Looking at building a personal 100 yard range on some property. I was thinking of bringing in a front end loader to scrape down about 4-6 feet for the full 100 yards and use that dirt as a backing burm. Anyone have something like this they could help with advice?
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I am envious of the ability to do something like this. I live in Iowa, where land falls into 3 categories: incorporated city / town, timber that usually surrounds wetlands or rivers, and farm land. I looked into purchasing some farmland, enough for a safe 1000 yd range, but i don't have a spare $750,000-1 million bucks laying around.
I hear ya' for sure. I have been wanting to do this for years and never thought I would be able to actually get it done. I wish I could do more than 100yds but that's all I want to stick with at this point. This will give the kids a nice practice area and I can still work on the skills.
I would love to lay a base of gravel and road base to help keep the weeds at bay but that's all dependant on cost.
I would love to lay a base of gravel and road base to help keep the weeds at bay but that's all dependant on cost.
I have a 100 yard range right now, as well as a nice wide pistol range, and am planning a 300 yard range once I get ambitious enough this summer. I don't really have any advice for you though since my property (20 acres out on the edge of town) is surrounded by hills, and berms.
One thing I'm looking at for my 300 yd lane, is using old tires, in two alternating rows, filled with sand, for spatter control and a little extra protection, in this one area.
One piece of advice I've found works pretty well to keep the weed down is tarps. In my pistol range, I layed out old tarps and the weeds can't get through it obviously. It also makes it super easy to pick up brass, and a leaf blower at the beginning of the day keeps it looking nice.
Just gotta keep It layed down flat so you don't trip on it. But in your case... I think it might work out great!
One thing I'm looking at for my 300 yd lane, is using old tires, in two alternating rows, filled with sand, for spatter control and a little extra protection, in this one area.
One piece of advice I've found works pretty well to keep the weed down is tarps. In my pistol range, I layed out old tarps and the weeds can't get through it obviously. It also makes it super easy to pick up brass, and a leaf blower at the beginning of the day keeps it looking nice.
Just gotta keep It layed down flat so you don't trip on it. But in your case... I think it might work out great!
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I like the tire idea, thanks.
I have a spot on the property that looks like someone started to do dig out and it's probably 50 yards @ 3' down. With the young children shooting (Always attended and coached), I wouldn't mind some type of side reinforcement if it's practical. It's just still a thought in my head and not a must do.
I have a spot on the property that looks like someone started to do dig out and it's probably 50 yards @ 3' down. With the young children shooting (Always attended and coached), I wouldn't mind some type of side reinforcement if it's practical. It's just still a thought in my head and not a must do.
One thing to look at for a back stop is rail road ties stacked up 3-4 rows deep works awesome for my home range just an idea
I'm doing this very thing this summer. I'm going to build a row of railroad ties perpendicular to the shooter with wings angling about 135 degrees on each side. I have access to more sand than I would ever need. Literally metric tons so will fill in with that.
Any slope/angle factored in for drainage? Want it to drain towards you or towards the target?
I was going to say drainage. My range naturally slopes to one corner so I ran some 4" PVC piping under the berm to facilitate drainage. I've seen a lot of ranges that become a big pond when it rains so I wanted to make sure that would not happen on mine.
You also want to keep the weeds down and make it easier to police up brass. I used pea gravel and just spray the entire area with Glycophosate.
For backstop you want to make sure there's not too much junk in it to cause ricochet. NRA has info on building ranges you might want to check 'em out. I used soil reclaimed from a high school baseball diamond, no rocks at all(!)
You also want to keep the weeds down and make it easier to police up brass. I used pea gravel and just spray the entire area with Glycophosate.
For backstop you want to make sure there's not too much junk in it to cause ricochet. NRA has info on building ranges you might want to check 'em out. I used soil reclaimed from a high school baseball diamond, no rocks at all(!)
Oh, make sure you fence it off and post signs on your property. I caught some little turds riding ATV and dirt bikes last month. They can really tear up your berm.
Is there a reason you don't haul in a bunch of loads of sand and use that as the berm instead of digging a huge trench?
Sand is cheap... I had a full dump truck hauled in for like 85.00 last year.
The sand is "dirt cheap". It's the dump truck you're really paying for.
Sand is cheap... I had a full dump truck hauled in for like 85.00 last year.
The sand is "dirt cheap". It's the dump truck you're really paying for.
Whatever you do... Post pics please!
It depends on your climate and soil but I would avoid digging at all cost.
I would also bring in sand, as soon as you dig you are creating places for water to pool after rain but more importantly after the snow melt. It takes a while for the ground to thaw in order to soak up surface water, and that depends on what subsoil you have. At my place, I have about a foot of topsoil and then a mixture of mostly clay and a bit of rock(sandstone) for the next 4' so it takes time for the ground to soak up water.
I would also bring in sand, as soon as you dig you are creating places for water to pool after rain but more importantly after the snow melt. It takes a while for the ground to thaw in order to soak up surface water, and that depends on what subsoil you have. At my place, I have about a foot of topsoil and then a mixture of mostly clay and a bit of rock(sandstone) for the next 4' so it takes time for the ground to soak up water.
