back stop idea

[fishhawk]

OK any one have any experience on using stacked tires filled with sand as a back stop? Any problem with boolits bouncing back with hand guns or any problems at all?

[Bullshop Junior]

I did that back in Alaska. It worked fine. I stacked them 6 high, 5 wide and 2 deep using all 16" pickup tires.

[oneokie]

Would be concerned with low velocity rounds bouncing back.

[Bullshop Junior]

Naw. The rubber loosens up after being shot a bunch. That was actually the worst part was having to replace the tires when they get shot out.

[fishhawk]

no shortage of used tires

[Bullshop Junior]

Never is lol. I just never liked shoveling all the sand out and then shoveling it all back in. It is a good way to recover lead. I would just set a screen back on top of the stack of tires when I shoveled the sand back in and it would collect the bullets.

[garym1a2]

I just use a sand hill and no tires, makes it very easy to recover bullets. Once a good rain comes I can just pick them off the surface. Once a year I shift the sand to get deeper ones.

[fishhawk]

Problem is no hill there so am looking for a way to build up a back stop that works and still able to recover lead. At my 40 acre place no problem but i don't want to drive 40 miles one way when I could step out the house and set up and shoot with a safe back stop.

[M-Tecs]

Bullet trap?

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?99283-Plans-for-a-bullet-trap-with-pictures***Looking-for-opinions***

[fishhawk]

Not sure the wife would shoot at that would be worried about her missing.

[Nocturnal Stumblebutt]

I think bounce back can be an issue with anything, I'm currently using railroad ties and I get bounce back if bullets hit the ground at a certain angle, skip off the ground, hit a railroad tie, then bounce back. However, at that point the bullet has already had 2 impacts and has lost nearly all of its energy.

[Janoosh]

Tires are ok but not if mosquitoes are a problem in your area. Perhaps build a wall with the tires and then pour dead sand in front of them. Major problem would be in the winter months when every thing is frozen. Then you would have a solid wall and ricochets are a problem.
I helped build a range in N.Y., went to the NRA range seminar, got the guidelines from "Best Practices for an Outdoor Range" from EPA, and still had unforseen problems. Specifically, ricochet management and water runoff control. But this was for a club, not personal.

[Rick Hodges]

The old state range in Jackson County Michigan used tires stacked about 5' high filled with dirt/sand. There is no mosquito problems when the tires are full of sand...LOL. Bounce back was not an issue either but the closest range was 25 yds.

[Iron Whittler]

I have heard of people using discarded fridges and freezers filled with sand as backstops. Put a 3/8 ply board or osb about 6 to 8 inches in front to stop bounce back and place targets on. Works well with pistol or rifle. Iron Whittler

[Hickory]

I use the tire & sand method for a backstop.
If you decide to go that route sink several 4x4's in the ground and place the tires centered over the 4x4's so that the tires don't fall over and they will if not supported.

[dragonrider]

The backstops at our range is made with tires, and it's a bad idea. A lot of bu/boolits bounce off of it, find them all over the ground between the fireing line and the backstop. Just a matter of time before someone gets hurt because of them. Also someone set the hundred yard backstop on fire, the fire dept in town was not happy.

[oneokie]

As was mentioned, old fridges and freezers make good boolit traps. Little chance of bounce back.

[Janoosh]

Remember...I'm talking about N.Y.. Any tires exposed is mosquitoes (west nile virus) problem, according to N.Y. EPA. All sand settles. I'd worry more about ricochet in the winter. All sand frozen, like shooting into concrete.
Tire wall, filled and tamped, dead sand in front, eyebrow to hold on stray boolits. Perfection.
Easy to clean, mine, and no worries about projectiles "bothering" (thinking ahead) the neighbors.

[country gent]

While it used to be common practice to use old tires for back stops, shoring up steep banks and such Im not sure its leagal to do so now. I think most areas have regulations against it. We had a tire backstop for awhile and it did wok well and not alot of upkeep. Ours was 3 tires deep staggered so no straight thru areas. A simple sand pile will work if you have room for it. I have seen pea gravel cores that supposedly break the bullets up when they pass thru into it.

[lancem]

I use tires filled with dirt. The problem I have here is that the dirt is more like dust and if you try to make a pile for a back stop it just slides down. I use the tires for the center of the pile, filling them and then creating a pile with a loader, so I'm really shooting into a pile of dirt as the tires are not exposed but they are in the center holding up the pile.

