hay bails for backstop

[c.j.sikes]

i was wondering if roll hay bails could be good for rifle backstop at 100 yds. i have used them for pistol at 25 yds. and it worked fine. the largest thing i shoot is 30 newton but mostly 30-06 and less. i was thinking of 2 bails with one up front and one bail for pistol at 25 yds. i dont know about pentration on rifle . anyone have a thought? thanks cjs

[Brian Pfleuger]

Not in a million years. I shot a.... hm, 7.62? maybe, can't remember for sure, at a round bail from a goodly distance. Anyway, judging from the dust and dirt on the other side, WAY on the other side, that bullet barely knew that it went through anything at all. I certainly would NEVER rely on one to stop anything more significant than a pellet gun. Even then I wouldn't put anything that I cared about on the other side.

[Vt.birdhunter]

Interesting question, soaking wet, it might stop a rifle round. Bone dry, lot of air pockets for a bullet to find.

[USP-45]

Unfortunatly the answer is yes and no. We have a farm in East Texas that we bail hay on. I have used bails for back stops, but in order for them to work they need to be pretty heavily compressed (some are much looser then others) and it really does not take long for a hole to be tore out of one. Another issue is that you do not want to use a bail that you have shot to feed from for obvious reasons. Sounds dumb, but you would be suprised.

You need to be carefull though as has been mentioned a rifle bullet can go through a tight bail pretty quickly once its been hit a few times. There are other ways to stop a bullet that would be much more effective though.

[DiscoRacing]

I would have to say NO.

[BGutzman]

Lenghtwise maybe depending on bale weight but its mighty hard to beat lots of good old dirt for a proven backstop. Word to the wise: Becareful and dont count on luck to keep others safe.

[nathaniel]

I have a PSE X-force that shoots a field point arrow at roughly 350 fps and it can go through a round bale at 90 yards.( Yes I have a 90 yard pin but its strickly for target shooting I keep it under 35 yards for deer and thats even stretching it.) So I guess my answer is no even for a 25 yard pistol target.

[ClayInTx]

Rectangular hay bales have folds with interstitial spaces, so shooting at any side might allow a bullet to pass through with hardly any obstruction.

Round bales have layers with interstitial spaces; rolled up sort of like a jelly roll, so shooting at a side might not stop a bullet.

Now understand that these spaces are not really open but are areas which are not tightly packed.

Another consideration is what type of hay is it, or is it straw? Some hays pack tighter than others.

Anyway. almost any center fire cartridge will put a bullet through a hay bale.

Also, it’s a waste of hay, cows cannot digest bullets, nor can goats.

If it can’t be used to feed livestock use it to decorate the barn for square dances and let the wallflowers get chiggers on their butts or bit by spiders. If freshly baled check for snakes; nothing gets more torqued than a baled up rattler (they crawl about under the drying hay looking for mice and do not grant a wish for turning them loose).

Bottom line: Don’t risk it.

[oneounceload]

They CAN be effective, depending on how tight they are, how wet they are, how old they are........I have shot into some that were VERY dense and they worked OK. In any event, know what is behind them and act accordingly

[44 AMP]

Better for arrows than for bulets. Don't count on a hay bale stopping a bullet. They might, but don't count on it.

[Double Naught Spy]

Fine for bullets so long as nothing is within the original range for the bullet, just like air.

Don't count on a hay bale stopping a bullet. They might, but don't count on it.

Or it might stop the bullet the first time in the hole, but not the 2nd or 3rd or not after you have punched a hole through through the bail trying to shoot the X ring on your target.

Interesting question, soaking wet, it might stop a rifle round. Bone dry, lot of air pockets for a bullet to find.

Unless it has been submerged for a while and is submerged while being shot, then even wet, it will have plenty of air pockets. My guess is that it will have air pockets even while submerged.

[leadcounsel]

I wouldn't bet prison on it. Recent article about a man convicted and sent to prison for negligent home range setup/backstop.

Earth berms are the answer.

