Need suggestions with berm build

[novalty]

Well located a spot on my father's property that looks like it will work nicely to set up a shooting berm. The bank is approximately 15' high, and I plan on hauling in some sand for the backstop that I can screen and reclaim lead. Where I am at a loss is the best method to contain the sand in the berm. Where I am going to be shooting at steel, I will need to make it about 15' wide. Have looked into railroad ties, but they are pretty price, so hoping I can find a more frugal method.

This picture was taken from 10-yards back.

 

[Wee Hooker]

Stacked and butted old tires should do nicely.

 

[Muss Muggins]

Just remember that a round striking a surface will continue to travel parallel to the surface about 12 inches above it. Make sure the berm totally absorbes the fired rounds. The local PD built a 25 yard range with a 30 foot berm. Rounds regularly landed in the water treatment facility behind the range . . .

 

[rwsmith]

Sandbags....

Sandbags in rows, with stakes to keep them from rolling down steep parts.

 

[lrrifleman]

My club tends to use tires at the berm that are covered with dirt. If you do tires, I think that you would want to avoid steel belted radials and lean more towards bias ply and fiberglass belted tires. A bigger question I would pose is, what is behind your intended back stop?

 

[Huskerguy]

Don't use ties. A friend built a nice stop out of them and people who use it shoot the same place each time and it didn't take very long to go through it. If I had the space that you do I would make a berm as high as possible and put various metal targets at different heights and distances. The main thing I would build is a bullet trap. If you shot mostly into it rather than the metal targets you would recapture most of your lead. Costly at first but over time worth it. Cover the berm with sand as thick as possible without sliding. Make sure you can get back at least 100 yards as well.

 

[novalty]

I have a couple options in the location that I picked out. Beyond that berm in the picture I posted it continues to slowly slope up hill with about 100 yards of pasture before coming to the side road that I live on. If I turn to the left of where there is another bank going up a very steep hill that is wooded for about 100 yards, than there is at least 100 yards of pasture before reaching my father's barn.

It would probably be a better option, but will take more fill and sand to build up a berm--but the benefit would be a longer shooting lane that measured out to be 66 yards plus. My father has a larger field that I can get 100 yards plus for rifles. Really looking for a spot to set up steel targets for handgun shooting where I can try and reclaim some lead. Instead of depositing lead in his field.

 

[MichiganScott]

This is probably more than you are willing to do, but it's worth the read when building a range.

https://www3.epa.gov/region02/waste/leadshot/epa_bmp.pdf

 

[Mcwsky09]

You may be able to find used shipping pallets for free.
However, unless you plan to use them relatively intact they can require a lot of time and effort to break down to component parts.
How well they would fit together without modification would depend on how tightly placed the top surface is - some have small or no gaps others have large gaps.
Something like this perhaps - Truth is Treason | Browsing the tag archive for Wooden Pallet Construction Archives | Truth is Treason - except I am thinking the front could also be a pallet - fill the interior space with sand - when the front gets too badly beaten up and or its time to screen he sand inside to reclaim the lead - remove the front panel - screen out the lead - replace the front panel - and pour the sand back in.
Of course a backhoe or skid loader would made handling that volume of sand far easier.

 

[AveragEd]

Visit your local indoor shooting range and look at their backstop/bullet trap. It might be worth the expense of constructing something like that both in terms of safety and ease of lead recovery.

You could do it without the concrete they likely have at the bottom of the bullet deflector plate. Get some larger corrugated pipe cut in half lengthwise, lay it at the bottom of the deflector plate and fill it half-way with sand. Bullets will be easily reclaimed by screening the sand and it never wears out.

Here's another idea. Excavate a short tunnel into that bank and construct a bullet trap at its end. My father-in-law had a similar 100-yard setup on his farm for testing rifle handload recipes. He didn't reclaim his bullets but wanted something safe to use.

Ed

 

[Vortec MAX]

If there are any cats in your area, you are likely to find more than just bullets when you sift through the sand.