[MT Gianni]

What about using ton straw bales square or round? They are found at give away prices in the spring.

[Bullshop Junior]

Not much to them. A rifle would shoot through.

[Janoosh]

+1 lancem. You've said it better than I have. A tire wall, filled and tamped, with a dead sand berm in front. Only worries are frozen ground.

[Hardcast416taylor]

We had the tire back stoops at all the different distances our 200 yd. rifle range had frames located at on our gun club. As has been already said it gets to be a chore re-filling the sand in them after a week end of people shooting into them and then there are the smart a**es that think it funny to break off the internal upright brace and tip the tires over. We finally got berms built of sand behind each target frame and got rid of the tires.Robert

[Beerd]

What about using ton straw bales...............


Not much to them. A rifle would shoot through.

don't know, 5 feet of compacted straw / grass would be pretty hard on a bullet.
..

[MT Gianni]

4'x7' it would take a bit to shoot through two of them. They are compacted hard.

[cainttype]

We use railroad cross-ties, stacked 6 high and 3 deep... with upright poles to anchore them at the rear and a simple strap of treated lumber across the top to tie them together. It takes a long time to shoot through the first row, and that's almost always the two middle ties. Removing the top two allows easy replacement of the shot out pair, and the backstop is good as new.
After quite a few years and many rounds of high-power rifle use, the middle of the second row has been replaced once. The third row has never been touched.

[MaryB]

Round bales are almost water proof they are wrapped so tight, I bet one would stop just about anything but the really big rifle cartridges.

[Bullshop Junior]

45/70 will shoot through a round bale.

[NavyVet1959]

I was recently in Hawaii. The backstop at the range I was at was a volcano. You just don't get to say that much around here.

[waksupi]

At the last National Rendezvous held on the North Fork of the Flathead, the greenies and the Forest Service were concerned the grouse would eat our lead balls and die, the eagles would then eat the dead grouse and die, and the grizzly bears would thereafter eat the dead eagles and die. Their solution was, that they wanted us to stack up a layer of hay bales, and put a piece of ply wood in front so we could catch all the bullets and haul them away. None of us said a word, just went ahead and did it. I doubt they stopped a single bullet. The only accomplishment was to spread straw around behind the bales, and ruin quite a few sheets of plywood. But they were happy in their ignorance.

[Janoosh]

Or, or, or....take plastic 55 gal drums. Fill with pelletized rubber. Place and stack. Shoot into end. Catch ALL your boolits. Melt, cast, repeat. ..

[firefly1957]

At one time many of the state ranges had tires stacked and filled with sand here in Michigan i found the Speer 3/4 jackets would separate and bounce back even at 25 yards they would cause a goose egg on a person . They quit doing that method and use dirt berms now.

[lightman]

We use heavy equipment tires for our backstop at our private range. Think 24 ply tires from large front end loaders. Pistol bullets will sometime bounce back from these. At 50 ft they can smart, but much past that its not an issue.

[gtgeorge]

If you have access to round hay rolls that are rolled tight I can assure you they make GREAT backstops. I use them and put steel plates to ensure no pass throughs but untill they are completely saturated with spent bullets none push out. I am talking hundreds of pounds before I disassemble and reclaim the bullets for the lead and or copper.

I have shot them with all sorts of pistol ammo as fast as 1400fps and rifle ammo as fast as 3400fps. .223, .7mm rem mag, sabot ML rounds etc with NO pass throughs. The staw encapsulates the faster pointy rounds putting the brakes on. Just to be sure I use steel plates on the back angled down for any oops but they never happen. I did have a few push a few out the back when saturated with thousands of bullets but did not leave a mark on the steel. Never saw a rifle round come through.

[TXGunNut]

I was recently in Hawaii. The backstop at the range I was at was a volcano. You just don't get to say that much around here.

Drop by Whittington Center in Raton sometime. They use some pretty substantial mountains for back stops. Good luck shooting thru that!

[ThaDave]

If you live near a port/ rail yard or some others transport hub you might look into getting a couple quadcon shipping containers. Alot of time they can be bought for cheap especally if its no longer "sea worthy" Take one of those and stack it fill of tires, sand bags and put a sheet of ply wood in front so you can attach your targets and prevent anything coming back at you. PLUS if you want to leave it you can close and lock the doors.

[3leggedturtle]

I took 6 pallets used 3/4" plywood on the sides to seal them up and tie them together, then filled them with dirt. Lasted for 18 years.