Thinking of building a range, have question

[snowman357]

I will be selling my property with my range on it 185 yards shooting down hill with a natural hill for a back stop, due to family issues. I'm currently looking for land and will put up a carport and a berm not a lot of hills in my area. I would like to build a 500 yard range with a carport to shoot under. I shoot rifle and pistols, was thinking about a 12 foot tall berm across the 500 yard line range width around 50 feet. My question is would it be better for safety to have a berm for pistol shooting separate and say only 50 yards away. Land will probably be cut over and replanted pines. Should make it wider to get more sun light for shooting iron sights should I try to have it facing a certain direction for the sun light for a better advantage.

Snowman357

 

[Double Naught Spy]

My question is would it be better for safety to have a berm for pistol shooting separate and say only 50 yards away.

You are building a range and want to know if it would be safer to have separate pistol and rifle shooting backstops? Not really for your situation, not unless you want to be able to have people visiting and shooting different platforms on different ranges at the same time. Do you really need that? Probably not. More often than not, it will be just you or you and a buddy or two. Y'all will be together while shooting. So should not be a problem that would create a NEED for a second range. Certainly nothing wrong with having a second range and I think it would be a nice bonus, but probably not necessary for your situation.

I would channel some of the money for a second berm into making your berm at 500 yards be taller and maybe paying for setups at various ranges so that you can shoot 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 yards (or whatever increments you like).

 

[Mk VII]

Ideally it should face North (northern hemisphere) so the sun will start out on the east side, go round behind you and sink in the west. Anything else and you will be looking into the sun at some point in the day, especially in the winter when the sun is lower in the sky.

 

[Chuck R.]

I'd love a range that faces north, but it's tough to find the ideal. My range and berms are to the west.

Safety shouldn't be an issue with a multi use berm as long as it's constructed well. I like my berms only a few feet away from my TGTs so I can spot. I wouldn't shoot a pistol with a berm that's hundreds of yards away. As for your berm(s) It really depends on how and what you shoot. For pistol I set up IDPA CoFs, so I need some width for movement.

I use the same berm for pistol, 50yd, 100yd and 200yd rifle from my bench. I have other separate berms with swingers at 547 and 760yds. Luckily I own a hill, so I also set up swingers on "T" posts at various distances when I want to practice distance.

Shooting up the hill:

For the pistol I graveled in a 30 x 30yd area right next to the "main" berm. For my shooting I need the largest, longest berm for my pistol and carbine shooting so I can set up an entire CoF with movement.

IF it were me, based on what I like to shoot, I'd horseshoe your berm and give myself a 3 sided bay. I don't use that big of a berm for rifle TGTs, because there's no movement involved, mine are set on a slope of my hill and I can at least hit the berms with regularity.... . My rifle berms really only serve to let me spot misses, the impacts are going into the hill.

One of my rifle berms (300 & 400yds depending on gun location):

The question becomes do you want to travel down to your big berm to shoot pistol??

Which will you be shooting more of?

 

[snowman357]

I was thinking for pistol, a closer berm would be better and safer, was thinking of bullets skipping off the ground with a berm 475 yards away to catch the bullet, I will add the north facing range to my list. I'm still not sure on one berm or 2, two sounds like it would be more useful. It will be mostly me and a few friends and family members.

 

[Chuck R.]

Rudimentary drawing, but this is what I'd build for a "Personal Multi-Purpose Range Complex":