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mack59 · March 4, 2006, 02:22 PM

I have a 50 yard range by my house on 7 acres - it is 50 yards long and 30 yards wide. The backstop is a 30 yard wide dirt berm with wings on both ends that entend about 15 yards to form a rectangle like this: (edit - well it looked like a rectangle when I typed it

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The berm is about 30 to 25 feet thick at the bottom and 10 to 12 feet at the top. It is about 12 feet high. There is 2 miles of farmland straight behind it. It is not set up for commercial use and could not be as there are 3 houses in what a commercial range would call the fan (area covered by the shape of a fan at angles past the backstop within a two mile range, none are in a direct line of fire of course). I have target holders made from oak pallets as the base with 2x4's nailed upright to them and them particle board cut 4ft by 4ft for the holders nailed to the 2x4 uprights, cost me 36 dollars for six. The target holders are close to the berms base so when I shoot my shots are going into berms base at a downward or level angle. I do not shoot when the farmer is in the field and my neighbors - as they are in the country are all aware of my "range." The wings that run off the main berm at 90 degree angles taper down from 12 feet to about 6 feet. I had it built initially by hiring a bulldozer to push up the dirt into the main berm and wings - it took him parts of two days to complete it - start to finnish. Then I threw grass seed on it. A few years later I had the pond just behing it re-dug and had them throw part of the dirt on the backside to the berm, which doubled the overall thickness of the berm top to bottom to its present described thickness. The Bulldozer job cost me somewhere between 2 and 3 thousand - I really can't recall 8 years later the exact cost. Later, I build a small baseball diamond for my kids with a mound and backstop on the firing line on a corner of the range. Of course we don't shoot and play ball at the same time.

I would be interested in any homemade, inexpensive designs for turning or moving targets - I've been playing with the idea of using a garage door opener for a moving target system. I am going to modify my target stands this spring so that I can set up falling targets using hinges and an off-set frame held up by the weight of clays hanging behind the target - hit the target right the clay breaks and the target falls forward.

March 4, 2006, 02:22 PM	#18
mack59 Senior Member Join Date: July 14, 2004 Posts: 447	I have a 50 yard range by my house on 7 acres - it is 50 yards long and 30 yards wide. The backstop is a 30 yard wide dirt berm with wings on both ends that entend about 15 yards to form a rectangle like this: (edit - well it looked like a rectangle when I typed it ) ------------------------------------------------------- l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l The berm is about 30 to 25 feet thick at the bottom and 10 to 12 feet at the top. It is about 12 feet high. There is 2 miles of farmland straight behind it. It is not set up for commercial use and could not be as there are 3 houses in what a commercial range would call the fan (area covered by the shape of a fan at angles past the backstop within a two mile range, none are in a direct line of fire of course). I have target holders made from oak pallets as the base with 2x4's nailed upright to them and them particle board cut 4ft by 4ft for the holders nailed to the 2x4 uprights, cost me 36 dollars for six. The target holders are close to the berms base so when I shoot my shots are going into berms base at a downward or level angle. I do not shoot when the farmer is in the field and my neighbors - as they are in the country are all aware of my "range." The wings that run off the main berm at 90 degree angles taper down from 12 feet to about 6 feet. I had it built initially by hiring a bulldozer to push up the dirt into the main berm and wings - it took him parts of two days to complete it - start to finnish. Then I threw grass seed on it. A few years later I had the pond just behing it re-dug and had them throw part of the dirt on the backside to the berm, which doubled the overall thickness of the berm top to bottom to its present described thickness. The Bulldozer job cost me somewhere between 2 and 3 thousand - I really can't recall 8 years later the exact cost. Later, I build a small baseball diamond for my kids with a mound and backstop on the firing line on a corner of the range. Of course we don't shoot and play ball at the same time. I would be interested in any homemade, inexpensive designs for turning or moving targets - I've been playing with the idea of using a garage door opener for a moving target system. I am going to modify my target stands this spring so that I can set up falling targets using hinges and an off-set frame held up by the weight of clays hanging behind the target - hit the target right the clay breaks and the target falls forward.