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Old June 15, 2010, 03:20 PM   #26
JT-AR-MG42
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Old woodstove

A buddy of mine builds side by side rifles and uses old out of date woodstoves as his traps. He just puts a piece of steel inside to angle bullets to the bottom. Most shoot relatively heavy bullets, so his lead recycle rate is pretty good.

'Course it ain't a backstop, but they catch everything he slings at them.

VT birdhunter is right on about the lime. At some point, even as a private landowner, you might be asked about your soil abatement program. It is best to be proactive and to have one in place. Save your receipts.

Renzo is also correct in that what happens on your property is your problem regardless of signage or fences. It is why lawyers drive expensive cars.
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Old December 14, 2010, 06:32 PM   #27
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We had a guy with a bulldozer throw up a 9 or 10 foor berm that wraps around a bit. Been shooting there for 20 years with no issues.
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Old December 14, 2010, 10:27 PM   #28
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God i love the history channel.

Lead does come from the ground, but not in the same form it is coming from your gun. The lead used for projectiles is processed from ore that is taken from the ground and then mixed with other metals to make a bullet. This bullet will be more of a pure-er form of lead. When exposed to other chemicals (air polution, acidic rain or acidic soil) it can react and find it's way into ground water or food supplies or what not. If your running a shooting range near a stream that feeds into farm which has a huge fishing lake down stream, there could be some problems for other people, which would be something you contributed to, which might not be so good morally or legally.

I was taught that as a sportsman, we are suppose to care about what we do, if not for ourselves, for those who come after us. The neglected ranges of the past made the laws that are now in place, and cleaning them up means more range fees for the rest of us.

As for the op: I'd try to shoot away from a creek bed. You don't want to find out that your killing or posioning the game on your own property or god forbid your neighbors. I'd also imagine that even if you and 5 buddies shoot once a week at that spot it would take you a life time or more to reach the point where you'd be meeting a pay range's effect on the environment.
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Old December 14, 2010, 11:43 PM   #29
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Metallic lead is pretty much a non-issue in groundwater contamination.

http://www.handgunsmag.com/tactics_t...810/index.html
"Scientists at Virginia Tech studied lead bullets on battlefields ranging from 18th century sites to the present. Despite literally hundreds of years of exposure to the elements, the projectiles were quite well-preserved. Turns out, a protective, relatively insoluble coating soon forms around spent lead bullets.

Patterson adds that even in more acidic soils, where the breakdown of lead might be expected, clay and organic materials usually absorb the metal.

“By and large,” Patterson says, “lead contamination at outdoor shooting ranges just isn’t an issue.”"
http://www.mwcog.org/environment/wat...y/lead/faq.asp
What happens to lead when it enters the environment?
When released to land, lead binds with the soils and does not migrate to ground water.
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Old December 16, 2010, 11:04 AM   #30
Magnum Wheel Man
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I have a private 300 yard rifle range, not enough strays ever hit the backstop to do much damage ( mine is staggered green treated 2 x 6's screwed together with the boards overlapping so the seams don't seep fill... they are all screwed together on broken off telephone poles... the backstop is about 10ft high & 20ft wide, & 6 ft thick & filled with both old farm junk, sheet rock & dirt... I use empty 55 gallon steel barrels ( with the tops cut off ), with a plastic 5 gallon bucket of dirt in each one ( to keep them from blowing away ) as target backers... I have barrels placed at 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, & 300 yards on the range making easy shooting at any distance... I did at a 4' X 4' piece of 1/4" thick hardened steel plate to the spot just behind my 300 yard barrels... none of my cartridges will even go through the steel, after going through a drum at 300 yards...

I did my pistol backstop using steel 55 gallon drums stacked 2 high & staggered like suggested for the tires, & filled with dirt, but they are starting to get pretty shot up... I've been thinking about using tires for the next one, but am concerned about close range slow moving big bore handguns ( like 45 Colt cowboy loads ) bouncing off the tires & back to the shooter... anyone with expirience with this type of backstop & shooting 45's close up ???

a pic of my range from the bench...



& my "little mule" ( makes the 200 & 300 yard shooting much more enjoyable, s far as placing & recovering targets )

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Old December 29, 2010, 08:14 AM   #31
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Quote:
I own a very big piece of property and used to shoot all the time on it. I have no neighbors for miles around and thought i was safe. But one day while i was shooting a boyscout troop wondered onto my property passed all the shooting in progress signs no trespassing signs and verbal confrontation from me fell on Deaf EARS. Bottom line if anything happens YOU ARE SCREWED.
In most civilized states, trespassing is considered a crime and when a person enters on to posted property that constitutes trespass. Any person harmed while committing a crime finds that the civil remedies to injury don't apply to them. In this limited situation, you might call your local police agency and have the trespassers cited.

I agree that there are liability concerns that we should all be aware of and guard against, but in this limited situation, a Boy Scout troop wandering across a posted range, I don't think that the land-owner would be liable in this state.

As shooters we should all be concerned that we don't harm anyone while pursuing our past-time, and we should take steps that reduce those chances to a manageable level.

Magnum Wheel Man - I agree about the Mule, I've got one that is used a lot during hunting, fishing, backwoods roaming and general grandkid outings. I can put me and five grandkids on that thing and we look like a gypsy herd traveling across the hunting lease. It's quite a hoot.
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Old December 29, 2010, 08:28 AM   #32
Magnum Wheel Man
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I'd been considering trading in the Mule for something more "fun" but one of my best shooting buddies is a 70 year old retired machinist, & the bench type seats are easier for him to get into, than the "sit in" type bucket seats found on the more fun machines... I have ATV's for that use though... so I can still have "fun" if I want...

my Mule has aluminum diamond plate for a roof, & was designed for a folding chair on top ( for spectating at ATV events I used to compete in ) but works exceptionally well for trimming branches on the trees I planted along side my shooting range... I normally hook up my 2 place aluminum ATV trailer behind, & can get quite a pile of brush trimming the rapidy growing maples along the range...

BTW... I have been planting an assortment of trees benificial to the local wildlife... I'm hoping that by retirement age for me, that I can hunt squirrels, & possibly deer right from my shooting range...

BTW #2.... we've had record snows already this year, & seeing those green summer pictures of my range is sure refreshing, considering everything is burryed in about 4ft of white stuff right now, & winter is just beginning
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