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How to build a berm?


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I am going to build a shooting burm, have pleanty of land but all flat. Have thought of stacking hay but not sure if it would work. Have also thought of plastic 55 gal. drums filled with something ,but what? Also not sure about size. Had in mind about 60ft. by 100 ft. u shaped Any ideas? Thanks

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We just added to our home range. An approx. 75 ft long berm (in the shape of a L) , 12 ft high took 11 dump truck loads of dirt. Our original estimate was 5-6 loads. I was amazed with how fast the dirt was used up.

Just something to keep in mind while making your plans.

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you could get broken cement as the center, then pile dirt over the top of it too.....

One of the local ranges has a side berm that started off as a pile of rocks and broken concrete covered with dirt. Over the years the dirt has washed away in places to where it is no longer safe to use as a backstop. It still has a nice covering of grasses and weeds, but apparently there are some thin spots.

I wish I had more details but basically a berm of rock and concrete may not be the best material.

Bill

Edited by Flatland Shooter
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If you have flat land just push up the berm from the outside. Rent a dozer and feather it out and you will eventually not be able to tell you ever dug anything up. DO NOT push from the inside because this will create a low pit and will hold water. You might want to run a little drainage tubing under the berm in places just to play it safe and dry. Then instead of gravel see if you can find a paving job going on and ask for the asphalt grindings. Around here they give that stuff away.

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you could get broken cement as the center, then pile dirt over the top of it too.....

One of the local ranges has a side berm that started off as a pile of rocks and broken concrete covered with dirt. Over the years the dirt has washed away in places to where it is no longer safe to use as a backstop. It still has a nice covering of grasses and weeds, but apparently there are some thin spots.

I wish I had more details but basically a berm of rock and concrete may not be the best material.

Bill

i would just have to note that it would be prudent to have some "maintenance" done, and all would be well :)

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How about a 20' tall wall of 3/8" thick AR 500 plate!?!?! :D All kidding aside, having been able to be in involved with a couple of ranges that started out new over the years, plan on making them half again taller than you are thinking about right now. As suggested above, they are going to settle. If you have ever been to USSA, they did it right. FWIW.

Adios,

TG

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Dirt work is math on square yard price a yard of material is a 3 foot cube , if you want that dirt 6 feet high you need to plan on at least 12 feet wide at the bottom = six yards of dirt for each 3 feet of berm distance . = that is a very small berm. a normal cost to work with is $5.00 per yard of in place dirt 90 feet of complete berm (small size) = 30 yards x $30 = $900 three sides $2,700 But that is a short berm to make it 9 feet tall the cost is double.

Equipment rental is cheaper by the month and Bigger is better on equipment. delivery and insurance will cost almost as much as the rental

equipment that is made for digging = is very pour at moving dirt. a rubber tire loader that moves dirt good is not so good at Digging the dirt up.

find a hill to dig into

Digging the inside works good -IF- you can make it drain at one end. land that looks level normally is not so you would need to check it with a level/transit or sight level.

Plan ,plan plan drive some stakes and fags for the center of the berm and thin make the 6 feet in the base will come . = you will find that 30 yards x30 yards x 30 yards gets real small real fast

= if you rent equipment you are still required to lubricate or grease every day

If you can tow it with on a trailer with a pick up = the equipment is too small

a small tractor is a wast of time .

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A bobcat is gonig to be a little small, definately not optimal. I had a berm done with a hi-lift & if it were much bigger a track-hoe would have been necessary. I wouldn't say it couldnt be done though, people used to dig ponds with small tractors and those little pull behind scoops.

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I used my skid steer and had a bud bring his over and we clocked about 10 hrs. a piece for a pretty nice three sided pistol pit. When i decided to add another larger bay I called a friend with 953 Caterpillar more work done in way less time 50 yd's deep 25 yd's wide cleared land and built berms on three sides in 7 hrs. Bigger is better when it comes to moveing dirt.

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It's all in what you can afford. If its a decent sized bobcat then you'll have an easier time going higher (better if you can get a bulldozer or front end loader). If you can have fill brought in and dumped relatively close to where you want, then moving fill around is a lot easier. My dad and I made just a single bank with our skidsteer and it didn't take too long. We leveled the top off and planted some trees and grass. It's held up quite well over the years. Remember maintenance is key if you shoot a lot.

