Back yard shooting range??

[Tonester]

The CFO and one of our employees has expressed an interest in learning to shoot my Glock 19 9mm (I know, no vengeful wife jokes please!). I would like to put in a 25 yard pistol range out in the back field. Can anyone tell me the best way to stop ricocheting (sp) rounds? 9mm is the heaviest I'll shoot on the farm (the horses don't like the .357..) plus .22 rifle maybe. I don't have an embankment or anything to work with, so I'd have to pile up something. My local range has a nice sandbank that works well, but how thick/high should it be if freestanding? Just want to be safe!

Thanks

 

[Junkman]

First thing to consider is the liability factor....Your home owners policy will not cover you for accidents... second thing to consider is in many states you have to be a certain distance from a residence and it doesn't matter if you own the residence.... third, and this one is a real kicker.... in CT if you have an outside shooting range, the soil were the range is located is considered a hazardous waste site because of the lead in the ground. This can cause you problems when you go to sell the house. Another thing is the noise abatement laws.... in CT outside shooting ranges are exempted from this regulation, but I don't know about other states. Personally, I would pay to use some one elses.....

 

[EdDekker]

Junkman has already pointed out the liability noise and hazardous waste issues. In addition to these you need to consider the scale of the construction project involved in the creation of a safe range.

How much land do you own beyond the 25 yard target? (You need a LOT more than 25 yards for a 9mm range. Allow an unoccupied fan shaped safety zone extending 1.5 miles downrange expanding at 20 degrees from the center line.)
Do you have the sand or soil available for the backstop and berms? Do you have a big tractor or dozer to move the dirt for the berms? (You will need several (make that many) hundred yards. A backstop should be at least 15 feet and preferably 25 feet tall.)
Will you build overhead baffles? (Overhead baffles absorb or deflect bullets which would miss the target backstop and can reduce the length of the safety zone)


See my long message in a previous thread Rural Living Adaptation of a City Dweller for more details on range safety.

 

[Docsknotinn]

Junkman makes some very good points. It certainly pays to know your local ordinances in advance of any plans. With a lot your size you should really have no trouble with distance or noise as long as you dont do this right on a property line. Check your local ordanaces for sunday shooting. If its just you and the CFO shooting I would not be very concerned about the Liability. Now when we talk employees thats another story. Only you can know your relationship with that person, how long you have known them etc. It sounds like you must trust them or they would not be handeling your firearm. Just remember, eye and ear protection. I personally have 160 acres and a shooting range. I have a good 150 yards for the purpose and I shoot high powered rifles and hand guns, .45 Kimber
/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif. I donth think you have to worry about the lead on a personal range, But this certainly varies. Mums the word, wink wink. Any how I use a pile that was pushed up by the dozer. Stumps etc and then I piled dirt on Top with the FEL. A natural hill side works well too. If you are building on a flat spot I would think a pile about 4' high would do. When you get a pile that high it will be plenty thick already. Not much needed to stop a 9mm or even a .45 when it comes to dirt. If you are doing a free standing pile though you need to seed it with rye grass or cover it with sod to stop erosion. One word of caution, ok maybe more than one /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif when I met my wife she never hunted or shot a gun. If fact she was dead against them. After I showed her how to shoot, I started looseing my toys, so then she got her own toys, which was fine but now she shoots better than me /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Teaching the CFO to shoot was really a lot of fun. As is shooting on my own property. Its just a lot more enjoyable when you can practice in private. When I was younger I once made a backstop by stacking sod. It worked very well. The last time we spoke I think you were still looking for a tractor, Hows it working out ? Dave

 

[Egon]

Dig the lead out and cast balls for black powder muzzel loaders or do the same for waddcutters.

I used to scrounge all my lead from the local gun range.

Egon

 

[Tonester]

Thanks for the advise...
I think at the level of use I was planning (VERY Occasional), what you have described would be more than adequate. I think I'll pile up the dirt fairly high & thick, and aim it towards the deep woods. We have plenty of old growth that way as well as a hill. The land goes for well over a mile & a half, and is posted and pretty wild and swampy.

