Designing outdoor range for training?

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

Yeah, I would not shoot a lot with just "woods" or a shallow angle hillside to stop the rounds.
Unless you have 500+ acres that extend for a mile or more beyond your targets.... better get a front loader in there and dig some dirt and make some real backstops.


Hunting or very infrequent casual plinking is one thing-- building a shooting range that you intend to use a lot and invite other people to use DEMANDS a higher degree of care and caution on your part.

If you can do it safely, here's what I'd like to see in a shooting range built along a creek in a valley with a natural hill on one side:

You walk a trail along the creek and stop at a few points to engage targets that will be in pits or level flat areas you clear (digging away tons of dirt, probably) in the woods to your left and right. You can shoot from the trail, or move into the shooting pit for really close range work.
The backstop should be several feet higher and wider than ANY of the targets you will place there. If you want to only grade out a pit with a 6 foot tall wall of earth for the backstop, then plan on placing your targets about 2 feet off the ground. If you want to take "head shots" on targets that are 5 feet above ground level, fine, but dig out that backstop so the wall of clay and dirt behind it is at least 8 feet high.

 

[araomd]

Yeah, I would not shoot a lot with just "woods" or a shallow angle hillside to stop the rounds.
Unless you have 500+ acres that extend for a mile or more beyond your targets.... better get a front loader in there and dig some dirt and make some real backstops.

It's about a 60 foot rise on the hill, how high of a berm would I need?

 

[BIKER13]

watch for plastic pipe

 

[DADI03]

If the red arrow is where your target is then that burm should be fine. If that mountain doesn't stop your bullets you need tip find a new hobby

 

[araomd]

If you can do it safely, here's what I'd like to see in a shooting range built along a creek in a valley with a natural hill on one side:

You walk a trail along the creek and stop at a few points to engage targets that will be in pits or level flat areas you clear (digging away tons of dirt, probably) in the woods to your left and right. You can shoot from the trail, or move into the shooting pit for really close range work.
The backstop should be several feet higher and wider than ANY of the targets you will place there. If you want to only grade out a pit with a 6 foot tall wall of earth for the backstop, then plan on placing your targets about 2 feet off the ground. If you want to take "head shots" on targets that are 5 feet above ground level, fine, but dig out that backstop so the wall of clay and dirt behind it is at least 8 feet high.

Here is the valley. About 250 yards long from start to stop point. I don't mind paying for improvements to make it safe, but don't want to throw away money on a lot of loader work if it isn't any safer because it has elevation around it: (lines are 2 ft, about 35 ft high on one side and 50 ft on the other)

 

[araomd]

If the red arrow is where your target is then that burm should be fine. If that mountain doesn't stop your bullets you need tip find a new hobby

Yes, red arrow shows direction of fire and the firing line 20-30 yards to the east.

 

[DADI03]

To put a burm on top of a 35' hill sounds like a waste to me. If you're making a run and gun coarse just make sure the fire line is into the hill side.

 

[TattooedGunner]

I think you're fine with what you've got as long as your aren't being ridiculous.

 

[TattooedGunner]

Have you taken any classes?

If you are just looking for pistol training you can do a hell of a lot with what you have.

You can practice drawing, shooting on the move, reloads, shooting from cover, etc with what you have and a couple of plastic barrels.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

Bullets ricochet off sloped hills.

I've set cans and plastic bottles at the bottom of huge piles of sand, 20 foot tall piles at a local mine, and shot them. The bullets sometimes ricoched up near the top of that "hill". Many stayed low and hit more or less behind the targets, but MANY flew up at a much steeper angle than they approached the ground.

I've shot probably 100 rounds of tracers under various conditions over the last 30 years. You can see how a bullet's angle of departure upon impact with the ground is NOT usually the same as its angle of approach. Must steeper, going up to the sky, is normal.

If getting a front-loader in there is too difficult, how about a crew of Mexican day-laborers with hand tools and chainsaws? A couple hard-working guys can take a big notch out of a hillside in a short time, as long as it's clay or dirt they're digging, and not rock.