Gun range ideas

I figured this was the best section to bring this up at.

Okay guys so I have a 2 acre lot, the south and north side of the lot is 300 ft. I have a 8mm Mauser that I'd either have to go to a range to shoot, or I could just build a range on my lot. I want to build one, because I like to be difficult and the fiancee actually gave me permission!

I'm thinking shooting west from the east, however there's a road on the west and south side of the property although the south side road is basically non existent anymore and the west side is the 'main' road (it sits about 50 or so feet from my property line), and the property is on a very gentle hill so the west side is higher than the east by a couple feet.

My idea is to dig basically a trench so I can sit on the south east corner of my property and shoot directly west, toward my south west corner. The reasoning for this is I have neighbors to the east and north of me, and there's a hill on the other side of the road to stop any majorly stray bullets. The trench will be above my head when I shoot, ideally. My only issues I need to figure out is how deep it would need be to avoid bullets straying to the road, and how to keep it from flooding.

Should mention my neighbors are a few acres away, but close enough for me to worry about stray bullets. And I'm also in rural Nevada and the soil is fairly sandy in the surface, but seems to be very hard below the two foot mark.

Build a good burm behind your target area.

The range I used to shoot at built wooded 'arches', double skinned and filled with gravel, a number of feet out from the firing line. The height of these was set so that you could only hit the backstop from the firing line. Any stray bullets that would have gone high would hit the wooden,overhead, barriers. It seemed to work well

The idea is that the trench will be the range, so the berm would basically be the ground itself.

And as for the wooden arches above the target area, that's actually a good idea. I might be able to get some old railroad ties that'll be usable for that purpose. I appreciate the idea. :) I'll be moving the trench dirt to the sides and behind the target area as well, to try and deter stray rounds.

If you examine "No blue sky ranges" you might be safer. You'll have to be flawless or you could draw fire from opponents... Should you speak to public officials first? Like the county engineer?

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

If you examine "No blue sky ranges" you might be safer. You'll have to be flawless or you could draw fire from opponents... Should you speak to public officials first? Like the county engineer?

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I'll look into no blue sky ranges, I'm seeing some designs I actually like. I'll be looking more into who to contact in my area for any needed safety guide lines. Although, I am quite a ways out so I have less strict regulations in general.

I should also note there are only two neighbors that use the 'main' road and I'll of course avoid shooting when a car is passing. I would also like to eventually have a roof that extends the length of the range, but that's likely some time away. Another reason I want it in ground :P

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Originally Posted by nuget102

I would also like to eventually have a roof that extends the length of the range,

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Look at the "No blue sky range", they fit that pistol perfectly...you'll see. It's not a roof but overhead timber, the sky is open though.

If it faces west you'll get the sun in your eyes in the afternoon, especially in winter when it is lower on the horizon. Ideally should face north (in the northern hemisphere).

Correct, the sun will completely obscure your downrange.

Good point guts. I'll take a look tomorrow and see if I can put the range on the east side of the property facing north. I plan to make the range extend just about the length of the lot, so about 200-300 feet.

Once upon a time I had a PDF on small arms range development from the USAF. I used it when we refurbished our range. The google machine may find it floating around somewhere. It did have extensive information on overhead baffles as discussed earlier here.

I did run across a single point range some time ago which was genius. The fellow had constructed a backstop slightly wider than his target frame / holder. Extending from this flat backstop he built two walls extending in a sharp "V" for 6'. At its mouth it couldn't have been 6' wide at the most. Taking into account that it was at least 2' wide at the target due to the flat backstop. This one was made of rough cut 2" lumber as outer walls holding fill dirt which was whatever the state road obtained when they pulled the ditches nearby. The insides of the backstops were then covered in old rubber conveyor belts from the coalmines, I assume they were to soak up rounds and save the lumber beneath them. I'm guessing it was less than a foot wide overall. It was the only time I'd seen a "V" shaped backstop and probably the best answer to a populated environment surrounding a fella who wanted a range in his yard.

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Originally Posted by LowSpeed

old rubber conveyor belts

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They absorb ricochets.

There is a range close to Milan, where they had issues with safety and they were allowed to implement the solution shown at the end of this video.

youtu.be/0OTz0r8gIuk

Schmidt Rubin K11 - YouTube


I hope this link works.
Go to 8'40" and you'll start being the range.
Maybe that could help you.