Range building. Dirt mound backstop?

[Recoiljunky]

im not sure if this is a viable option in your area. i rented an excavator to buld a burm on one of my buddies ranch. we just dug a wide trench and piled the dirt along the fence line. we also made a pond for dog training so that gave us more dirt than we needed. good luck and be safe.

 

[WNYMAK]

Common sense will help.

In NY and I assume in all places, the shooter is responsible for where his bullet winds up. Even in the few cases where an absurdly weird and totally unpredictable event intervenes... the shooter is responsible but the penalty may be lessened by the presiding judge. No matter what you build, if a shot goes astray and there is any reason for anyone to complain, you can bet that here in Obamaland you'll be taken to task over it.

I wouldn't let it keep you up at night... you drive a car, right? Much, much more likely that you'll be in a wreck that will result in a lawsuit. I'm not sure how much if at all, personal liability insurance would cover a shooting accident. Do you know?

Given that you can't anticipate every errant shot (holding the gun off to one side checking the safety and hitting the trigger.... ooops.) I've thought about this too and decided it comes down to; how good a shot are you? If you never miss then a bucket full of dirt is good enough for all shots down near the ground. How high will your targets be? If you intend to shoot off-hand and at up elevations, the dirt pile height will depend on the slump coefficient of the soil you use and will errode over time so maintenance will be a factor (have extra soil piled near by to add to the backstop as needed).

In short; I've never come up with a good answer and this could lead to in-action for ever. In my case I have a place that affords us a 100 yard range, down in a stream gully (the flat flood plain alongside the stream and so, unusable for maybe three or four days / year) it has a natural 8' bank backstop at an abrupt curve in the stream and, the way-down-range objects are trees (flat forested, uninhabited lands for over a mile).

If I want a long range or if I want to shoot anywhere else other than that stream gully... I have to do what responsible men in America have done for over two centuries: I make an on-the-spot determination of the conditions before I pull the trigger. That includes having to pass up a 30-point buck if he's on the ridge above me with nothing but sky beyond him.

Sorry I can't be of more help... that question plagues me too.

 

[mykeal]

People missing high are just half the reason the backstop needs to be 20-25 feet high. The other half is people missing low, and by low I mean short of the berm such that the round skips. Technically a ricochet, they're much more likely than a round inadvertently being shot 20 feet high.

The ground in front of our 100 yard backstop is testimony to dozens of rounds impacting short, as much as 30 yards short, and the divot pretty much proves the rounds skipped off the ground to go high up on the backstop. Surprisingly, the 50, 300 and 600 yard ranges have very few such divots.

 

[rc]

You can use a large cardboard box filled with dirt for a temporary berm. It all depends on who is shooting and where you are shooting. It's all relative.

 

[thallub]

In NY and I assume in all places, the shooter is responsible for where his bullet winds up.

This!!! ^^^^^^^^^^^

The other half is people missing low, and by low I mean short of the berm such that the round skips.

Bingo!! A few years ago the Ft. Sill private weapons range was closed because shooters of muzzleloaders were firing bullets into the dirt short of the berm. Bullets were richocheting over a 200+ foot hill and striking buildings at the sportsmans center and hitting vehicles in the parking lot of that facility.

Current US Army ranges are built to the standard that the military owns the property to the maximum range of the weapon/s fired on that range. If you do not own the property to the maximum range of the weapon being fired you need a good berm.

 

[roklok]

I just built a 200 yard range, pushed up dirt with a bulldozer to 8 feet tall. I cant even imagine trying to pile dirt 25 feet tall. At this point, nothing but wilderness beyond for miles, and 200 yards of thick timber to the property line. I feel safe with this. Short shots can definitely send rounds over the berm just as easily if not more so than high shots, so the targets should be placed close the berm, instead of way in front of it.

 

[Gunplummer]

I was a member at a club and they started reworking the backstops. The new fill was donated dirt that was about half dirt and half stones. Seriously, about 50-50. I left that club. That is an accident waiting to happen. It is a small club (Land wise) and a lot of houses near it. To make the situation worse, the wooden posts were replaced with steel poles for the target frames. Wood did not last long enough for them.