yankytrash
Member
Hey all. Been contemplating a major renovation of my personal range for awhile now. Namely, recently purchased a track loader with 4-way bucket and a backhoe, and I need to destroy landscape with'm. 
The urgency of this renovation is actually very important. I'll be starting my house at the end of this year hopefully, and my driveway is going to run right through the range. I need to have the range designed the way I want it for a long time, because any future renovation may mean destroying my driveway. No biggy, if I didn't have an irritable wife.
Here's a picture of what I have, below. Please excuse the lack of scale and the sloppiness. My plotting program doesn't save drawings in any web-usable format, so I had to painstakingly hand draw this in the venerable Microsoft Paint (remember that one?):
For some side notes, there's a creek behind that 200m target and that's as far as I go. The backside of the creek provides a great natural backstop, and that marks the edge of the property anyway.
The sidelines I have marked on the drawing are the sides of the gully I shoot through, probably about 30ft tall and low grade. Average width down the lane is a usable 50m, but it opens up fairly flat from the 50m targets, and on back behind the bench.
I'll be adding the 100m behind the bench, and just move things back accordingly.
I'll probably scrap all my current target stands in a big beerfest bonfire. They're showing their age with huge gaping holes in the middle and too many extra layers of plywood to be stable now. I've come up with a better more permanent design involving palletes and stands.
Here's what I plan on ending up with:
The urgency of this renovation is actually very important. I'll be starting my house at the end of this year hopefully, and my driveway is going to run right through the range. I need to have the range designed the way I want it for a long time, because any future renovation may mean destroying my driveway. No biggy, if I didn't have an irritable wife.
Here's a picture of what I have, below. Please excuse the lack of scale and the sloppiness. My plotting program doesn't save drawings in any web-usable format, so I had to painstakingly hand draw this in the venerable Microsoft Paint (remember that one?):
For some side notes, there's a creek behind that 200m target and that's as far as I go. The backside of the creek provides a great natural backstop, and that marks the edge of the property anyway.
The sidelines I have marked on the drawing are the sides of the gully I shoot through, probably about 30ft tall and low grade. Average width down the lane is a usable 50m, but it opens up fairly flat from the 50m targets, and on back behind the bench.
I'll be adding the 100m behind the bench, and just move things back accordingly.
I'll probably scrap all my current target stands in a big beerfest bonfire. They're showing their age with huge gaping holes in the middle and too many extra layers of plywood to be stable now. I've come up with a better more permanent design involving palletes and stands.
Here's what I plan on ending up with:
- Target stands at 50m, 75m, 100m, 150m, 200m, 250m, 300m. I'll double up at 100, 200, 300 because of the popularity of those ranges.
- A 25m long by 70m wide IPSC-style shooting area for competition practice, off to the side of the shooting bench. I currently find that my pistol targets get creamed by the rifles when I'm doin long range, with them being set in front of the bench.
- I'd like to end up with a better skeet-throwin setup, but how big should that be to be comfortable? Keep in mind this is in the middle of the woods, and I'd like to keep as many trees as possible.
- An access road off to the left or right of the range for a 4-wheeler, for checkin those targets farther out. Ain't bought the 4-wheeler yet. Maybe this summer.
- Once I'm sure I like the location of the shooting bench area, a roof will go up and concrete will be poured on the ground. That'll make it easier scrounging brass. Right now I have to rake up the area before I shoot. Not mention, it shouldn't get as muddy when I'm shootin in the rain/snow.
