Well I am building a backstop to do some shooting. Most if not all shooting will be done within 100 yards. Calibers will be mostly pistol, 5.56 and .308.

I am going to be building this out of old rail road ties.(10ft x 9in x7in)  So far what i am thinking is stacking 10 ties up so it will be 70in tall and 9in deep and 10 feet wide, then another wall just like that spaced apart 9in by standing one tie on end. I am going to hold all this together with 2x6's bolted to the ends of the ties and the one standing vertical on each side. I will then fill the 9in gap with sand and brace it all with 2x4's so it doesnt fall over..

So what I will end up with is 9in wood, 9in sand, 9in wood.
Oh yeah the front and back wall of ties will be stagered so the seams dont match up..

Do you guys think this will work well with the above calibers?
What about .50bmg if I feel like it?
Thanks, any suggestions would be appreciated as I want to do this only once.

would be interested in seeing some informed opinions...  How much you pay for the railroad ties?

EPOCH

That is the expensive way...it should stop all rounds for a while but continued firing will eat the facing ties.

It would be better to make it out of two rows of stacked tires, offset to stagger the vertical seams.  Fill with 1/2" crushed rock.

It is easier to get rid of old tires than old ties.  Ties are considered hazardous waste...

I have one that is exactly as you describe except for one or two slight differences.  Mine is three stacks of 6' ties making it 18' wide, and I used eye hooks in between the layers with wire pulling the front and back layer together.  I did the wire and eye hooks to avoid having some big bolts at vulnerable locations.  I do have some 4x4's vertically on the back side to make sure it doesn't fall over backwards (it was built on some dirt that settled a bit toward the rear).

Works great.  Don't know about 50 bmg, but I've shot everything up to 300 Win Mag and it does just fine.  It will eventually tear up the front of the berm, but it will take it a long time before that happens.

I got lucky that a friend had a bunch of old interstate guard rail posts (same thing as a railroad tie, but only 6' in length).  He got them for free, so he let us go pick out the better ones to build a berm.

I think they want $12.00 each for the ties..
I am splitting it with a buddy so the $ insnt too bad..
Any more suggestions or conversation is great..
Thanks

Just a thought.  

Wouldn't it make sence to pile up dirt and/or sand in front of the back stop to slow down the bullets and keep the front first line of ties in better shape?  To set up a paper target you can put 2 10" PVC pipes in the ground to slip a 2x2 frame in them with a cardboard / plywood face onto which you can staple targets in front of the back stop.

Some type of soft terra firma in front of the back stop seem like it would make the back stop last longer  The least expensive stop I think would be a pile of dirt and/or sand.

Interesting post, I think a lot of us would like to build a back stop so we could shoot more often than packing up and going to the range.

Quoted: Just a thought.   Wouldn't it make sence to pile up dirt and/or sand in front of the back stop to slow down the bullets and keep the front first line of ties in better shape?  To set up a paper target you can put 2 10" PVC pipes in the ground to slip a 2x2 frame in them with a cardboard / plywood face onto which you can staple targets in front of the back stop. Some type of soft terra firma in front of the back stop seem like it would make the back stop last longer  The least expensive stop I think would be a pile of dirt and/or sand. Interesting post, I think a lot of us would like to build a back stop so we could shoot more often than packing up and going to the range.

There is one major problem with just piling up dirt. That is what I was going to do first, 2 rows of ties then dump a bunch of dirt behind it.

If my calculations are correct it will only take 2.7 yards of dirt or sand to fill the 9in hole as opposed to a whole shit ton to make a 10ft by 10ft pile when you take into account it sliding all over the place..

That last post got me thinking..
What would be better to put inbetween the ties?
Sand
Dirt (clean)
Dirt (from the woods with small rocks and all)
Gravel
Somthing else

Thanks
Anyone got pics of their backstop they want to share?

Here is something very cheap and easy.
Find a few good stumps aprox.  20" wide x 18" tall and set them on there side.
When the target get shot up pretty bad turn it over or screw a pice of 1/2" plywood to the target face.
We have these set up at 100yards to 800yards and work they perfect.

Possibly angle the ties so the top is slightly closer than the bottom?

I know it's not 1/4" steel plate, but it may provide slightly longer life than a vertical surface...