This topic reminds me of an acquaintance years ago who lived at what was then the edge of town.
He wanted a 50 yard range so he acquired a large number of 45 gal drums. According to him his wife wasn't too supportive of his plan. So, one Saturday she left on a shopping trip. By prior arrangement he had a backhoe operator on standby, who he called in. While a trench was being dug someone else was welding the drums end to end. Someone else was using a jack hammer to cut through the concrete wall in the basement to access the trench being dug outdoors. (I don't know how long he slept alone because of all the concrete dust he had throughout the house.)
To gain access to the target area there was an entry point at the end of the garden. None of this fancy stuff of being able to reel in targets in the house.
To shoot you had to lay down on a mattress and open a port hole in the plywood cover over the hole in the wall. Then he had to yell to his wife upstairs "fire in the hole".
As mentioned by someone before the back blast was significant. It used to rattle the plywood cover. Don't know what ever happened to the range. He eventually sold the house and moved elsewhere. As far as I know he is still around somewhere and must be around 90 now.
Ah, the memories of our youth.
Jim
Last edited by 1OntarioJim; 08/29/09.
