Building an outdoor range?

[AWKIII]

I recently purchased a home out in the country and want to build a range for my personal use. I don't really have an idea of what the best and cheapest way to go about it would be. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I would really like to see some pictures of some of yall's ranges. Thanks in advance for any help.

Andy

 

[DCortez]

Does the lead have to be removed at some point?

 

[Texas1911]

Box out an area in concrete blocks and fill with dirt. Loose dirt is cheap and really does a good job at stopping bullets.

 

[AWKIII]

I'm not worried about ever having to remove the lead, so that won't be an issue. I don't really want to use concrete block beacause it would probably take a couple hundred of them. I am wanting something about eight feet tall, ten feet wide and at least five feet deep. The concrete blocks would work really well, but they are going to be cost prohibitive. I don't want to sound like a tightwad, but i am trying to do this on the cheap.
Thanks again, Andy

 

[XDMAR]

Get a litle tractor and dig a small stock pond, use the dirt to make the back stop.

 

[popo22]

I can only tell you how we built our "shoot house" when I was working on our dept.'s SWAT team, when we basically had $0.00 budget. We were able to locate some used "railroad ties" which were stored and piled for destruction and got the railroads permission to take them. We then constructed walls much like a "log cabin" which were 2 layers of "railroad ties" thick with about 6" of space between. We filled the 6" space with gravel (although dirt might work). The walls were held upright by poles (used as spacers for the dirt) burried several feet in the ground with the ties bolted to them.

We limited our shooting normally to handguns but we did shoot .308 and .223 numerous times and it never penetrated to my knowledge. If you know someone with the railroad that would be a big plus in finding some, otherwise you'd just have to keep your eyes open for when they are repairing tracks and ask for them. If you are willing to haul them away its a win win for both parties. Good Luck

 

[DCortez]

How far from water do you have to be to have a shooting berm? At what point does the lead become a concern?

 

[Texas Solo]

Rent, barrow, beg or steal a Bobcat. Simply drive back and forth in a straight line piling up the dirt at the end. What more do ya need?

 

[baboon]

What's the lay of your land? How close is your nearest neighbor? What all do you plan on shooting? The private ranges I've been on vary considering the above.

I've seen car tires layed flat then filled with dirt & pounded into them, stacked like bricks & stabilized with rebar pounded thru where they overlap have been pretty impressive. Very labor intense, but cheap as the were removed for free from another property.

 

[Gpz1100]

i have timber company land behind my backstop, 10' from property line, which is several loads of sand. target stand is only 4' tall and 3' wide and placed 6' in front of the pile. nearest neighbor is 1/4 mile in the other direction. bought one of those cheap carports for $600 and put it 100 yards away. dumped wood chips in it for a base. i'm shooting low, and down a slight incline.
i tried to find rr ties but couldn't. the tire idea sound good. may start putting up a wall of tires behind my piles.