Thing have changed a lot since we plinked cans and shot skunks,coons, & possums in my uncle’s 12 acre pasture 30 years ago. The land next to his was open pasture and woods too. We always shot low, maybe three ft off the ground. 22’s only
Too be extra safe, we’ve thought about buying a couple truck loads of fill dirt and having it dumped in a pile as a backstop. At least 7 ft wide and 6 ft tall. Just one target, and maybe some cans on a log. Behind the backstop is open pasture. No houses.
Anything else we need?
We will occasionally want to sight in our deer rifles. Will a dirt pile 5 ft thick stop a .30-06? Fill dirt is cheap. We can easily dump more into a bigger pile.
Leaving aside any legal or insurance issues, I have a 3’ x 4’ sheet of AR500 armor plate that I use for a backstop. I hit it with everything from 22LR to 308 Nato rounds and it doesn’t even dent it. I also have a clay berm chest high and 25’ long. It will stop rifle rounds assuming they don’t hit too high where it’s thinner.
This pile is similar to what we had in mind. Ricochets might be a problem with the exposed rock. Perhaps one load of top soil (spread over the fill) would cover the rock and prevent Ricochets? We could throw some winter rye seed on it and keep it wee until the grass came out. Protect the dirt from erosion and it would look nice.
