I am looking for ideas on designing a home budget defensive handgun range for a single person.  I have a few acres with a great backstop area.  

What distances would you want targets at?

What type of targets at what ranges?

What are the essentials for a good range for practice for a pistol for carry purposes?

All ideas are welcome.

Have mobile targets and simulated cover, change it up often at varying distances, layout and scenarios. 55 gallon plastic drums are cheap used and plywood as well. Invest your money in steel targets.

A mix of steel and paper targets.  If you're really focusing on DEFENSIVE handgun use, don't worry about shooting more than about 5 meters.  Here is a video with how I train with my Conceal Carry Pistol for very cheap.  This one was filmed at my home range, so you can see what I focus on.




I also have a video showing how to make the steel target stands you see in the video.  You'll find it on my youtube channel.  The steel target stands are another very cheap system, with everything avialable at home dept and they are portable and work on different slopes/rocky ground.  8" AR500 steel plates are pretty cheap online and make excellent training aids.

Ditto on having simulated cover and moving targets (can't help on a cheap, one man, moving target system).

DO shoot beyond 5 meters/yards.

Why?

As most lethal force encounters are within 5 yards, it would appear to be prudent to shoot at the range, or less.
However, your ability as a shooter will suffer. Train to hit targets at a max range of 25 yards (50 yards if you have the room).

If you can consistently and confidently score good hits at 25 to 50, then doing it at seven yards will be a non-issue.

You have to push your envelope and comfort zone.

As an addendum, I would generally not advise a regular 'joe civilian' in a lethal force situation to engage beyond 10 yards. This being due to legal ramifications.

I am sure an instructor more versed than I will chime in shortly.

To keep the range short and get the same effect of pushing yourself  you can go faster and make the target smaller.

And down the rabbit hole we go...... lol

Were I designing my own range and I had a fair amount of space I would design a square thats about 60 yards from berm to berm with a fairly small access cut into the berm.  This allows you to shoot 360 and do much more realistic scenarios.  Remember there is no "down range" in a real situation.  

I like steels but don't only go with IPSC style cuts.  Small plates are good for a combo of speed and accuracy.  

I'd also do what some sister units used to do and mount a cardboard target on a remote control truck to practice hitting moving targets.  But I guess it really depends on what kind of shooting you want/like to do.

The ability to shoot from a vehicle is something to consider.

Whenever possible, I prefer to include vehicle shooting scenarios in my courses and personal training.

The ability to orient the targets or vehicle safely enough to cover all approach angles, especially the blind spots, is important to me.

That would be awesome.  I might have to think about setting up another range at my house and and dumping an old rig on it...

Well I have about 80 acres to shoot on. I have only managed to build a little dirt hill that's about 6 feet tall and 10 feet wide and 5 feet deep. It's not much I know, but it's the best I can do right now. Good news is there isn't anything for miles all around, and especially past the direction I'm shooting. If I had the money I'd build a 20 foot wall of dirt and it would be like 100 yards wide. And it would be three sided. But that's not the easiest thing to accomplish apparently... I would also put out a lot of steel targets so I wouldn't have to bother putting up targets all the time, so much easier, plus you get instant feedback of a hit or miss. But again steel targets gets pricey.  

I'll bet you can afford to shoot steel, and you should because it is a ton of fun.    Here is some info on cheap stands and targets:

How to make cheap, portable steel target stands:





Cheap place to get steel plates from (free shipping):
www.AR500-targets.com

A 100yd wide 20' berm would be waaayyy overkill.  A 3 sided berm 12' or so high  10-15 yards wide with 5 yard sides would be pretty good.  Being able to get 50yds back would be good as well, though for CCW training you'd spend most of the time inside 10 yds.  A mix of targets, steel, paper and plastic 3D ones you can put old clothes on would be good.

Did the OP ever build a range or settle on a plan?

Pics?

Did the original poster ever set anything up?