Shooting past buildings: how far is safe?

Door height is less than 7'-0" tall. Figure MOA from that dimension.
On a more serious response, REALLY? Shoot past an occupied house with a high powered rifle? If it isn't behind you then I'd say don't shoot past it.

The most logical thing to do is to see if you could get together with the rest of your shooters and make an offer to purchase the property next door.
If that is a no go you need a new range.
Luck
T

Seriously, don't have a camera? Just post some pictures and you'll save people the problem of speculating about your range layout, and not to mention get some clear cut answers.

I will hold off saying how far off to the side it is for now. So how far is far enough?

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What? Is this a game or something just tell us how far the occupied dwelling is from your firing lane.

An occupied building means there are people in it. You wouldn't shoot if someone was standing in front of the firing line, even if they weren't directly in front of you. Makes no difference if they are in a mobile home.

Also if a round goes into an occupied dwelling, in most states that is a felony.

How mobile is this mobile home?

Mobile homes are, by name, mobile.


So move the thing somewhere more convenient.

If instead of the structure there was a tent in that location and you could see three or four adults and a few kids milling around it, would you shoot anyway?

Just tell us where the darned thing is in relation to your firing lane. Sounds to me like it was a problem before. You may have been assuming it was empty without checking it for vagrants, kids, etc before shooting.

2 miles should be sufficient

post an address and we can do a satellite look up at the property like this...

My range....

Too Close

Yeah, he knows it's too close but wants validation for his hope that it really isn't.

Maybe they can buy the property, so they can control it, like my range complex in MD did.

I wouldn't feel comfortable shooting at a building I could see, occupied or not. A truckload of dirt isn't really all that expensive.

From Post #21: "...if you can see it from the firing lane, it's not safe."

A berm near the firing line itself, located such that the farthest station is blocked from seeing the house, would be one possible solution. The firing line would be one leg of an L; the berm would be the other leg.

Needs more berms.

What's behind the backstop? Can you shoot diagonally the other way across the field?

The backstop doesn't look very large. What's behind it if you launch one over the top or off to its side? Did you pick that diagonal because it's safer than the other?

You gotta be kidding. I can't believe they aren't calling the cops on you every time you fire a round.

I always let them know when we are shooting

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You showed a picture of the range. You said you have been shooting. I assumed you are shooting from the area you labeled 'firing line' in the direction of the spot you labeled 'range.'
If that is not correct, you could edit your picture to make it more clear.

I don't know about California but in my state there is no way that you could legally shoot there.

rcmodel said:

+1

If an occupied dwelling is anywhere in front of the firing line within 180 degrees, you are SOL.

rc

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^^^This. Not only an occupied dwelling but ANYTHING that could come in contact with a bullet or the result of a bullet striking ANYTHING downrange (ricochet, debris getting kicked up, etc.) within a 180 degree arc.

Dan

Looks like some sort of row crop so this may not work. But, put a pile of dirt very near the shooting bench, like right where the arrow points. Strategically place it so that it blocks the entire view of the building in question. Having it much closer to the bullets point of origin makes the pile (berm) much smaller.

Am I making sense?

Am I making sense?

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Yes! That would almost eliminate the ability to put a shot into the trailer.

Now, the other issue is that the target area appears to be in a region which is pretty accessible to foot and maybe even vehicle traffic (clear tire tracks nearby). Shooting into an are where people sometimes go is pretty sketchy.

Adding to that a berm which blocks your ability to point toward the moble home helps one aspect of safety, certainly, but it would probably also block your view of people and/or vehicles heading into the impact area until they were very seriously in danger.

There are some serious hurdles to overcome here.

I'm sorry but I think you're looking for a new place to shoot or you need to set up some berms to control the lead dispensing direction. That is simply not acceptable from any sort of reasonable firearms safety standpoint where a variety of folks would be shooting.

Too many folks simply do not have the proper degree of muzzle angle control during handling of their rifles. It gets even worse if attempting to clear a jam or some other fault.

Even for hunters in open country I'm pretty sure that most places have a rule about not shooting within X hundred yards of any buildings or other built up areas. So likely this spot runs afoul of your own local rules/laws in that regard.

I wouldn't.

I'd find someplace else.

One mistake and your life and probably someone else's is going to be ruined.

But, thats just me.

mwsenoj You come here asking what we all think. Guess by now you know so do what you want. Your probably going to anyhow. What you is not safe. Even with a round that was mistakenly fired high is now gone 1 1/2 miles down range.

We don’t know what surrounds this property, so just basing this on the image provided.
Who owns the horse area? If you have people over there, then absolutely not safe. Assuming image lays top=north, does anyone access the trailer from the South? If so, that’s an issue. Assuming nothing to the northwest would prevent it, reversing the range to shoot from the current berm towards the current firing position would be better as far as the trailer is concerned.
I’m sure you do, but keep in mind the limited field of view when shooting with a high power scope.
FWIW, if all the requirements listed in this thread had to be implemented, there wouldn’t be many ranges in this country, at least not in the east.