Home rifle range questions?
 

Well I am going to buy my twins(10 year old identical girls)thier first gun, a 22 bolt action single shot for thier birthday in march. I want to set up a 50 foot range in my back yard for them to learn and practice on using shorts. For a backstop I was going to use a piece of metal to deflect the rounds into the ground. What angle should I put the metal at? What type of metal and what gauge? They will only be shooting 22 shorts.

The Tazman aka Martin Price
Founder and President of
Virginia Disabled Outdoorsmen Club

RE: Home rifle range questions?
 

Taz, Im not sure deflecting the bullet with a piece of metal is the safest way to go. I had tried the same technique with a pellet gun years ago, and sometimes one would get away. Not a big deal with an air gun, but things could get tense with a .22.

RE: Home rifle range questions?
 

Get a cardboard box and lay WET newspaper in it til
its full, tip it on its side and you have a great target.
A 22 wont go thru it, but if you are gonna shoot somnething
with more power just put a stack of firewood or something behind
it. I do this with my .50 cal muzzleloader, very few bullets
go all the way thru but Ive found that if I put a phonebook
or two in there it stops em all. Great way to recover bullets
and see how each one performs also.

RE: Home rifle range questions?
 

sitter I am going to angle the metal to deflect the bullets into the ground.

Indiana Dude those are good ideas, but I am looking for something permanent and also something that will guide the bullets right into the ground, I do like your idea though for checking bullet expansion with my heavier guns though.



The Tazman aka Martin Price
Founder and President of
Virginia Disabled Outdoorsmen Club

RE: Home rifle range questions?
 

Taz that is a good question I'm still alittle concerned about useing metal though, even with the metal angled the bullets are still going to pit the metal. Once the metal is pitted the bullet could hit and go anywhere????(not sure just a thought)... I'm also building an outdoor range I'm going to make a mound of dirt at about 100 yards out then I can set up any type of target I want in front. I have lots of room to do this I'm not sure how much property your working with? The box Idea is a good one you could also use dirt instead of news paper. I hope someone can help more then I have I just get concerned when someone shoots metal targets that close.

RE: Home rifle range questions?
 

well, some indoor ranges use metal to deflect bullets into water below it.. this makes it easy to retrieve bullets. You might call some ranges about what angle, etc. My guess would be that the angle is 45 degrees (I think this is the angle of the BB traps they sell). denting the metal should not be an issue if it is thick enough.. especially since you are only using 22 shorts (after all.. the indoor ranges allow much more powerful rounds).
I can vouch from experience that wet newspapers or phonebooks work well, though. And dirt is a proven military backstop..

RE: Home rifle range questions?
 

Tazman, There are many many indoor ranges that employee plate steel deflection. With a 22 short you can get by with quality 1/8 plate steel but I recommend 1/4 inch which is what I use in my job as a gunsmith. You will never dent 1/4 in with a 22. You can get by with a little less than 45 degree but I recommend to stay at 45. To be the safest use sides on the backstop and you won't have to worry. Good luck Taz.

RE: Home rifle range questions?
 

Greetings Taz! Ever thought about using a dirt berm? I had one where i used to live and it worked great. It was nice and steep and the bullets dont go anywhere. Cheers!

RE: Home rifle range questions?
 

Taz, I was deflecting it into the ground also. Once in a while one would still ricochet out of the area. Not saying you will have the same problem, just wanted to point it out.

RE: Home rifle range questions?
 

Lots of good data and thanks to those concerned with safety, I to am very anal about it and this is one reason I asked before doing, I wanted the words of those who have either done this themselves, or know.

model722 I agree that the earthen birm would be the best if I had the room, but I want to keep this inside of a fenced area to keep children from wondering in the area.

basserman you have given me the data I truely needed, I have shot at indoor ranges and knew they used steel plates to deflect into either dirt or water, I had no idea what thickness and the exact angle that was best, no I know. Thank you.

My plan is to dig a shallow trench at the very back of the backstop to drop the low end of the plate in, then put a 2X4 between the 2 sheds at the proper height to let the top plate sit at a 45 degree angle, then put in another plate on each side for extra protection, the width will be almost 8'. Then below the top of the plate I will nail 2 more 2X4's across the 2 sheds with enough room betwwen then to allow for hanging of targets. Last but not least I will shovel some dirt into the back section of the backstop for a little bit of extra stopping power.

