Barn, tractors and shooting practice

I have a typical Pennsylvania bank barn. I store hay in 1 end mow and tractors and equipment in the 2 drive in mows. The other end mow is pretty much unused at the moment. More or less storage for odd stuff. The barn end walls and the back wall of each end mow is 2’ thick field stone.

With the weather getting cold, I’d like to use the empty end mow as an indoor shooting range. It’s about 15’x30’. I would only be using it for pistol practice. Mainly my .40s&w and wife’s 9mm with factory loads FMJ. We’d be doing close range defensive drills and as always use eye and ear protection.

I’m looking for a cheap effective backstop. My question is: do you think I could use large square bales as a backstop? Yes, this is a serious question. I’ve noticed it doesn’t take much to stop these rounds once they hit something.

I’m thinking of putting up plywood in front of the bales to hold the targets. Then stack some large square bales. Perhaps a staggered second row of large square bales so there are no open seams. Then leave a crawl space between the bales and wall so I can inspect the bales for wear and tear and inspect the wall for any hits. The wall would prevent any rounds from leaving the barn and the bales should prevent any rounds from hitting the wall as well as bouncing back should they hit the wall.

I’d prefer to use corn fodder bales because they’re cheap and I could still use as bedding when worn out, but I’m not sure if they’re dense enough. Alfalfa is probably the most dense bale, but expensive and I’d have to mulch it when done. Thoughts??

Well, the bales will likely stop the bullets for awhile, but hitting the bales repeatedly in the same location may cut a hole thru them. I would stack them against the stone wall, in the event a bullet passes thru. Putting them against a wood wall may allow a bullet to exit a wall if the bullet goes thru (or over) the bales. The other problem may be where a bullet hits in between the bales, it will cruise thru very easily. I would find a plate of steel and put it behind the bales with it pitched downward to stop anything that may find its way through.
I've used a homebuilt steel bullet trap in the cellar for years and it will stop anything from .22 to .45acp . Before that, I used to use a box with newspaper stacked on end for . 38 special and I found that the more I used it the better it became.
Instead of using plywood in front of the bales, use cardboard from a refrigerator or the like. Cardboard will accept the push-pins to hold the target much easier, plus it's much cheaper.
Set up the range and test it...only you will know for sure if it works.
BY the way, my sister has used regular small bales for years for .22 revolver and has no problems.
Good shooting,
Cal

You may want to discard the bales rather than using for bedding.

I don't know if lead would be good for cattle to eat?

Gary

Others have offered better advice from experience than I could when it comes to a safe, range-type setup. I'll only add that my experience sighting in a new scope on a .22 managed to cut the twine on a bale I had set up to hold my target. And that before I'd been through 50 rounds.

I agree with Gary. If you're gonna use hay for target practice it shouldn't end up around livestock later.

Make darn sure you have good ventilation in that barn also. Indoor shooting ranges can be very bad for your health. Stacked newsppaper makes a very good backstop, bind it tight.

terrible idea to reuse the hay. Get that out of your head now

At our local outdoor range we use white plastic 55 gal. drums. Cut top out,fill with sand,tape target on & shoot!!! We shoot all calibers of handguns & rifles and have never noticed that any penetrated the other side. When that area gets shot up , rotate a little & start over. Lasts for years & CHEAP! WE do have a dirt birm backstop just in case.

my father in law owns an autobody shop and saves all of the deployed air bags for the local police department. The material they are made of (sorry cant recall exactly what) is the same material that bullet proof vests are also made of. They use them as backstops for their shooting range. I think he said they "stack" them but I dont know how many. Good luck and be safe. Kids are in shooting sports for 4-H and when they were done this week the instructor told them "Look we shot over 1100 rounds today and no injuries, that is because we use all our saftey procedures."

I have ton os the stuff you need but your probably in an area that you can not find it. I have a lot of used dock foam and it will stop a bullet with no problems and when I mean a bullet I mean an 30-06 so a pistol would be no problem.

what happens when all the strings are shot appart and the bales fall apart? Also I would consider those bales to be a hazardous substance if they were full of lead.

Personally I'd stay outside with the guns. especially if you need to ventilate it. Watch for stray bullets. but if you insist. Maybe build a wood wall about 1-2 foot in front of the stone wall and fill the void with sand. Put cardboard in front of that to mount targets to.

Be careful.

Hay would not be dense enough to reliably stop bullets for any period of time. We use bales on our archery range and shoot thru bales with target arrows shot from light recurve bows all the time. Pistol round would blow right on thru! Sand in barrels set in a staggered pattern to eliminat gaps sounds more practical. The local range uses mounded washed gravel for their backstop.Backed by a poured concrete wall.
If you insist on using haybales stack them lengthwise toward the firing line as the most dense direction would be end on. Cutting the twine would be a real problem.
Good luck and be safe having fun!!

I don't know much about backstops, but livestock love to browse their bedding - I would _not_ use any of the bales around livestock in any way.

--->Paul

Maybe Kevlar

Kevlar?

Yes I think it is Kevlar.

I will be setting up an outdoor range, about 50 yards and I will use a sawhorse with a pc. of 1/2" plywood. This will be for .22LR ONLY.
If I was you I would use sand bags, they stop bullets well, not too expensive either.

When i was on my high school rifel team we shot in the basement of the one wing of the school and for a backstop we had a homemade back stop of 1/2 inch steel leaning on a 35 degree angle that was six feet wide and it was 40 feet wide built on a angle iron frame work and it had a bed of sand two feet deep and the targets were set on 1x3 pine with heavy cardboard . when the bullet went thru the target it would deflect off the steel and down into the sand . Mow this was for 22 LONG RIFLE at fifty feet .

The local armory used to use the slanted steel plate and sand. I was in there shooting thirty years ago or more and they had this setup then. I remember seeing some pretty big dents in the plate. Jim

I probably have done plenty of dangerous stuff and luck has pulled me thru so far - sounds like fun. I would experiment a little. Put 2 of those bales end to end with a paper separating them and fire the 9mm . You should be able to check the paper to see if 1 bale stops it, if not you need 2 bales. My main concern would be that bullets dont hit the wall and richolet around the barn, just one could ruin your day.

One thing to consider would be conveyor belting if you can find it in your area.Put it between two bales of whatever you are going to use. Don't shoot too long at the same spot.

Thanks to all for the responses.

After reading about the alternatives, I’m going to can the hay bale idea. However I think I’ll experiment outside with a few bales just to see what the penetration would be and how long it would hold up.

I did consider building two wood walls and filling the void with dirt. The only problem is having to constantly repair the wall to hold the dirt in.

Bundled newspaper stops bullets very well. As a kid I shot into a big crate filled with it and you could take the bundles apart and find the bullets stuck in there. However, it may not hold up long. It would also make a good home for mice.

I really like the idea of using plastic barrels. I have a large supply of fine gravel/dirt I could fill them with. Stack them two high and two deep and stagger them.

I suppose I could also use feed bags filled with the gravel, but I’m not sure how long they’d hold up.

I googled dock foam a read a little bit. It’s the perfect stuff if it performs that well. I’m in southeast PA. I wonder if I could find some used stuff near Philadelphia or maybe somewhere in MD? I’m probably not willing to pay for it, but it seems to be a material outlawed at some lakes and has no other practical purposes.

Good point about ventilation. There are air slots in the walls and large roof vents. It’s a fairly drafty barn. I can also put a box fan in the front window to draw out air.

This will take a bunch more thought and maybe testing outside before I can decide what to use. Thanks again.