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Mobile Target Backstop

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  • gdr_11

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    I am planning on building a mobile target backstop so I can pull it behind my garden tractor and position it at different distances depending upon what I am shooting and in order to line it up with the shade of the live oak that I will be shooting from. I also will need to move it around when I cut the back 40. I really don't want to create a dirt backstop so I have been trying to come up with an idea that will give me about a 6' X 6' backstop that is pretty easy to put together and cheap.

    So far, this is my idea:
    - buy a barely useable 4'X8' to 4'x12' utility trailer with low sides
    - build a 6'x6'x4' frame using 4"X4" posts with 2"X4" cross members
    - stack the inside of the frame with firewood
    - put a sheet of 5/8" plywood on each side to hold the targets

    The thought is that 4' thick of oak firewood will pretty much stop anything and, other than a few wood splinters that the mower will chop up, it should make for a fairly clean backstop.

    I figure this is a cheap way to provide a suitable backstop for my pistol shooting at 10yds and 25 yds as well as my .22lr shooting at longer ranges and the occasional rezeroing for my 6.5 Creedmoor at 200 yds. The land is pretty open behind me and it is a good 1 1/2 - 2 miles before there is anything since there have not been cattle grazing back there for the past two years. Besides, if I can't keep it in a 6' square I need to hang it up.

    Am I crazy or does this make any kind of redneck sense?
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    Gilbertc13

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    Sounds good to me, but I think you should have some sort of metal inside the wall of the trailer. Not sure the cost or logistics but some sort of hard metals similar to AR500 that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg


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    jrbfishn

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    As long as you are shooting fairly square to the target, I would think a steel trap would work better. A wood frame with 1/4-3/8 steel at about a 30° angle should work with a sand box at the bottom. At 200 yards it should work for the 6.5 as well. AR500 would be best but steel plate should work too.

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    Bob=o

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    I would think a frame like you mentioned and make a two-three foot cavity and fill with dirt and use 3/4 " plywood on both sides.
     

    jrbfishn

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    A guy on another forum I go on just made that design for a high power pellet gun. Works great.

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    Glenn B

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    The firearms instructor in me want to say that a 6x6' wall is too small for a decent backstop regardless of your shooting prowess. Something around 2 to 2.5 times the width and about 1.5 times the height would be a lot safer. I note you said cattle no longer graze in the area that will be behind the backstop but you never know when someone may be back there for whatever reason. Safety is key, all that needs to go around or over the backstop is the one shot at the one moment it can kill the one person back there to ruin lots of folks lives including your own. Imagine, if you will, you are shooting a semi-auto from standing and you crank off an unexpected second shot before leveling on the target after the recoil. How high up is your firearm already, how much further up due to the surprise shot, how much of an angle would take a shot over a 6 foot high wall from either of those heights, how high is the guy's head in the tractor at any given distance behind your backstop. Would the trajectory required to take the shot just a tad over that wall put the bullet in line with his head, or any part of him, at a distance? Build it bigger - just a suggestion with safety in mind.

    As for material, don't know how practical this would be so just a thought: old stacked railroad ties may do the trick, drilled to be reinforced with rebar or thick dowel rods, and a wall of dirt piled up on the backside of it but mind you I am not an engineer nor even a good do it your self kind of guy.
     

    busykngt

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    The slope design of the top and sides not only deflect the bullet (& spaulding) in a safe direction, it also effectively increases the metal thickness at the point of impact. (Same effect that slopped armor has on a tank).

    P.S. - Your idea of oak wood will lead to a pretty heavy trailer load. Also, the plywood backing will get eaten up in fairly short order - if you shoot a fair amount, you’ll get a couple of years of use before it has to be replaced. I’d also not plan to use the oak wood backstop for anything else since it will contain embedded lead. (Just some thoughts from my experience, shooting on my own land).
     
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    Dermako

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    May 16, 2019
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    We built a wood version of this first to prove it out and then kinda went overboard on building a portable stand that would pivot so the front wood change would be easy.
    But in the process found out a few things.

    In the shop wood chips fly everywhere and make a mess.
    Sand flys and falls below stand and makes a mess.

    We came across a piece of conveyor belting and screwed it to to the wood front and that eliminated the wood and sand flying all over the place.
    Found a local belting suppler and was able to buy "drops" and put 2 layers of belting in front of the wood.
    Then found out the second layer of belting stops or catches most 22 rounds.

    To address gdr_11, a wheeled cart with something framed then a couple of layers of conveyor belting will stop most of your 22 rounds and the ones that get through won't have much left on them.
    The 6.5 will start to expand on impact and loose a lot of velocity upon exiting the belting and wood.
     

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