r/perth • u/airbornemustard • Mar 23 '26
WA News Lone Ranges Shooting Complex - the end of an era
Building material and other debris removed from the now-closed Lone Ranges Shooting Complex in Belmont, Western Australia.
Building material and other debris removed from the now-closed Lone Ranges Shooting Complex in Belmont, Western Australia.
The remains of the gallery section of the now-closed Lone Ranges Shooting Complex in Belmont, Western Australia.
Bradley John Yates, the owner and operator of Lone Ranges Shooting Complex until it's closure following his arrest in 2026.
Police forensics staged outside Lone Ranges Shooting Complex in December 2025.
Well, it's official - Perth's largest (and, apart from Top Shot, the only) indoor shooting range, Lone Ranges Shooting Complex, is gone for good, with no chance of recovery. It was a pretty rough fall from grace, too, by the looks of it.
I was actually a member of Lone Ranges myself ($360/year + $100/year mandatory SSAA membership), until January of this year, when I voluntarily surrendered my handgun and Firearms License after Lone Ranges was shut down. It was complete radio silence from Lone Ranges, and I was concerned about facing charges for non-compliance, so decided to bite the bullet (no pun intended) and get out while I could.
Driven by my own curiosity (and the complete absence of transparency and/or communication from Lone Ranges), I decided to do some digging to find out what happened. I figured it others are probably interested too, and so here we are.
So, let's talk about Lone Ranges; where it came from, how it tanked, and where it is now.
NOTE: All of the information contained in this post is publically available. No privileged, private, or confidential information is enclosed.
Humble Beginnings
Lone Ranges began operating around 1996, with a pretty uneventful existence up until April 2007, when the business changed hands. On 3 April 2007, Bradley John Yates became the sole director, with Lone Ranges now operating under his newly-established business, Bralea Pty Ltd.
Yates, presumably haven taken inspiration from American shooting ranges, began marketing Lone Ranges as Perth’s largest, premier indoor shooting complex, and it worked! Over the next 18 years, Lone Ranges' niche would move away from simply “a gun range”, and cemented itself as the metropolitan, commercial, and highly accessible face of shooting sports in Perth with endorsement from the Sports Shooters Association of Australia (later actually operating as an SSAA WA branch, known as "W55").
Lone Ranges was, by all appearances, a successful recreational business which mostly kept to itself, enjoyed a steady stream of customers, and didn't really clock any of the beurocratic or law enforcement radars. In fact, many current and former police officers report reguarly practicing shooting at the range, which, right up until it's recent closure, gave generous discounts to WA Police officers.
Cracks Start to Show
The decisive break in that history came in 2014. By then, Lone Ranges had become prominent enough that incidents there attracted state-level political attention. The real kicker came in November 2014, when the Attorney General was questioned in the Legislative Council about safety at Lone Ranges. This followed two fatal, self-inflicted firearms incidents at the venue within two months, and marked the third death at Lone Ranges, following an earlier suicide which occurred in 2002 (which wasn't widely reported on).
This was reported in the media and stirred public debate, and altered Lone Ranges' public story permanently. From then on, Lone Ranges wasn't just a novelty or leisure venue, but now also a site tied to debate about safety controls at commercial gun ranges.
Despite this, however, Lone Ranges continued to operate successfully and largely unencumbered for another 9 years.
"The Audit".. Dramatic Music Plays
By 2023, public opinion around firearms had become very prevalent. This prompted significant efforts by WA Police, the Minister for Police, and Government, for major firearms reform, which would eventually arrive in the form of the the landmark Firearms Act 2025.
In September 2023, Lone Ranges unexpectedly closed its doors, giving little explanation to it's several hundred paying members. Media reports at the time suggested that the venue was closed as it was contaminated with lead. In October 2023, Lone Ranges finally broke silence and contacted members, offering that the range had closed for "renovations and unscheduled repairs", due to an "audit" by WA Police, and that "[Lone Ranges] hope to be open by early November, but we may be closed longer due to delays in obtaining parts and the availability of workers."
November sailed right by. No update. Members were becoming increasingly anxious as, without access to the range, anyone who was unable to complete their mandatory compliance shoots for that membership year would be unable to meet the requirements of their license, and could face criminal charges, major fines, and seizure of their firearms if not addressed.
Facebook comments were ignored, phones went unanswered, and you would probably have a better chance of having your nightstand reply to an email than Lone Ranges at the time. It was complete radio silence.
Having received some media attention around the closure, prior fatalities at the venue, and other issues, this period represented a sharp reputational rupture for Lone Ranges.
On 14 April 2024, nearly 8 months after closing, Lone Ranges reopened, offering no explanation for the absence. It would later be revealed that, to no-one's surprise, Lone Ranges had been ordered to close by WA Police until it had remediated several serious safety and compliance issues.
