Tires as shooting backstops

[chp5]

It seems like the European IPSC shooters use stacked tire a lot for backstops.

Is it safe to shoot tires? Is bounce-back or ricochet an issue? What about with a .22?

If it's safe, why don't we do that in the States? Thx.

[Hi-Power Jack]

The negative that I heard about, is that

the tires collect water and become a

breeding ground for mosquitoes.

A range I used to shoot at 15 years ago

used them, and they worked very well,

But they've since eliminated

all the tires.

[Front Man]

The negative that I heard about, is that

the tires collect water and become a

breeding ground for mosquitoes.

A range I used to shoot at 15 years ago

used them, and they worked very well,

But they've since eliminated

all the tires.

Snakes love tires too.

At least they don't have West Nile Virus?

FM

[outerlimits]

never shoot into tires...steel belts WILL cause ricochets-it is dangerous.

[lynn jones]

i think they fill the tires with dirt. i still don't like tires anywhere on the range.

lynn

[shooterbenedetto]

I believe they used it at the STI open and it was indoor range.

[BritinUSA]

Some ranges in UK had tires filled with sand to use as walls between the berms, not for the back-stop itself. We were not allowed to shoot into the walls because of the risk of ricochet etc. It was just there to stop a bullet from going from one berm into another.

[JKSNIPER]

Many agencies use stacked tires filled with sand as walls for their shooting houses without ricochet problems.

You can't stack the tire and then fill it with rocks.

Most of these ricochets are probably due to the rocks inside the tires rather than the tire itself.

Tires DO breed mosquitos by the ton so you do need some sort of eradication program and don't allow partially sand filled tires or extra tires to accumulate water.

I've shot a LOT of ammo into tires without a single ricochet problem.

JK

[Ramas]

Yes it is common practice to use tyres in matches here in Europe. No, shoting will not cause ricochets. We use them in indoor matches a lot. You can look here:

[JThompson]

EDIT: Use at your own risk.

Edited September 24, 2008 by JThompson

[AK74]

I shot as a teenager at a range (Lewis range central Florida) that used a mountain of tires as a backstop no dirt just thousands of car tires.

Some one told me it was closed as a fire hazard years ago, don’t know if that is true, but it makes sense.

We use tractor / construction tires at our range but they are covered with dirt.

I believe it is illegal to bury car / truck tires here, it may be a county or state law.

[Carlos]

I used to run a small USPSA match at Shooters Paradise - an indoor range with a Caswell Grantrap backstop (shredded non-steel belted tires).

Someone decided to break range rules and shot tracers into the backstop, resulting in the destruction of the building, the end of the business, the end of our club, and the loss of more than a dozen full and part-time jobs.

Fire is a real risk.

I shot as a teenager at a range (Lewis range central Florida) that used a mountain of tires as a backstop no dirt just thousands of car tires.

Some one told me it was closed as a fire hazard years ago, don’t know if that is true, but it makes sense.

We use tractor / construction tires at our range but they are covered with dirt.

I believe it is illegal to bury car / truck tires here, it may be a county or state law.

[colt]

I shoot at 3 clubs that stack a few tires up behind a target with a few layers of carpet on the tires to catch anything that would comeback. They use this when a bullet will hit on flat ground in stead of the bank. I have never heard of any ricochets yet.

[pjb45]

Our club used to use tires for our poppers to fall upon. We stopped that practice. Too many bullets going everywhichway.

[Front Man]

I shot as a teenager at a range (Lewis range central Florida) that used a mountain of tires as a backstop no dirt just thousands of car tires.

Some one told me it was closed as a fire hazard years ago, don't know if that is true, but it makes sense.

We use tractor / construction tires at our range but they are covered with dirt.

I believe it is illegal to bury car / truck tires here, it may be a county or state law.

You can't bury tires here either, but they don't stay buried anyway.

I won't start my rant here!!!

FM

[G-ManBart]

Our club used to use tires for our poppers to fall upon. We stopped that practice. Too many bullets going everywhichway.

That probably wouldn't have been a problem if the tires were filled with sand....it firms them up. Many LEO shoot houses have tons (literally) of tires in them without problems.

[boz1911]

Our club used to use tires for our poppers to fall upon. We stopped that practice. Too many bullets going everywhichway.

That probably wouldn't have been a problem if the tires were filled with sand....it firms them up. Many LEO shoot houses have tons (literally) of tires in them without problems.

One of our clubs use golf cart tires for poppers to fall on. They have no steel belt and we have seen no problems with richochets......

[kimel]

Problem with buried tires is that buried usually means lots of moisture and thus the steel belts will eventually oxidize (fancy term for "rust") and get hot enough to start the tires burning. In SE Washington about 100 miles from me a decade or so ago some bright in-duh-vidual at DOT figured that shredded tires would make really good road fill. Worked fine for a couple years until the tires caught fire. That section of road burned for a very, very long time (over a year if memory serves) while state DOT tried to decide what to do about it. Eventually it was dug up, fire was put out and replaced with crushed rock which is what should have been done the first time.

As any seasoned protester will tell you, a tire burns very hot for a long time and is difficult to put out.

[Patrick Sweeney]

Our club used to use tires a long time ago. We eventually yanked them all out. Basically, the hill/backstop would erode from above the tires, and fill them with silt. The hardened silt, combined with the aggregation of lead in the times, began to create bouncebacks.

As for the success of police shoot houses built of tires, I can only suppose that they do not do as much shooting as the average IPSC club does, and our club was a lot more active than "average" back then.

[waxman]

When I was in the Marines, I attended a MC security forces school, in VA. All of the ranges were divided by tires stacked, and then filled with gravel. The incredible thing about this, was that all of of tires appeared to be un used. All of them that I looked at still had the little rubber knobby strings that you get with new tires. Talk about fleecing of America

[DJPoLo]

In SE Washington about 100 miles from me a decade or so ago some bright in-duh-vidual at DOT figured that shredded tires would make really good road fill. Worked fine for a couple years until the tires caught fire. That section of road burned for a very, very long time (over a year if memory serves) while state DOT tried to decide what to do about it. Eventually it was dug up, fire was put out and replaced with crushed rock which is what should have been done the first time.

As any seasoned protester will tell you, a tire burns very hot for a long time and is difficult to put out.

I thought that fire was in Springfield:

-Chet

[Patrick Sweeney]

Most of our tires, when we used them, came from the nearby GM test track. They all had a two-inch hole cut in the sidewall with a cup drill. It seems they had been in the habit of simply tossing them into the nearest recycling bin (not because they were PC, but because it was a lot of rubber) but the employees would dig them out and put them on their vehicles.

After a few employees had accidents from mixing tire sizes/wear/tread patterns, they took to punching a hole in the sidewall to make them unusable.

[gmantwo]

I saw a video on a "send in your video" type show a couple years ago. This guy and his friend were shooting .22's at a dump while one of their girlfriends was videoing. One of the rounds hit the sidewall of a semi tire and the bullet bounced back and hit the girl in the forehead, opening a small wound. On her video you can clearly see the bullet heading back at the camera. Filled tires, I think would be a different story though.

[TeamGE]

I witnessed a .45 slug hit a tire stack back stop, bounce off, fly back toward the shooter and hit his shooting bag beside him. It didn't make a hole, but tires are not what I like to see as a back stop.

[TMC]

Tires by themselves will send birdshot back really well.