I am needing to build a backstop to shoot into. We shoot on private property with woods and a hill on the down range end with a bunch of tree stumps pushed up by a dozer as the point of aim. No problem so far since we dont shoot centerfire rifles very much, mostly to sight in for hunting season. I shoot rimfires a lot into a backstop I built of 2x6 lumber laid flat makeing it 5 1/2" thick and add another layer to it as needed, it's now 8" thick.
I was thinking about building what would basicly be a box with no bottom useing treated 2x6 lumber about 4'x4'x3' with the 3' being the thickness. I feel that this would be enough to stop the rounds, the largest would be a 300 Win. Mag or a .270 WSM.
Any ideas about this or some new ideas would be appreciated. I've considered a piece of steel but can't seem to come up with any within my budget.

The NRA has range plans. It's best to contact them.

Our rifle club is now in a residential neighorhood with a house right along side of the clubs outdoor range on one side. That property goes all the way back to the mountain we share.

So when my late dad was president they made a burm which is a large pile of earth that runs the entire length of the 200 yd range. Since then more burms have been bulldozed up to stop bullets that go straight down range.

Some of these burms have hay piled on them and we buried some old telephone poles in them to stablize the somewhat sandy soil.

Look up the NRA on the net www.nra.org

keppler---

Go to the local Catapillar dealer and ask who or where they rebuild large front-end loader buckets.

The "lip" of the M-988/992/994 buckets are 1 1/2 to 3" manganese steel that workhardens with use. Prop the steel plate at a 45 degree angle with the top towards the bench. Loose dirt or sand beneath catches all fragments......no sporting bullet does anything but leave a smear.

If you decide to build a berm, consider old tires full of dirt instead of lumber....cheaper, don't rot, and semi-self sealing.

There is no way that I would want to shoot at steel downrange unless all the facets or angles were designed to deflect the bullets such as in a bullet trap.

Don't use tires unless you have EPA approval. We can't here.

Contact the NRA. They are the experts.

I use piles of dirt that was left over from a school building project. I just had the dump truck driver dump out about 10 yards in each of 3 piles 100 yards apart. Makes a pile a little under waist high and I can add to it as needed, but there is nothing behind the piles but wide open space for several miles. I offset the 3 piles so that I can shoot up to the 300 yard target simply by altering my position on the bench a little bit. Its cheap, easy to add to as necessary and stops pretty much anything I'm going to shoot into it.

Thanks for all the ideas and the info. Soon as I can and get the time I will get started on pushing up some dirt piles. Should work good and improve the place some too boot. Once again, Thanks for the help.