Question on range layout

[overthere]

I shot in a 3-gun match at an outdoor range that I had not been to before. The range was great, the match very well organized and the folks at the range all nice and friendly but when it came to one of the rifle stages I was surprised that the stage had the shooters shooting into berms that are the sides of other match stages.

See attached picture. The X's are pistol/rifle/shotgun stages while A is the firing location for the long range rifle stage, shooting at two steel targets each at locations B and C (100 yards and 200 yards respectively).

I do not know exactly how high the berms are but if I was to guess they are around 10 - 11 feet high, made of dirt. The areas in front of B and C are bodies of water.

I have not been to many outdoor ranges but the setup honestly made me a bit uncomfortable, i.e. the idea of shooting towards berms in the direction of which other people are located, and being behind those berms while other people shoot toward them. Granted with the steel target positions, there are not people immediately behind the berms of the steel targets (the other stages would prohibit forward movement ahead of B or C, except for possibly the middle X in which movement would be close to the line of fire from A to B).

Perhaps I am being overly concerned, is this a common setup / nothing to be worried about?

 

[Jay24bal]

First off, I do not shoot 3-gun matches, or any competition that is not straight-line shooting where everyone is shooting from one position to another. So I have no experience with what you ask.

That said, I would not worry too much about it. As long as the berms are the proper height, any shot over the berms will be at such an angle that they will be no where near the people on the other side.

The only thing I would worry about is if the berms were not thick enough and a pass through might be possible.

I agree it is not ideal, but I would not refuse to participate because of it.

 

[ballardw]

Many high power matches have people to do spotter marking down range in trenches. Lets you know what overhead fire really sounds like. Sounds similar in risk.

 

[g.willikers]

It looks like a first class range.
Lots of places allow shooting into the side berms.
It isn't so much about danger to the folks on the other side, but rather what is downrange and beyond in that direction.
But then, that's also true of the main backstop.
All is well if every round stays in the range.
It's usually assumed that anyone showing up for a competition match can shoot straight.