Jump to content

what rules for a safe backstop?


nurkvinny

Recommended Posts

Today, I was shooting in my back yard and some neighbor called the county saying I was shooting unsafely. Sheriff shows up, I notify (first ever, yay), we chat for a while. He says my backstop isn't good enough.

 

It's 2 large steel plates at the back of a hole I used a rented small backhoe to dig into a hillside.

 

I asked him exactly how tall, wide, deep, yadda yadda it needed to be. No real answer. He called the "head of Licking County firearms instructor", who also couldn't recite the requirements. So, I want to be safe, and make any future sheriff visits uneventful. How tall, wide, deep, etc is good enough?

 

BTW, all he wanted to do was talk guns so much he tried to buy one of the guns I had on the shooting table, ;)

Edited by nurkvinny
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Today, I was shooting in my back yard and some neighbor called the county saying I was shooting unsafely. Sheriff shows up, I notify (first ever, yay), we chat for a while. He says my backstop isn't good enough.

 

It's 2 large steel plates at the back of a hole I used a rented small backhoe to dig into a hillside.

 

I asked him exactly how tall, wide, deep, yadda yadda it needed to be. No real answer. He called the "head of Licking County firearms instructor", who also couldn't recite the requirements. So, I want to be safe, and make any future sheriff visits uneventful. How tall, wide, deep, etc is good enough?

 

BTW, all he wanted to do was talk guns so much he tried to buy one of the guns I had on the shooting table, ;)

 

The neighbor should make a good enough back stop

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've had the police called on me so many times I can't remember them all. Never a ticket or anything beyond annoying, but if someone complains, they have to show up or something. As long as your rounds don't go off your property and cause damage to something you're fine.

 

If it's any consolation none of the LE I've talked to have given me any hard numbers or requirements for a backstop.

 

tl;dr if it stops what you're shooting at it then it's good enough.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rocky,

Howard and I have been discussing tires for his. How did your friend do them> cut them down in pieces? shred somehow? whole and fill dirt around them? I obviously have access to endless amounts of scrap tires, but there are EPA concerns with the transit of and storing "whole tires"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I looked all over, can't find my manuals with military references for building a berm. I will keep looking. It breaks it down basically by intended weapons to shoot, all the way up to MK19(40mm grenade launcher). Going to look on line and see if I can link a PDF.

 

I have the Sheriff was called out here a year and a half ago, be for my berm. They said my set up was better than what they shoot at. I doubt that, but glad not to have any issues. I brought in 50 truck loads of "fuck you, I'm safe". It has settled with the weather, but is 10' high and 12' think. Would like to side the hillside you are shooting into.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Great reference!

 

 

There was a serious issue last year at one of my local ranges. There was a guy shooting a 9mm pistol at a portable target stand which was positioned about 10-15yds. out. A bullet went through the target, glanced off of the ground, cleared the mound at the 100 yd. distance, traveled almost 900 yds. before penetrating one pane of a dual pane window of a lone house behind the range. Needless to say the owner of the house wasn't too happy when he showed up at the range. At first, no one believed that a 9mm bullet from the range could have traveled that far but after some investigation, they determined that the bullet did, in fact, come from the one person who was shooting a 9mm pistol at the time. He ended up paying for the $3500 custom window but it could have been much worse. The window that was damaged was a children's play room.

 

The range now has increased the height of the backstops considerably and there are no portable targets allowed, now. Every target has to be placed directly in front of the backstop.

 

Have you guys ever shot tracers? It's a real eye opener when you can see how often bullets ricochet away from even properly constructed backstops.

 

Here's some entertaining tracer videos, (some a little less responsible than others!):

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...