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Thread: Temporary Backstop for Rifle Shooting?

  1. #1
    Boolit Master
    am44mag's Avatar
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    Temporary Backstop for Rifle Shooting?

    I'm wanting to start shooting at longer ranges. The issue I have is that my backstop is at 75 yards, and I might be able to back off to 100 yards at most if I wanted to shoot out of the back door.

    I have plenty of land to shoot on, and really there's not a lot that I could hit with a misplaced shot. The only real danger is a highway on the other side of a small valley. It's about 1400 yards away, and I would be shooting down into the valley if I shot in that direction. The other direction I would shoot in is just dense woods and rolling hills. Still, I want to be safe and shoot into a backstop. I do not want to add a permanent backstop though. It's expensive and would cause a few issues. I'd rather be able to set up a temporary/semi temporary backstop that could be removed if necessary.

    I had an idea to just fill up a bunch of 5 gallon bucket with sand and stack them being the steel targets I want to shoot at, but it would take a lot to get a decently sized backstop, and moving them around would be kind of a pain. It's certainly doable. but by my math, I would need at least 28 of them, and they would each weight 65-70 lb. That gets you a 4'x5' backstop that weights about 1960 lbs. It would cost less than $300 to build though.

    What are some other solutions? I've though about building a steel bullet trap, maybe on a trailer, but that going to be expensive to build. I'd like to find a solution for under $500.
    ______________________________________________
    Aaron

  2. #2
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    Winger Ed.'s Avatar
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    At the poison ivy farm and tick ranch, I had a bunch of junk tires full of dirt piled up.

    Any tire shop will give 'em to ya so they don't have to pay to have them hauled off.
    After I had a few bounce backs, I put my plywood sheet target boards in front of them.
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  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    If you could score a bunch of old railroad ties, you could build a square out of them and fill with old clay, dirt and sand. And maybe a piece of steel plate even if made up from pieces welded together as an additional safety stop.

    I have a pile of Louisiana clay that the guy who installed my new septic system left for me. Stands over 5' high and about 10-12' in diameter at the base. When dry my Kubota tractor with front end loader won't even dent it. I had to do it the hard way with a pick and grubbing tools and a digging bar. Loosened it up where the bucket would get small amounts at a time. Couple small trees grew in it, so digging bar,grubbing tool and axe for the roots. Frank

  4. #4
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    rent a small track hoe and dig/build yourself a dirt berm.

    If they are your trees why not cut and stake a couple of rows of wood. my friend used RR ties


    he dug it out a little so he didn't have to go so high with the RR ties

  5. #5
    Boolit Master

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    A large pile of dense mulch will rot away to nothing in 4-5 years. Round hay bales a bit quicker.

  6. #6
    Boolit Master
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    +1 on what Winger Ed said, you have the advantage of reclaiming the lead when you dismantle. Cheap as chips. Regards Stephen

  7. #7
    Boolit Grand Master uscra112's Avatar
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    Tires will give you nasty ricochets. Don't do it. I personally have seen a 9mm slug come right back at the shooter, missing him by inches. (No, it wasn't me!)

    Rather than sand, how about rubber landscape mulch? Lots lighter and doesn't absorb water. Typical cast bullet penetration in my backyard stop is about 8 inches for pistol loads and 16 inches for 220 grain Krag loads. Easy to recover the lead for recycling, too. Use heavy cardboard boxes rather than buckets, but keep 'em dry.
    Cognitive Dissident

  8. #8
    Boolit Master Cap'n Morgan's Avatar
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    A hollow board wall on a trailer, about a foot wide, and filled with sand. If you move the targets a bit around, the boards will last for many shots, and once they get worn you just nail on another layer of boards. Sand spilling through bullet holes will not be much of a problem, but you could line the backside of the front boards with inner tube to completely eliminate it.
    Cap'n Morgan

  9. #9
    Boolit Master
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    I am presently using hay bales or in the winter, piled up snow, but uscra112's use of a cardboard box with landscape mulch gave me an idea.

    A plywood box with one end that slides out. Maybe 2x2x3 feet long. When the front board is shot out, stand it on end, and slide in a new 2 foot square end board, set it back down, and start shooting.

    This isn't really a proper backstop like the poster was wanting, but I though it was a practical idea worth posting

  10. #10
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    I have been toying with the idea of using a rain barrel or such laying on its side. Put some u shaped supports underneath so it can be emptied from the underside. Think either sand or rubber mulch would allow me to reclaim the lead. I had picked up some self healing mats I would put in the barrel in front behind the lid. Replace lid as needed. Put some logs or railroad ties behind it. Again just been thinking as I want something easy for when I do my rifle stops at 50,100, 150, 200, and 300. Good luck

  11. #11
    Boolit Master
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    If you use cardboard boxes, make sure you pack the rubber mulch tight in there, so when the boolit goes through, there is not much room for movement. Otherwise, as you shoot into the same spot, the mulch is displaced and doesn't do much to stop the boolit.

  12. #12
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Winger Ed. View Post
    At the poison ivy farm and tick ranch, I had a bunch of junk tires full of dirt piled up.

    Any tire shop will give 'em to ya so they don't have to pay to have them hauled off.
    After I had a few bounce backs, I put my plywood sheet target boards in front of them.
    Junk tires is what I used also. I did not bother to fill them with dirt. I experimented before going that route, and only one tire allowed a bullet to go through, but not all the way. THAT tire was a very well worn 7.00x15 bias ply tire.

