nurkvinny Posted January 9, 2016 Report Share Posted January 9, 2016 (edited) 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 January 9, 2016 by nurkvinny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussiek2000 Posted January 9, 2016 Report Share Posted January 9, 2016 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyM3rC Posted January 10, 2016 Report Share Posted January 10, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unfunnyryan Posted January 10, 2016 Report Share Posted January 10, 2016 Post pics? I imagine any hillside is a good enough backstop if its tall enough. Is there anything beyond your backstop? Officer was probably just giving you a hard time because he didn't know what to charge you with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky31186 Posted January 10, 2016 Report Share Posted January 10, 2016 When I build mine I will be using railroad ties, tires, and a mound of dirt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hwilli1647545487 Posted January 10, 2016 Report Share Posted January 10, 2016 When I build mine I will be using railroad ties, tires, and a mound of dirt. Be careful with tires. 1. EPA bullshit 2. Tire fires are very hard to put out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky31186 Posted January 10, 2016 Report Share Posted January 10, 2016 Be careful with tires. 1. EPA bullshit 2. Tire fires are very hard to put out. They would be behind the RR ties, covered in a dirt mound. Friend of mine has his set up that way and sheriff said it was great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TurboRust Posted January 10, 2016 Report Share Posted January 10, 2016 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" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojoe Posted January 13, 2016 Report Share Posted January 13, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spidey2721 Posted January 13, 2016 Report Share Posted January 13, 2016 eh? maybe helpful. http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/destinations/shooting_ranges/outdoor_shooting_best_practices.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjjxlr8 Posted January 16, 2016 Report Share Posted January 16, 2016 eh? maybe helpful. http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/destinations/shooting_ranges/outdoor_shooting_best_practices.pdf 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!): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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