I think my idea of 8' of soil, a sheet of armor steel, followed by cross ties will get it done.

And you're right, 50 BMG I've completely forbidden, and after this berm is built, it will only be used by one organization. I'm still not going to allow anyone else to launch .50 out there. If someone swings a muzzle off the range, and a bullet hits a neighbor's cow, they get reimbursed for a cow, and then there's friction between us, that doesn't exist now. I will keep it that way.

I too have no desire to own one. There's better extreme range target rounds, that don't need this level of precautions, and are less expensive to load for.

Don’t own one. But have been through the 5 day school with that heavy bastard. I told you what we use, and it works just fine and we often recover the rounds. Our distance are 100, 200, and 300 yards.

I went back and read what yall have shot into. That's telling me my, what I'm planning to build will hold up.

You are way overkill, but when dealing with flying bullets and lives, there really is no such thing. Make sure the berm is free of rocks. The berm we shot into for the school want, and a round exited the top of the berm after finding that rock.

I don’t have any experience with the .50, bu I don’t see any way in hell that it’s going to go through timbers, 8 feet of dirt, AND a piece of AR500.

Can you bring someone out that has a .50 to see what your current backstops do? I would try to judge what I already had before planning something that may be total, entire overkill.

Sir, he is a fireman. I have seen how they build houses. They over engineer the F out of everything. Just let him be lol.

That may very well be.

After reading this thread, it sounds like everybody thinks a 50 will go through 15’ of concrete, 12’ of dirt, 7 Sherman tanks, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Well welcome to the Texas Hunting Forum That is funny

Only a 6.5 Creedmoor can do that. Duh!

No point in that. I've got berms, without enclosures. Depending on which part of the berm the 50 is shot at, it will go though.

Your suggestion is like just sharpening a knife, and running your finger down the edge to see if it's sharp. Know how that ends?

You're smart, Josh.

We know how good we are at tearing up [censored].

Jason you know where a 50 is if you want to try one when you get the berm built.

JG,
I have the NRA Range Development manual, which I am happy to lend to you.

If you would like to review it, pm me your mailing address and it will be on the way.

I am honored for the offer! Loaning another man his rifle is akin to allowing him to dance with his wife, in my opinion.

If I end up needing to build this thing, I may take you up on that. And I am more than happy to reimburse ammo expense.

I appreciate it Jeff. Reading several sources online, and learning BigPig's experience with it, I think I have the numbers worked out.

You’re welcome.