[teeroux]

Fired my 30-30 and .223 into one sighting in once. It was in a pasture with a light rolling hill behind it and beyond about 20 miles of woods and bayou. Never saw dirt plums behind it and even then if I did have one make it over the hill it was no mans land behind.

[Skans]

I can't even use hay bales to stop an arrow shot from my Bowtech compound bow.

[c.j.sikes]

thanks for the info. i think i need to look futher. cjs

[SwampYankee]

A few years back I read about a couple guys using hay bales to stop rifle bullets. It didn't work and I believe they were arrested, although they were lucky that none of their rounds found a human target downrange.

[johnwilliamson062]

pile some up in front of a real backstop. Shoot into them. Cut the bailing wire and look for bullets. You won't find any.

Maybe soaking wet.

[teeroux]

I can't even use hay bales to stop an arrow shot from my Bowtech compound bow.

Thats one bad bow to make an arrow through one of these.

[45Gunner]

The rolls of hay must be front of a built up berm of dirt and the dirt must have metal plates or cement blocks on the other side just in case one finds it way thru all the blocking material.

[shortwave]

Round bails won't make a safe backstop wet or dry.
What they will assist in is a possible ricochet back at shooter. If your main backstop happens to be old railroad ties with unseen metal(spikes,plates etc), dirt with possibly unseen rocks, a dense round bail could help in stopping projectile from coming back at shooter/bystanders.
I posted some time ago about my brother shooting a 38 S&W airweight at a friends house with a backstop of railroad ties. Projectile hit an unseen piece of metal, came back and hit him square in the adams-apple and landed at his feet. Although dirt would have made a better all-around backstop, a round bail setting in front of the ties would have probably stopped the slug from coming back.

[ClydeFrog]

I was thinking of this topic a few days ago. If I had a large farm or a lot of property(flat open areas), I'd use milspec sandbags, hay and dirt mounds or berms(check spelling).
When I went through my US Army basic & advanced training in the late 1980s, a course cadre instructor explained how to set up fighting positions or barriers that could stop most NATO/Warsaw Pact type small arms(.45acp, 9x19mm, 5.56mm, 7.62mm, etc). I'm sure there is a military TM or FM(field manual) about range control operations or safe back-stops.
I saw a CD-ROM about 8 years ago with around 40/50 different US Army FMs for different topics/occupations. .
Id thnk you could download those publications for free from a DoD or service website(USMC, USAF, DA, FLETC, etc).

[Double Naught Spy]

I was thinking of this topic a few days ago. If I had a large farm or a lot of property(flat open areas), I'd use milspec sandbags, hay and dirt mounds or berms(check spelling).
When I went through my US Army basic & advanced training in the late 1980s, a course cadre instructor explained how to set up fighting positions or barriers that could stop most NATO/Warsaw Pact type small arms(.45acp, 9x19mm, 5.56mm, 7.62mm, etc). I'm sure there is a military TM or FM(field manual) about range control operations or safe back-stops.

Sandbags are a bad idea. Yes, they are used to provide ballistic protection from incoming rounds and they can work well for a very limited number of shots. After battles, sandbags that were damaged had to be replaced. You pop a couple of holes in them and they start leaking and your sand bag berm starts to deflate and can even destabilize and topple over. You pop a bunch of holes in one and you get a "blow out" and a hole in your berm unless it is several layers of sand bags deep.

Load the bags with wet sand and the sand isn't as apt to leak when shot, but then the bags rot.

It is an expensive way to built an impact berm and very expensive because damaged parts will have to be replaced EVERY session.

[RickB]

We had an issue of bullets leaving the range, and a haybale "berm" was thought to be an issue. .38 Super pistol rounds zipped right through, shot end-to-end; so even stacked three-deep, bales aren't going to stop pistol rounds.

[jgcoastie]

Gravel and dirt... 6ft high and 6' deep, should stop anything at your home range...

[rattletrap1970]

The only thing hay is good for is using it as a retaining wall for a dirt birm. It gives you a nice flat shooting surface, protects against ricochets, keeps dust down, and prevents birm erosion. I would not count on hay solely to stop any bullet.