Local rules are 300' from a building and that's about it. I've been shooting for about 30 years now, so I am no newbie about safety. A 9mm ain't going too far in thick dirt & sod..... besides, the neighbors don't worry too much when they're blasting at deer on their land - bet they didn't pile up no berms.... /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I kid, but gun safety really is no joke, we'll be very careful!

And yes, she can afford her own toys, prob'ly come home with a Sig.... /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Not sure if you were refering to my Tractor, but if so, YES, see Massey thread "I'm in Tractor Heaven"!

Thanks again

 

[enbloc]

If you make the berm big enough to shoot AT, it will be thick enough to stop bullets. 30-06 AP will go through 42 inches of solid oak - but 10 inches of sand will stop it. A 25 yard rifle range you can probably get by with a 4ft high berm. Handguns you'll want something bigger - both because of group size and the fact that handgun practice (even bullseye) tends to use elevated targets - it's much more comfortable - as well as being good form - to shoot at targets on the same level as your gun.

Unless you're practicing for formal bullseye competition - I wouldn't worry about making it 25 yards. A 25 yard 22 plinking range with a berm high enough to handle 12 yard pistol rnages would be more like it.

 

[F350Lawman]

A 9mm ain't going too far in thick dirt & sod..... besides, the neighbors don't worry too much when they're blasting at deer on their land - bet they didn't pile up no berms....

Also works well when they're hunting on YOUR land. The same inconsiderate fools who won't even contemplate the potential for one of their errant rounds to hit my house or children suddenly get very worried when they hear YOU target shooting. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif Guess they don't think I have the same remote controlled bullets that only go where you aim em' that they have/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Funny how all of a sudden when THEY are potentially on the other end the attitude changes. Then they are "Mr. Safety"

"Opps fellas, if had known you were trespassing and hunting on MY land I would never had taken target practice. I mean it's dangerous when someone starts shooting when and where you don't expect it. Why I also must have scared every animal for miles. You fellas might just as well go home" /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

All kidding aside I occasionaly shoot on my property (legally) and with a 9mm and a modest backstop I feel very safe. I usually dirt mound with the trunk of a large dead and rotting tree. It absorbs the rounds like wet newspaper.

It does burn me though when from early fall through the winter I have to worry about some idiot trespassing and accidently shooting me while I walk on my property or in my woods. So far so good this year, perhaps I have made myself understood?

 

[Junkman]

A few years ago a CT game warden was killed when he entered the woods from the road to tell the hunters that dusk was approaching and they had to stop hunting. The woods aren't safe any longer with stupid people being able to obtain a hunting license without much more than a safety course that they don't take seriously or understand.

 

[Docsknotinn]

That will work great. I usually push a few stumps in just for good measure. It helps hold The dirt and I usually have more than a few extra stumps /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif I cant complain honestly about My wifes toys, after all she lets me get mine and hers are usually nicer /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif So I just use reverse toy psychology /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif ( occasionally I get away with it ). For years now I have cringed when some one asks me if I'm a hunter. I always answer NOOO ! I'm a sportsman. Sadly I dont think the majority of those who hunt know the difference. Or the Difference between a Deer and a Horse or a elk and a Caribou. Ursus Americanus or Ursus Horribilis. They dont respect others property or the land. How can any one hunt and not appreciate the difference between a Maple and a oak or a chick a dee and a wood pecker ? My wife had another physician friend who raised horses. I remember a few years back she had a fellow tress pass and shoot one of her animals. He just wanted to shoot something. After all, he didnt see any deer on her property that he had been tresspassing on all day /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif I always think of that little witticism. Did you have any luck ? Of coure I did, I was in the woods all day /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Egon, I used to find out where the state troopers would practice when I was a kid. Back then they all used 38 wadcutters. Those were nice chunks of lead with bullet lube already in it /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif Made good musket balls. Dave