My only concern with digging out the front is that mind is already in a flood plane, don’t want to lose all my dirt and make an unintentional pond.
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DIY Berm
- Thread starter PaganSnake
- Start date
My only concern with digging out the front is that mind is already in a flood plane, don’t want to lose all my dirt and make an unintentional pond.
I just inherited 16 acres in the middle of nowhere and have been thinking a D-6 could make a berm quick. Start at grade and end up 8 feet below. Just push everything up at the end. It's a high spot so drainage isn't an issue. Just gotta see how it surveys so I can see how much yardage I have.
EDIT: If it's prefectly square I only have about 285 yards...
EDIT: If it's prefectly square I only have about 285 yards...
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If you have the time build up a grade behind the berm. Use it as a ramp to drive up and build the berm up from the back side. It’s a bit more time consuming, but if you own the machine it shouldn’t be too expensive.
This is slightly off topic, but I was able to purchase a sheet 48” x 96” of 3/8” ar500 and have it cut to different sizes for $950. Started with a 36” x 36” so I could have a good target at 1 mile, then 4 @ 24” x 24”. Then the rest of the sheet for 12” x 24” and a single 12” x 12”. 450 lbs of plate total.
each square or rectangle also has a single 3/8” square hole about 2” from the top, centered. The 36” square has 2 holes. These allow me to hang targets off a t post with a hanger on top that costs $10 a pop.
this was purchased from a steel service center called Boyd Metals in Joplin, MO (what many local fabricators use for sourcing materials) and the center also does light fabrication. They happen to own a high-def plasma machine and were happy to grind edges for me. I know some guys there, but didn’t really get the “homeboy” discount.
point being, if you are going to the trouble of setting up a range then there’s no reason to pay crazy sums for ar500 targets. Especially if you want long range larger plates, which get very expensive when you ship them.
each square or rectangle also has a single 3/8” square hole about 2” from the top, centered. The 36” square has 2 holes. These allow me to hang targets off a t post with a hanger on top that costs $10 a pop.
this was purchased from a steel service center called Boyd Metals in Joplin, MO (what many local fabricators use for sourcing materials) and the center also does light fabrication. They happen to own a high-def plasma machine and were happy to grind edges for me. I know some guys there, but didn’t really get the “homeboy” discount.
point being, if you are going to the trouble of setting up a range then there’s no reason to pay crazy sums for ar500 targets. Especially if you want long range larger plates, which get very expensive when you ship them.
What the heck is up with everyone's prices lol. Here in west Texas we just go to the local steel supply place 30mins from us and it's $250 for 1/2" 4'x8' sheets. It's under $200 for 1/4"
That's not ar500 price. If it was I would buy it by the semi load.
I specifically asked for ar500. They showed me in their pricing sheets and it did say ar500. So unless there's something more to it, idk. My wife and I are building a 2-3mile range on our family property. So we need a lot of targets so we have been shopping around.
So I just called them, Sweetwater Steel out of Sweetwater Texas, to ask them again to make sure I wasn't crazy and the person I spoke with says they don't carry it. So idk what I was shown, but maybe the information shown to me was misrepresented or something. Back to searching. So you are correct sir. My mistake.
I bought a new house on 16 acres north oh Houston and have been brainstorming and estimating time and material and labor cost to build a 8’ tall U shaped berm with a 40 foot radius.
I’ve done the tire thing helping a friend years ago do his and promised myself I would never do it again. It’s the worst way I’ve ever seen and if you ever want to get rid of the property it does nothing but hurt you and is a serious kick in the ass to dispose of.
Hesco’s with extra dirt piled up on the impact side was my favorite idea, it would have been the most erosion resistant, less dirt over all needed to form the berm, looks better as a finished project, not to bad to dispose of if you get a roll off dumpster and an excavator dropped off to pull them out and emptied and mash them up into the dumpster and haul it off.
I have a bunch of pines to cull plus the area I want the burn to be is full of trees anyway, so my other idea was to use a bunch of them as a filler and cover them with dirt. It would save me some time cutting them up and burning them but I’m not crazy about the idea of using them an (organic rotting) material as my base material though...
There are other ideas I’ve sifted through and really it keeps coming down to trying to figure out how to get enough dirt moved efficiently.
