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So. I’ve been pondering this concept for a couple years, right now I have a big scrape in the hillside. And my other place has just a hill of dirt. I’m trying to get a feeling of where folks are and aren’t on this new place so I can guess where (potential) ricochets would go and to Make sure that Isn’t where folks are...  but once I have the location figured out I trying to ponder how to incorporate some cool landscaping. Flowers, terraces etc. any thoughts? Dutch windmill? Hahaha 

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That’s a liiiiiiiitttle less elaborate than I was thinking, ha!  

This is my scrape with the kids in it  notice the steel there in bottom right of the center area

Did a lot by hand, prob 20-50 truckloads over a year. Skid steer started it but I kept on going 

AFE03C42-C660-4ED8-8A59-05DAA02DD154.jpeg

Edited by saltydecimator
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I'm not sure if it will ever happen, but I have been wanting to move somewhere that I can shoot on site. This would have to happen in an area where ground water isn't an issue and in Open Rural zoning, which would generally be on the Northwest area in this county. I would dig a pond as deep as I could legally get away with and off of that pond I would dig at least one lane or a loop above the clay layer or at least above where I might expect maximum water level to be during the wet season. Dirt from the pond and lane or loop would be used to hide the lanes (blend from existing grade to top of berms) at the same time as creating a more generous berm by the lane being down below existing grade. I would like to not be able to see the lanes at all from the home, but at least be able to fire down one of the lanes from inside of my shop. That's kind of the point, open the door of the shop, wheel a custom shooting bench to the door, and fire from the comfort of shade and AC or go down to the lane and fire. All of my steel targets are on stands and angled down. The target design and having the actual shooting area below surrounding grade should eliminate ricochet. As far as landscaping goes, I would let everything grow wild except immediately around the house and shop, and a line from the shop to the target area. I'm not a fan of creating a lot of landscaping to maintain.

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I always thought that using combination features would be a good idea. I.e. the berm would be the mound for a sweeper turn on a dirt bike track. The interior of the dirt bike track would be paintball course, with a fair amount of the jumps doing double duty as cover. 

The pond idea is nice, and would cut down on the area you need to brush hog. Unless you are in mosquito country. Perhaps some butterfly bushes to make it smell nice?

I could also see wind break trees being a good idea. Also shade trees for wherever your bench/ firing line is.

I agree with evl, that you don't want to add future ongoing chores, so only put in stuff that basically takes care of itself.

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Tulips are good once they get going. Look kinda crummy most of the year though, after the flowers are gone. Also you will need to know if your area freezes hard enough to kill the bulbs. Some places you can leave them out, other places you have to dig them up and stick them in the cellar for the winter.

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On ‎10‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 9:13 AM, Ronin38 said:

These days you'd probably get "red-flagged" for that.  :(

Hell with it!  Have fun!  Oblome & Joe cardboard cut-outs surrounded by secret service cutouts on motorized tracks.  Three seconds to nail them both without hitting the secret service agents.  That's a three gun match waiting to happen! :big_smile:

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On 9/30/2019 at 8:52 AM, evlblkwpnz said:

I'm not sure if it will ever happen, but I have been wanting to move somewhere that I can shoot on site. This would have to happen in an area where ground water isn't an issue and in Open Rural zoning, which would generally be on the Northwest area in this county. I would dig a pond as deep as I could legally get away with and off of that pond I would dig at least one lane or a loop above the clay layer or at least above where I might expect maximum water level to be during the wet season. Dirt from the pond and lane or loop would be used to hide the lanes (blend from existing grade to top of berms) at the same time as creating a more generous berm by the lane being down below existing grade. I would like to not be able to see the lanes at all from the home, but at least be able to fire down one of the lanes from inside of my shop. That's kind of the point, open the door of the shop, wheel a custom shooting bench to the door, and fire from the comfort of shade and AC or go down to the lane and fire. All of my steel targets are on stands and angled down. The target design and having the actual shooting area below surrounding grade should eliminate ricochet. As far as landscaping goes, I would let everything grow wild except immediately around the house and shop, and a line from the shop to the target area. I'm not a fan of creating a lot of landscaping to maintain.

That's a really cool vision.

Wishing you the best.

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I came up with an amendment to that. I'd like the shooting bench in the shop right at the wall and just have a large dog door I could prop up when I am ready to fire. While I am dreaming I may as well go all of the way ;) 

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Most shops use a bullet trap for test firing.. I have a small 10 yard indoor range (underground) which doubles as a hurricane shelter. Only issue is that it is a pain to decontaminate before storms, it takes a whole day, and another half a day to process the water used for cleaning.. If I was a gunsmith I'd probably do a small shipping container with a bullet trap and sound insulation, and a very large multi stage hepa filter on the exhaust.

One thing with a home range is that if possible your bullet impacts should have something above them, that way any glances will hit something, like the target should be below some logs or other bullet catches..

My range has a small impact zone, so when I need to rebuild the end the amount of contaminated soil is small, roughly 400 lbs, once the solid lead is removed for reuse the contaminated soil can be reused as backstop, or bagged up for disposal.

Edited by csspecs
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