DYI Back stops

[Averageguy]

Who has built their own or helped in building their own back stops?

Of course, I live in the country.

I have done some research, but would like to get your guys opinion on this as well.

 

[Kdf101]

I have always just used a pile of dirt I hauled in with my tractor and FEL. My dad built one using old telephone poles up front and left about 2 feet of space and put up another ”wall” of telephone poles. He filled the space in between with dirt.

 

[DadSmith]

Who has built their own or helped in building their own back stops?

Of course, I live in the country.

I have done some research, but would like to get your guys opinion on this as well.

If you have flat property you can get railroad ties and build a retaining wall. Them get some cheap clay and dump in there.

If you have a hill set up below it so you are shooting into the hill.


NM the fence.


On this on id do this but put dirt in front of the logs. Otherwise you'll be replacing them often depending on how much you shoot. Trust me on this. Been there done it.

 

[Cynical]

Mine is telephone poles stacked 6 feet high, pinned together with rebar and t- posts on the front and back to hold them together the sides are angled at 45 degrees 6 feet out. Piled dirt around the backside. Got the poles for free from the local utility company.

 

[Averageguy]

@DadSmith and @Kdf101, I plan to use either telephone poles or railroad ties with dirt. I like the 2' of space and putting another wall up.

It is on flat ground, unfortunately no hill to act as a built in back stop.

Some concerns i have are:
1. the next road behind the area of backstop i want to put up is just short of a mile. I have heard a good rule of thumb is to have the next road be at least a mile from area of back stop.

2. There is a school to the NW of the area of back stop. Still it is right at a mile away.

The back stop will be used for no more than 40 but mainly 9 mm and the occasional the .223/5.56.

 

[2tonic]

If you shoot lead, and want to reclaim it for casting, a couple inches of sand on the front slope can be very helpful. The loose sand will let you rake out the lead. The sand that dislodges or slides down the slope can be shoveled or thrown from a bucket back up on the slope.
Of course, the angle of your slope will be the determining factor as to whether this can work for you.

 

[Mij]

Interesting and timely (for me) question. My old dirt berm is getting quite worn. 300 yrd. range.

More n more fellows are using what I call big guns, due to more modern deer regulations. So, I’ve acquired 12, 55 gal. drums.

I’m going to flatten the earth in front of the berm n put the dirt in the drums. Then my plans are to stack the drums 4 wide n 3 high in front of the berm. I’m thinking of mixing some rip-rap in but that is added cost. And I’m a cheap *, so it depends on how much dirt I get.

Just my plans, YMMV.

By the By, I’ve got another 12 drums on order, my neighbor uses them at his job and they come in handy. And they’re free. Hope you find your answer from this group. DS seems to have the science down to an art..

 

[KJQ6945]

6’6” tall, 24’ wide, and at least 16” thick.

Built from 8x8’s and 12x12’s standing on top of 6x6’s. If a piece gets shot out, I pull one nail and replace it. I never had to replace one in the 5 years I used it.

The posts were from a company that replaces guard rails for the state.

 

[JTKelly]

Dirt and sand.

Some times I'll use the end of logs until they rot and get the lead back.

 

[patience0830]

Dirt, dirt and more dirt. Having someone find a projectile that escaped is embarassing as well as dangerous.

 

[Hawkeye7br]

If you have flat property you can get railroad ties and build a retaining wall. Them get some cheap clay and dump in there.

If you have a hill set up below it so you are shooting into the hill.


NM the fence.
View attachment 310538

On this on id do this but put dirt in front of the logs. Otherwise you'll be replacing them often depending on how much you shoot. Trust me on this. Been there done it.
View attachment 310539


View attachment 310540


View attachment 310541

The first diagram and the last photo are very close to what we have at RCC. In the diagram, RCC uses RR ties and sand instead of dirt.

Likewise with the photo, we use all fill sand and add a row of RR ties across the front about 10" in front of the sand. This creates a short wall that limits erosion from wind, rain and the occasional deer or person who walks on the berm and can be easily shoveled back to top. Sand swallows bullets and discourages unwanted vegetation.

RCC rifle range has 11 berms, 6 are built in this fashion, the other 5 are dirt berms with several inches of sand on the impact side. Allow 3 feet of depth for each foot of vertical, 42" high (6 RR ties) needs 10.5' on the inside from front to back.

Don't shoot the top 18" of the berm, you'll chisel away the top...

 

[indyblue]

This is @ditcherman 's berm, basically just a pile of dirt in the middle of farmland.
He's got up to 150Yds.

 

[DadSmith]

The first diagram and the last photo are very close to what we have at RCC. In the diagram, RCC uses RR ties and sand instead of dirt.

Likewise with the photo, we use all fill sand and add a row of RR ties across the front about 10" in front of the sand. This creates a short wall that limits erosion from wind, rain and the occasional deer or person who walks on the berm and can be easily shoveled back to top. Sand swallows bullets and discourages unwanted vegetation.

RCC rifle range has 11 berms, 6 are built in this fashion, the other 5 are dirt berms with several inches of sand on the impact side. Allow 3 feet of depth for each foot of vertical, 42" high (6 RR ties) needs 10.5' on the inside from front to back.

Don't shoot the top 18" of the berm, you'll chisel away the top...

Would sand work better than Indiana clay mix?

 

[LokhXIV]

From what I've read sand works better. But sand usually isn't free. Clay on the other hand...

At home we've built up a nice backstop of clay. We have hanging steel at 300 yards and the stop behind it. No ties or beams, the scrub vegetation growing on it seems to hold it in place well enough. Once it starts to erode we'll just push it back up with the tractor and add more as necessary. Ours isn't very big though, maybe 10' across so its easier to maintain. I'd like to expand it and add more targets eventually at which point I think i'll add telephone poles to hold it better. I doubt i'll ever add sand as I'd rather spend the money on guns and ammo.

 

[Hawkeye7br]

Would sand work better than Indiana clay mix?

Paper or steel?

Here's the logic...
If you're hitting steel 5 out of 6 shots, almost any pile of dirt will outlast the typical recreational shooter. When shooting paper, 100% of your bullets go into the backstop, often in the same place, plus or minus a few inches. Repeated impacts compact dirt, create divots, lead to erosion. Sand just swallows the bullet and largely seals the bullet path.
You can even recover the lead by sifting the dry sand thru a 1/8 or 1/4 inch hardware cloth.

 

[shibumiseeker]

DYI - Do Yourself In?

I actually built a 5’wide by 4’ high and deep elevated box with a sloped to the back roof and up on 3 foot high legs out of hardwood lumber (free to me as I have a sawmill) and piled sand (free to me as most of my properties is sand) in it. I cast, so a kitty litter scoop is really useful for getting the bullets back out of the berm. Every now and then I threw a few more 5 gallon buckets, full of sand in it to replace what’s blown out.

That’s on my 50 foot range. It’s mostly for pistol, but occasionally small rifle. My hundred yard range backstop is the hillside and my 500 yard range doesn’t have a backstop, but it’s deep in the woods and I’m shooting generally at steel.

 

[BravoOneFour]

Who has built their own or helped in building their own back stops?

Of course, I live in the country.

I have done some research, but would like to get your guys opinion on this as well.

Laterally just got a dump truck of dirt and put a target in front of it lol

 

[Mij]

Laterally just got a dump truck of dirt and put a target in front of it lol

But……won’t that ruin the radiator????….


Sorry, couldn’t help myself.