Shooting deck

[The Bushmaster]

Hummm...I just noticed a problem with that shooting deck. I'm not standing on it...

 

[CoRoMo]

I might have missed it... what's the material that you used on the bench top? Looks poly.

Good shootin' spot. Mine's still in the works even though I got started over a year ago: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=783398

Maybe someday, but too many other projects first.

Ain't that the truth! I've got a lifetime's worth of projects and none of them will really ever get 100% finished. My range is 146 yards from the bench to the dam that I shoot into. One day, some day, it'll be somewhat done.

 

[Walkalong]

Yours is going to be very very nice.

The material was left over from the Outpatient Lobby project here at work. Some kind of high tech plastic/poly/whatever. Very expensive.

I am a scrounger so I saved that piece and a couple of small ones as well. I cut the to corners out to make the top. It's an inch plus thick and very sturdy. No flex.

 

[Hangingrock]

The problem I have/had shooting on my property is I'm adjacent to a recreation area with a trail system. Lost souls they on occasion would wonder out in to the firing lane. Its problematic so I ceased using rifles and rearranged the firing lane width clearances, improved the back stop substantially and limited it for handgun usage only 25Yds and under.

 

[Walkalong]

There is always the possibility of some intrepid soul wandering where they shouldn't be, but I am shooting into a very wide hill/incline that rises 30 plus feet over the impact area, so assuming a bullet gets past the clay mound I behind the target (Needs some more clay) and then gets past all the trees moving up the hill without going into the ground, and unless it ricochets down again, it will be moving upwards where it would pass over a person on the other side. Miles of nothing but miles of trees behind it. It would be like having a 75 yard wide, 30 foot tall berm, with trees on it.

So unless you are dressed in camo, while taking a nap behind the steel plate, you're pretty safe.

 

[Walkalong]

I cut out some undergrowth and some small trees to open it up around the shooting deck and make it easier to get in and out. Two trailer loads worth.

I cut a Shagbark Hickory across the ditch between the deck and the steel that leaned over in the way a little bit. You can see it laying across left to right just over the ditch.

 

[WestKentucky]

Walkalong, you have a really nice spot there. I also suggest something better than "residential" grade waterproofing sealer. I have had good luck using Cabot. There are lots of folks who swear you can use a bug sprayer to apply the stuff, but I just don't see how they do it. The sealer is too thick if you get good stuff. My recommendation is to use wood filler on any large knots or gouges in the wood, then to roll the waterproofer over it once it's cured (use a roller with a decent thickness of knap tho or it slides and looks like crap. Those books and crannies can be protected easily enough, but water will still pool and freeze into it cracking the boards as it expands. Make sure you put it on thick, then reapply every 2 years. The stuff ain't cheap, but it looks good and does a good job on the protection side.

 

[Walkalong]

The choices for wood protection are mind boggling. We had a ton of rain yesterday.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Now you need to chainsaw out a firing lane out to 300 yards or so, and keep it clear with a yearly application of brush killer.

 

[Dudedog]

Sweet setup, beautiful spot.

 

[Walkalong]

Now you need to chainsaw out a firing lane out to 300 yards or so,

Oh I wish I had a spot where I could stretch it out. Problem is terrain and the ability to get dirt where I would need a regular back stop. Here I have the huge hill to stop bullets, but 100 yards is all I can get. I have a spot where I could have a bench, and get it to 300 yards while shooting away from civilization, but would have a very hard time building a backstop where it would be needed.

 

[bannockburn]

Walkalong

Thanks for the update; you're still livin' the dream!

 

[mstreddy]

Walkalong, outstanding deck. Beautiful piece of land you have there.

Oh, the dreams...
I'm in South East Fla, and it will be a very long time before I can have anything like that somewhere.

Congrats on the project. I wish I was near enough to be your neighbor.

 

[JimKirk]

Walkalong .... not sure how I have missed this thread, but you sure have a nice set up there! Projects like this seem to take for ever to get them "just" like a fellow would want!

It sure is nice having a range out the back door, I have a 100 yd one here in my yard. Sure make it easy to step out forty yards to the range.

Where I live is "flat" land ... so I had to haul a big pile of dirt to make a mound ... but no roads or homes are within three miles and nothing but pine trees in between

I do want to hang some metal targets to shoot at ... I have a swinging one that I built way back, but it is about "shot" !

I ride my JD Gator to check targets .... most of the miles on it has been put on in that manner .... haul all my ammo, targets, bags and guns in it ....

I have two home made skeet(clay) throwers set up there also ... can shoot several positions from them with out worry ....

 

[Walkalong]

I generally use a the little green 80cc four wheeler to go from the deck to the target area. It's probably 400+ yards to get there going around the start of the natural drain I am shooting over. It leaves the property and ends up in a nearby lake, like so many around here do.

 

[Jim Watson]

A friend and I were talking about shooting in her pasture, but she was intimidated by the cost of having dirt hauled and a berm built.
I am now looking at the Acreage Bullet Catch which would suffice for pistol practice.

 

[Reloadron]

Alabama huh? That sure did come out nice Walkalong. Alabama brings to mind the famous Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. Unfortunately I don't play golf. Now we will have the famous Walkalong Shooting Trail, Someday if I ever do a tour of famous shooting trails I will have to include the Walkalong Shooting Trail in beautiful Alabama.

Ron

 

[Walkalong]

the Walkalong Shooting Trail

I have enough up and down terrain to make a walking trail where various shots could be taken safely. I may do that one day. Hang steel here and there along some of the trails I have made.

 

[Walkalong]

I cleaned up a little more and added a couple of steel targets. One stand is stationary at 45/50ish yards, with a removable top piece so the target size and shape can be changed. One folds down to paint/change the target. it is set at 50 feet from the front edge of the deck. The two trees to the left of the middle steel target will come out eventually. A tall pine and a scrawny oak leaning to the left.

 

[bannockburn]

Nice upgrades on the range. The folding target holder is quite ingenious given the terrain you have to work with.

 

[Reloadron]

Really nice, that has come along so well. Nice job!

Ron

 

[Biker]

Sweet. I'm jealous.

Biker

 

[CatManDo]

I don't know if you all are familiar with Hickok45 and his range, but yours looks similar to me. Very nice Walkalong.

 

[Walkalong]

He has a LOT more targets.

 

[Walkalong]

Fall and Winter with the leaves down is beautiful.