Help me build a safe shooting range.

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Simple Man

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Ok guys I just purchased a new home in the country with 2 acres and I take possession on Sept 15th so I am already planning on how to build my shooting range . I am surrounded by about 1500 acres of thick Forrest but I have two old ladies that live on either side of me that do not like hunting or guns and the previous owner told me they will not allow you to step foot onto this 1500 acres of land (they each own part of it and it surrounds my land). So I have about a 100 yards in my back yard that I can setup as a range but I need to keep my bullets safely on my property. The area I live in is considered rural/agriculture so I am within legal rights to shoot here and there are no houses or roads for at least 5 miles behind my house.
I was thinking about building some sort of a metal back stop that would angle toward the ground as to deflect the bullets into a sand pile on the ground. I am uncertain how thick of metal I will need and what would be a good angle to lay the metal backstop at. I would appreciate any suggestions on how to build my mini range. I will be shooting everything from rimfires, large bore handguns and rifles as well as shotguns and muzzle-loaders.
Pictures would be greatly appreciated too.:D

Here is my 40x40 garage and this is going to be my new (and first) reloading bench. Man I can't wait to move in. I don't know why I ever let the wife talk me into building a house in town in an addition 4 years ago. This has been a miserable 4 years but life is starting to look up for me.
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Backyard Range

Howdy Simple Man, I built a dirt berm in my back yard, and it seems to work well. The berm is 7 feet high, about 50 feet long, and is slightly "U" shaped. As for the metal backstop... You may be better off building several small but heavy duty bullet traps, just for the ease of maintenance and convenience of handling.
Good luck with your new neighbors.
 
I have moved a fair amount. Always in the country, with the smallest lot size - 10 acres. All kinds of neighbors. ALL KINDS.

My advise is don't build a range on these 2 acres. Having two unhappy neighbors who hate guns is asking for problems to come to your doorstep.


JMHO

Tom
 
2 acres is right small to do much shooting and keep others happy.

However, the NRA has some great info on their website if you drive on.

I would use a natural backstop (hill or gully) if possible. Metal is just going to make more noise and wear down over time.

Also, would build a bench/small building to fire from. Doesn't have to be much, keep the rain/sun off you and you can line it with some hay bales to keep the noise down some.

Good luck!
 
"I am surrounded by about 1500 acres of thick Forrest but I have two old ladies that live on either side of me that do not like hunting or guns and the previous owner told me they will not allow you to step foot onto this 1500 acres of land (they each own part of it and it surrounds my land). So I have about a 100 yards in my back yard that I can setup as a range but I need to keep my bullets safely on my property."

Try talking to them first. Perhaps the previous owner upset them. If you can say you have a "serious" reason for a range they may not be difficult (research, author, business etc.). This happened to me. I put in a range for business use, then I visited the neighbours and explained the shooting they heard. The visit was to convince them I was not a raving terrorist. I have lived on the property 28 years and most of the neighbours are new and some are not that comfortable with firearms. I try to shoot while people are at work and never on Sundays. For general practice I also use a 22 similar in action to my regular pistol.

RANGE DURING CONSTRUCTION - I HAD TO TRY IT OUT !!!
rangeview.jpg


The range is about 2 foot deeper now than shown in the photo and the sides have been built up with dirt. I saved valuable space by digging into a hillside. The hole I dug formed a backstop, the sides of the hole provided some ricochet and noise protection and the excavated dirt was pushed down the slope as fill to provide more standing area. Electricity was run down to operate a compressor for the turning targets. I will probably put some solid fencing on top of the side berms to further reduce noise.
 
I just built a range on my ten acres. I only have neighbors on one side. Behind my range is pasture and behind that a seriously large ridge. Mine basically consists of several loads of dirt piled into a berm with a backhoe.
It would take some serious steel to stop rifle bullets. At my last range up north I would have to replace 3/4" thick steel targets every few months because the rifle bullets would penetrate them.
 
