Building a private range

[Jdadams]

I’m not sure if this is the correct area, if not please move.

I getting ready to build a shooting area. It is probably going to be located in the flood plane as that is what provides the best safe area to shoot. That is the good news. The bad news is that I am going to be along the creek and on the other side of the creek. The topography probably rises 70 vertical feet cross the creek pretty fast. Obviously that makes a great safety barrier.

What else do you guys that have built ranges recommend I think about. I’m not doing any thing fancy, just a place where I can shoot and take my kids to shoot.

I think I want at least some steel targets.

Please help enlighten me because I’m sure there has been a ton of things I have not thought about.

TIA

 

[Ex313]

There is a guide you can get from the NRA, last time I saw it was on DVD. It covers all of the things you need to consider.

 

[basstracker89]

Sounds good so far. I hope you can get at least 100yds out of it.

 

[patches]

I’m not sure if this is the correct area, if not please move.

I getting ready to build a shooting area. It is probably going to be located in the flood plane as that is what provides the best safe area to shoot. That is the good news. The bad news is that I am going to be along the creek and on the other side of the creek. The topography probably rises 70 vertical feet cross the creek pretty fast. Obviously that makes a great safety barrier.

What else do you guys that have built ranges recommend I think about. I’m not doing any thing fancy, just a place where I can shoot and take my kids to shoot.

I think I want at least some steel targets.

Please help enlighten me because I’m sure there has been a ton of things I have not thought about.

TIA

Good luck, sir. Hope it turns out to be a family treasure.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

Congrats on the range!

Three comments:

1-- A hillside, even a pretty steep one, is not as good of a backstop as a vertical wall, like a cliff.

For my private range I made the effort to manually dig (with a pick and shovel) into the hillside to create a berm that faced me perpendicular to the bullets' path.

The first year this cliff of mud was rather small, maybe 3 feet tall by 4 feet wide.

But after a few years I expanded it to be about 6 feet tall and 10 feet wide that's where it's been for many years now.

2-- A bullet's flight path can be greatly diverted by striking the edge of a target or target frame in a way that it would not be diverted if it were to strike the center of that same material.

Therefore, all your targets need to be placed directly in front of the berm and a very short distance from the mud or dirt that's going to catch the bullets.

I see many people misusing a backstop by putting paper or cardboard targets inside a wooden target frame or target holder several yards or even dozens of yards before the backstop. Bullets that graze the edges of these targets will ricochet into the air, above or to the side of the backstop, without impacting it.

3-- My train of thought just jumped the tracks and derailed. I'll have to come back to number three!

 

[Bypass]

Isn't there a rule about shooting over water?

 

[palmettomoon]

Congrats on the range!

Three comments:

1-- A hillside, even a pretty steep one, is not as good of a backstop as a vertical wall, like a cliff.

For my private range I made the effort to manually dig (with a pick and shovel) into the hillside to create a berm that faced me perpendicular to the bullets' path.

The first year this cliff of mud was rather small, maybe 3 feet tall by 4 feet wide.

But after a few years I expanded it to be about 6 feet tall and 10 feet wide that's where it's been for many years now.

2-- A bullet's flight path can be greatly diverted by striking the edge of a target or target frame in a way that it would not be diverted if it were to strike the center of that same material.

Therefore, all your targets need to be placed directly in front of the berm and a very short distance from the mud or dirt that's going to catch the bullets.

I see many people misusing a backstop by putting paper or cardboard targets inside a wooden target frame or target holder several yards or even dozens of yards before the backstop. Bullets that graze the edges of these targets will ricochet into the air, above or to the side of the backstop, without impacting it.

3-- My train of thought just jumped the tracks and derailed. I'll have to come back to number three!

He's right. When we built two large "action bays" at the club we spec'd compaction for the berms, 24' in the back, 18+' on the sides. I regularly find members too lazy to read the rules posted and too lazy to place their stands/steel at the foot of the berms.

No one can predict with any certainty where a ricochet is going to go, how fast or with how much energy but I'll still get a momo every now and then that'll tell me they can.

 

[BHPSteel]

If you're planning on shooting steel, you should consider how long your range is, and be particular about how the gongs are mounted and their orientation. As noted up-thread, edge hits can create ricochets that are hard to predict. You can avoid many problems by angling the faces of the gongs down a little, which will also reduce wear and tear on the steel, and reduce the amount of jacketing that'll be coming back at you.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

Two examples of how shooting plates that are a considerable distance in front of the back shot stop is not safe unless it is such a rural area that you don't need a backstop at all, and could happily fling bullets into the air beyond it.

A solid hit on these plates may smash the bullet and have all the fragments falling harmlessly into the grass,

but a bullet that just nicks the edge of a plate is going somewhere else, and it won't be in that shooting bay,
and it will not
be in the backstop.

 

[BHPSteel]

I was sure the NRA had a design and layout guide for range construction, but I couldn't track it down.

There is a document from the NRA UK (yes, they still have one) that covers just about everything you need to take into consideration (and a lot of things that you don't) that you might want to use as a checklist. Needless to say, it's probably completely compliant with UK law, and incompliant with a lot of US law, but it will help you at least know what the issues are:

NRA Range Design and Safety