help setting up a shooting range

so i have the land to set up my own rifle range, max distance i can get is 240 250 meters, i have the idea of setting up building a solid timber shooting bench and having steel plate targets at 50 100 150 200 and 250 on 100 x 100 posts but i'm open to what you have done and any advice etc. i have found shooting 10mm thick steel ok but the bullets tend to rip it up over time as i used to shoot it then just spray it black and re paint a red dot on the black plate seems to work well but maybe 15mm thick would stop this ? any advice would be great or pictures what would you do ?

get biz plates mate however you can.

ok thanks where would i get those ? link ?

You could try either Gillie or Shootm if he has any.Or do you know and heavy Fab guys?

oh right so its just a term for a type of steel ? so its not a company that make em ? i know some engineers might have to ask em

yep biz alloy or something like that but thats the plate you want for gong shooting.

Use tannerite, you'll know when you hit it.

The grade steel you need for your targets is Bisalloy 400.

Depending on what you intend to shoot at it you will need it to be 10mm or more in thickness.

As for your range you have to consider what back stops you have in place and how large is the safety zone is behind and to the sides of the butts?

Is the safety zone your property or a neighbours or several neighbours or a combination of all of these.

Noise will get you lots of complaints from neighbours too, unless they also like to shoot and you invite them over. :)

Shooting down on a slight angle, 10 degrees or so, is a good idea as this may reduce the height of your backstop and size of your safety zone.

Shooting up is not a good idea as this may increase the size of your backstops and size of your safety zone.

Shooting steel will result in ricochets which will need to be taken into consideration.

This link will take you to the New Zealand Police Range Manual which describes the principles for the design and development of shooting ranges in New Zealand.

http://www.police.govt.nz/service/fi...nge-manual.pdf

Here's some ideas to build your bench rests. Make them strong with no movement.

http://benchrest.com/articles/benches.pdf

Good luck

Cheers
Pete

On the ricochet's I've got an experiment in mind, an extra hole or two at the bottom of the plate and pull the bottom back so the plate has a slight angle. I would expect the bullets to be guided a lot better with that to a 'safer' place..

cool thanks for all the advice guys that benches pdf is a big help there p38 cheers!

anyone got pictures of there range set ups ?

got a quote for a sheet of biz 400 the other day, costs the same as a new rifle :)

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Originally Posted by scoped

got a quote for a sheet of biz 400 the other day, costs the same as a new rifle :)

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Fark I think they where trying one you on :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scoped

got a quote for a sheet of biz 400 the other day, costs the same as a new rifle :)

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Hahahaha

Yeah it's not cheap.

Buy the off cuts and weld them together if you want a bigger piece.

What's a good size for a gong?

sent from my G3 using tapatalk 2

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Originally Posted by turner nz

What's a good size for a gong?

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For the ranges you are talking, saucer size should be heaps

6 inch!

find some red bricks man they are free and we hit them with the AK47 you can see them explode:thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by Dundee

find some red bricks man they are free and we hit them with the AK47 you can see them explode:thumbsup:

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They not free round here they bloody expensive.
You would think they would be cheap as what with all of em on the ground down chch
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Quote:

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Originally Posted by P38

The grade steel you need for your targets is Bisalloy 400.

Depending on what you intend to shoot at it you will need it to be 10mm or more in thickness.

As for your range you have to consider what back stops you have in place and how large is the safety zone is behind and to the sides of the butts?

Is the safety zone your property or a neighbours or several neighbours or a combination of all of these.

Noise will get you lots of complaints from neighbours too, unless they also like to shoot and you invite them over. :)

Shooting down on a slight angle, 10 degrees or so, is a good idea as this may reduce the height of your backstop and size of your safety zone.

Shooting up is not a good idea as this may increase the size of your backstops and size of your safety zone.

Shooting steel will result in ricochets which will need to be taken into consideration.

This link will take you to the New Zealand Police Range Manual which describes the principles for the design and development of shooting ranges in New Zealand.

http://www.police.govt.nz/service/fi...nge-manual.pdf

Here's some ideas to build your bench rests. Make them strong with no movement.

http://benchrest.com/articles/benches.pdf

Good luck

Cheers
Pete

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Really good advice this - even if you do not want to get your range certified.

16mm bisalloy is great for most calibers. I would consider 50m a bit close for a centrefire caliber gong. If you do put one at 50m have it angled to deflect bullet fragments in a safe direction - and be prepaired to repair or replace your gong often. As good as steel is i would still allow for paper targets at 100m and 200m.

you guys are legends thanks for all the great info, also the range is in a valley so very safe for ricochets etc, but the putting the plates on slight angle down idea i like :thumbsup:

The NZ Police design manual is a bit lean on design details. I have pdf copy of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police range design manual which has a lot more design stuff in it that may be usefull. Most range design manals are based on this document!

You mention its in a valley, so safe from richochet. Do a longsection and plot your richochet path based on 30 deg off the valley floor from -60 mills from centre of your lowest target and I bet its over the hill!...in which case you need 2800m from your firing line for 308 or 4000m for 338 lap to the extent of your safety area, or your into a contained range with more strict standing range orders and/or a f...king big hill directly behind your targets.

Gongs.... I'd be be looking hard and reducing the potential richoche off the fixings for the gongs. I'd be hanging them off webbing straps and timber frames and not steel frames with chains! and setting them into a buttstop

Work on murphys law...if there is anything hard out there, someone going to hit it sometime and you will get! No problem if you have a full safety template, but very few have that luxury.

Cheers

Grant

I made some gongs from redundant grader blade given to me by the local roading contractor, the bit they bolt on to the bottom.Once its worn too much the replace it and stockpile the old ones. Hard as hell. And often the blades are worn way more on one end than the other, so you can get various sizes off the one blade, and weld em together if you want bigger. Whole lot cheaper than biz!

quarries use bizaloy a lot if theres one handy you might get some off-cuts from friendly engineer

What would you like to know, I would be glad to answer any of your questions.