here's the deal.  i'm getting an rra soon, and i want to have a place to shoot for free.  i have some land that my family owns that i shoot twenty-twos, shotguns, small stuff.  now i want to get a set up for fairly cheap.  there aren't any houses in danger, but i don't like the idea of sending rounds volleying wildly through the air, just in case.  i know that they have those spinner targets for the .223 in high strength steel for 50-80 bucks-that's all well and good, but what if i miss-i never miss but it is a possibility.  one possibility i thought of is welding some thick ass sheet metal at angles, but i'm not entirely sure on how bullets ricochete (sp?), so word on that would be good too.  can a bullet bounce directly back at you?  i thought the lead would just crumple up and expand out-tell me if i'm wrong though.  i thought about railroad ties, but i can't have them piled up there all the time because tractors drive through there when they are farming (yes i have sense not to shoot when they are farming) and those things are heavy as hell so i don't want to drag them back and forth.  so does anyone have any ideas on a semi portable backstop.  i'm halfway crafty with power tools and i can weld too if you have ideas for framework, etc.  any ideas would be welcome.  thank you for reading my babble.

                                        jake

oh come on!  it's not THAT dumb of a question is it?  i know i suck-just humor me.  come on.....

Build a dirt berm behind where you want to put the target. It will "absorb" the bullets. Dirt is pretty cheap.

Can a ricochet off of steel come back directly at you?  Heck yes.  My brother (and his emergency room bil) will attest to the fact that fragments can be dangerous.  Admittedly, the jacket fragment that cut his chin came from a pistol round, and the range was under 25 yards, but caution is still advised if you are shooting at steel  Now I will admit that if I was shooting at 75 yards or more, I wouldn't think twice about ricochets from a personal safety perspective.. but other things closer to your proposed steel backstop may not be so lucky.  

A berm is the way to go.  

yeah i know-i would believe me.  my dad works at a sand and gravel pit-it'd be delivered for free(12 pack of beer)...however, i have to be able to move it for the farm equipment.  basically my grandpa's whiny and is all worried about it he doesn't even drive there anyway.  it's just less grass he has to mow.  anyway-will a bullet bounce back at you off of metal?  i thought it would simple crumple up-it's not steel merely lead, cuz i can weld some thick ass sheet metal together.  anyway i feel like a moron asking this question, but i'd love to get any info i can get on this matter.  

jake

Quoted: Can a ricochet off of steel come back directly at you?  Heck yes.  My brother (and his emergency room bil) will attest to the fact that fragments can be dangerous.  Admittedly, the jacket fragment that cut his chin came from a pistol round, and the range was under 25 yards, but caution is still advised if you are shooting at steel  Now I will admit that if I was shooting at 75 yards or more, I wouldn't think twice about ricochets from a personal safety perspective.. but other things closer to your proposed steel backstop may not be so lucky.   A berm is the way to go.

sorry, i was typing the same time you were.  well that's out.  any other ideas?

I believe the way most indoor ranges are setup is with angled steel that angles to a point, and then down into a sand pit to catch the bullet.  The angles obsorb the energy and the sand finishes the job off and catches the bullet and jackets.   Build something like that and you should be good, but the dirt burm is the cheapest way to go.

o.k., i know that a .223/5.56 will BLOW through a piece of 1/2" or 3/4" plywood or drywall.  but would one or both of those slow the bullet down, or damage it to the point of where it won't travel as far?  i have over a mile and a half to play with here and some pretty hard angles to the left and right of where there are houses-like 100 to 120 degree angles.  i can't go with the berm-believe me it would already be done.  i'm not really playin' with fire here.  my dad is all about safety to a capital "T", and he isn't worried about it at all.  i just want to be sure....


      jake
         

Dirt or sand are your best bet, unless you want to invest in some sort of profesional setup.  Dirt berm wil stop anything (almost).

The indoor range here has no ammo restrictions (caliber or type).  at the end (100 yrds) is a huge pile of dirt.