Finally building a shooting range!

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SamT1

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So I’m in the process of buying a new home. It has some land and a rail road right a way that’s a bit over a mile long. (Railroad is long gone so I just own the stretch where it used to go.) I’m going to build a shooting range on it obviously. Probably just out to 800 yards for now.

It’s outside of town and I only have one closeish neighbor about 1/2 mile down the road. He is an older single man. I know him.

Anyways the rail road runs down the back of the property along a dirt road that’s not well traveled at all. I have a friend with a D6 dozer, I know I at least need to push up a good size back stop at the 800 target and I’m thinking I should stagger the other targets along the edges so I can push up some smaller back stops behind them. I may also push up a small hill to put my shade and Bench on so your shooting slightly down by nature.
I will be fencing the property for cattle once the dust settles. Probably just cake train them so I can call them into a trap when I want to shoot and they can keep the grass mowed otherwise. What are some other ideas for keeping bullets on my property and people out? I thought about signing the fence every so often stating that it’s a shooting range. But I don’t want fence hoppers either or everyone who half way knows me asking to shoot. I could build a Birm around it, but I don’t want it holding water really either. There is a few trees but not enough that seeing cars on any nearby roads would be an issue.
 
I don’t do anything special for our cattle. Have had them and deer wander into the pasture while I was shooting before though. Not like you can’t see them. If I am “spraying” lead with a full auto or otherwise turning money into noise I have other ranges where I can get much closer to the backstop I use instead.

Did they leave the gravel when they took the tracks out?
 
jmorris said:
I don’t do anything special for our cattle. Have had them and deer wander into the pasture while I was shooting before though. Not like you can’t see them. If I am “spraying” lead with a full auto or otherwise turning money into noise I have other ranges where I can get much closer to the backstop I use instead.

Did they leave the gravel when they took the tracks out?
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I hope the gravel is still there. I’d sure like to do the driveway and around my shop. And my dad could use some at his house also. But right now it’s 6’ tall in johnsongrass and marestail so I didn’t even look. If I remember right back when they sold all those right a ways the county went around buying all that gravel for about 1/2 what it was worth. So probably not much left. But wouldn’t take a lot to do what I need to.

I normally don’t worry about cows. But its pretty narrow. 100’ wide.
 
"Warning, This Property is subject to Live Fire exercises, Trespassing is Forbidden"......:cool:

You actually own the RR ROW? I ask because in most places it seems they turn it over the State for a Rails to Trails deal and make them public hiking and biking trails.
 
George P said:
"Warning, This Property is subject to Live Fire exercises, Trespassing is Forbidden"......:cool:

You actually own the RR ROW? I ask because in most places it seems they turn it over the State for a Rails to Trails deal and make them public hiking and biking trails.
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I will own it. They sold them all around here. They offered them to landowners bordering them for a cheap price and then auctioned what wasn’t bought. At the place I’m buying someone bought the whole right away that goes down the back edge of a neighbors property too. It’s worked out for the neighbor because he has his electric fence up about 3/4 the way through it anyway. I guess I should give him a courtesy call before my bull dozer shows up! Kidding there, I’m hoping he may cost share a real fence at the property line of course.
 
A friend has acreage with offset berms at each range of interest. It is a lot wider than 100 feet, though; so yours will have to be small.

A friend of this friend has a 1000 yard range on one acre of land.
That is 3000 feet long by 14 feet wide. He rents it from a large farm, just a narrow strip across a huge field. Of course the landowner is a good friend willing to make the deal for fun.
 
800 yards, I’m jealous!!!! My land is so heavily wooded that I could only carve out a bit over 100 yards. Saves money on optics though.
At that range, I would think a big berm is warranted since flyers could get away from you, and smaller berms on closer targets.

Congrats, and have fun!
 
Being city born and raised I never had the option of buying a piece of land that open. Even though I live on the edge of the Everglades now, that's not really land. And you need to bring along a shotgun for some of those pterodactyl size mosquitoes.....

Congrats and have a blast. So to speak...
 
Is the road that runs along side the right of way a public accessible road? One berm @ 800 yards is not going to do much for handguns or shooting @ a target 100-200 yards away with a ought six. A 180 grainer outta a ought six will drop 40 inches @ 400 yards, so you have ricochet to contend with. No trees and flat ground?

A personal range can be fun to have, but one assumes a lot of risk with one. Every worse case scenario needs to be thought of and a way to either keep that bullet on your property or so that it lands somewhere safe. If it's a railroad bed, odds are there is ballast rock beneath the gravel.
 
buck460XVR said:
Is the road that runs along side the right of way a public accessible road? One berm @ 800 yards is not going to do much for handguns or shooting @ a target 100-200 yards away with a ought six. A 180 grainer outta a ought six will drop 40 inches @ 400 yards, so you have ricochet to contend with. No trees and flat ground?

A personal range can be fun to have, but one assumes a lot of risk with one. Every worse case scenario needs to be thought of and a way to either keep that bullet on your property or so that it lands somewhere safe. If it's a railroad bed, odds are there is ballast rock beneath the gravel.
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The road is public access, but we’re talking 3-4 farmers passing through a day. It’s barely maintained by the county. Best of all is you can see it very well from where I want to shoot so you can simply not shoot if someone is coming.
I have unlimited dozer access and the right a way is kinda high so I’ll most likely stagger targets at different ranges with as big of a birm as I can push up without effecting the next target. I don’t think I can do birms big enough for wild ricocheting bullets though.

