Grump
Member
Lots of great talk, but anyone here have access to the US military's sandbag guidelines? I don't, but have dim recollection of 20 inches of sandbag being considered minimum for ordinary old 7.62 NATO stuff.
I need to build a backstop. What do you think of this idea?
- Thread starter Molon Labe
- Start date
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I have a range with a dirt berm on my property. I had to lay heavy logs across the dirt berm to make a wall about 7' high. In the winter the dirt freezes solid and since it settles at about 45 degrees most rounds were richoceting straight up. The logs even when frozen solved the problem.
Kingcreek
Member
You can make a backstop substantially stronger with just a little more effort.
Here is what we did:
2 large postholes almost 8 feet apart. set 2 utility pole sections (or R/R ties) to a height of 6 feet above ground.
stack R/R ties front and back of the posts. we used 2 layers in front and 1 in back. spike the ends of the stacked ties and wire front and back together with upright posts between.
fill space between stack walls with sand or dirt.
we face the whole front with scraps of salvaged plywood-optional
top view:
(back)
------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------
O XXXXXXXXXX (dirt) XXXXXXXXXX O (< upright post)
------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------ (< R/R ties)
------------------------------------------------
(front)
ours has lasted 10 years with only periodic replacement/repair
Here is what we did:
2 large postholes almost 8 feet apart. set 2 utility pole sections (or R/R ties) to a height of 6 feet above ground.
stack R/R ties front and back of the posts. we used 2 layers in front and 1 in back. spike the ends of the stacked ties and wire front and back together with upright posts between.
fill space between stack walls with sand or dirt.
we face the whole front with scraps of salvaged plywood-optional
top view:
(back)
------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------
O XXXXXXXXXX (dirt) XXXXXXXXXX O (< upright post)
------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------ (< R/R ties)
------------------------------------------------
(front)
ours has lasted 10 years with only periodic replacement/repair
Molon Labe
Member
Wow, thanks for all the advice. Of course, now I don’t know what to do!
Yea, this is one of the reasons I was down on using a dirt pile - dirt settles at a (roughly) 45° angle. This leads to runoff problems, not to mention ricochet problems when it freezes. Sand would probably not freeze, but it would settle more.
rbernie
Contributing Member
Most dirt or gravel based backstops either use wood or vegetation to retain their shape. In other words, don't abandon the idea of using wood; use the wood to sandwich a dirt berm.
I know one fellow who hit up the local civil engineering contractors (excavation, pavers, etc.) and arranged to have the nuisance fill from their local job sites dumped on his property. He used this to build a terraced backstop, which he stabilized with aspen and lots of fast-growing brush vegetation. It was very pleasing to the eye and very functional, and cost him virtually nothing.
I know one fellow who hit up the local civil engineering contractors (excavation, pavers, etc.) and arranged to have the nuisance fill from their local job sites dumped on his property. He used this to build a terraced backstop, which he stabilized with aspen and lots of fast-growing brush vegetation. It was very pleasing to the eye and very functional, and cost him virtually nothing.
I don't know how practical this is, but...
I shoot at a friends place sometimes and they made a homemade backstop out of old freezers. Yeah, it looks odd, but it's also butted back into the woods a bit. The bottom row is 4 freezers deep and the top row is 3 freezers deep. As they put each one in place, they filled it with dirt. The front freezer is pretty riddled but nothing will go through 4 freezers of dirt in a row.
Richochets... now that's a different story.
I shoot at a friends place sometimes and they made a homemade backstop out of old freezers. Yeah, it looks odd, but it's also butted back into the woods a bit. The bottom row is 4 freezers deep and the top row is 3 freezers deep. As they put each one in place, they filled it with dirt. The front freezer is pretty riddled but nothing will go through 4 freezers of dirt in a row.
Richochets... now that's a different story.
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