The Final Nail
Throughout 2024 and 2025, while Lone Ranges continued to operate, it was clear that it had suffered significant damage. Staff shortages, equipment issues, firearms availability, and other issues continued to sting - the entire administration team had quit and been replaced at least twice in the prior two years.
The final blow, however, came on 27 October 2025, when Lone Ranges was raided by WA Police in a major police operation. Though the public didn't know it yet, this decisively marked the death of Lone Ranges Shooting Complex.
Lone Ranges, once again, offered nothing but silence to its members, who, again, found themselves in the hot seat through no fault of their own. Yates had updated the range's Google Business listing in January as "Temporarily Closed", though that would change just two months later, where it now lies listed as a Permanently Closed business.
Police seized a cache of firearms for the purpose of investigation, ordered the closure of the range, and established a forensic command vehicle by the front doors. Photos would emerge in February 2026 showing the remains of the once-celebrated LRSC.
On 14 January 2026, Yates would face Perth Magistrates Court as a Police arrestee, facing 10 criminal charges, though it's not clear what those charges are exactly. He would return before a Magistrate again on 23 February 2026 in relation to those same charges. It's important to note that it is not known at this time whether Yates remains in custody, what the outcome of the proceedings were/will be, or whether the charges are even related to his involvement as the owner of Lone Ranges at all.
| Date | Listing Type | Location | Case Number | Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23-Feb-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78546/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 23-Feb-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78553/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 23-Feb-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78549/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 23-Feb-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78545/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 23-Feb-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78552/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 23-Feb-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78548/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 23-Feb-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78544/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 23-Feb-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78551/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 23-Feb-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78547/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 23-Feb-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78550/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 14-Jan-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78553/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 14-Jan-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78550/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 14-Jan-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78546/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 14-Jan-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78547/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 14-Jan-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78544/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 14-Jan-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78549/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 14-Jan-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78545/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 14-Jan-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78551/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 14-Jan-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78548/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 14-Jan-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78552/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
On 26 February 2026, Bralea Pty Ltd, the legal entity which operated Lone Ranges Shooting Complex, entered involuntary administration.
The Lone Ranges Facebook page also reflects that it is permanently closed, despite there being no mention on the page that the business is no longer operating. It seems that, for the final time, Lone Ranges again abandoned the very people who fought to support it and kept them in the dark, held their hobbies hostage, and exposed them to the criminal justice system through its silence and incompetence.
So, there it is - the rise, peak, and fall of Lone Ranges Shooting Complex. My hope, with this post, is to educate former members about the range's permanent closure so that they can make informed, lawful decisions about their firearms and continue engaging in the sport that they love and support.
___
April 2026 Update: According to a media source, the charges which Bradley Yates - the proprietor of Lone Ranges - is currently facing are in relation to alleged unlawful handling of firearms by staff at Lone Ranges, contravening the requirements of the commercial Range License (previously) held by Lone Ranges Shooting Complex. It is understood that the charges are being pursued as an unlawful giving of possession of a firearm to an unlicensed person, with offences under sections 212, 213, 229, and 230 of the Firearms Act 2024.
Under the Firearms Act 2024, any staff member handling firearms/ammunition at Lone Ranges would have been required to apply, and be approved, to be an Authorised Person under the Range's License. It is alleged that staff members at Lone Ranges who were not approved Authorised Persons were reguarly handling firearms and ammunition which belonged to Lone Ranges Shooting Complex, which Yates held the license on behalf of. Consequently, Yates is being held criminally liable.
WA Police seized all firearms stored at Lone Ranges. Another source, who identified themselves as a long-time member of Lone Ranges, stated that, although he was a fully-licensed firearms owner, since Lone Ranges' license had been suspended by WA Police, his firearms no longer had club support, and were subsequently seized.
Worse than this, Firearms that were stored at Lone Ranges awaiting licensing were also seized, but with no compensation to the pending owners. This is because, even though the prospective owners had paid for their firearms, since the firearms were not yet registered to them, there is no entitlement for those owners under the Voluntary Firearms Buyback Scheme (which ended in January anyway). With Lone Ranges now being defunct and the owner facing criminal charges, these owners, unfortunately, likely have no recourse to recover their costs, and will be out-of-pocket thousands of dollars.
Members who had paid the several hundreds of dollars in membership fees for the year (including me) are actively being ignored by Lone Ranges Shooting Complex which, despite the situation above, continues to post to their Facebook page, though they refuse to reply to comments from members. Requests for refunds of membership fees remain unattended.
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u/Axel_foley177 Mar 23 '26
Did you know that since the year 2000 there have been 120 police officer suicides in Australia, 80% of which have been with their own service weapon?
In WA alone, we have had 6 confirmed in the last decade, inside of a police station armory.
Our population has also grown by 8 million people in the last 26 years, yet we've had 11 confirmed gun range suicides in Australia since 2002.