Mike

 

[DWalt]

Unless you plan on shooting a very great deal, I would forget the idea of trying to salvage fired bullets. It's more work than it sounds like. I have mined numerous large military range berms, and I know what I am talking about. There are some technical standards existing for building earth berm backstops, but I seriously doubt you are interested in expending the time and expense which would be required for a small range intended for only occasional personal use. In this case, I believe the simpler the berm the better. Of course, you should remove any rocks, etc., which could cause ricochets.

 

[Groo01]

Groo here
If you are shooting steel, be sure the target angles down to put
the bullets into the dirt.
That gives you a small place to mine.

 

[CATI1835]

Had a similar berm behind my house. Here is what I did.



25 yards, about $2500 for ties.

 

[Rule3]

"Build it and they will come"

More dirt son, more dirt!

 

[webfarmer]

Not sure if this will help you but, I had a dump truck come in with two loads of sand. $300 total. For the first pile, he was able to back up on a small pile of reclaimed dirt from another project. Helped a tiny amount to make it higher. Then I had him put the 2nd pile right behind the first pile. I then shoveled sand from the back pile to increase the height of the front pile. Still a boat load of sand in the back pile for dressing the front pile. Neither moved at all. It would be perfect to be placed in front of that nice rise of yours. 15 feet wide would be 2 piles in the front maybe - 3 or 4 total. Again, my sand hasn't moved anywhere even after a couple years. The deer like climbing it though (why?????). 7 feet tall? Good luck!

 

[novalty]

Not sure if this will help you but, I had a dump truck come in with two loads of sand. $300 total. For the first pile, he was able to back up on a small pile of reclaimed dirt from another project. Helped a tiny amount to make it higher. Then I had him put the 2nd pile right behind the first pile. I then shoveled sand from the back pile to increase the height of the front pile. Still a boat load of sand in the back pile for dressing the front pile. Neither moved at all. It would be perfect to be placed in front of that nice rise of yours. 15 feet wide would be 2 piles in the front maybe - 3 or 4 total. Again, my sand hasn't moved anywhere even after a couple years. The deer like climbing it though (why?????). 7 feet tall? Good luck!

Thanks Webfarmer for the info. Fortunately, my father has a John Deere Skid Steer so I can move the sand around. Your deer problem is another issue I will have, as the berm would be in my father's cow pasture and the cows seem to be fascinated with anything new--which is why I would have to fence it off to keep them from using my steel targets as scratching posts.

 

[fredj338]

I'ld get a skip loader & cut into the hillside so you have a vert bank. No sand really neede, just shoot into the bank. If you want to put sand in, stack some old tires up along the bottom & put a few loads of sand on top.

 

[smokindog]

I'd bet you've already done this but check for all the odd regulations that may apply to your land.

We've got a rather difficult to decode set of requirements in TX. There are rules for municipalities, counties, subdivisions, blah blah blah. Basically it becomes "Bubba's laws", unless of course you want to be the precedent setting case!

Size of property varies as do other things. Municipalities can outright decline, ........

One common theme is ensuring your bullet can't cross your property line, won't cross a road, and certain distance from structures. I know friends who took weeks or months to finally get closure for "government officials".

Here's a sample
Sec. 229.002. REGULATION OF DISCHARGE OF WEAPON. A municipality may not apply a regulation relating to the discharge of firearms or other weapons in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the municipality or in an area annexed by the municipality after September 1, 1981, if the firearm or other weapon is:
(1) a shotgun, air rifle or pistol, BB gun, or bow and arrow discharged:
(A) on a tract of land of 10 acres or more and more than 150 feet from a residence or occupied building located on another property; and
(B) in a manner not reasonably expected to cause a projectile to cross the boundary of the tract; or
(2) a center fire or rim fire rifle or pistol of any caliber discharged:
(A) on a tract of land of 50 acres or more and more than 300 feet from a residence or occupied building located on another property; and
(B) in a manner not reasonably expected to cause a projectile to cross the boundary of the tract.

 

[JJP161]

Had a similar berm behind my house. Here is what I did.



View attachment 233612



25 yards, about $2500 for ties.

That looks really nive