Ideas for backyard ranges?

[Siress]

I'm looking at a new home with a back yard that I can actually use for such things, and a garage where I won't mind a little indoor action. So, I'm thinking about setting up a little range for test firing and chronographing. My biggest concern is the misses getting pissed about the paint that will litter the area, so I'm thinking of containing it to very large boards that I can easily remove/clean/flip/whatever between uses. For indoor, I've used the ol' 5gal bucket with a towel hanging over the front, and the variant that also adds a PVC pipe for drainage into another bucket. Not really feeling that outdoors, though.

[Trbo323]

Why not just use reball? That's what I do, no mess, infinite ammo

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[autococker04]

Big board tilted toward you, then hose it down and put it away.

[Cdn_Cuda]

My outdoor shooting spot is along the edge of my shed, and basically going into a hedge. There’s some PVC pipes I hang some dead old masks on and shoot. Paint just goes into the hedge and can eventually be hose off or rain will do it for me. There’s a hedge on one side and the shed on the other, so no worries of someone straying into fire.

Only bad thing is it’s beside my tenant’s kitchen window. But I’m the boss and keep it to respectful times.

[Toestr]

How much are you planning to shoot in one 'sitting' as it were? How much space is in the backyard? Distance you're shooting from? What's the backstop situation looking like?

I only shoot about a hoppers worth with only about 1/4 of my shots hitting the target (see below) from about 100' away. Since most of my shots miss they just go into the woods behind and are dispersed that way. If you need to have a proper backstop that's immediately at or behind your target, I'd recommend a larger pallet with boards between the slats. You can usually pick them up for free on your local classifieds. Rinse it off and drag it out of sight when not in use. Shell and paint dissipates pretty quickly when on the ground but if it's a big concern maybe have some sand or wood chips under the backstop that you can rake it out into.

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[Siress]

Not quite enough room for that in my yard, I'm afraid. Digging your wood pile, btw.

[Siress]

Why not just use reball? That's what I do, no mess, infinite ammo

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I tried that for a while. Found it a bit odd, and tired of cleaning it all the time.

[Trbo323]

I tried that for a while. Found it a bit odd, and tired of cleaning it all the time.

Cleaning it?

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[Siress]

the reballs. They'd attract debris like mad; hair, dust, sand, whatever. Crap I don't want in my guns. Had to clean them before each use.

[Trbo323]

I've rarely bothered. Unless they are getting coated in sand, the stuff that sticks to them like hair isn't going to do anything when it gets blasted down the barrel.

Basically what I did was hang up a catcher with a junk towel/t shirt in front and a bucket below. Reballs would hit the cloth and fall into the bucket. After a while there would be a chunk of cotton fuzz in there as well, I would just blast it with some air and the junk would come out leaving the reballs.

I've never had any problems. It's not like you are shooting cases of reball just for testing but also, if a small piece of cotton is going to mess up my marker I'd rather know about it at home rather than on the field anyway

[Siress]

call it ocd. I like the polished ID of my barrels to stay that way. Keep in mind I'm more looking for a backyard range, so we're definitely talking about dirt, sand, etc... foreign material that will definitely cause some damage to the gun - particularly with prolonged exposure. Not cotton balls.

[DocsMachine]

The back door of my machine room (where I do most of my paintgun tinkering) I made years ago into a Dutch Door- that is, the top and bottom halves can be swing separately.

The top of the bottom door has a shelf, so I can open the top half, set the chrono on it (which is hanging right next to it) and just shoot into the woods behind the shop.

I have a couple of plywood silhouettes on stakes, and the top cut from a 55-gallon drum hanging from a branch (two ropes, so it can't spin) as targets. For accuracy practice, I shoot for the bung of the steel disc- it's a hole about 2-1/4" in diameter. It's only about 30-40 feet out, but it's a test to get a ball through it.

The door arrangement has been ideal over the years- not only is it an easy and quick setup to chrony or just test a marker, but keeping the door "halfway" closed helps keep the cold out when testing in the winter.

Doc.

[Alexndl]

Plastic 55 gal drum mounted horizontal with twig and branches inside to prevent rebound. Burn the branches once in a while when they are nasty and hose the inside of the drum. Found my plastic drum on my local classified for $5

[glaman5266]

If you want to contain any mess, maybe try a road cone or drum tipped on it's side (shoot into the cone/drum). A drum without the lid would be better but if size is an issue then a road cone would work.

EDIT: What Alexndl said.

[BrickHaus]

For indoors.

If you intend to break the paint. I had huge success with a soda flat and a large tote. The thin walls of the tote would break under impact, but setting the thick meshy soda flat in the tote diffused the balls and let me simply fill the tote with paint.

if you want to keep the balls intact, hanging a sheet or similar fabric and shooting it will catch the balls. Trick is to leave 3 sides free so it can snap up and roll around the ball then let it fall into a catch tray.

For outside, id just find a spot that wont bother the misses.

[Siress]

That sounds interesting BrickHaus . Do you have pictures? What is "a soda flat"?

[BrickHaus]

Like this.