Building A Shooting Range

[Buckarooman17]

We’re wanting to build a shooting range. We have the room to go out to probably a mile. My question is on targets and setup. We will probably start at 300 yards and go every 100 yards out to 1000. My 6.5 prc just about blows through mild steel at 400 yards. Would mild steel be okay at longer ranges and something like ar500 steel out to 500-600. I was planning on hanging them on t posts or something similar. Let me know your thoughts and recommendations.

 

[ShortMagFan]

Buy once cry once. I’d go AR500 the whole way. Overkill for your 6.5 but invariably someone will show up at some point with a 338 Lapua or something and you’ll be annoyed for the rest of time when your far targets have permanent holes in them

 

[Tobe_B]

Bench shooting or field practice? I’d buy ar500 for every thing. Start with what you can get and start adding pieces as funds allow. If bench shooting I’d set it in 100yard increments. If field practice is the priority scatter that stuff out in odd spots.

 

[il_cop]

Ar500 and only, as stated. Look at dragon targets you can get them on Amazon, look for the ones with square holes for carriage bolts. Also on Amazon are t-post hangers. Buy some t-posts and a pounder. Buy some quick links, carriage bolts, nuts, and large washers that fit. Go to your local firehouse and buy (or get for free) a retired firehouse. Cut the hose to length, punch or drill holes on both ends for the carriage bolts and quick links.

Enjoy.

 

[waspocrew]

Agreed - go with AR500 for everything. You could do t post hangers for smaller, but if you’re mounting larger plates, may need to mount with chains, fire hose, etc.

 

[Terrapin]

A couple of opinions:

We’ve been hanging a two MOA target and a one MOA target on one tee-post at each yardage. Seems to work very well & keeps it interesting.

There is some very good pricing at Dragon Targets right now… cheaper than we can buy the AR500 sheets (and we have a CNC plasma table). I think I bought 8” targets for $9.99 with free shipping.

I wouldn’t bother with mild steel at any distance. Even if it does penetrate, it’ll leave divots which always give me concern.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[waspocrew]

I’ll second (or third) Dragon Targets. Good value. JC steel is good too, but a little more spendy.

 

[Chris in TN]

I literally just walked back in from shooting a bunch of .22lr at a gong I made by welding up a big heavy disc blade - but otherwise, hard no. Make everything from AR500, nothing less. My disc blade target is designed to always rest at an angle so that every bullet deflects down, and is never hit with anything bigger than .22lr. Ever. I've honestly considered removing that target altogether as the kids get older just so they are never tempted to shoot it with anything bigger than .22lr (I've taught them not to, but I was a kid once...).

You're gonna spend a ton of money constructing a range. You have to buy land and have equipment building berms, clearing openings, and so on. Saving a few dollars per target or a few hundred dollars total, by risking mild steel targets, isn't worth it at all. The fear is having a round leave a divot then having some other round hitting that divot later and creating a reverse-angle richochet. I did it once - with a .45acp - and the bullet came back and hit the porch about 3' above my head and maybe halfway between where my dad and I were standing (maybe 4' apart). Didn't hurt anything but it put an end to me shooting mild steel.

 

[dubllung4]

Life size (or close to) with reactive kill zones. Easy to move with SxS

 

[GT GUY]

We’re wanting to build a shooting range. We have the room to go out to probably a mile. My question is on targets and setup. We will probably start at 300 yards and go every 100 yards out to 1000. My 6.5 prc just about blows through mild steel at 400 yards. Would mild steel be okay at longer ranges and something like ar500 steel out to 500-600. I was planning on hanging them on t posts or something similar. Let me know your thoughts and recommendations.

it all depends on what calibers you will allow to shoot....

 

[Ucsdryder]

Get the biggest targets you can too! Especially at long range.

 

[Dogone]

Put a 4x4 sheet of ar500 up at 500 and 1000 yds. It will really make it faster to sight in. The few mild steel we had were shot to shit in a year.

 

[Weldor]

Look around and see if any fab shops have some drops from previous jobs. We have a small fab shop and he usually has some odd shaped drops, but the price is right.

 

[MCS]

Old oxygen tanks work good at longer ranges. Just cut them in half and put on t-posts.

 

[wind gypsy]

Agree with everyone else on AR500. If cost is a concern, use fewer targets and supplement as funds allow. Build a solid zero board at 100 yards that is dead nuts 100 yards (with a chain or tape if possible) from marked locations.

Edit to add: Dead nuts 100 yd zero board is important for me to test tracking on scopes. Being a couple yards off wont matter for getting a solid zero.

 

[bnewt3]

Agree with Gypsy: 100%, no doubt, verified, on the dot 100yd zero lane/s

Some public ranges ive been to have like 2 or 3" PVC driven vertically into and flush with the ground, target stands are simple 1x3 frames and the legs drop into the pipe. very convenient for targets always being at the correct(or at the very least repeatable) distance, no sandbags to hold target stands in high winds, have them placed at 25, 50, 100yds so you can quickly move targets.