Here it is! Where I shoot (and live).

[big_bad_kitty]

The adventure begins. I thought I would never get the last of the rubber mulch bagged and stacked but last night I finally got it to where I think it will hold whatever is thrown at it! I went back out this morning and finished the target frames, last of the trim on the front and actually fired 300 or so rounds at it. Don't know why I didn't do this when we moved out here three years ago!
The backstop is 12' wide, 6' high and at least 2' deep . I have fired 22lr from a Nylon 66, 44 mag from my 629 S&W, 45 ACP form my Kimber Ultra Covert II and 9MM from my S&W 659. The deepest penetration I have been able to document so far has been right at 16". That was from the 44 mag. I was really surprised but that is how it works so far. My last fifty rounds were from my 659 and I shot the TX qualifying course for the CHL. I just can't keep from dropping at least one! Never fails. I have attached a couple of pictures so you can see what it looks like. I still have some minor cleaning to do from all the construction but it is at least usable for my classes within another hour or two of cleaning and make ready. I will run two lanes, the outside ones to give some separation of the targets. If I have experienced shooters that I know and am comfortable with, I can run all three lanes to get them qualified a little quicker. I am overjoyed and just can't wait until the end of the month when I have my first Texas class on the range!

[Double Naught Spy]

Nice very temporary backstop. As soon as you make it several feet thicker, it should be good. As soon as you shoot the bullseye out engough, you will bore a tunnel right through your backstop. Then you will have rounds down range and be a serious safety hazard.

Your green target is WAY TOO CLOSE to the top of your backstop.

You do not want to use that for classes. I don't know what sort of classes you are giving, but I highly doubt it would qualify for a Texas CHL range.

[big_bad_kitty]

Thanks for your comments about the range. I only had the green B27 at the top to measure the height from the ground to the top of the target. I should have removed it prior to posting the picture as I agree it is too close to the top. It was raining outside and I do not have any pictures of the outside of the backstop. There is a double row in a semicircle of telephone poles behind the complete backstop with a double row of hanging 1 1/2" rubber pads in front of the telephone poles. Behind the telephone poles there is a 18" thick berm of dirt held in place by a stack of cross ties. There is also a double stack of telephone poles on the top of the backstop to remove any possibility of a round escaping even if it glanced off of anything else. I do apologize for not furnishing the rest of the information but will be more careful in the future so as to not mislead you.

Respectfully,

[Double Naught Spy]

Wow, your second description is really different than your first description. That is some bright sunshine above your backstop for a day when it is raining.

Your bags of rubber will fail and your secondardy backstop will see a lot of use, unless you do a lot of maintenance and remove damaged bags of rubber and restack between classes.

This is especially true if you are getting 16" of penetration on a sacrificial 24" barrier that degrades with each shot. Because you use bags to hold your rubber fill in place, holes in the bags will produce leaks that will form into tunnels. These tunnels will not infill with rubber from above unless those bags are significantly damaged. You will lose fill behind your target centers such that your 24" of barrier will diminish to fewer and fewer inches until you have a nice bore hole through.

Your target wall does not allow for much movement of the targets vertically or laterally and so your impact areas are going to be very concentrated, hence exacerbating the problem. You have a fairly large backstop area, but your primary impact areas will be fairly small.

[m.p.driver]

It's like my grandpa used to say"If you don't have anything good to say ,then don't say anything." I long for the day that i can go out my back door to my range.Good job.

[chris in va]

It's like my grandpa used to say"If you don't have anything good to say ,then don't say anything.

So you'd just say nice, lovely things to someone that is about to cause harm to themselves and others?

Here's what we are trying to prevent...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,376391,00.html

[Nnobby45]

Wow, your second description is really different than your first description. That is some bright sunshine above your backstop for a day when it is raining.

Nahh. Looks like it could be cloudy to me. Anyone who's fooled around with camera settings knows that light diffused thru clouds isn't called "cloudy bright for nothing".

The important thing is that you can see anything at all. Shouldn't be and open spaces.

[Uncle Buck]

If yo read the comments here and in the past that Double Naught Spy has written, you will see that he is not being a smarty pants and trying to rain on anyone's parade. He has valid comments and sharing them with us should make us think.

All firing range berms need maintenance. He has pointed out where the current berm may fail. If the OP decides to inspect the berm and confirm the backstop could be built better, good for him. It sounds as if he will be operating some sort of business and this is one more thing he will have to pay attention to.

I like the OP's backstop. I may build one like it eventually, but I will keep in mind what DAS has written. It will be interesting to see how many rounds the backstop catches before it has to be redone. (Rubber replaced/different material used/etc...)

