Home Made Walls with or without Ports

[theycallmeingot]

I notice now, there are a lot of posts on modular walls. Me and my brother just made 6 walls over the weekend for our personal range, and I'm really happy with how they turned out. Here are some pictures.

We wanted walls that didn't have to be anchored to the ground. We also wanted each wall to be useable by itself if need be. We also wanted them to able to be cornered or butted up in series without huge feet sticking out to trip on. Here is a close up of the foot design we came up with. We made 2 feet for each wall, so if need be, each wall could be used by itself at the same time.

Here are a couple after we cut resealable ports into them.

they weren't cheap to build. We had to buy everything. lumber, snow fencing, screws, and nails. we also bought the lumber already in 2x2s. cost turned out to be about $20 per wall. I greatly preferred this method over splitting 2x4s. i'm not a carpenter by any stretch of the imagination. This allowed us to just cut all the lumber into "kits", and assemble them. not a lot of time had to be spent on the saw.

What do you think?

[EEH]

you can use 3/4" PVC pipe and tie straps to fasten the fence to it,set it on a piece of re bar driven into the ground,,

[Graham Smith]

What do you think?

I think that those are pretty darn cleaver - particularly the base plates. They look like good practice walls.

You could also use the non-ported ones in a match as barriers if they were kept away from the shooters.

[theycallmeingot]

you can use 3/4" PVC pipe and tie straps to fasten the fence to it,set it on a piece of re bar driven into the ground,,

it was paramount that our design need not be anchored to the ground at all. the dry hard ground we have at our ranges makes it near impossible. Plus, they had to be very easily mobile. These stages stay up for a total of maybe 10 minutes sometimes. enough time for 2 or 3 people to run through them. we didn't want to be driving stakes all day.

[SteelShooten]

If you design the frames to connect one edge to the other, so they can hinge, you won't need as many bases. The panels can become mutually supporting when set at an angle *and* you won't be locked in to doing only 90° angles.

[EEH]

you can use 3/4" PVC pipe and tie straps to fasten the fence to it,set it on a piece of re bar driven into the ground,,

it was paramount that our design need not be anchored to the ground at all. the dry hard ground we have at our ranges makes it near impossible. Plus, they had to be very easily mobile. These stages stay up for a total of maybe 10 minutes sometimes. enough time for 2 or 3 people to run through them. we didn't want to be driving stakes all day.

that does make a difference,,not a problem at our range all sand,,I like the ports,how did you do it..

[theycallmeingot]

Use duct tape to make a square on both sides of the mesh. the duct tape will stick to itself. then cut 3 sides out of the duct tape. let it flop while you use the ports. then tape them back up when you're not using them.

[eddiegunks]

excellent! thanks for the images. great idea for the ports. i am off to the lumber store on monday.

[Scratchthejeepguy]

Nice looking walls! How are the 2X2's holding up so far? I'm planning on building some walls and was going to go with 2X4's but would rather go with a less expensive option if they'll work. Did you paint them? Do you get alot of rain?

[theycallmeingot]

I keep the walls outside under a tarp elevated off the ground. we've been in a drought but lately have gotten a few hard rains. they are holding up well so far. the duct tape didnt stay on the ports though. getting hot over and over made it come off. that's only downside so far.

[Lifeislarge]

I keep the walls outside under a tarp elevated off the ground. we've been in a drought but lately have gotten a few hard rains. they are holding up well so far. the duct tape didnt stay on the ports though. getting hot over and over made it come off. that's only downside so far.

If you have any of the snow fence left over, you can cut some pieces an inch or two larger (total size) than your ports, then hot glue some velcro tape around the opening of the port (or even pieces on the corners) and on the removable sections. Hot glue (or epoxy) will stick great to the plastic snow fence and nylon velcro tape. Inexpensive and lasts a lot longer than regular tape.

[RAZZ]

What kind of snow fence is that--or, where did you get it from?

Thanks

[JWeber]

When you fasten the snow screening to the 2X2 posts what are you using for fasteners.

[VIPERONE]

I like your Snow Fence Fabric also. The kind we are using, which is for Construction Site barriers has about a 2" X 2" hole with around 3/8 Webbing. Much more open than what you are using. We ended up doubling our fabric up to get a little more solid looking wall.

We are blessed with a Master Welder at our disposal. We used 1" X 1" X 14 gage steel tubing for the frames. We ran the vertical legs of the walls 2 inches above the upper horizontal member. This allowed us to lock the top of the walls together with Couplings.

The Bases are 3" X 3/8" Flat Steel cut into 24" Lengths. We cut 6 Inch sections of 1-1/4" X 1-1/4" X 14 gage tubing for the Base vertical members. We made the bases in two configurations Standard which has 2 vertical sockets. They can be used for a wall end, to join 2 walls end to end, or make a 90 degree corner. The other base design is the TEE. It has 3 vertical sockets. This base will do all the things the Standard will do PLUS allowing a wall to be Tee'd off a straight run.

Couplings are in the same configuration as the base vertical sockets, only made from 1" sections of the 1-1/4" X 1-1/4" X 14 gage tubing. You just drop the Standard Couplings over straight walls or 90 degree wall connections. The TEE Couplings are used to lock up the top of Tee Wall construction.

We made our walls in both 4 foot long as well as 8 foot long versions.

We attached the Orange Construction Barrier Fabric using Zip Ties to the 8 foot walls.

On the 4 foot walls we used solid Orange Polyethelene sheeting attached with stitching screws.

We have been using walls constructed from 2X4 lumber and plywood. Way too heavy to be handy, and rot down after a few years. We are expecting much more life out of the steel tubing.

The next round will probably be new interior walls for the Shoot House. The plan is to have around 6 Inches of wall post exposed on the top above the horizontal top members. This will give us enough room for the Locking Couplings as well as a brace for the exterior walls. It will be nice to have the Shoot House walls a lot more modular, and easy to reconfigure.

Our see through walls would be better with the fabric used on the walls above.

Bob

Edited April 9, 2013 by VIPERONE