I don’t know what to do on the pistol range. I guess I could push up a big birm on the opposite side from the bench for pistols. But then that’s in the way if I decide to expand to a longer range. (I have a little over a mile, but don’t own anything currently to even try that)
 
I normally don’t worry about cows. But its pretty narrow. 100’ wide.
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A grazing animal is very slow moving. One of my ranges uses two separate pastures divided by a creek where we just keep the trees thinned out, a lot less than 100 ft wide window.


EB8DE91E-3565-4843-82ED-C0C459F55427.jpeg
 
SamT1 said:
I know I at least need to push up a good size back stop at the 800 target and I’m thinking I should stagger the other targets along the edges so I can push up some smaller back stops behind them.
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Seems like it would be much easier to build a single berm at 800 yards and move the firing lines back. That's how it's done at every high power range I've ever shot at.

Tim
 
Congratulations on having your own range, nothing like the convenience and freedom to do with it what you want. Had a cow lay down once in front of the target holder and give birth....only time cattle ever "closed" the range down. :) Good gates and signage will keep it private.

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Most of us can only dream of our own private range. You have some time as well as the area to do it right, and it sounds like you have some good ideas. You have some work ahead of you, but I'd like to suggest that you benefit from the experience of others in the process. Here's one resource (too many words, I know, but if you can dig some nuggets out like the berm design and a few other specs...) http://www.cvaltd.com/2004/02/baffles-berms-and-backstops/ Here's another: https://rangeservices.nra.org/sourcebook.aspx In fact, here's a thread from awhile back https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...door-pistol-range-on-private-property.750586/ It may be comforting to be able to say that you followed expert advice in design of the range, and cared enough to follow the applicable standards in such matters.
 
Ok, is the public access road on your side of the Right of Way? Or on top, or on the other side?

There can be issue for shooting over a public roadway (even one with little or no use).

If you are going to run cattle (yours or somebody else's) you will need water. And tank berms can make very good backstops (as long as you are not shooting over the water, as ricochets off water are very unpredictable).

Staggered berms are very much better, especially if you have relatively free dozer time. Build them as "U's" if at all possible. Taller than you expect is also better. If you keep the dirt at or less than 40º (around 10/12) you can keep grass on them, which will keep them from eroding away. (If you go steeper, you'll be able to tell as the dirt will slump to try and hit that ideal slope.)

Build some shade at you firing point(s). Wood for the floor sometimes is a better answer than concrete--sometimes (depends on whether you can get 2000psi mix delivered; hand mixing more than a cubic yard is not a good Texas summer activity).
 
Staggered berms are very much better, especially if you have relatively free dozer time. Build them as "U's" if at all possible. Taller than you expect is also better.
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If you build “U’s” make sure they will drain or you are building a very shallow pond. I also suggest making them wide enough, at the top that you can mow the top and otherwise maintain them. Taller is better but I would sacrifice a few feet in order to maintain and rebuild from erosion.

If you just have tall weeds growing up top it will erode much faster than a thick blanket of short grass.
 
Ideally it should face north so that the sun starts on the right, goes around behind you and sinks on the left. If not, you will have the sun in your eyes at some point, especially in the fall & winter when it is lower in the sky.
 
Mk VII said:
Ideally it should face north so that the sun starts on the right, goes around behind you and sinks on the left. If not, you will have the sun in your eyes at some point, especially in the fall & winter when it is lower in the sky.
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This is an excellent point. My backyard range (out behind the barn) has the target to the north.

It makes a difference.
 
That's often far from reality though. In my search for suitable property to build a range on it has been a challenge simply to find property boundaries that conform to any kind of even shape such as a rectangle. That doesn't account for properties with unsafe conditions behind the intended impact area.

I will be happy no matter which way the range faces, but I agree that it would be nice to not he bothered by the sun.
 
Dang it I hadn’t thought about the sun. It will have to face south and a little west. Town is north and east 2 miles as well as a few houses starting at 1/2 mile away. I don’t want to inconvenience anyone with the noise pollution or actually have to rely on the birm.

The right a way is on the back side of my property, nothing between us. The road runs parallel to it opposite of me.

I need to just have one shooting post so I can build a good shade and maybe even run electricity to it.

I’ll ready up on those birm guidelines. I have time.

Yes the dozer is free. Just put diesel in it (old D6 cat) may even build a pond while it’s here in a swampy spot I found. Wife wants a burn pit too, that would help with my tree business since my dad doesn’t like my pile on his place since it’s harboring bobcats that are eating his quail.

Cows will have to water at the house for now. I will be poking around for a possible irrigation well though at some point. But I’m building a barn first and then the wife has some renovations. I need a fence too, I have a load of pipe I can use for posts and stuff but would prefer to save up for goat wire or whatever. Sheep are big money around here but you have to keep coyotes out. So I’ll probably just run a hot wire for now. All my cows are hot wire trained.
 
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