New Range is almost done :)

[lar45]

Hi Guys.
We've been wanting to put in a range at our place for awhile now and have worked on it some. We had a backhoe for a weekend and moved lots of dirt to make a big mound. Then we planted railroad ties in a semi-circle around it and stacked up a wall of ties 2 deep and the second row is a little higher than the first so it would stagger and close off any holes in the seams.
I wanted some swinging steel targets so we pried off some of the steel plates on the ties and painted them white. I'll have to see how they hold up. If not then I can order some armor plate or something else.
I think that I need to pile abit more dirt in front of the wall, but it's getting close enough to shoot at now.
I built a shooting bench and have it on the porch of the shop which gives me 85 yds to the berm.

[Ben]

Looks very nice to me.

Ben

[MrWolf]

Looks good. I am jealous and cant wait for the day I can shoot from my own porch.

[TXGunNut]

Very nice indeed. I like the plate hanger.

[prs]

One good thing about WV is that God has already made the berms for us here.
Enjoy the fruit of your hard labor.

prs

[Love Life]

I would put fill dirt 3/4 of the way up the ties.

[TCLouis]

I concur with what Love Life said.

Luck would have it my berm is naturally about 100 ft high, only had to use a shovel and a couple of hours to put a flat face on it.

[Artful]

Sand is a much better stop than dirt - especially if the dirt has stones in it.

[lar45]

The Dirt is all clay. We have a small pile off to the side that just hasn't been put back in yet, but I'm thinking it will take more than what we have to fill it up high enough.

[mikeym1a]

Oh! You hard working, Lucky guy! I've wanted to do the same for quite a while, only don't have the real estate. WELL DONE!!!! mikey

[MaryB]

If I can get the variance from the town I was thinking 2 rows of ties spaced 2 feet apart and then fill the center with sand. Use steel fence posts to hold the ties vertical. This is for pistol only so I would think it would take quite awhile to shoot out a railroad tie. Just unstack them, replace the bad ones, replace the sand and good to go again.

[Tar Heel]

I would put fill dirt 3/4 of the way up the ties.

Yup. Those RR ties will throw bullets right back at you, especially low velocity 38 and 45 loads. Put a lot of dirt in there. No kidding amigo....

[cbrick]

Nice! What part of Arkansas did you say your in?

Rick

[upnorthwis]

You're going to find that the wood uprights on the target holders will erode from splatter way quicker than you like. Might want to install steel sheathing on them. Also, I would make the backstop higher to hold in the ricochets off the top edge of the plates. A range where we used to shoot BPCR gong matches was shut down due to a boolit bouncing off top of plate. It ended up almost a mile away thru some ones garage window.

[swheeler]

Looks good Glenn, you lucky dog shootin off your porch!

[Beesdad]

Very nice.. Looks like a lot of work.

One word of caution on your steel plates... I use these a lot and they work fine for low velocity pistol rounds... They are very dangerous for rifle rounds as they are soft and will develop craters easily and then you will have hot lead coming in your direction.

[Huskerguy]

If I can get the variance from the town I was thinking 2 rows of ties spaced 2 feet apart and then fill the center with sand. Use steel fence posts to hold the ties vertical. This is for pistol only so I would think it would take quite awhile to shoot out a railroad tie. Just unstack them, replace the bad ones, replace the sand and good to go again.

Mary

A friend of mine built his own backstop out of big ties about two years ago. The local CC classes qualify there and over time a few people were given permission to shoot. I was out there the end of May and I was surprised to see how much of the ties were completely gone. It doesn't take long at all to shoot right through one or even two of them. It actually made both of us a little nervous.

[thebigmac]

You're going to find that the wood uprights on the target holders will erode from splatter way quicker than you like. Might want to install steel sheathing on them. Also, I would make the backstop higher to hold in the ricochets off the top edge of the plates. A range where we used to shoot BPCR gong matches was shut down due to a boolit bouncing off top of plate. It ended up almost a mile away thru some ones garage window.

UPNORTHWI; There was a similar situation in my club. We were the only 300 yd. bay
in the state. BEHIND this pit, 3/4 MI. away, was a house. Police came to the clubhouse for the complaint, only to get frustrated. As a club officer, I went
to the house to make an investigation. Using my police training and a photograph taken from a helocopter,(?) I managed to show the victims where
the bullet really came from. I simply placed a string from the hole in the wall
to the hole in the window, then put the gun on the map. That showed the true
trajectory and it came from a farm about 3/4 mi. away from our club.
The bullet was only in the drywall & NOT enough to become buried.
Knowing this I truly think a ricochet wouldn't travel as you said.
Did anyone investigate??? Was it a black powder projectile??? Are you sure it came from your range??? This always makes me think about the real
reason for stray shots. There is always an appilogy that would smooth things
over, either from the victim or the club.

Too bad another range had to go...

Hope your next range doesn't have this problem.



thebigmac

[MaryB]

Good to know... maybe a sacrificial layer of2x12 in front for the targets then more sand to the RR ties

Mary

A friend of mine built his own backstop out of big ties about two years ago. The local CC classes qualify there and over time a few people were given permission to shoot. I was out there the end of May and I was surprised to see how much of the ties were completely gone. It doesn't take long at all to shoot right through one or even two of them. It actually made both of us a little nervous.

[DR Owl Creek]

Very Nice! Congrats.

Dave