Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Shooting range back stop

So I have a shooting range I’m making. On and old abandoned road. Problem. Is I don’t own the land farther down range. Wanna keep bullets on my side of the fence. I am gonna make a dirt pile but want something more in front of it. Anyone done something More. I was thinking posts with tires over the top. Land is realitively flat

I'm pretty fortunate, my home range goes out to 760yds, and I basically shoot from hill to hill. The majority of my backstops are dug into my hill side. On the one berm I had to make I used railroad ties for thae back side and filled with dirt. Pictured is my 760yd berm, which is still below one of my hillsides:



This gives you an idea of the topography:



The 760 Berm under construction:



The rounds are going into the hillside, but the berm makes it easier to spot misses.

300-400yd berm:



547 berm:



My normal "hunting practice" setup, TGTs going up my hillside out to 600yds.





Pistol range cut into hillside. The backstop also serves for 100-200yds:

If you know you can hit the back stop, say shots up to 300 yrds, I`ve had good luck with tires piled maybe 4/5 tall, then fill with sand. I also cover the top of the tires after filling, with plywood, to keep high shots from kicking any sand out.

Good Luck

My home range is fairly short at 300 yards. I cut into a grade so the background behind the target is higher...however, it's a slow incline. To make a true backstop and avoid the chance of any glancing shots, I stacked tires, 3 wide by 3 deep by 5 high, used T-posts connected by wire to keep them upright and aligned, and filled them with dirt.

Threads like these reinforce my belief that any SOB’s that want to get sporty with us will pay dearly! They don’t realize that we have thousands and thousands of snipers that know their terrain and how to shoot. 👍🏼

Nice!

Old Landing Strip makes up the first 1000 yards



This range is up hill from 50 yards to 1800 yards, no back stops



6 shooting tables



Covered observation deck

Rio7

Chuck R, Nice range.


How do you get away with putting a back stop or berm on a power line right of way?

We have 1 power line right a way, 100' wide, but can't put anything on it, even a portable deer blind, with out catching hell from the power co.

Rio7

I'm betting they don't even know what it is. I put the steel out when I shoot and recover it when I'm done. It's been there going on 8 years now without an issue. Our ROW is 75' from center and other than hosing down emergent trees with roundup every couple of years I never see the guys maintaining it.

But after reading the actual easement, I don't think they can prevent it anyway. The contract actually specifies/prohibits construction of "objects" that are 10' above grade within the 75' of the center line. So a 6' berm is under their "radar". Worse case, I'd just lever the berm and use the hillside.

I live on a place that don't need no stinking backstops.....

The op is not really saying what is beyond the land he's shooting on. Only that it is owned by someone else and on flat ground. Is there buildings behind his shooting area? Houses? Etc.. All you guys are posting some cool spots. Some of which would not be allowed where I came from, like shooting down a power line. Don't let the power company catch you doing that schidt. Out here in the desert, though you can use the land as a backstop. Works out quite well and is pretty safe, because there are no roads behind this area and no one is going to be walking in on you:


When I read the OP, I think I'd want a little more info on what is behind where he's shooting. If there are houses or other buildings, forget it. If not, make a dirt berm. Use railroad ties or tires, etc etc..

Same here. They fall when they fall. Open country.

That looks like alot of work and money for a back stop

I don’t have one but always dreamed of having one.
I’d go with Rail road ties staked down with re bar and dirt
Probably 2 ties wide set up in a wide V, 6’ tall.

Mine is table top flat so it’s not possible to cut into it. I think the rail roads make sense

My range is across a flat field….300 yards. I have a 500 gallon steel barrel filled with dirt and behind the barrel have a 10 foot tall mound of dirt…..never seen any bullets go thru the barrel into or out the mound of dirt, there have been thousands of rounds fired. Another good backstop is a mound of fallen trees stack up using my Kubota to place them real tall with a mound of dirt for safe measure….cheap and effective.

There's no one close to us here to worry about, thing we don't do here is shoot prone, if you are prone here you can't see more than 10' thru the weeds and grass, and the sand burr's will eat you up, we shoot off of sticks when hunting and off the bench on the range, we all do what our environment will let us do when shooting. Rio7

Figured you have plenty of illegals running around down there.

TrueGrit, We have more than our share, but no season on them they are a protected specie. FJB Rio7

Well, if you knew where that backstop was located you would understand why it's so stout. Having used it firsthand, I can attest to it's effectiveness......


