building a backstop

[Clint]

I need to build a backstop, it can't be something that looks like crap like stacked tires, and I can't build a berm. Anyone have any ideas? I'm thinking building a wall with wood and maybe packing it with dirt or metal sheets or something. Also don't want to spend a fortune though..

Ideally it would be strong enough to stop 7.62x54r, but if that's not easily feasible, just stopping pistol rounds would be good..

Any ideas?

[Clint]

I guess I'm going to look into some railroad ties and sandbags

[PapiPaco]

I was watching this thread with interest. Any idea how much land is required to be able to shoot (with an appropriate backstop)? I'd love to be able to shoot pistols or my 10/22 on my 1+ acre lot... All the outdoor ranges are too damn far from me!

[PPGMD]

Metal sheets and bullets are a bad combination.

Any reason why you can't build a berm?

When I finally get around to building my range, I will be using concrete blocks as the retaining wall, and do a slowly sloping berm as it allows grass growth on the berm to prevent erosion.

[Clint]

Well I was also considering a bullet trap, where the metal plate is angled forwards at 45 degrees to deflect the bullets into the ground, but I think id need at least 1/2 inch plate to stand up to rifle rounds.

I can't build a berm due to the logistics of the shooting area, the backstop will be just on the other side of a drainage ditch, and id be worried the berm would just erode and fill up the ditch..

[jta]

How big are looking at making it? What if you make a U shaped wall with concrete block then fill it with dirt. Most round wont go threw the block alone much less with the dirt in front of it. Railroad ties might be a good option too. Another option would be to have something like this with a bigger stop behind it. http://www.reloadammo.com/backstop.htm

Lots of stuff comes up on a google search too.

[TNathe]

The railroad ties will need to be pretty decent ones. Old ones are quite hollow and a bullet will punch right threw it. We had a backstop in our pasture made from a telephone pole. We cut it down into like 8ft sections and built a wall like 5 wide and 4 deep. Problem is after several hundred rounds at the center it begins to wear thin. I think your idea of a wall with dirt is a good one. Dirt doesnt get chunksblown out of it and a foot thic of dirt will prob stop anything.

[jta]

I was thinking the railroad ties would go behind the dirt like the blocks.

[kender]

I remember in highschool we had a range for ROTC and our shooting team. It was only pellet rifles but the backstop and trap was pretty ingenious. The backstop was angled up (sloping up as it got further away) at less than 45 degrees.... I don't know the exact measurement but I remember how it looked and it was definitely less than 45. Here is the ingenious part, cause right now you're thinking bullets being ricocheted off into the wild blue is a bad thing. Well at the top was a hollow cylinder that ran the whole width of the backstop, horizontal, and with a slit along it's length. If you think of a paper towel tube with a slit running the length. The slit in the tube was positioned at the bottom of the tube but right at the end of the backstop so that as the pellets slid up the backstop they would pass right into this slit and then the curve of the cylinder would redirect the pellets energy. This hollow tube contained the pellets as they went round and round the inside until the energy ran out and then they would drop out the slit and roll down the backstop into a collection tray. I imagine the angle of the backstop was such that any bullet trajectory would result in a ricochet angle that just slid up the backstop. I don't know how involved it would be to build but maybe it will help.

Keep in mind that if you angle the metal plate for any backstop idea that the thickness of the plate needed is reduced because the thickness of the bullets path increases as the angle gets closer to parallel with the bullets path. So a rifle round that can go through a max of 1/2 plate at whatever your distance is could have the plate angled at 45deg and the thickness of 1/2" could be obtained using plate thinner than 1/2". It's too late to do the math but it's the old pathagoreum formula... A squared + B squared = C squared.... where C is the length of the bullets travel through the plate I.E. relative thickness. So a 1/4" plate at enough of an angle could be used for a bullet that needs 1/2" plate.

[TNathe]

Interesting...

[01yellowgt]

FIRST OF ALL !!!!! You better damn well know the city ordinances where you live and what is behind you ... Even a good ways back. Id use block in a \__/ pattern (not to scale lol) not sure of the exact angle or length of the wall. Stagger stack them drive poles through every few feet then fill the block with either concrete or sand .Make some for of small visor / hood on top (possible rain deterrent ) fill it with some sort of dirt mixture .. Bottom line is I don't think its gonna be really cheap , But shop around because there are deals to be had .

Oh yeah Id dbl check about permits if you attach it to the ground...

[TNathe]

Permits?? What r those?

[Clint]

We've been shooting back there for a while, there's woods behind where we shoot for quite a ways, we never used a backstop before but it seems pretty dangerous not to since you never know who could be out in those woods, or even the neighbors cows or something. It's my wife's grandfathers land and he recently suggested we dont shoot back there anymor so I want to put together a plan that will be able to put his worries to rest. This is in Plant city, at the back of a strawberry farm, so I'm not worried about ordinances and permits and the like, I just want to build something to keep the bullets from leaving his property.

[01yellowgt]

http://www.boddingtonsonline.com/pro...ange-walls.php

Here ya go brother

[Clint]

Thats pretty cool, I'm hoping to build it a bit cheaper than that though, maybe $200 for a 5or 6 foot tall one, depending on what materials I can source.

[Duceanahalf]

get a couple of These have them delivered and as long as they can get to the area they can drop them where you want.

these are whats in the big white bags sitting out front of the stores near the lumber yard. to give you an idea of the size

[Clint]

^ thats pretty cool, good to know!

I can get used, no good tires for free around here if I ask around at some used tire places, I'm pretty sure they usually have to pay to have them hauled off.

Filling them with dirt or sand like Duce just linked to would work, and have 8-10 railroad ties stacked up behind that I guess?

[PapiPaco]

http://www.boddingtonsonline.com/pro...ange-walls.php

Here ya go brother

Those are similar to the Hesco Barriers we had in Iraq.

[Clint]

Talked to my buddies at the tire shop up on the corner and they said I can take as many tires as I want, so that's cool.

[01yellowgt]

Clint I saw a link with tires when I googled it . Said to just stack them alternating and fill in with dirt ill look for the link , I also noticed quite a few references to the NRA stating they provide guidance to building a home range . I went to the NrA website but couldn't find anything . Idk if they no longer provide this info or not .