Why Ranges?
If you want to protect it, own it.
I like to go shooting. Not hunting; target shooting. Since I was a kid in California, I've always enjoyed target shooting. It's getting harder to do that on the West Coast though. I've seen good rifle, pistol and shotgun ranges closed in California, Oregon and Washington. It became fairly clear that if I wanted to have a place to teach my grandkids to shoot, I'd better own the range and the land it sits on.
250 acres in southern Georgia later, and I have the land. Now I need to build the ranges! This is that story.
Site selection
1000 meter range
For a 1000-meter (1100 yard) range to work, we needed plenty of space for buffer and berms on either end of the range and on both sides. 250 acres in a perfect square would not have been enough, as each side would only have been 1100 yards long, leaving no space for a firing line or backstop! Fortunately, the property is shaped like a big number-seven, and the top of the seven is just over 1600 yards long. Plenty of space for a 1000-meter range!
Gettign Started
Put a stake in the ground
Using GPS, find a spot that is likely near your firing line, and clear a couple of square yards. Then put a stake in the ground. Go from there.
The tools of land clearing
Attach a forestry mulcher to a Caterpillar 299 D3 and you've got a machine that clears land quickly and efficiently.
GPS and a compass
Fortunately, the property line at the top of the '7' is perfectly east-west (magnetic). So a compass, a bunch of stakes, and some high visibility tape guides you in the right direction.
Shots fired
What better way to reward the volunteer help than to let them put a few rounds downrange. A very, very short range. Only about 50 meters at this point.
Pitfalls
Reconnaissance is important
Before you drive your mulcher over an area, you want to scout the area first looking for big rocks, old engine blocks, or giant sinkholes full of mud. When you find them, you can avoid them.
Sometimes you still miss something
Just because you don't sink into a swamp doesn't mean your equipment wont...
If a big machine gets stuck, call a bigger machine
If a big machine gets stuck, call a bigger machine
There is always a bigger machine. You just need to know the right phone number. This big backhoe just lifted the caterpillar right out of the mud and plonked it down on solid ground.
Going the distance
And then there were 2. (Hundred yards)
And then there were 2. (Hundred yards)
And then there were 2. (Hundred yards)
Little by little, the range gets longer.
700
And then there were 2. (Hundred yards)
And then there were 2. (Hundred yards)
Firing line before cleanup
And then there were 2. (Hundred yards)
The firing line before cleaning up the sides and straightening things out.
Firing line after cleanup
Nice straight sides, but still no shooting bench, no pistol range, no parking lot, no outhouse, and no road! (Gotta drive down the range to get there.)
Now with parking and a road!
Now with parking and a road!
Finally got the road to the range cut in. The center of the cross you see on the Left of the photo is the firing line. The rifle range faces East (to the right), and the pistol range faces West (to the left). The intersection you see on the right of the photo is the junction of the road from the build site, the temporary road to the range when I first started cutting it in, the road the firing line, and a legacy road that leads down to a swampy mess I have no intention of touching.
900 yards and counting
Now with parking and a road!
Now 900 yards (~820m) long, it wil be a while before I can get the equipment I need to to come out and push the range to full length.
In this photo, you can see the road back to the build site more clearly.