I have a strong feeling I will do with this project what my wife accuses me of doing on all my projects, OVERKILL!!!! Kind of like Tim the Toolman Taylor!



The Tazman aka Martin Price
Founder and President of
Virginia Disabled Outdoorsmen Club

RE: Home rifle range questions?
 

Tazman, WOW! I believe overkill may be an understatement for one that big. But let me tell you, you'll surely have a nice (and safe) set up.LOL

RE: Home rifle range questions?
 

Taz...let me know how this works out, I may be interested in doing the same. When you get around to it shoot me an email... [email protected] Thanks and good luck!

RE: Home rifle range questions?
 

I just built a backstop last weekend and used railroad ties stacked 8 high with logs stood up behind them. It will only be used for a .22 which would never make it through the railroad ties, much less the logs behind them. My set up is in the woods behind my house so looks wasn't important.

RE: Home rifle range questions?
 

Sheesh.,... or if you'd prefer not having to MAKE one...

http://www.snailtraps.com/new/snailtraps.htm

They have models that will stop a 50BMG round.


Clark

Houston, TX

RE: Home rifle range questions?
 

Taz, You can buy a good quality bullet trap at most good sporting goods stores with the metal backing you mention. If these do not fill your needs, the NRA used to offer plans for home ranges from their member service center. You don't mention what you have behind your proposed range site, do you have miles and miles of miles and miles or what? I plan to improve my own home range one day utilizing a technique I saw in N.Y. at the Police range where we used to qualify every six months for the C.G. They had a natural embankment to shoot into but enhanced it by stacking old tires in layers, each layer was filled with sand before the next layer was added until it reached a height sufficient to insure no over shoots. This may be a bit of overkill for the backyard but it works fine. The tires and sand combination resist ricochets even after the range has been used for years.

Coastie
"Count the day lost whose low, descending sun
is not, in part, obscured by powder from my gun,"
(Anon)

RE: Home rifle range questions?
 

Man, more good ideas, seeing as we will strictly be shooting 22 shorts, I can not see spending a ton of money, those snailtraps that JC-1 mentioned a pretty cool, but to much money for what I am looking for.

Coastie, there is a stockade fence directly behind where I am going to build it, 200 feet of woods and then a 40 acre field, I would not call it a hill, but the land is rising behind it and we will be shooting at a downward angle from about 10 foot above where the target will be, the distance from shooting position and target /trap will be 50 ft.

We will strictly shoot 22 shorts and the field is never used and is in full view from where we will be shooting from.

The Tazman aka Martin Price
Founder and President of
Virginia Disabled Outdoorsmen Club

RE: Home rifle range questions?
 

Taz its just a idle thought but do you have any close neighbors and if so what do they think about it . The reason I asked is I have seen people build close to shooting ranges then sue because of the noise .The sad part of it is they win too. You might be okay but it couldn't hurt to check the zoning also.

RE: Home rifle range questions?
 

I live in the county so I am okay as far as the zoning goes, I have no neighbors unless you count across the street, on one side of my house is common property which is a large retaining pond and the other side is a 40 piece of property that is all field, behind my house is a small round top road. We will be shooting from the retaining pond side towards the field side. I have a 6 foot stackade fence enclosing the entire backyard/shooting area, behind the backstop is woods, then field all of which is sloping upwards, we will be shooting from the highside of the yard down into the backstop.

The Tazman aka Martin Price
Founder and President of
Virginia Disabled Outdoorsmen Club

RE: Home rifle range questions?
 

i made one for pellet rifles...not the little baby ones...we shot some 20 and 22 cal pellets at it going about 700fps(about the same as a short i think they get 800 im not sure) and we captured all the pellets or they went down and bounced out not going far at all and not fast at all..we found an old dryer or washer or something like that back in the woods and ripped 2 sided off and used one as the backstop and the other we put on the ground and filled with dirt and sand from a creek to capture more of the pellets..and drilled some holes across the top of the trap and tied up some pop cans and had a blast and didnt have to worry about any houses or anthing(pretty urban area but on 27acres of land some woods and fields but houses all around it and i wanted to be safer..the angle didnt seem to matter much id say a good spot to start would be about 45 degress or so...i think thats about where we had ours...anything thicker than a dryer or washer side panel should work fine...good luck!

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