Home-made range?

[whitenack]

Hi guys.

Soon to be a first-time gun owner. I have 110 acres of rolling farmland. Some places are flat, some places are hilly. Lots of rock. Instead of paying to go to the range, I'd like to set up a range out on the farm.

Any thoughts on how best to do this?

At first I thought I'd just set up a target in front of a steep mound, but fear of ricochet makes me think twice on that. It would be my luck that the round would find the only little stone in that dirt mound and come back and dot me right between the eyes.

Currently, the land is being grazed by cattle. While I can be sure there will be no danger of hitting one, I can't be too sure about them coming upon a fired round laying on the ground. Is there any danger of soil or water contamination?

In other words, if anyone else target shoots on the back of their property, what's your setup?

If it makes any difference what rounds will be shot, I will either be shooting 9mm or .45acp. However, my dad might come out and do a little shooting too, and he currently has a .38 sp., and is considering upping to a .357.

 

[barnetmill]

whitenack:

Make sure you have a back stop and regardless of how much land you may think you have. Low velocity pistol bullets like a .45 acp are still quite deadly at 500 yards. A .44 mag (and I assume a .357 mag) can kill at 700 yards and rifles can kill at much greater ranges. The basic rule where I live is that rounds must not leave your property. I would use a hill as a backstop since you say that they are available. Use some common sense when doing so. Firing at gently sloped hard surfaces can cause a ricochet that will travel over the hill and come down somewhere else.

Lead bullets are unlikely to rebound with great force directly back to you upon hitting a rock. But people tell me that it has happened. I have never had the experience. When shooting at steel targets, especially if you are not using lead core bullets this can happen. I fellow told me a .50 BMG slug can back towards him from about 120 yards from a 3 inch thick piece of steel he was shooting at.

For environmental purposes confine your shooting to as small a primary impact area as possible. May sure there is no stormwater or stream path that can carry lead contamination elsewhere. But for your small volume of shooting it is not likely to be an issue.



Police up your empties afterwards. Dud rounds should be broken apart with removal of the powder and powder and the primed cartridge cases burned in an intact steel drum. Place the fire under a steel grate that holds the broken down rounds and use a hot fire. The sides of the drum will protect you from any fragments caused by the primers going off.

 

[Webleymkv]

I would try to build my backstop into the side of a hill. Add a lot of mulch to the face of it in order to cut back the ricochet hazard (used tires may make a good material for this too).

 

[Rightwinger]

If you're really worried about contamination, plenty of "green" ammo is made now, and it's all lead free.

 

[whitenack]

Firing at gently sloped hard surfaces can cause a ricochet that will travel over the hill and come down somewhere else.

Ooo, hadn't thought about this. I guess, though, if I am worried about it coming back at me, it could also very well "bounce" up and keep going.

Hmm, is there anything that would make a good backstop other than a hill? Something that I could set up (and be cheap) that would absorb the rounds and hold them, instead of bouncing them back or letting them pass through?

 

[OneInTheChamber]

hay bales infront of the hill. The hay will slow down/and or stop and contain the rounds, with the hill being the final resting place should they escape. Consider a range table, which will mark the firing line. It's convient to have the table and its safe because it gives a visual indication for all present of where not to go.

Good luck, with that many acres you should be fine as far as not getting neighbor complaints.

 

[whitenack]

hay bales infront of the hill.

I thought about that too, but wondered about how much heat those rounds would have, and wondered if it would spark a fire.

Good luck, with that many acres you should be fine as far as not getting neighbor complaints.

Plus, I live in a small town in Rural Kentucky. Here, gunfire is commonplace.

 

[DonR101395]

Several years ago at a buddies range we built we built a frame from pressure treated 4x4's and made an overhang over the impact area. We used railroad ties as the "roofing" material. We also dug into the side of the hill and lined the side walls with railroad ties. They will hold up for a good while and they aren't extremely expensive.


edit: If I were to do it again I would probably make a steel frame, but I'm older and can weld now

 

[Anthony2]

If you were to contact Field and Stream a couple of months back, they had an article on just this topic. The author constructed a multi-layered target capable of stopping .454 rounds and it was still portable. I beleive it was called "The Buffalo" or something of that nature.

 

[SBrocker8]

Regular dirt should stop pretty much whatever you shoot at it, so long as it's not just an extremely shallow angle.

 

[alleyyooper]

A pile of semi truck tires filled with sand was the back stops at a pay to shoot range I used years ago. I now use the same principal at my own home range useing pick up truck tires filled with sand. I have shot mine many times at 25 yards with a 300 Win. Mag and haven't had any go straight thru yet.
You can sift the sand latter and recover the led for making cast bullets and/or fishing sinkers.

Al

 

[whitenack]

Great idea!

Thanks for your first post.

 

[NoahFN]

A pile of semi truck tires filled with sand

That is a cool idea. Could you give us some more details as to how you went about stacking/filling the tires? Do you need to use anything to hold the tires together so they stay on top of each other?

 

[okievarmint]

With cattle around, don't use hay. If possible, cut into side of hill to make it closer to vertical, if needed.

 

[whitenack]

bump. Any new thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[raveneap]

My son lives out in the country and has built a small range at the edge of the woods in his back yard. He used many old tires, sand, and lumber. The tires filled with sand aren't going anywhere. They're also strengthened by the lumber. He has them several stacks wide and about 4-6 feet high. At this time we use it primarily for handguns as there's only about 45 yards but he'll probably lengthen it in the future. If you have a source for old discarded tires, they work well. We've used everything up to .45 acp as well as some .223 rifle stuff. Stops them all.

 

[dbergstrom]

Back stops

Here in the land of no hills or bumps, we had to make our own berm, we started out with railroad ties two wide (about 16 feet) and about eight foot high, staggered and nailed with 16 "spikes, as we built it up we interlaced more eight foot ties at a 45 degree angle to the back plane.

We got about 200 tires for free from a colorful guy who scrap's out car's, filled them with sand and dirt, seeded the face and built a frame to hang target's from.

It's only about 75 meter's to the berm, but there is about 3 miles of farm land behind it so we feel pretty good about containment.

Make the face as perpendicular as possible to prevent bouncing bullets.

This gives you about eight foot of buffer back up, .308 and up doesn't get through.

Holler if you have any question's, it been runnin' good for about 10 year's now.

If you can build this into the side of a hill. life will be good!

 

[Double Naught Spy]

The NRA has a book on gun ranges. I believe it is about $35 and it will tell you pretty much everything you need to know.

If you go with using tires, keep in mind that you can make your berm much more stable by bolting them together. We used tires at my place as a means of bolstering the berm and increasing its height. Height can be important and the NRA suggests a 12' minimum (as I recall).

The problem with small backstops such as a single stack of tires or the "buffalo" is primarily that they are small. They allow very little room for error. A shot 1 foot high or wide or the target and you have an unimpeded projectile going down range. Backstops only work if you hit them.

 

[whitenack]

plus, a short target doesn't simulate a real life self defense situation.

 

[Rembrandt]

Mine's on 360 acres, has a 50-100-200 yard target frames. Shooting bench is located inside an old building. Cattle can be a problem, last year had a cow give birth in front of the 200 yard target....needless to say no shooting that day. Use common sense around livestock and you'll be fine. Shooting down into a hill or backstop will help prevent stray rounds from leaving your property.