Photo is deceptive. The house is about 75 degrees off the axis of the range. The backstop is now 11 feet high and the side berms are 11 feet high to 20 feet back from the target line. In the end I might try to build the range like the illustration in "Shooting the One Handed Gun".

Still safer than a basement range.
 
Has anyone considerd building the range underground. Sure would solve a few problems.
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Probably too expensive, will need good air filtration to get rid of the lead and other airborne pollutants.
 
Introduce yourself and explain you'd like to be a good neighbor. They were there first after all. They may have a "well, it's fine as long as it's after 10am and before 6pm" request. If they say something like, "I don't know why anyone...", be polite but firm and tell them you just wanted to be considerate, but if they don't have any specific requests besides don't shoot at all you hope they'll understand that what you do on your own property is your own business, you were just trying to involve them, but it won't stop you from shooting.

Berms are the way to go. If you've got a hillside that provides an opportunity to reduce the earthmoving.
 
Thanks everyone for the ideas. I guess I could rent a back hoe or something and build a dirt berm. That would probably be the best kind of back drop to have. I also thought about converting the shed in the back yard into a shooting bench/building as to help contain the noise. I do plan to get to know the neighbors and hopefully they will be able to tolerate some shooting between certain hours on certain days. Regardless of what they say, I will be shooting on MY land that I have worked hard to purchase.
 
Thanks everyone for the ideas. I guess I could rent a back hoe or something and build a dirt berm. That would probably be the best kind of back drop to have. I also thought about converting the shed in the back yard into a shooting bench/building as to help contain the noise. I do plan to get to know the neighbors and hopefully they will be able to tolerate some shooting between certain hours on certain days. Regardless of what they say, I will be shooting on MY land that I have worked hard to purchase.
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Simple Man, do not be discouraged. You bought your property, you're entirely right to feel that you should be able to enjoy it as you wish within reason. First things first, what is your state/county so that our forum members who live there can advise you regarding the LE agencies in your area that might cause you problems? I can tell you from personal experience that troublesome neighbors combined with anti-gun LE agencies (in my case it was the Michigan State Police, the local unit staffed by anti-gun Detroit area troopers) can cause you endless grief despite your shooting being perfectly safe and legal.

Secondly, kiss those neighbors behinds with a passion. Don't mention guns at all until they love you like another son. Carry their groceries and mow their yards. It will pay off.

Thirdly, shoot in a space not visible to them, and cut down on the noise. The hay bale idea is excellent. It will absorb the sound. Build a hay bale "view blocker" if nothing else at all. If all they do is hear a muffled thumping sound from your property they have a lot less to be ridiculously frightened over than if they hear banging and see you with evil guns. Putting a row of heavy evergreens like Colorado Blue Spruce or (in the south this one is the good tree) cedars on the sightlines of your shooting range between you and them would be good now. In five or ten years they'll really be blocking your neighbor's views and deflecting noise as well.
 
You could build a small shooting shack with a window to shoot from, then use sound-deadening materials inside it to reduce the report from in the shack. On the outside, you could set up a little baffle made of large used tires filled with some spray-on expanding foam to help reduce any sound that come out of the obvious hole in the shack. Note: I have NO IDEA if this would work, but it shows effort if nothing else. In my opinion, you have a duty to try to disturb your neighbors as little as possible, being that they worked hard to buy their land before you ever got there, but I also feel that you should be able to use your land to the fullest extent under law.

Good luck!
 
You could build a small shooting shack with a window to shoot from, then use sound-deadening materials inside it to reduce the report from in the shack. On the outside, you could set up a little baffle made of large used tires filled with some spray-on expanding foam to help reduce any sound that come out of the obvious hole in the shack. Note: I have NO IDEA if this would work, but it shows effort if nothing else. In my opinion, you have a duty to try to disturb your neighbors as little as possible, being that they worked hard to buy their land before you ever got there, but I also feel that you should be able to use your land to the fullest extent under law.
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Along the lines of what nplant said, I know for a fact that worn out old tires are free, and that they will actually deflect and absorb sound.
 
Plus one on the worn out tires... free, readily available, easy to position and pick up when they get too worn out. Truly wonderful for this situation.
 
