Home Backstop Questions

[INPatriot]

I'm moving to a property its rectangular 363' N-S and 1374' E-W.

I'm going to set aside area for a range on the west half of the property, which has been tilled in the past.

Ideally I'd build a berm with a tri-axle load or two but 1300' over soft ground makes me think twice about that.

Cleaning up I've found railroad ties, fence posts, corner posts, 8'x4' sheets of OSB and plywood and I've got a fallen tree that needs cleaned up.

Will an 8'x8' square of fence posts, backed by three layers of 1/2" OSB/plywood, backed by one layer of railroad ties, backed by a layer of tree trunk be sufficient?

It may seem like overkill but I want to do it right and be resourceful.

Thanks

 

[calcot7]

Mounded earth would be better. The OSB will not last for any period of time even without being shot so I wouldn't bother with it. The plywood, unless "Marine" grade or treated is not much better. Eventually, bullets will find their way through the wood constructed back stop. Be careful when shooting tracers. If you are worried about sticking a dump truck in a field you could maybe rent a skid-steer to transport the hauled in dirt to it's designated location or wait for a period of hot dry weather to insure that the ground is hard enough to drive over. Good luck! At least you have a place where the construction of a range is possible.

 

[Drail]

It really depends on what kind of firearms you are shooting. I have seen lots of 7.62X39 (SKS/AK) and many other rifle rounds punch completely through railroad ties and keep going. At one range we had a berm approx. 25 feet thick and over 15 feet high and someone brought a .50 BMG out one day and the rounds went completely through the berm like it wasn't even there. With larger weapons never assume the rounds will be stopped. A solid wall of railroad ties will stop any normal handgun round that I have seen (at least for a while). What is really needed for a safe range is a big hill or a ravine. Plywood and OSB won't stop anything. Test some of your materials out by laying them on the ground and see if rounds can get through. If you end up building a berm make it twice as thick as you think it needs to be and know what is downrange for at least a mile and a half. There is no overkill when building a berm.

 

[ScouT6a]

The military has done volumes of testing on materials that stop small arms rounds. The one reliable stopper is dirt. 24 - 30" of packed earth will stop all but the largest small arms rounds.
Drail, a .50 BMG ball round will go through 4 inches of armor plate or 14 inches of non reinforced concrete. They are bad mothers but they will not go through 25 feet of berm. Now, if you say "berm" but you really mean a backstop made of some material besides earth, it might have went through it.

 

[mattyd]

Maybe consider waiting until the ground freezes solid and have a few dump truck loads of fill dirt brought in. I would think trailering in on a triaxle a lot of loads to get enough mound to be safe. I have seen lesser backstops while driving out in the country...some are quite scary. Look at it as what it takes to aid in the enjoyment of your property. A few hundred bucks versus an accidental injury or damage...small price to get along with the neighbors.

 

[gundoc111]

The NRA site has tons of info on home ranges. You can get a lot of OPINIONS here but go to the people who 'been there done that.' If for no other reason if any issues come up you can reply that you built it to NRA specs. Good luck, have fun.

 

[ScouT6a]

NOTE that when I said 24-30 inches of dirt will stop small arms rounds, this is a minimum! This is the amount we used as frontal and flank cover when digging fighting positions.
When you build your berm at home, use as much dirt as you can, space and cost considered. My personal berm is 10 foot thick at ground level and is six foot high and 20 feet wide. I am constantly adding to my berm. About every 2-3 weeks, I clean out my chicken coop and this gets added to the berm.

 

[DIRTROAD]

Have you though about a pond , you end up with a lot of dirt for back stop

 

[Mgderf]

About 4 years ago I gave my younger brother an AR15 that I had built. He wanted a .223 and I had just built this one.
Three weeks later he called me up and invited me to come out and try his new range. He put it in his front yard!

His is constructed of a wall of railroad ties about 15 feet long and approximately 6 feet high. The ends turn back toward the shooter, so it ended up like an opened C shape. He then piled dirt roughly 8 feet thick at the base, and about 4-5 feet thick at the top.
Targets are kept at ground level, there is a 2-row "safety rail" of ties above the berm, and this is set at a downward angle to the berm, with the background rising above the berm level before the line of sight leaves his property.

I've had a ton of fun with that little range in the past few years.
We can only get about a 50 yard shot at the moment, but little brother told me recently he's looking just beyond the berm and to the left.
Well, what do you know, we can make the same set-up out about 125 yards!

I have some dirt to move too, and I couldn't be happier about it!

 

[jerrob]

I've seen several that were a mound as mentioned above, that were constructed of old tires filled with sand and dirt. I have no data to offer on how effective it works.
I do agree with more is better and when dealing with a fired bullet, there's no such thing as too much backstop.

 

[JT1968]

I've shot at a few personal ranges that had sand as a backstop. Railroad ties and a lot of sand was used. I don't ever remember any rounds making it thru. The last one was rr ties on 3 sides. The front side was 2 rows of tires all filled with sand. The whole thing was approx 5 or 6 ft tall, ties and tires. I have no idea how many tons of sand was used. However, it seemed to work with handgun and lower caliber centerfire rifles well.

 

[FERLACH]

A number of years ago, I built my own gun range for my personal use. Mound of dirt 6 ft high and 6 ft thick. Then I put a 4 ft by 8 ft, 1/2 thick sheet of plate steel in front of that. Then I put a stack of railroad ties, 6 ft high in front of that. I shot at this for about 15 years, including 375 HH and 458 Winchester magnum rifles, and never came close to destroying it, although I did replace the railroad ties a couple times.