Homemade Backstop

[C-Bone]

Our family has a ranch in East TX that we do our shooting at. We have a safe area by a lake house where a shooting range was built. We're talking basic stuff, just some railroad ties stacked and kept inline by fence posts. In the back ground is a pond, then a dam, then acres of woods. Anyways, it's beginning to age and the cross ties are getting shot up so it's time to replace some. Does anyone have any ideas / recommendations for improving this set up? Maybe a better material? I can't think of anything cheaper and more effective than railroad ties.

[Houseboat]

Railroad ties work well and are cheap..I also made my garden with them..

[m9fan]

New railroad ties and dirt..., lots & lots of dirt. And when can I come shootin' with ya'?

[gsh341]

Depending on what caliber weapons you're going to shoot at it you may need much more than railroad ties.

Dirt is a MUCH better material for a backstop.

[C-Bone]

Originally Posted by gsh341

Depending on what caliber weapons you're going to shoot at it you may need much more than railroad ties.

Dirt is a MUCH better material for a backstop.

Good idea on the dirt. Our family (and extended family) shoot anything from hand guns to rifles. I wonder how much dirt is required to make an good backstop? 5 feet deep?

[Kev_n_Az]

if I recall correctly, here in AZ where Mc Donald Douglas used to make the chain guns (28mm, 30mm, and 32mm) for the Humvee and other military vehicles, they would test fire in their bunker. the back stop was 3 or 4 courses (maybe more) of railroad ties, and about 30 ft of dirt behind that.

now it has been 10 years since I have been in the test bunkers, so it is a bit fuzzy.


as its been said, a LOT of dirt !

[C-Bone]

Originally Posted by Kev_n_Az

about 30 ft of dirt behind that.

That's a lot of dirt! There is only about 5 feet of land behind the backstop before you get to the water.

[sourpatch45]

dirt is good but keep in mind that this dirt will be highly contaminated with lead after years of shooting. so with it being right by your pond i would do what you can to prevent leeching of the lead into your pond.

railroad ties will help to contain some of the lead and if you put a couple layers of plastic under the pile of dirt that will also slow down the lead problem.

it wont be cheaper but creating a metal catch to use for your pistol shooting and 22lr that you could catch the bullets in would be good. it doesnt take alot to stop a 45acp. well this will limit the lead getting into your pond and it will also allow you to salvage the lead. and you can either sell it or mold it into new bullets if you re-load.
i try to retreave as many of my bullets and i melt them into slabs and save them . ill either mold them into bullets some day (i dont mold my own bullets as of right now) or sell it to either a person or a metal scrap yard

[atmiller]

Unless you're shooting chainguns, you won't need that much.

If you are shooting chainguns, can I play?

[gsh341]

Originally Posted by C-Bone

Good idea on the dirt. Our family (and extended family) shoot anything from hand guns to rifles. I wonder how much dirt is required to make an good backstop? 5 feet deep?

If you have 5 feet of dirt fronted by railroad ties, anything that might possibly (not damn likely, but you never can tell) penetrate should be so spent it wouldn't penetrate anything else.

Just make sure, in the interest of safety, nothing is behind the dirt. I might even make a wall with dirt sandwiched between ties in front and back. That would give you a full 5' top to bottom.