home range ideas

[HavokCycle]

I've been toying with building an actual range out on our farm for years now... but being consistently concerned about liability has put me off - we have neighbors in every direction, the closest one being probably half a mile into some woods.. still scares me if rounds got off the range.

I have an old fuel barrel, probably in the 2000 gallon range that's not used anymore. It's roughly 8 feet in diameter and maybe 12 feet long, I'd say the steel is about 3/16" thick - I know it will not hold up to a 30-06 round.

So I was thinking of cutting the top off, filling it with a couple tons of concrete.. and putting "something" against the concrete to lessen the blow and reduce ricochets. Any idea what that something could be? We'd use it for .22 all the way up to 44 mag and 338 Lapua... no one has a .50.. yet...

Thoughts?

 

[ACC]

Rent a back hoe and build a birm. Probably about the same cost as buying all that concrete

 

[Thegeek]

cheaper... have you priced concrete lately? Filling that tank would be 28 yards.... a little over 2 trucks....

 

[Bsj425]

A good berm is VERY effective at stopping rounds. If you really want to reduce ricochet then make it a U shape adding berms on the side. You can also dig down at a slope so you are shooting slightly downhill. The biggest thing with ricochet is removing things that bullets wont penetrate ... ( like a giant steel tank full of concrete, rocks,ETC). Loose dirt is much better at absorbing a round than something hard like that.

 

[indyjoe]

A whole lot of dirt. If you build it right, like a horseshoe, you can use it for rifle from a distance and 180 degree pistol for IPSC like practice courses.

When we built backstops, we packed old tires full of dirt to add some structure to eliminate rain erosion and such.

 

[Bfish]

As some of the guys have said, just build a proper berm out of dirt. I think it really is your best option. A friend of mine did one with some equipment on their farm and they shoot all of the big stuff even 338 and 50 into it without any issues. It's plenty large and there really isn't anything to worry about.

 

[lazarus0213]

I am interested in building a nice backstop on my farm as well. My idea is to stack railroad ties in a bunker openeing style , then back fill behind with sand and dirt over that.

 

[awames76]

railroad ties are free if u get hold of local train yard. they tell u where old ones are and u load them up. looked into it a few years ago.

 

[ScouT6a]

As the others have stated, plain old dirt is your best option.

 

[Sniper 79]

Dirt, sand, and railroad ties. Or you could use the tank as fill and bury it. Maybe some old tires. Tons of free shipping crates and pallets that could be pulled apart and layered.

I wouldn't let anyone else shoot. Lessen the liability as much as possible. Maybe only shoot pistols close up and shotguns as well in order to lessen it even more.

 

[Spike Jones 5 2002]

#1 steel drums good chance of ricochets.
#2 fulled with concrete 100% chance of ricochets.
find a bunch of 55 gal plastic drums fill with "SAND" really available.
Stack it two rolls. Second rolls covering the seam of the first.
They can be stacked 4 to 5 high.

 

[tenring]

https://www.google.com/search?q=baffles+berms+and+back+stops&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

 

[t-squared]

From tenring's search....http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/destinations/shooting_ranges/outdoor_shooting_best_practices.pdf

 

[Spike Jones 5 2002]

What is your design?

 

[Spike Jones 5 2002]

have you completed your range?
If so how does it look?

 

[natdscott]

cheaper... have you priced concrete lately? Filling that tank would be 28 yards.... a little over 2 trucks....

Still true, since it would be well over $1,000...but how you figure it would take 28 yards? I only come up with about 10.

A good size backhoe could be had for about a WEEK for that kind of money.

-Nate