Frog---OUT!

Have shot numerous 5'+ trees down,when being used for backstops over time. Wind gets 'em. Hint.............

Bigger ones make fair to middlin' Rests. Hint.

Movers…😁

Well, the metal deflector weren't cheap, I'll give ya that. OTOH, it's about 8-10 years old and still goin' strong. It handles .44 Mag and .45-70 cast bullets OK fine.

A layer of tires filled with dirt. Then another atop of it staggered like brick course. Then another and so on.

My backstop is called pine mountain.

I think old Dan shoots all cast and likes to recover/recycle em.

my backstop is a mountain, with a mountain range and glaciers beyond, can shoot out to 2 miles

No sand-burrs, but we do have tall grass and some serious ticks and chiggers. So I "invented" the M12A1 MSP (Mobile Shooting Platform). Relatively stable, and helps carry the associated gear.





Jackstands under the ramp add some length for bipod use. For hunting locally I've gone to a tripod, prone is a PITA due to vegetation and/or slope.

Rio7 just remember the 3 SSS's

I was lucky to find a pile of old RR ties that I buried under a dirt pile for my 100 yard range. When we shoot longer range we have used 1200 pound hay bales the are 5' rolls. We use several stacked together so no chance of shooting through them and we can move them where we need them.

JDM

^^^
Great idea until the cows eat the mushroomed bullets.

Thinking of putting a backstop inside the warehouse. Have about 50 yards, shooting with suppressors. Really would reduce my range time for getting new guns on paper. Plus I could take the guns into the A/C'd office to cool down between strings. Thoughts on that? Already shoot my bow in here. Why not some suppressed guns. Outdoor summer temp at the range is in the mid 90's with 80-90% humidity. Does not make for a good time. Price you pay for living in Florida...
SnT

a fellow in the next town over shoots rimfire in his shop.

Sounds like you are fresh out of mountains and hill sides. We here in FL have the flat land problem also. You can pile up dirt to make a berm, if you have the free dirt. Another option is old used tires, stacked and filled with dirt, stack three then fill, repeat. Set them staggered and touching so bullets can't pass. Makes a fine bullet absorbent backstop.

*** O O O O
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The 8'-10' tall wall process is fairly fast with a tractor and FEL with a bucket. Trick is to find a tire store that will give you the old tires and not have a prohibition against old tires on property. Stacking them full of dirt is not a big fire hazard.

dumb question, can you hear the steel gong out 75-100 yards?

Blammo, You should be able to hear a hit at 1000 yards. Rio7

Don’t know your situation, but can’t imagine why enough dirt can’t be mustard.
I have a 100 yd range out back of my house
My berm is eight feet tall and about 12-15 feet wide
And probably eight feet thick
I keep my targets about 3-4 ft off the ground and very selective to who I let use my range .
I don’t do spray and pray at all
Shoot from a bench or field positions and if it’s a new gun do my zeroing at fifty yds to make sure I’m on the 4x8 sheet of ply board used as a backer plyboard last s long time if you use same size targets and pin them repeatedly in same spot when the top half gets shot out I simply flip it over , use t post o the ends drill holes in the board and wire it to t post
Have shot thousands snd thousands of rds into it
Evey few years have friend with back hoe come over and dress it up using bucket to tamp dirt tight
I would not feel inadequate using this berm at longer ranges if I could stretch out more .
Kenneth

Oddly enough, mine is too

Yup out to 1000 and IF you mount your swingers with movement, you can see the "flash" when the steel moves. I use these from Hang fast and 3 link pieces of chain:




https://hangfasttargets.com/steel-targets/standard-hanger/



It's pretty ingenious and the mount has cutouts to act as a wrench.

Ok guys, Matt Allen from North Iowa started this post on May 29, 1923…..been many posts on what you use to stop bullets on your shooting set ups. Now let’s see what y’all think is the most impressive ones in your mind and which deserve a shout out from us. I know of a few I like and at some point will chime in on…. some great ideas here to keep us safe in our shooting .

I built a 24”x24” box out of 2x12 and faced with 3/4 plywood front and back and a 3/4 rubber horse mat on the front. Filled with pea gravel. It’s stopped 9mm close range. 270 and 22-250 from 50 yards. I call it Pudge. Rangers catcher

I use palm tree cookies when shooting in the back yard. Stops stuff fine until you put too many in the same hole.