Advice / Opinions desired - amount of land needed for private gun range

You need to be far away from someone who would call the cops on you. At least a mile or so, preferably more. Buy wisely or be prepared to know the local authorities on a first name basis (not that that’s bad)

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I have no problem interacting with the local sheriff, police etc as necessary.

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In this case there is some obscure Lafayette parish ordinance that doesn't allow firearm discharge within a certain distance (i think it was 500 yards) from a building/dwelling. the cops show up, chat with us, say it would help them out if we didn't shoot as much, and leave.

From a safety standpoint, you only need enough room to fit your range and a required safety margin. For an indoor range, that's the outside of the building because it's built to contain stray shots. For outdoor ranges, this is where things get subject to interpretation and your tolerance for risk (and relationship with your neighbors). If your berms are properly constructed (you ARE going to put properly constructed berms on three sides if you're planning on doing things much outside putting a target up on a frame that you can't move around, right?), you need no more room in a perfect world because you're not going to be doing stupid shite like firing over the berms. The world ain't perfect, though, and I'd have more room past the berms; the more room you have beyond the range on all sides, the better. Negligent discharges DO happen. You can kind of do a check on how much distance you'd need by getting yourself a ballistics calculator and finding out how far from your firing position the rounds you're going to be firing retain enough energy to kill. You can still maim someone at that range, though, so you'll probably also want to do the math to figure out how far they'll go before hitting the ground if you lob one over the berms.

Legally, you need to check local, parish, and state laws to make sure there's no restriction on distance from other structures (you know, in case you do something stupid like fire over the berms).

The longest of those three numbers is a good starting point and those numbers probably will get pretty big because a rifle round can travel a long ways and still hurt someone if you fire into the air.

Then, all you have to do is to train the cops that show up that they need to hammer Karen on frivolous reports because you're following the law and are being safe. Luckily, where I shoot rifles is in the middle of rice fields, so everyone out there just has built up a portion of one of their levees in the back yard to be a berm with a fixed frame in front of it to shoot into and zero rifles. The fields behind the houses are something like 2 miles across and you can just look out and see if anyone's working out there. Usually, its like dogs barking in a neighborhood. One guy starts shooting and pretty soon, everyone's out there banging out rounds.

It looks like you're talking about occasional, personal use, so I'm in the same boat as you. I plan to look at the NRA range design guide in hopes the limitation of liability for noise from shooting ranges is economically feasible.

La. R.S. 30:2053 defines shooting range as "(8) "Sport shooting range" or "range" means an area designed and operated primarily for: persons using or discharging rifles, shotguns, pistols, revolvers, or black powder weapons; archery; air rifles; silhouettes; skeet ranges; trap ranges; or any other similar sport shooting, if such area is designed and constructed in accordance with the then current publication of the National Rifle Association of America, or its successor, entitled "The Range Manual"."

La. R.S. 30:2055.1 (thanks to Gov. Foster) gives anyone who operates or uses a shooting range meeting that definition some limited legal protection from noise liability suits.

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exactly, would be nice if the land had other uses - hunting camp, water access, just retreat from civilization etc - but the primary purpose is just to get to spend more time practicing on the range when its convenient for myself and immediate family.

Thanks for the link

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That's exactly what my uncle did with the piece of land we shoot on. It's like five miles from his home and it's about 50 yards wide, but 800 yards long with the aforementioned two mile stretch of rice fields on one end and the road at the other. He got it dirt cheap because it's too narrow and skinny to live on and it's the lowest land in the area so it floods everytime it sprinkles. The previous owner couldn't wait to sell it. So, he bought the property and dug himself a little pond out there and stocked it with some bluegills and bass and used the dirt from the pond as the cap when he built up his shooting berms (He's got 100, 300, and 500 yard lanes). He built himself a little camp up on piles next to his pond and has himself a little man property near his house where he can go to do his thing and keep his wife happy because it's not right in their backyard. The family owns some hardwood bottoms about a half mile from his camp that we shoot deer on, so it makes a handy home base when we hunt out there and gives us a place to dress out animals and dispose of the unusable parts away from everyone's house.

I am officially jealous of your uncle's setup

Join a hunting camp and use the club range. Cheaper that way.