THE SHOOTING RANGE
Among some of the activities that go on around the homestead/compound, shooting is one of those activities that won't go away any time soon. At different times, our shooting range has been anything from just setting garbage on the ground and shooting at the stuff, to the latest, using cuts of logs to set stuff on. I recently came into possession of some metal spinning targets that came with some scrap and in addition to this, I figured that a more uniform shooting range was in order. Not because of us never having one in the first place, but because future plans have me looking at more work with air guns, both commercial and homemade. I'll still do work with firearms but my biggest interest is air guns. That is another argument for another day, but right now, a viable shooting range is in order.
The plan I came up with was to use several logs from the pile of trees we brought down a few years ago. Since we never finished cutting the logs into firewood, I figured I would cut 5ft lengths of several logs and stand them up side by side to make a backstop wall that will catch plenty of lead without allowing any to go downrange. I would still use the metal targets and even the short logs to hold targets like cans in front of the backstop. I just had to clear the area along the north tree line so I can set up the new shooting range.
With the area cleared, the next move was to anchor two 2x6x8 boards across two of the trees along the tree line. Using 4" deck screws, I got the boards up, then moved the logs one by one into position, standing them up against the boards. Using more deck screws, I attached the logs to the boards with the screws going through the boards into the logs. On the ends of the boards, I had to use angle braces and even an old hinge to hold the logs to the boards, since the supporting trees kept me from driving the deck screws through the boards into the logs. I was able to get one screw through the board at an angle into the end log but used the hinge on the bottom board for that log. After getting the logs up I was left with three smaller diameter logs, which were moved back to the pile with the rest of the logs for processing into firewood later. I moved the target hardware into position and even hammered nails into the logs at different points to use for hanging targets, in this case, old CD's.
Other extras for the shooting range will include a fold up table and chair that I'll bring down to set up for use when we're doing things like sighting in optics, of course with the use of a shooting rest for long guns. I also have a chronograph en route that I'll be using for tests on both commercial guns as well as homemade ones. As stated before, the shooting range will play a pivotal role in future videos for our channel as well as general activities here at the compound, and of course more material for this website. Stay tuned for that.