see other native grasses and trees take hold. The cedars/junipers consume a considerable amount of water and tend to desiccate the ground around them.

Matt, several people mentioned containers atop berm, but the steel could richochet back towards firing line. What if you used the telephone poles along peak of berm to support a series of smaller overlapped of containers on fwd slope of berm inclined downward so richochets would go downwards into soil beneath ? Basically adding an extra 6 ft tall steel, double walled trap ? The poles would be needed to secure the containers from sliding downslope into targets while making berm taller. The bottoms of containers are mostly wood, so rotating containers 90 degrees so wooden floor is correctly oriented would provide a softer mat'l on trap's interior face as well. The empty container(s) could be flipped on their hard steel sides so they'll slide well atop berm, then moved over by winching or towing them across slope onto angled berm with pole reinforcements.. That should place them at a good 15 to 20 plus degree down angle as a bullet trap, the wood interior face could be supplemented with plywood on interior face of poles after some time to provide a billboard of targets or advertising as needed. Once placed, the uppermost (side) steel wall might still reflect a bullet coming from tall towers, so adding a plywood layer between angled poles could be a retaining wall for a layer of sand or soil as a shallow backstop. The downward angle could be tuned to align with primary firing position.

Matt! You have to build a shoot house course or series of courses. Could also do paintball stuff out there Texas has a big Paintball scene and they have championships and stuff as well. Air-soft which I believe your brother gets into as well. So much potential!

Our range has concrete ceiling type things that angle downward for the first 30-40 yards or so, making it impossible to shoot over the berm. Those concrete blockers are riddled with bullets that would have gone over the berm though surprisingly. Another option is having to shoot through long cement sewer pipes so they basically cant go over the berm. I think this is very important for liability reasons.

About bullets flying over berm.... i've been on two ranges and both had bullet catching wood walls. It was like 15-20ft from shooting station and was about 4-6ft tall, 6-10ft above the ground. So if u shot straight to the target u have clear wiev, if u pull triger or just mess up shot totaly u hit that wall. U could make that wall with wood form rails. Plz like so Matt can see it. Hope u get what i mean. Greetings from Poland :)

Telephone poles every 12 feet with tires filled with dirt stacked inbetween. 2x12 boards across the back to tie it all together. You stack tires over the poles to protect them also. Railroad ties are another option stacked infront on the poles.

Hey Matt! Love the range and content. I think for the second berm you should make it a straight line. Logistically, I feel as though it allows for more variety to be shot at the same time. Just an idea but regardless I know this range is going to be BADASS

The scale of this project is crazy!

Couple containers high attached to some cinderblock walls creating a shoot house. Sim rounds only in shoot house section (sim rounds for sale by the resort apart of a training package) a lot of applications for videos and future guests. All you need is an instructor for the parties and or rent it to instructors.

You need a Hogan's Alley range with pop-up and moving targets like in Police academy with good guys and bad guys. In essence, it can be as easy as one or two story building mock ups like they do in the movies with just the front of the buildings.

I am sure you have thought about it but I would definitely put the tower at a specific distance, the extra time will be worth it so you wont be 50 meters shy of what you would have wanted. So make sure you get any specifics on the front end. Can't wait to see the master plan!

Yes Matt, A central tower for a master range officer would be great. Also other towers and platforms for tactical shooting platforms would help with LEO training and other tactical shooting matches.

I recall Lunkers doing something with containers and a long range... range, a couple years back. was pretty cool. a long range tower would be an awesome addition.

Combine the run and gun and the tower shoot: Each level of the tower has multiple firing positions (standing, kneeling, prone, etc) and you have to run between each level engaging targets at different known and unknown distances.