As of a few days ago I finally said fuck it and decided im just going to rent an 19,000 lb or bigger excavator with a thumb for about $2500 for a week . Just use it to pull the trees in my way and dig out the dirt I need out out from behind where I want my berms and just pile it up and be done with the fucker.....
Just remember one thing, a 14yd truck load of dirt won’t stretch nearly as far as you think it will especially after it settles.
I’ve done the tire thing helping a friend years ago do his and promised myself I would never do it again. It’s the worst way I’ve ever seen and if you ever want to get rid of the property it does nothing but hurt you and is a serious kick in the ass to dispose of.
Hesco’s with extra dirt piled up on the impact side was my favorite idea, it would have been the most erosion resistant, less dirt over all needed to form the berm, looks better as a finished project, not to bad to dispose of if you get a roll off dumpster and an excavator dropped off to pull them out and emptied and mash them up into the dumpster and haul it off.
I have a bunch of pines to cull plus the area I want the burn to be is full of trees anyway, so my other idea was to use a bunch of them as a filler and cover them with dirt. It would save me some time cutting them up and burning them but I’m not crazy about the idea of using them an (organic rotting) material as my base material though...
There are other ideas I’ve sifted through and really it keeps coming down to trying to figure out how to get enough dirt moved efficiently.
As of a few days ago I finally said fuck it and decided im just going to rent an 19,000 lb or bigger excavator with a thumb for about $2500 for a week . Just use it to pull the trees in my way and dig out the dirt I need out out from behind where I want my berms and just pile it up and be done with the fucker.....
Just remember one thing, a 14yd truck load of dirt won’t stretch nearly as far as you think it will especially after it settles.
I used trees as filler in one of my bigger berms too, no big deal with settling...heck a heavy downpour erodes more than rot settling. That berm is 6 years old, every couple of years I have tuned it up, I bought a 9k cap lull and can stack dirt 43ft up.
I don't think I could find another one that would put up with my gun and coyote calling obsession. And I hate to admit it, but she does a good job at being my accountant also.
Berms ain't no problem!
Built a running berm along one edge of our private range, currently it's about 350+ yards running length along the edge of the property. Got about another 75 yards to go and one entire edge of the range property will be bermed completely. It averages about 6 foot, at some points is 8 foot and probably averages about 4 foot thick in the center and just over 2 foot at the top of the berm. Smaller stand alone berms at 100, 200, 300 and the 419 berm is part of the running berm on the end near the vehicle range.
Most of the time we don't even shoot into that long running berm except a couple of places like the vehicle range area and the 419 yard target area. It does allow for almost a 300 degree shooting option in many spots on the range.
Besides, playing in the dirt is fun
Built a running berm along one edge of our private range, currently it's about 350+ yards running length along the edge of the property. Got about another 75 yards to go and one entire edge of the range property will be bermed completely. It averages about 6 foot, at some points is 8 foot and probably averages about 4 foot thick in the center and just over 2 foot at the top of the berm. Smaller stand alone berms at 100, 200, 300 and the 419 berm is part of the running berm on the end near the vehicle range.
Most of the time we don't even shoot into that long running berm except a couple of places like the vehicle range area and the 419 yard target area. It does allow for almost a 300 degree shooting option in many spots on the range.
Besides, playing in the dirt is fun
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The shop I work at, we pay $1/tire to get rid of them. So giving junk tires away to build a berm wouldnt be out of the realm of possibilities. We are a lift shop so the majority of our junk tires are 35/1250/20’s.
An idea.
I also figure something like this, and this might be combined to make up something rather like ballistic plate.
So; cyclone fence, lined with stall mats, filled with ballistic mulch.
The ballistic plate might serve as, well; a ballistic plate.
Needs to be tried and tested, but it could be a lower cost alternative for unofficial applications.
I'll never buy a thing if I can make it.
Greg
I also figure something like this, and this might be combined to make up something rather like ballistic plate.
So; cyclone fence, lined with stall mats, filled with ballistic mulch.
The ballistic plate might serve as, well; a ballistic plate.
Needs to be tried and tested, but it could be a lower cost alternative for unofficial applications.
I'll never buy a thing if I can make it.
Greg
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