Ok, long story short-

Friends of mine invited me to go shooting with them at one of their friends farms. Been doing it now for the past 10 years or so.

Near perfect spot to shoot outdoors. Shot into the side of a hill, about 20-25 feet high, great natural berm. Hill went on an angle, letting us shoot on one side out to 40 yards, the other side out to about 75yds.


Well, the owner (who we turned into a 2nd amendment loving gun fanatic!) sold the farm, but has another place right down the road.

The plot of land I'm working with on the new property is all flat. Like "pool table" flat...
Rectangular in shape. Corner to corner is (+/-) 330 yards. Not "long range" by any means but 300+ is long enough for what I'm working with. Nothing behind it for at least (according to Google earth) 2.7 miles. But I'm thinking (and the owner as well) we need a berm.

I've got more than enough downed trees and dirt / topsoil I can get my hands on. I'm thinking building up with the dead trees, then dumping dirt on top, and filling in the voids.

How high would be good?
I'm thinking at least 12-15 feet high.
What do you guys (and girls) think?

What will you and your buddies be shooting? Pistols, AR open sights, scoped AR’s and scoped bolt rifles... CQB stuff...?

Cool you have access to private land!

Berm height should be a minimum of 20', but the higher the better.

Check local ordinances and state laws also.

The NRA should have some suggestions and tips also.

Might want to do a bullet trap. I found several designs on internet. Mine is about 30 feet wide by 10 feet high and 10 feet deep built with crossties (the pattern I used was built of logs) with top covered with used telephone poles. Inside is filled with old poles and crossties packed with sand. For added safety I built an earth berm behind the trap as high as the trap. Works like a charm. I shoot mostly handgun but also use it for 100 yard rifle.

I just helped build a range for my Son last fall.
He had 100+ yards to work with.
I bought used RailRoad ties from Menards and some 4x4x8' to bury and use as holders for the RR ties when stacked.
We ended up with about 8' height and 16'width.
We then added tree stumps and wood chips in front of the berm.

There is a farmer here who lets people that he knows shoot. It's only 40 yard deep.

His berm is 6 feet tall and his target holders are three saw horses with 2" x 4" x 12" boards , in between them .

No targets are allowed above the the height of the saw horses.

he's had no problems yet

quote:

Originally posted by offgrid:
What will you and your buddies be shooting? Pistols, AR open sights, scoped AR’s and scoped bolt rifles... CQB stuff...?

Cool you have access to private land!

There's going to be 2 parts, one side is going to be closer range, probably 40-50 yards.

The other side, running parrellel, is going to be the 300 yard end.

Either one long berm at the end, or one on the short side, one further back.
If I do 2, I'd want them to overlap.

Shooting pistol, Ar, rifles, shotguns, irons, red-dots, and scopes. No real CQB stuff.
Calibers, on the high end, .308 would probably be the majority, 30-06, and 8mm Mauser tossed in.


Ggile, I'm serious! I never thought about the obvious. NRA! I'm looking at ballistic tables, trajectory, calling an engineer friend... Totally forgot about the experts. Thanks! Looking into them today.

Low8option, I've looked at bullet traps. Not that we're opposed to them, we're just thinking a berm would be a better way.


And yes, it's great having access to private land. The owner is a phenomenal person, and has become a good friend. He gives us access to his property, tractor, and equipment.

Just e mailed you a range construction guide (RCMP publication ).

Hope it is helpful.

Could you use the logs to plant like in a row...think old western movie forts...then shove some dirt behind it....most rifle rounds won’t go more than eight to ten inches into dirt...so it wouldn’t take that much dirt to pile behind it....you could make it eight feet or ten feet high.

It may be helpful to raise your shooting station a little as well to encourage a descending bullet flight.

I have used the NRA range construction book on occasion since I already own it, but I think its expensive to get. There seem to be a number of good sources online. What I can say is that as a firefighter I have been to several fires on home ranges that had berms containing combustible materials. The ones with railroad ties were really miserable. I wouldn't use anything that is even modestly combustible.

quote:

Originally posted by highlander81:
Just e mailed you a range construction guide (RCMP publication ).

Hope it is helpful.

Helpful?

Highlander, it's perfect!
Thank you!!!!

150+ pages of how to build any range out there!
I just need to do some quick conversions from metric to standard...

Exactly what I need!

Hrcjon-
Not using railroad ties, but there's wooded area right next to where the range is. Lots of downed trees. I'm thinking using those logs as a base, maybe 3-4ft high, then dumping gravel and dirt, 12-14ft over that for the berm.
Do you think that would be a problem?

quote:

Originally posted by highlander81:
Just e mailed you a range construction guide (RCMP publication ).

Hope it is helpful.

Would you mind sending me that as well?

Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by David W:

quote:

Originally posted by highlander81:
Just e mailed you a range construction guide (RCMP publication ).

Hope it is helpful.

Would you mind sending me that as well?



Thanks

David, sent
Enjoy

I'm not sure what document is being emailed, but here's one that's online for anyone.
http://bancroftfishandgame.com...Guidlines-design.pdf

In terms of the question for me, I would have no real fire concerns of buried trees covered in dirt, but they won't contribute anything to the berm in terms of backstop and will likely be rotted in short order with the associated settling.

Highlander, would you please email me that info as well? We are contemplating creating a range for ourselves, hoping to start this year, and I would appreciate it very much! Thank you!

quote:

Originally posted by m1009:
Highlander, would you please email me that info as well? We are contemplating creating a range for ourselves, hoping to start this year, and I would appreciate it very much! Thank you!

There’s no e mail listed in your profile.

Highlander is what you are sending different than the link I posted?

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
Highlander is what you are sending different than the link I posted?

It isn’t !

I didn’t click your link and missed you had the same document. It’s an excellent guide to answer range questions. Thanks for waking me up....

Cheers

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:

In terms of the question for me, I would have no real fire concerns of buried trees covered in dirt, but they won't contribute anything to the berm in terms of backstop and will likely be rotted in short order with the associated settling.

Not really worried about the mound settling. There's easy access to a whole lot of dirt & clay, as well as a tractor & bobcat. If it settles, it can be quickly and easily filled back in. Thinking about using the trees to help the owner clear the downed stuff out of the wooded area adjacent to where the range is going to be.

This is going to be a fun lil project.