  13. #13
    Boolit Man
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    If you can find it, 'crumb rubber' is the same as rubber mulch and a lot less expensive. I haven't found rubber mulch to be all that effective at stopping bullets. It will, but it takes more than you might think. I filled a 10" thick cardboard box with it and .22 Shorts went all the way through.

    It wasn't what I wanted anyway. What I really wanted was a centrifugal trap that recovers the lead, so I bought one of those. It has a problem, too, in that it turns the bullets into dust. .22 Shorts are unrecognizable AND it needs a curtain covering the opening to prevent pieces of bullet from coming back at the shooter.

  14. #14
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by am44mag View Post
    I'm wanting to start shooting at longer ranges. The issue I have is that my backstop is at 75 yards, and I might be able to back off to 100 yards at most if I wanted to shoot out of the back door.
    -------
    I'd like to find a solution for under $500.
    I once had a home on ten acres of land. About half of it was river bottom that flooded 2-3 times a year so I wanted something that would be durable but simple, easy and cheep to do. Like you, I had plenty of room for 100 yard shooting but not much more. Like you, I wanted a back stop that could be easily "removed" should I ever wanted it gone; pull the tire stacks apart one tire at a time, scatter and spread the gravel around and within a couple months of weeds and grass no one would see where it was.

    My solution was three stacks of (free) tires filled with (inexpensive) golf ball sized gravel; I did it all myself and it worked great for some twenty years.

    Make your backstop as wide and tall as you need of course but put a second line of tires behind and close between the front row to prevent bullets going between the first stacks. It was MY shooting place and I didn't want more backstop than I needed so I used two 4-5 ft high stacks for the front row and one "back-up" stack behind and between the front stacks.

    Loose gravel works good as a back stop. Unlike sand or dirt, it won't wash out. Loose gravel will move around enough to absorb bullet impact and won't produce ricosheys that could exit the tires.

    There is zero risk of dangerous bounce back, a bullet that can't penetrate a tire isn't going to be lethal at 5 yards even if it does bounce. As bonus, you won't need a target stand, you can pin or staple targets directly to the tires.

    Don't bother with hollow core doors, they will quickly delaminate and fall apart when exposed to the weather.

    You didn't mention a shooting bench but a good bench that won't follow your pulse is a necessity for precision shooting and load development. I obtained a discarded power line pole, cut it into the leg lengths I wanted and set them in "post holes" about 2 1/2 ft. deep.

    For a concrete bench top I found an old sheet of 3/4" plywood and laid it on my 4'x8' utility trailer, then added 3/4" x 3 1/2" pine boards to frame in a mold; tossed in some old scrap fencing and bits of old barbed wire for reinforcing. After the concrete hardened (for a full week) I pulled the trailer to the firing line and (with three sturdy helpers!), seperated the form boards and set that heavy top on my post legs - that thing's as solid as Gibraltar!

    Good luck!

  15. #15
    Boolit Master Baltimoreed's Avatar
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    Don’t forget to add some ears to protect against an edge or pole shot [how are you suspending your steel] that ricochets off to the side. My steel splitterbox stop has had several rr tie rebuilds as even though they are above ground they do deteriorate. Here’s what it looks like. Weighs 680 lb, paid .10 per pound when I bought it from the company that I worked for 30 years ago. It’s got a 90 degree ellbow where it funnels down to drop rds into a steel bucket.
    Last edited by Baltimoreed; 06-08-2020 at 11:17 AM.

  16. #16
    Boolit Master
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    How big a hay bale do you need?
    Do you shoot it head on and how quiet is it?
    Just wondering.

  17. #17
    Boolit Master
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    The bales I use are 5' wide x 5 1/2' tall, weigh about 1100 lb when made with some old course grass hay. I shoot into the side of it, so you don't cut the twine. Better to line up two bales , as after you use it awhile, the .30 cal bullets come through the other side. After a couple years of shooting, I tip them on edge, and wait for a windy day (40-50mph) , take a pitchfork and peel the hay apart and let it blow away. The lead just falls to the ground at the base of the bale.

  18. #18
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    My backyard shooting lane is through the woods. I just used a chainsaw to cut a dead fallen tree into 3 foot lengths and built a pyramid out of them so that I can tack my targets to the sawn butt end of the logs. I use paper plates and thumbtacks for targets but any paper target will do. The bullets pass through the paper and bury themselves in the logs travelling lengthwise. I haven't had a bullet go through 3 feet of wood yet. My pyramid of logs is about 5 foot wide at the base and the single top log is about 4 feet off the ground. Someday those logs will begin to come apart when they do I should be able to recover a LOT of lead.

  19. #19
    Boolit Master
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    Unhappy

    Thnx
    Some nice shooting set ups ideas.

  20. #20
    Boolit Mold
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    I'm sure it would prove impractical for your needs but just to weigh in on the efficacy of rubber media. I use a plywood skinned 24 inch deep 18 inch square cavity trap which when heavily compacted neatly stops anything up to at least standard AR platform cartridges in under 12 inches and can last at least 500 centerfire handgun and rifle rounds with what seems to be no limit on rimfire between cleanings. The all important factor to produce a useful trap is heavy compression and I mean heavy personally I put about 300 pounds of pressure on a 1"x2" space and can get close to double what fits in the trap loose. Be sure to reinforce the corners to prevent splitting. Sorry to be slightly off topic but I don't want to see people get discouraged from a design which works quite well.

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