2x8 backstop

Only one way to find out. I'm guessing that they will go through.

Probably will. Might even send some back at you.

Assuming you're talking about sandwiching 2x8s face-to-face and shooting into the edges (of course!), for the impact zone of your 4'x4' target you'll need 16 2x8x8' boards. That's about $135 today at Home Depot, not counting screws or nails to hold the lamination together.

And, the more shots you take, the less effective your backstop will be as each round will chew more wood away. Pretty expensive for a disposable backstop.

Used creosote soaked rail road ties work great.
BUT..any wooden structure wil eventualy get shot thru.
Your best and safest bet is a dirt mound behind your target board(s).

I found out while shooting my 45 at 100 yards this last weekend that a 230 grain projectile fired from 45ACP casing will get through 1" of plywood + 4" of pine boards. I found one bullet lodged on the back side (went fully through and was exposed) when I clipped the edge of the target stand at our range.

Not that good, shooting at 100 yards with a Glock 21. But I did mange to score some hits! 17 of 72 fired landed on the 15" square target... not good ratio, but better than I thought I'd do. Was firing offhand from a square stance.

Anyway .. would recommend stacking old railroad ties and filling it with about 2' of dirt. We did this on a friends land, and it's stood up to THOUSANDS of rifle rounds now. (Basically you build two "walls" of ties a couple feet apart, bind them together to form a "box", then fill with dirt. It'll last a long, long, long time)

use dirt, it collapses and fills in the holes you punch, while eventually the (minimal) protection your proposed backstop would offer would be further reduced by having a shot-out center.

dirt
sand
water
^these things stop bullets the first time and thousandth time ... dirt being cheapest, most plentiful, and easiest to stack up.

Use dirt, as free of rocks as possible to limit ricochets. I destroyed a bunch of mill cut 2X6's while testing various 22's for function. A 38 will reduce wood to splinters in nothing flat.

I use high density polymer pickle barrels filled with sawdust...in front of a 12 foot dirt berm. Each will take about 3000 rounds before they are unusable ($9.00 each). Then I collect lead and resell. Less damage to the berm. FMJ in almost any caliber will go completely through them but berm degradation is nill, bullets just kinda fall through and are on the ground.

My range, railroad ties and two dumptruck loads of dirt.

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Labhound...outstanding!! I would do that but my range is 25 yards wide.

I agree....use the wood to frame a dirt bern. Labhound has a very nice example and I'm sure he wouldn't mind you asking him the specifics of his setup.

What ever you may come up with, I`m thinking your responsible any negative
actions that might come along.

jimmysadd said:

i'm thinking of building a 4'by4' target stand from treated 2''by4'' boards.
anybody know if a 38 will go thru boards.

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Even if you layer the boards thick enough to stop the first few bullets, they will eventually make it through. Especially in the palces you typically hang your targets. You'll be replacing a lot of lumber quite frequently with this type of backstop I think.

Another vote for dirt berm.

I built a 4-foot-square frame out of 2x8s, open on the top. Covered the front and back with 2x10s, then filled it with sand (about half a ton). Been using it for a couple years, and need to replace one or two of the facing boards soon, but nothing gets through the sand in it. Not too expensive.

A .38 special will definately go through a 2x4, if not on the first shot then on the second or third hit in the same area.
If you are using hard cast, or full metal jackets, it will go through on the first shot, everytime.
If you are using hollow points, a 2x4 may stop a few of them, depending on how good of a shot you are, but that won't last long.

Dirt is the most effective way to stop them each and every time no matter what you are shooting for caliber or bullets.

good luck.

I have a 4' x 3' piece of AR 500 armor plate as a backstop. Works great.

Are the woods behind the backstop open to others? One of the four rules is to "know your target and what is beyond". If you can't account for each and every projectile you send downrange you are acting in a negligent manner. Build up a large dirt berm instead of a pile of lumber.

You need to STOP them before they "hit the woods", not just slow them down.

2" of pine -might- do it once ... but it won't do it twice if you hit on or near the same spot.

Build yourself a proper backstop, or don't shoot.

The best, safest, and longest lasting backstop you can have is a dirt mound. Just haul in a dump truck or two of relatively gravel free stuff to help reduce the chances of a ricochet; and plant grass on it to prevent erosion. Then stick in some 2x4's for posts right in front of it and stretch chicken wire between them to clothes pin your targets to.

Wood is not a good back stop.

Stump Water said:

Wood is not a good back stop.

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This.

What I would do if I were you (and what I would have done if I didn't have a nice hillside to act as my backstop) is put a sign in front of your house "Clean Fill Wanted". Excavation guys are always carting around lots of dirt, and getting rid of it is a big problem. They'll give you as much dirt as you want, and put it exactly where you want it.

You can even be more pro-active about it, and call up a local excavation company.

Quite a bit of gravel in the fill won't make any difference. I'm a member of the only gunclub in the area and you should see the the berms. Lots of little caliche rocks up to fist size in the berms without any problems. Finding dirt without caliche rocks in it is almost impossible without trucking it for a long way around this area.

I really like that labhound. Awsome setup.


Leagly i can shoot were i live,outside city limits, open field behind my house. Problem is houses on left and right.People on the left wouldn't mind,but the guy on the right is,well,lets just say "one of those kind of people" and leave it at that. He don't even like my dog, and she don't bark unless something is out there.

Maybe he'll move and i can make one like that.

I used tires stacked and filled with dirt at the range on my farm. Works great.

Not as good looking as Labhounds though.