Clint is selling Thunder Ranch.

[OlongJohnson]

TR Oregon always had its challenges re location and need to use lead free ammo etc.

I know nothing, too. But if I was selling a bunch of land that had had people shooting on it for a bunch of years, I'd much rather be able to tell prospective buyers, "No, it's not littered with millions of lead rounds, we used only lead-free ammo." Might actually be able to sell it to someone who wanted to use it for something other than a shooting range.

[okie john]

Life is a circle sometimes.

Post Gunsite- TR was primarily a road show for Clint.

TR Tx was a fixed site until an inability to buy the land in TX coupled with family desires to be closer to Heidi's parents out west drove the move.

TR was a bit of a road show while TR Oregon came on line.

TR Oregon was a fixed site.

TR Oregon always had its challenges re location and need to use lead free ammo etc. Clearly, the state as a whole has moved well past Clint's most left leaning outpost by far.

I "know" nothing. I trained at TR Tx in 04.

I suspect that Clint will end up somewhere in the south where the weather is nice and the people are more to his liking.

I suspect that TR will be a road show so long as his health and conditions on the ground will allow.

This is all good business sense. When TR opened, there were very few fixed training facilities for the kind of work that Clint Smith did. But now the country is awash with them. If you have Clint's resume, then there's no reason to compete with them.


Okie John

[RevolverRob]

I know nothing, too. But if I was selling a bunch of land that had had people shooting on it for a bunch of years, I'd much rather be able to tell prospective buyers, "No, it's not littered with millions of lead rounds, we used only lead-free ammo." Might actually be able to sell it to someone who wanted to use it for something other than a shooting range.

Clint and Heidi were very forward thinking in this way.

Lead free ammo is probably still very much the future of ammunition, though (for now at least) the war on lead has been abated. Primarily because even the EPA has admitted that with proper mitigation techniques lead isn't a big deal. And also because there are still bigger polluters to fry.

But I suspect in my lifetime there will be a concerted and possibly successful effort to ban lead-based ammunition from use on any Federal public land. That will eventually trickle down to almost every state and in effect make lead defunct.

[Trooper224]

I'm sure Clint and Heidi will benifit from the sale. Best of luck to them.

[1Rangemaster]

I was fortunate to get to TR Oregon, and get some experiences from Clint. He can teach anywhere, and has.
I wish he and Heidi the very best in the future. Hopefully they find a good place (or places) to be.

[Joe in PNG]

Clint and Heidi were very forward thinking in this way.

Lead free ammo is probably still very much the future of ammunition, though (for now at least) the war on lead has been abated. Primarily because even the EPA has admitted that with proper mitigation techniques lead isn't a big deal. And also because there are still bigger polluters to fry.

But I suspect in my lifetime there will be a concerted and possibly successful effort to ban lead-based ammunition from use on any Federal public land. That will eventually trickle down to almost every state and in effect make lead defunct.

Hopefully by then we'll be arguing about phased plasma rifles.

[Cookie Monster]

I’ve had the privilege to leave 8,000 or so rounds there.

My last class was 2014 and Heidi was telling us about how she had designed to place to be sold, so it was not planned as a forever spot.

I will forever regret not making time for High Angle Rifle class.

[Sanch]

Thanks to our economic policies by the federal reserve, I’m willing to bet that our inflationary policies have resulted in the land value increasing so much in value, that he’s made significantly more from real estate appreciation than by actually running thunder ranch all this time. Total profit from the business is probably 10% from operations and 90% from land appreciation. Probably wasn’t even worth running the business except for enjoyment.

All of my friends who are homeowners, even those with $200k a year jobs, have been making more money on their house appreciation than their jobs after taxes the last few years. They’re making $10k to $15k a month in housing appreciation.

I’m not sure why anyone who owns land or property even bothers to have a job anymore. And with rent prices increasing 25% annually across the country on average this year I’d guess anyone renting an apartment will need two jobs soon. They can take the jobs of all of the homeowners and land owners who quit work to live off equity increases from the federal reserves $40 Billion in mortgage backed security purchases the last 18 months, with no end in sight to this program.

[Magsz]

Wasn't Clint talking about retiring a few years back?

I'd hate for him to sell the property and stop training. Granted, I think at this juncture the guy deserves it...

[Jim Watson]

Sounds like Clint means to work until he drops; if he was in the USMC in Vietnam in 1975, he is 65+ years old.

Thanks to our economic policies by the federal reserve, I’m willing to bet that our inflationary policies have resulted in the land value increasing so much in value, that he’s made significantly more from real estate appreciation than by actually running thunder ranch all this time. Total profit from the business is probably 10% from operations and 90% from land appreciation. Probably wasn’t even worth running the business except for enjoyment.

All of my friends who are homeowners, even those with $200k a year jobs, have been making more money on their house appreciation than their jobs after taxes the last few years. They’re making $10k to $15k a month in housing appreciation.

I’m not sure why anyone who owns land or property even bothers to have a job anymore. And with rent prices increasing 25% annually across the country on average this year I’d guess anyone renting an apartment will need two jobs soon. They can take the jobs of all of the homeowners and land owners who quit work to live off equity increases from the federal reserves $40 Billion in mortgage backed security purchases the last 18 months, with no end in sight to this program.

I have seen some examples here.
But how do you take that appreciation to the grocery store? Equity isn't very liquid.
I could surely sell up for more than I paid, but where would I live?