Let's see your at-home shooting range!

[halfded]

With all the "what's your" and "show me" threads, I thought i fall in with the trend.

Do you shoot in your backyard? Out your back door? In the woods behind Grandma's house?

Let's see it!

Now before we get started, let's not turn this into a pissing contest about safety and bullet overtravel and all that stuff. While it's important, we will assume everyone that posts in this thread has taken into account the safety aspect of where/how they shoot.

Feel free to ask questions about setup and safety measures, but keep it constructive please.

I've got no pics of the mini-berm I shoot at in the woods, but here's my .22 range in the backyard. It has stops at 25, 50, and 90 (paced) yards with steel spinners and a bullet trap box for easy lead containment and added safety. There's an old beatup picnic table at the line that's my shooting bench.

At 50 yards, I stacked logs in an arced shape around a spinner set to catch lead splatter and catch/severely slow the occasional miss (I only shoot from a benchrest). If I want to shoot paper targets at 25 yards I just move the bullet trap up. The spinners at 90 yards are backed by a large, dying, triple trunk tree, providing a nice backstop.

The land slopes upward gently the further you go out, and between google earth and .22lr trajectory numbers, I've figured it's perfectly safe to have my little range as long as I'm not just lobbing bullets around.

Anyway, here's the pics.

The orange soda bottle is covering the rebar marking 25 yards. The log pile and bullet box can be seen at 50 yards, and if you look carefully the spinners can be seen at 90 yards right above the center log. The line of sight is so close to the ground I have to go along and pull up small plants that are blocking my view of the target!


The second pic is through the scope at 9x looking at the spinners at 90 yards. Pretty easy once you figure out the 5 inches of holdover!


If anyone's wondering, I do have neighbors. Once they found out I'm an adult, target shooting with safety measures in place, they don't mind me shooting at all. BTW, they are a measured 75 yards through the woods to the left side of my shooting bench. I still keep the amount I shoot down to about 20-50 rounds at a time and I shoot subsonics as much as possible. Never had a complaint yet.

So let's see 'em!

 

[Warhawk83]

I don't have one.

I hate you.

 

[zombienerd]

Don't have one yet... Still renting.

The wife and I are planning on buying a place later this year, and it will have enough room to safely shoot in the back yard.

I plan to clear a nice little 50+ yard area with a bulldozer, and raise a good 7-8' high 20' wide 10'+ deep berm to shoot into.

But until it's done, plans are just plans... I'll post pics when its done next year

 

[halfded]

You're still in Loosiana! I hate you!

 

[brl150]

I would have shot through 3 neighbors houses if I tried to shoot in my yard.

 

[lonegunman]

I found a piece of property that is two miles from the nearest house, several miles from the nearest town and has no one living with five miles on three sides. It is fun to be out there even when you are not shooting.

There is something very pleasant about the sound of nothing at all.

 

[leadcounsel]

Shooting ranges should have earth berms. You shouldn't use trees as a backstop for your bullets.

 

[arizona_cards_11]

Well......we got a few posts without having someone talk about the safety points you mentioned.

 

[earlthegoat2]

Nice range there, I guess I will let the lawyers determine if it is safe.

I would shoot there with no qualms though.

 

[M2 Carbine]

Backyard range, since 1967, for handgun and 22. Up to 50 yards.


115 yard range in the woods. It's 3 hundred yards from the house.


Lower 52 yards.


The range is a work in progress, so everything must be removable.


Working on the range this morning.


Friends shooting.

 

[content]

Hello friends and neighbors // This is not my property but I pay a small price to hunt and shoot here, the house is right behind me.

Mostly friends getting together to clear trails, build new stands and refurbish old ones, not much in money and all that goes to diesel, seed, blinds and salt blocks.....

I pulled these off of my practice video( nothing like watching yourself to correct mistakes) so they are grainy but you get the idea. We have a basic range slopeing downhill with a bigger hill behind it and build up the berm each year after Memorial Day. Since hunting season is over we target shoot more in the summer.

