Building Backstop ??

[Rupe]

Planning on putting a new 100 yard range on my property. Wanting to use sheet steel angled to deflect the bullets into the ground. Wanting to know what thickness of steel I should use. Need info from those who know. Thanks.

Chuck - Rupe/PA

 

[agr516]

It is not thickness that you need but hardness. I have a bullet deflector like what you describe that has a 1" thick plate of steel but it is turning out to be too soft. The steel is soft enough that as it accumulates craters, you begin to get splatter holes in your paper target as the bullets are striking the old craters and splashing erratically instead of being directed downward to the ground. I do not care for bullet fragments coming back my direction from any distance. If I were building one, I would seek an AR500 hardened plate that was sized/cut to fit my needs.

 

[Larryh128]

He's right, you need the hard steel. That doesn't mean that soft won't work but if it's something that you're going to use for MANY years, buy once, cry once. My 300WSM puts some pretty good divots on 1" soft swingers at 300.

 

[people]

Just make sure the angle is great enough so the bullets are not diging in point first.

 

[broncman]

I dont use steel. Several of the rubber crossties made from recycled tires stacked and offset 2 wide work for me. Cheaper and easier to replace than the steel. I hve them to keep from eating out the side of my hill. Maybe a combo of those and steel?

 

[tonedaddy]

We built ours from old railroad ties and old tires. Works great.

 

[M-61]

Old tires, stacked with an overlap front to rear,(Hard to explain) filled with sand as you place each bottom one. Then a continuous alternating stack and fill with sand.. I can not imagine what would penetrate this. Front is cheapest particle board and meant only to secure the targets.
It take quite a bit of shooting until you have used up all the spaces on the board so it lasts longer than one might think.
The tires are a lot of work but I think it's about as permanent as you can get. The sand filled tires are about as good a guarantee against ricochets I've seen.

 

[bheadboy]

rail road ties stacked forward 1/2 on 1/2 -braced on the ends by vertical and 45degree forward, rail road ties making a triangle, and backfilled with dirt all held together with 12'" spikes are hard to beat, no ricoche and last a long time, never penetrate one.

hang target board from pins in the top front one, with brace at bottom

Bob

 

[LHSmith]

36" of dry sand will stop a 50 cal. BMG with ZERO chance of ricochet. The sand must be kept dry or the depth must be doubled. .308 requires 24", and .223 requires 16" of dry sand. This data comes from a military range design document DA PAM 385-63. These amounts do not address automatic fire weapons.

 

[M-61]

36" of dry sand will stop a 50 cal. BMG with ZERO chance of ricochet. The sand must be kept dry or the depth must be doubled. .308 requires 24", and .223 requires 16" of dry sand. This data comes from a military range design document DA PAM 385-63. These amounts do not address automatic fire weapons.

YES! I learned the harder way about the dry/wet sand. After a few years the backstop appears to be a sand mound with just a bit of the rubber tires showing. Because of occasional down pours here we learned to drag a tarp over the top of the mound when we were done for the day. The initial construction was the real work....the maintenance after is easy.

 

[LHSmith]

I would say these military numbers on minimum depth of sand have a pretty high safety factor....at our club we built 3 sided bunkers from 6x6's ....with the open front we stacked old tires in a stepped fashion to the rear. The tires and the back of the bunkers (~8' in total depth) were filled with sand. I redid one of the bunkers and I did not find a single bullet that penetrated beyond the back of the tires. This was a 50 yard backstop where both pistols and rifles were used for a period of 3 years of near daily use.

 

[spclark]

Tires aren't really a good idea anymore because of the possibility of aramid (Kevlar) or steel fabric included in their construction.

Not to say they're not still used for building backstops mind you....

 

[LHSmith]

Tires aren't really a good idea anymore because of the possibility of aramid (Kevlar) or steel fabric included in their construction.

Not to say they're not still used for building backstops mind you....

? Isn't the whole purpose of a backstop to stop bullets? IMHO they work perfectly. They retain the sand, are self-sealing, offer some bullet stopping ability themselves.....and they are free.

 

[lrgoodger]

The best thing I have used is the food grade 50 gallon plastic drums. Cut a hole in the top big enough to shovel it full of dirt and it makes a great backstop. The plastic is 'self healing', meaning it parts to let the bullet through and then springs back almost shut. I've been using this one for two years and I shoot a LOT. I put a couple of stakes on either side of it to hang the targets from so I don't get backsplatter messing up the target. Put a few holes in the bottom for water to drain through if you don't want it filling up with water. I think being full of water would make the dirt fly back out the top of the barrel. It does somewhat anyway. I have to put a few shovels back in every couple of months, but the added bonus is all the lead is in the barrel and can be recovered.

 

[Louisiana Shooter]

A large dump truck load of dirt will stop any bullet made. Put your target stand in front of it.

 

[Outrider27]

We've had very good luck with the various methods of construction mentioned above for retaining/containing sand, but using a (cheap) grade of gravel called crusher waste around here instead of sand. It's a small grained gravel and not sifted, so it still has lots of fines. No ricochets and great stopping and retaining ability.