I think if you get an equipment operator out there and you tell him you want to move 4-6 feet of dirt for 100 yards to build a berm, he will talk you out of that idea. This after he looks at you like you told him you just saw Elvis in the parking lot.
If you can get somebody that does dirt work to look at your place, he will / should steer you in the correct direction.
If you can get somebody that does dirt work to look at your place, he will / should steer you in the correct direction.
Built a berm several years ago, got the dirt from cleaning out road ditches around the farm. It is only 25 ft. wide by 8-9 ft. tall. Took over 100 loader buckets @ 1/2 yd. each to get enough. I've added dirt 4 times to widen and keep height where it needs to be. Spray it with a selective long term herbicide (leaves the grass kills the weeds) to keep it looking nice. It is in the front yard after all.
A few things about dirt:
If you need to fill a hole or make a pile you never have enough.
If you need to get rid of some or spread it out by hand there is always too much.
It will settle, a lot. If you make a berm 8 ft. tall in 2 years it will be 5 ft.
Small gravel disappears very quickly, put down a base of 2" gravel and compact it, then cover with chat / pea gravel.
A few things about dirt:
If you need to fill a hole or make a pile you never have enough.
If you need to get rid of some or spread it out by hand there is always too much.
It will settle, a lot. If you make a berm 8 ft. tall in 2 years it will be 5 ft.
Small gravel disappears very quickly, put down a base of 2" gravel and compact it, then cover with chat / pea gravel.
u can get used tyres for free, stack them like a brick wall, and fill with dirt...
Raising your FFP can significantly reduce the size of a berm required for safety. The flatter your land is the more this applies.
Build a pond and use that dirt to build your berms. That's what I have done. I also built a platform at 1000 yards to help with everything. And before anyone says anything the first pic is taken from looking back at the firing position. Lol
Here's a older pic from 1000 yards.
Here's my pistol carbine bay
The backstop is a lot bigger now. The backside of the right berm of the pistol bay is the left wing of the new backstop. If you look real close you can see the torso target under the big tree on the right side.
Here's a older pic from 1000 yards.
Here's my pistol carbine bay
The backstop is a lot bigger now. The backside of the right berm of the pistol bay is the left wing of the new backstop. If you look real close you can see the torso target under the big tree on the right side.
Nice pics pyplynr! Thanks for posting. I'm always interested in how others set up their home ranges.
Run your range north-south. It looks like you already planned for that, so good on ya. Shooting into the sun sucks.
My range behind the garage. goes to 200 yds, but I can shoot up onto the hills out to 400+. The pistol plates and the IPSC target are at 60 yds from the bench. My 100 yd rifle impact area is to the right and behind the pistol plates.
I had an instant "berm" behind the targets, all I did was set up a few targets stands and shoot into the hill. Quickly you make your own berm...the area where the slugs impact. Now each year I drop a few buckets of dirt on the impact area and we have few ricochet issues. I tied to make the least visual impact so I sunk a few 2" pvc pipes in the ground 24" apart. I drop 2x2 wood into the PVC, it's straight and level, simply staple cardboard to the uprights and I have my targets.
My issue is urban sprawl....several families moved in 1/4 mile away....across from my property. High power rifles are so loud that I now only shoot maybe 10% as much as I used to here. Even my pistol shooting has diminished due to noise. Trying to be a good neighbor sucks. I enjoyed the old days when I shot whenever I wished.
OP my suggestion is to bring in some sand or dirt. I wouldn't take out any dirt, other than maybe to LEVEL an area for a bench or shooting line. I'd stay away from tires too. Railroad ties or logs as wings and a backstop to hold the dirt looks a lot cleaner. Tires to me instantly make the range look like a dump. Sorry...my opinion.
If your going to let ANYONE other than Family members shoot...look into an Umbrella liability policy in case of an accident.
Yeah, I'm a heavy equipment operator and you'll be amazed at how much material will be generated by just taking a foot of top soil out of an area. Just last weekend I built 2 backstops on my property. I used a skid steer (Bobcat) with a toothbar bucket to scrape about 15ft in front of the desired backstop area, 3 bucket widths wide. I generated enough material for a roughly 8ft tall backstop. Combine this with a slightly elevated shooting platform and it makes for a safe stop. Drainage isn't a big issue right now but I might bring an excavator home and put a tile in.
Thanks for all the help and info provided. I would imagine that to fill my large gouges in the ground would be pretty damn expensive. It looks the original land owner maybe sold dirt and did a few scrapes with a belly digger or something, who knows. Anyway, we don't get a whole lot of rain so pooling and standing water is no issue and the soil is great. Sandy so it drains and filters into the ground very fast. I think I am just going to work with what's there since there is a very gradual long hill behind it all so the backdrop won't have to be outrageous by any means. I do have neighbors a 1/4 mile a way also so I'll more than likely use mostly for the .22's.
You guys have no idea now envious I am over your land.
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