Handgun practice: Attacked by two BG (medium size pizza boxes) while stepping away from my truck. Engage at 21ft while continuing to move.
Dual Wield:
Strong hand; Ruger Security Six .357 158gr. JSP 4"
Weak hand; S&W 442 .38 158gr.JSP 1 7/8"


Handgun practice: Same scenerio
Strong Hand only; S&W 586 .357 158gr. JSP 6"



Moved back to 100 yards to shoot a few rifles. I usually take two .22s and something bigger, sight them in on the bench then shoot sitting and standing.

 

[Rembrandt]

Nothing fancy, 50-100-200 yard rifle range with target holders & swingers. Shooting bench is located inside one of the farm buildings. Lots of homemade reactive targets. Trap and sporting clays throwers plus an archery range. ATV target retrieval system....

 

[kingpin008]

Shooting ranges should have earth berms. You shouldn't use trees as a backstop for your bullets.

Care to explain why? Both methods will stop rounds, just as both methods will wear away over time and require replenishing/rebuilding.

 

[jnyork]

Here's mine, I have a 8-9 acre patch of very thick aspens, I built this range down in the middle of them, 100 yards up a narrow pathway in the trees to the backstop, which is an aspen log deck built of downfall logs, about 10 feet high, 15 feet wide and 15-20 feet deep. Nothing getting out of that one, plus the earth is all soft, no rocks, and the standing trees will catch most if not all of the stray rounds. 3 miles behind the backstop to the nearest structure or sign of civilization.

 

[JellyJar]

King pin008

I suspect he is worried about hurting the tree.

 

[Gritacular]

I thought the OP mentioned this is not the thread to nit-pick about safety. :banghead:

 

[crazydaysorg]

Mostly intended for pistol since between the stakes is 25 yards, but I have almost 200 yards to the road if I ever am interested in shooting rifle. It is farm land and hill behind the range, so over shot should not be an issue.

My neighbor was gracious enough to use his tractor to dig the berm. The pictures are from last spring before the weeds started growing. This spring he helped level it out some to keep the water from pooling in front of the berm. I should get some new pictures, maybe this weekend.

 

[DFW1911]

My jealousy knows no bounds. M2Carbine, I don't suppose you invite fellow Texans over for a shoot now and again, do you ?

Nice ranges, y'all.

Take care,
DFW1911

 

[rDigital]

Here's my range. Yea Cleveland!

 

[halfded]

rDigital: Now that we've seen the rifle range, where do you guys shoot handguns?

 

[M2 Carbine]

My jealousy knows no bounds. M2Carbine, I don't suppose you invite fellow Texans over for a shoot now and again, do you ?

It's been know to happen but most all that's showed up lately have been pretty ladies.

 

[leadcounsel]

Care to explain why? Both methods will stop rounds, just as both methods will wear away over time and require replenishing/rebuilding.

As custodians for the environment we ought to be more responsible than shooting trees. Look around on THR and you'll see many members who agree.

Also, earth berms are definately more safe to shoot into than trees.

 

[Alabama2010]

Here's my range. Yea Cleveland!

Or Youngstown....

 

[M2 Carbine]

Care to explain why? Both methods will stop rounds, just as both methods will wear away over time and require replenishing/rebuilding.

For years I used mostly logs for my backstops because I had no way to build a decent dirt backstop.
If you don't keep a close eye in it you will quickly easily shoot "tunnels" through the wood and where you think you have several feet of wood to stop the bullets, there may only be inches of backstop left.
It was a continuous thing replacing and adding wood to the backstop.

A dirt-pile berm will keep falling in on itself and closing those "tunnels", until you have to build up the berm again.


And if you have ever been in the woods when someone was shooting in your direction it's surprising just how far a bullet can Zing through the woods before being stopped. A stand of trees, especially if the woods isn't on your property, is a poor bullet backstop.

 

[mcdonl]

The winter view...



The bubba bench...



Haha... I remember this day. It was a nice, quite Sunday morning and I was listening to "Prarie Home Companion" on the radio, and I sent an email that Garrison read on the air. The gist of it was... I am problable the only listener who is at the range shooting... his response... he doubted it.