How tall should a berm be?

[Irving]

If I were to make a berm to shoot at, about how tall should it be? I've been to the range in Dumont, and those seem like they are about 8-9 ft tall. I think that would be just fine for most shooters, then just keep an eye on the new shooters.

I was thinking about just using some old tires filled with dirt like a rammed earth home. Anyone have an idea of anything that'd be even easier/cheaper?

[DeusExMachina]

If I were to make a berm to shoot at, about how tall should it be? I've been to the range in Dumont, and those seem like they are about 8-9 ft tall. I think that would be just fine for most shooters, then just keep an eye on the new shooters.

I was thinking about just using some old tires filled with dirt like a rammed earth home. Anyone have an idea of anything that'd be even easier/cheaper?

The last range I belonged to just had a pile of dirt about 10 feet tall. Every couple months they'd push it back up with a Bobcat.

[Irving]

Yeah, that's just like how it is at the Dumont range. I just figure I could go to that tire graveyard in Weld county and get some tires for free, then I'd need less dirt. Except, now that I think about it, I'd need some dirt to fill the tires....

Oh well, I have access to a back hoe, so if I ever needed to make this happen, I suppose I could.

[rondog]

10 feet. And bullets can bounce off of tires. Rock-free dirt should be just fine, but you may need more than just a back-hoe, a good sized front-end loader would probably be better.

This is the new 100-yard range #11 at Ben Lomond Gun Club. Bare dirt is excellent for finding your brass!

[Irving]

Hmmm, so no good on bare tires then? I was thinking of using the tires as a base and pouring dirt on top, figuring that it would help keep the shape.

The more I think about it though, it just seems that if you are going to use dirt, there is no point in hiding stuff in the dirt. Thanks for the help.

What is the likely hood of bullets bouncing off of tires though? Compared to say....ricocheting off of dirt?


EDIT: Foxtrot, kind of like when you vibrate a bucket full of rocks all the big rocks move to the top? Would filling the tires with dirt change that?
Also, I can't even wrap my mind around that!

[GreenScoutII]

Sturtle.

I have a berm at my house. Please, for the love of GOD, don't use tires.. I tried the same thing you are describing and had a .45 come flying back at my head. Missed me, but I swear I peed just a little.. You will not get riccochets from dirt unless it has rocks in it or it gets packed down too much. Build your berm as high as possible. It cannot be too high or too wide. Good luck!

[Irving]

Thanks for the real world examples guys! I just have that land I mentioned, and I'm thinking I'd be more likely to convince my family that it is safe to shoot on if I built a berm some where on it.

[GreenScoutII]

It took me a while to get a BobCat down to my place to build a berm. Truthfully, prepare to bring a large front end loader out to get it much higher than 7-8 feet. BobCat just isn't big enough...

What you can do as a temporary measure is get several medium size cardboard boxes, roughly 24x18x18 give or take, fill them with dirt and stack em up. Use T-posts to reinforce the stack from behind. Once you get it about 5 feet high and how ever wide, it works great for rimfires and handguns. Don't blast it with .44 mags, but it will stop 9mm, .45 ACP, .38 spl and the like.

Could be a quick way to get shooting on your land untill you get some earth moving equipment out there.

[DocMedic]

Just build a downhill berm like this one.



and by "swiming pull" i mean Swimming Pool !

[Irving]

Foxtrot, I see what you mean, but I was talking about tires in the middle of a dirt pile, so it'd probably be more like the dirt would just wash off first.

DocMedic, Funny you should post that picture, because that is actually the current situation on the land right now, it's just not really ideally located.