Alternate backstop ideas

Just to throw in my 2 cents. I am in the process of biulding an indoor range for comercial use.

I don't know what state you live in but you might ask them if there will be a problem selling your land in the future if there is lead contamination. Most states don't have a rule about building ranges but do have some rules about selling them as the land tends to contaminate the ground. You will probably have to remove all of the back stop and lead prior to the sale and that can become costly.

The sand pit idea might be better as it would give you an easy way to define the impact area and remove the lead. Other options are to buy a bullet trap that will contain most of the lead, or to just cover up the range prior to selling the property (although that is not the proper thing to do it is an option.) Ther are also some companys that make rubber blocks that you can have shipped to you for about $100 that will stop upt a .308 and then you could just take the blocks to the lead recycle company and usally get rid of them for free or cheap (most ranges don't make money on the lead recycling.)


There are also some companys that sell armor plate steel that will resist denting from a .308 rifle bullet and can be shapped into a bullet trap. I actually bought 3 of them designe for a upto a .44 mag for my indoor pistol range. The design is rather simple and the bullets just get collected into a 5 gallon bucket. This option can be rather expensive but it is an option.

I would still build the dirt backstop incase a round did not hit your intended target.
 
The military uses sandbags for good reason - they're cheap and they work. A dirt backstop is the cheapest way to go. Don't know how many feet of dirt it would take for a rifle... you could probably put some of those worn-out tires, cut lengthwise (so they're not a circle, just a long curvy strip of rubber) and stick them behind your dirt for added protection. A sheet of plywood or the hood from an old car should be able to stop most normal bullets, if placed behind a few feet of dirt.
Anybody know whether dry dirt or wet dirt stops a bullet faster?
 
Ok guys I just purchased a new home in the country with 2 acres and I take possession on Sept 15th so I am already planning on how to build my shooting range . I am surrounded by about 1500 acres of thick Forrest
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Congrats on the purchase - it sounds like a pretty place.

Whenever I do the math, 2 acres is pretty small to shoot on, especially if your neighbors don't like the idea.

I think that that the NRA (or some other range building authority) basically says "forest schmorest" - you can't count on any kind of forest to stop a bullet.

The problem is that if one leaves your property, you can be in trouble.

One solution I have imagined is shooting into a 3 sided roofed shed. Make it open enough that you don't have to worry about air filtration, etc., but closed enough that it's not possible to draw a straight line from anywhere on the firing line to over the berm.

I may not be explaining the idea very well, but imagine a building with 3 sides and a roof (all bulletproof). You stand in the opening shooting into the building. There is no way to shoot over the "berm" without hitting the roof. Since you are standing in the opening, there's a open air to your sides, behind, and above you - so you don't need any filtration air moving equipment.

Just a pipe dream,

Mike
 
I've never shot through a round bale of hay.... and I've got one in my yard that's full of lead. A few of those might work. Not as well as dirt though.
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My ex brother in law and I used to shoot using hay bales for backstops. It did not take long to learn that most rifles and some handguns would shoot through so we got a big piece of boiler plate about 1/2-9/16" thick, the cut off end of some kind of large tank and leaned up against the bale probably at about a 30 degree angle. We had put in a couple of fence posts to actually support the steel plate. After shooting we could look between plate and bale and find all kind of bullets on the ground.
 
IF you can get away with it, i would think the best way is an underground range. but that is going to be a COSTLY project. second best would be to barter something and get a guy on a bulldozer to come and build you a steady downhill slope. building up the sides and especially the end so there is no possible way for the bullets to go over the top. but honestly, if they are dead set against it, it will be a long miserable battle. make absoloutly certain that there is legally enought room between where you intend to shoot and their homes/buildings. if you are 1" to close, and they figure it out, all they have to do is call the sherriff or natural resources and shut you down, and you will get a nice big fat ticket. in any case, if they are dead set against it, they will probably be down at the first, and every township meeting trying to put a stop to it. sorry to be so pessamistic, but i have seen it before. SUCKS!
 
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