[big_bad_kitty]

As of this weekend, I have about 10K rounds down range. Tore the chip wood from the front of the backstop to check on the rubber mulch and it is working just as I planned for it to. Where the center of the targets have been shot multiple times, the rubber crumbs and "shavings" as they called them have settled and packed so the more you shoot in one place, the more it repairs itself and becomes more resistant to penetration. I will run another 10K to 20K rounds over the next two to three weeks and make certain it is still doing the same thing before I let anyone else on my range. I do appreciate the comments and took them in a positive manner. However, if you have never constructed one from scratch, you really do not know what you are talking about because it is so much different using the mulch and crumbs than anything else I have ever been exposed to and have been shooting and building my own ranges for over forty-five years. I will be the first to say if it fails so anyone else wanting to use the rubber crumbs will be aware of the shortcomings if any. I have not seen any yet but I want 75K to 100K down range before I say it is a really good thing!

[2EagleEyes]

B-B-K..... I just signed up in the newbie membership files, and found this thread to be a most interesting read. Prior to your last statement, I also wondered about the possibiltity of the rubber mulch self leveling with a automatic sealing affect. I think all your postings have been very constructive in information values.
Congrats on your new range.. I just wish it was closer to the southern border.
2EagleEyes

[big_bad_kitty]

I have another six months and several CHL classes later to speak about first hand. The range continues to amaze and please me. It works like planned and continues to pack and seal itself the more it is shot into. I love the rubber crumbs and have much confidence in them. I still have an ample amount of safety backstop behind them and probably will never take any of it away just for my own comfort but they work great. I am looking forward in the spring to taking it apart to recover the bullet metal and start over with the rubber crumbs in new plastic bags! More later as it happens!

[m.p.driver]

Congrats on your range,glad its working out for you,planning and thought pays off in the end.Not like the fear of you running around shooting hap hazard in your back yard at kids on trampolines.
A friend used you idea of mulched rubber,like the ground up tires used on playgrounds now.We used 4x4 plastic bags and layered them to about six feet high.Its on a farm so he was more afraid of ricochets off the hillside that we shoot into.So far nothing has made it through.

[4runnerman]

The indoor range i work at uses ground rubber tires also. It is very effective at stopping even the biggest of pistols dead. This range has well over 1 million rounds in it and so far no real damage to the back stop.As stated the more it gets shot the more it fills in. The deepest we have found a bullet lodge is about 9 inches. The stop is just rubber tires(ground up) and a 1/4 inch thick rubber pad over that. We do maitiance on it weekly though. As long as he stays on top of it i dont think he will have issues. The very top does concern me some. I see light from outside comming through. Even if no targets are near top it still needs to be closed off. I think he is going down the right path and is being cautious , Keep up the inspections and good job

[seansean1444]

great range very jelous. half the guys saying bad stuff about it dont even have anykind of range i bet

[big_bad_kitty]

Thanks SeanSean! I continue to be amazed at the efficiency of the rubber crumbs and their stopping power. I have had another couple of chl classes with another 2K rounds or so and it just keeps stopping everything thrown at it! For those that have comments, if you have never used the rubber crumbs to stop bullets from penetrating a back stop, don't talk ugly about it because you sure as shooting don't know what the heck you are talking about. From someone that is currently using it and monitoring it each time shots are fired into them!

[seansean1444]

heck a couple of magazines and a lously piece of plywood stop a 22 bullet no prob temporarily.... eventually gets warn out but it works good for a while and really cheap

[Zildjian]

Thought I'd share my personal back yard bullet stop here also. I have plenty
of rubber if needed to replace those shot up from being concentrated in the middle. Most of the rubber slabs are from a cousin who works at a re-thread
tire company. All those throw aways are slabs of rubber before the steel re-inforcement is put in. It stops a 25-06 and .222 plus the smaller .22's very good. Has also stopped a .357 Mag and Max in cast boolits also. Am thinking
about putting in a sand trap between the 1st 3 slabs and the last 3 inside the steel plated box. Has 5/8 's steel for back stop . Boolits fall into the trap
below . Just want to recover my casted lead for re-use later.



Attachment 65019

[GLOCK22]

Very nice set up!

[cnimrod]

I have to rebuild my target backstop. not sure i want to invest much money into a private range used sparingly. I wonder how that rubber mulch would stand up to deer rifles. Wouldn't be shooting anywhere near as much. But it's a fairly level piece of property, thickly wooded and 2700' deep bordering state land
Since I'm always in the pie plate I wouldn't need much ;-)

[big_bad_kitty]

I continue to watch it closely and have been very pleased with the durability and consistency. I too have wondered about the rifle cartridges and want to experiment with it but just do not know where to start! I would expect a thicker deeper backstop of rubber crumbs would be well in order and probably do the trick but the deeper they get, the more spread out the backstop becomes. If anyone has some real experience with the crumbs and rifle bullets I would like to know about it so that I would at least have a starting place when warmer weather gets here. I really believe because of cost, EPA concerns and durability that this type of backstop is going to be used more and more. I will tear it down completely this coming summer and have more information to share about the bullets that are recovered.

[DiscoRacing]

Looks pretty good to me... Hope it works like its supposed to.