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Bigger is better, and faster, but bigger also needs more "elbow room."

Do not, repeat DO NOT think of using something as core-fill, besides more dirt. Rocks, concrete, tires, etc. will only lead to future headaches.

Taller is better, but plan ahead, tall means wide at the base. If you plan to shoot at it regularly, 20" is good (as in: the back wall). Sidewalls of at least 12" are necessary for safety.

Plant it with grass and brush ASAP. Better yet, get it hydroseeded. Otherwise, the first hard rain will wash out your hard work or spent cash.

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Our home range has rubble filled main berms - we face the lower 6 to 8 foot impact zone with sand/dirt, which gets replaced regularly (every 3-4 years, I think). Side walls, that can't be shot into, are railroad ties dropped between I beams driven into the ground. We have fairly significant drainage issues.

I've shot at ranges where the side walls are stacked concrete blocks - big suckers about 3x3x5 feet, lifted by crane using imbedded cable loops.

Got NO idea how those compare, cost per foot, to the same height of dirt berm.

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My land is flat...ended up digging a pit with a backhoe and used the resulting dirt to make a U-shaped berm with the front end loader end of the rent-a-tractor.

The pit is a good place to bury bodies, too <_<

Alex

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  • 3 weeks later...

We've used hay bales for some stages. The problem is that, unlike a berm where the dirt/sand "heal" the impact area by falling into and sealing the bullet track, the straw just gets shot to pieces, and the bullet absorbing effect of that part of the bale is gone permanently after not too many rounds (the exact # depends on how close the bullet impacts are to each other). They also won't hold their shape once shot up - you try moving one after being shot through and all you you end up with in your hands is the baling twine, the rest loose at your feet.

Our bays are surfaced with gravel. Rotting straw on top of gravel makes for a messy surface with lousy footing which also hides brass.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Standard commercial range construction typically requires a 20' rear berm and 10' lateral berms. Anything over a 20' soil berm you increase the possibility of deflection due to loosing the vertical face of the berm. This is definately and expensive undertaking if you don't have the equipment or material. The U shape will provide increased options for stage setups but will require more material if used in addition to lateral berms.

Edited by mcb389
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if you can get some flax straw bales, 4 feet thick will stop most rounds up to 3006. i did a bit of experiment and at 12 feet they stopped all 38 supper, 45, 223 and 2 out of 3 rounds of 3006. we used 8 foot thick bales to separate the bays at the 2008 Canadian Nationals with no problems. the only problem is that the bales do deteriorate over time. i think if you covered them with dirt they would last indefinitely.

as for a dirt berm you can do as Sandman suggests and feather dirt in or you can dig yourself a trout pound on the back side of the berm.

depending on how close the nearest neighbour is will dictate the size of your berm anyone with in a mile i would go with 20 feet.

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I am going to build a shooting burm, have pleanty of land but all flat. Have thought of stacking hay but not sure if it would work. Have also thought of plastic 55 gal. drums filled with something ,but what? Also not sure about size. Had in mind about 60ft. by 100 ft. u shaped Any ideas? Thanks

You have plenty of land, so dirt is readily available. Rent a scraper

complete with operator. A scraper (the road construction variety) can

build a berm in short order.

Glen

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Lots and lots of fill dirt. Mine took me a full day to build. Its still not done. Plan on doing a little more every year. I used my backhoe. I can get the backstop about 12 feet high. Seeding grass as soon as possible is very important unless you don't get any rain.

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Use jute fabric to wrap the berm when done, then seed. Look for a blend of seed such as the type used for mine reclamation. We just redid the berms at our range to about 23' tall. The fabric worked great and the seed came in very well even in sand. I'll se what I can find for seed and re-post

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if you use dirt, compaction is the key, like was said earlier, the first hard rain will wash it all away, back in '95 the reno range 'expanded' their range forthe '95 nats and hastily built some berms, andthey had a rainstorm that hit a few days prior and I was told it was washed flat.....they did manage to getthe berms back up beforethe start ofthe nats...but lessons learned

to minimize the berm footprint, one range here has concrete blocks that are 3 feet by 2 by 2 feet??? andthen layered with dirt, it also helps that there is a local heavy equipment school close by that loves to practice, all we do is pay for fuel....our new additions to the range are all dirt and TALL....i heard the class tore down and rebuiltthose berms several dozen times....

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