Posted: 6/6/2017 7:05:03 AM EDT
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The local excavator gave me a quote for $6k to build a range on my farm. Berm will be 15-20' tall with sloping side walls. Overall width will be about 30 yards. He's going to strip off the topsoil and put it back over the berm so I can grow grass.
Thoughts? Mine originally were that the price seems fair for the work. |
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Just rent a bulldozer and do it yourself, very easy stuff to do. If your a farmer you can run any piece of equipment. 2 day job. I'm actually wanting to do this at my house this summer. I'm on a ridge with houses off to the 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock positions downrange (through several hundred yards of dense, mature woods). I only shoot .22 and pistols at targets near the ground a couple times a year as of now. I want that to change. |
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That is 6x more than mine cost and the guy had to pull about 100 stumps too.
Excavator and dozer for a day at $90hr 120yds long with 30'x60' "box" near the backstop for pistol/tactical steel setup.  I blame ARFCOM!!! During; 
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The local excavator gave me a quote for $6k to build a range on my farm. Berm will be 15-20' tall with sloping side walls. Overall width will be about 30 yards. He's going to strip off the topsoil and put it back over the berm so I can grow grass. Thoughts? Mine originally were that the price seems fair for the work. I've had two done at a hunting club and a bud had one done at his farm last year. Thoughts: 15-20' tall is uneccesary. 10-12' would be adequate. Depending on terrain and surroundings you may want partial side walls to contain ricochets and significant bullet chunks. Helps contain sound too. Make it wider if you can. Make sure the ground in front of the berm is sloped to drain so it doesn't collect rain water and get muddy. Have the excavator hydro seed the grass. Make sure that one of your targets is an eight or ten paddle dueling tree! |
| i hate to cut in roads like that. They turn into a muddy mess when it rains holding all the water. You have to wait till it dries to drive your golf cart down to the target. |
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i hate to cut in roads like that. They turn into a muddy mess when it rains holding all the water. You have to wait till it dries to drive your golf cart down to the target. |
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Just rent a bulldozer and do it yourself, very easy stuff to do. If your a farmer you can run any piece of equipment. 2 day job. Z |
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That is a huge backstop that requires lots of dirt that has to come from someplace. I do have a small kubota tractor with backhoe but I can't imagine moving all of it with a subcompact tractor. |
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For stuff like that I've always thought that laying grass or rocks and small stones would help prevent that Quoted:
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i hate to cut in roads like that. They turn into a muddy mess when it rains holding all the water. You have to wait till it dries to drive your golf cart down to the target. 
As deep as you want to dig, SAND! Not one inch of my 34 acres holds water more more than a minute, 'cept my three waterholes made from an old caustic tank. I have a 125' high ridges that bisects the property into two valleys, 2" down pure bright yellow sand. That's why Spruce and Pine love the place. My well had to go to 130' to strike water. Indicator of how deep the sand is. I've adapted to it. http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_10_23/666913_Transforming-a-Scotch-Pine-jungle-.html Also I had the dozer guy angle the whole range 1° to drain out the long road. |
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The local excavator gave me a quote for $6k to build a range on my farm. Berm will be 15-20' tall with sloping side walls. Overall width will be about 30 yards. He's going to strip off the topsoil and put it back over the berm so I can grow grass. Thoughts? Mine originally were that the price seems fair for the work. There is a big difference between 15 feet and 20 feet. Get the exact height you want nailed down before you let him start. |
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Anyone who tells you high berms are excessive is an wrong. Higher berms are a safety factor. 5 feet at 100 yards is less than 1 degree. You can't estimate 1 degree over that distance, or any other distance. What is more important is knowing where every bullet strikes, and how to insure that every shot impacts the backstop. That might require practice, and maybe smart decisions about working out the actual sight come ups, not relying on a 25m zero or the unverified output of a ballistics program; all that is for getting the gun on paper, followed by refinement to get the bullet where it needs to go. In this case, maybe a 20 foot tall backstop is a good idea, the kids can use it for sledding, or better, add a little ski jump near the bottom. 
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In this case, maybe a 20 foot tall backstop is a good idea, the kids can use it for sledding, or better, add a little ski jump near the bottom. |
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I've had two done at a hunting club and a bud had one done at his farm last year. Thoughts: 15-20' tall is uneccesary. 10-12' would be adequate. Depending on terrain and surroundings you may want partial side walls to contain ricochets and significant bullet chunks. Helps contain sound too. Make it wider if you can. Make sure the ground in front of the berm is sloped to drain so it doesn't collect rain water and get muddy. Have the excavator hydro seed the grass. Make sure that one of your targets is an eight or ten paddle dueling tree! |
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I can't imagine paying someone that much to move dirt for me. We used a tractor. If you don't have one I'd recommend renting one. If I was the OP, I would strongly suggest looking into renting a track loader and doing it yourself. A one week rental for a bulldozer (similar to a track loader but not exactly the same) is $1600/week around here (north AL). Even with a neophyte at the controls, learning for the first time, I bet you could get a lot of work done in a week. Question is: I have no idea if they rent dozers and/or track loaders to dozer/TL virgins that have never operated one before. 
Track loader pic: |
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Same here. I've built two ranges at my property with my L4330 tractor and it's 1/2 yd3 bucket, but they are very small compared to what the OP wants to do. If I was the OP, I would strongly suggest looking into renting a track loader and doing it yourself. A one week rental for a bulldozer (similar to a track loader but not exactly the same) is $1600/week around here (north AL). Even with a neophyte at the controls, learning for the first time, I bet you could get a lot of work done in a week. Question is: I have no idea if they rent dozers and/or track loaders to dozer/TL virgins that have never operated one before.
Track loader pic: https://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.UrvH_8SwujyXdKzjkKuJbgEgDY&pid=15.1 Quoted:
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I can't imagine paying someone that much to move dirt for me. We used a tractor. If you don't have one I'd recommend renting one. If I was the OP, I would strongly suggest looking into renting a track loader and doing it yourself. A one week rental for a bulldozer (similar to a track loader but not exactly the same) is $1600/week around here (north AL). Even with a neophyte at the controls, learning for the first time, I bet you could get a lot of work done in a week. Question is: I have no idea if they rent dozers and/or track loaders to dozer/TL virgins that have never operated one before.
Track loader pic: https://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.UrvH_8SwujyXdKzjkKuJbgEgDY&pid=15.1 |
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Last rental dad got a D6. Technically yes, you rent by the week, but the fine print states in that week you get 40 hrs usage. Any overage you get an extra charge. Not all places may do that. Just something to look out for. I'm having a dozer guy come in the first week of July to do some land clearing and put in a small trail on the back 20 of my property. Depending on how much he gets done, I plan to rent a small dozer and finish it myself. Assuming, of course, I don't see something he does that makes me believe that it's not a good idea. |