Posted: 6/13/2025 4:11:17 PM EDT
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I have some acreage, and my property backs up to 1000 acre public swamp. I'm wanting to build a small range area on my property for a little safer uspsa training. I'm thinking a 25ish yard pistol range with a roughly 10' berm in a C shape to catch rounds. I'm out in the country, but not a completely isolated area. I shoot here currently, but I try to be pretty careful of my backstop. All the neighbors around here shoot, and I'm sure I take more care than anyone else in my backstop, but I really don't want a round to leave my property. The catch here, is that my entire property is a gradual slope down hill toward the swamp with my house in the center. I probably want to make the range itself level, and shoot toward the swamp, but then I might need to put a retaining wall toward the house. Its not crazy steep, but theres some errosion concern. But that raises the cost of the project. The area is currently just farm field, so i'm fine with taking maybe .5 acre for it, but I don't think it needs to be all that big. Does anyone have advice? Should I just go rent a bulldozer and start pushing stuff around and see what I end up with? Seems like a quick way to make a mess, but then again, I overthink most things. The other option is finding some mulch or fill and having it brought in and dumped. |
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Take Before pics and then after. Draw a before sketch, then a where you want what sketch. They may help you decide on what, where, and how. |
LARUEMINATI
NRA Endowment Life Member
Originally Posted By Boom_Stick:
""AKs are for villagers you have to tell not to shit in their water supply.""
NRA Endowment Life Member
Originally Posted By Boom_Stick:
""AKs are for villagers you have to tell not to shit in their water supply.""
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It prob doesn’t matter which way you orient it because you’re making your own berms. I mean Any direction should be as safe as any other. Because of that, it may be easier to shoot up hill. Rent the dozer and cut into the hill. Keep a gradual slope for drainage. If you shoot toward the swamp you will have to put some sort of drainage pipe through the berm. |
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Go as tall on the berm as you can, it will settle. Side berms are good to have as well. You don’t have to make it out of dirt, unless that is all you have. You can use sand with a retaining wall type structure underneath if you want (sand is great for stopping bullets). Don’t try to use stuff like tires or railroad ties for the backstop, though they are ok to support sand or dirt backstops. Make sure all your impacts hit the berm, not the ground. Ground strikes can leave your property and go who knows where. Lots of videos and pictures I see, (from people who really should know better), make me cringe because they are shooting targets just sitting on the ground where they can bounce projectiles right off their property. You likely are correct in that you are already more safe than your neighbors, because most people do a subpar job of ensuring their projectiles are safely contained on their property. |
a loaded gun won’t set you free, so you say…
| Make the berm as tall as possible. In the past at my old place after letting others shoot I found ricochets had hit trees behind the berm. As stated above the berm will settle over time. I used RR ties to help hold my berm in place. |
RIP Jeff Reed. Tennessee Squire, Ga. Carry member, NRA,Non-puking 72 ounce drinker 2 of 6 Norcal call sign, Forgotten.