Stray Bullets From Range Hit Home

There was a range near me that had a documented problem with bullets leaving the range. They eventually installed barriers just above the trajectory of "on-target" bullets so that it is nearly impossible to shoot above the target backers, much less the berm, when seated at the bench.
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There's a private range on county land here. They added eyebrows, and added additional barriers underneath, on the ground, so rounds couldn't skip off the range floor. They also added barriers at the top of the berm so that rounds couldn't skip up the berm and go off the range.

Nowadays the only rounds that hit the nearby industrial park come from he adjacent Sheriff's range.
 
oldgunsmith said:
...No big deal to them. Another one got away. So what?
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So property was damaged, someone could have been injured or killed, and in this case it cost the range $175,000 plus its legal fees.
 
I would think that a city council or zoning commission or other municipal or county gov agency could be pretty leniant with their decisions. It's not a court of law. If the city council simply "thought" that the range was a danger to the nearby subdivision, they could probably force them to modify or shut down. No particular evidence or burdon of proof necessary.


Sgt Lumpy
 
There was a range near me that had a documented problem with bullets leaving the range. They eventually installed barriers just above the trajectory of "on-target" bullets so that it is nearly impossible to shoot above the target backers, much less the berm, when seated at the bench.


My own range uses a similar setup. There are elevated wood barriers at 6and12' out filled with stones just above your sightlines at benches and off-hand positions. If I were 2" taller I'd be unable to shoot off hand but as-is it's not a problem. This range has a very large natural backstop but is near quite a lot of residential land and I think it was an added safety concession to the township.
Willie D is offline Report Post
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This Forensic Files Episode "The Magic Bullet" (Was anything but magic) is all about bullets leaving a range and a young boy dies as a result.
What was brought out is the range was being used for shooting scenarios that it was not originally designed for and was retrofitted for defensive pistol use but not properly.
 
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Looking at the Google Maps satellite view, the first house downrange isn't really "down range" ... it's rather clearly off to the right of the line of fire. In fact, a bullet passing over either of the two berms wouldn't hit that house, it would have to travel further and would possibly hit a house farther away. If stray rounds were hitting that trailer house, people weren't even shooting at the targets, they were shooting well to the right of the entire berm structure.

And I am NOT going to say that couldn't happen, because I've seen what some people do at shooting ranges.
 
Looking at the Google Maps satellite view, the first house downrange isn't really "down range" ... it's rather clearly off to the right of the line of fire. In fact, a bullet passing over either of the two berms wouldn't hit that house, it would have to travel further and would possibly hit a house farther away
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Aguila Blanco, that is incorrect. You are probably only looking at the wrong house. The Caldwell home is 166 yards or so behind the 100 yard berm. They are the first driveway behind the range.

The north end of the 100 yard berm is in direct alignment between the shooting shed and the Caldwell's house. Check out the pics of the range from Advanced Bullets' website.

If you look carefully, you can see that the 50 yard range is also in between as well. From the far north shooting positions, so is part of the south end of the 25 yard range.

http://www.advancedbullets.com/ranges.htm
 
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If you have never fired on a range that is not closely monitored you would be in for a rude awakening.
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Even some of the closely monitored ones can leave something to be desired.

Military troops are well disciplined and well supervised in firing range operations. On most military ranges it matters not if a bullet sometimes goes over the berm because no one is allowed down range to the maximum range of the round being fired.
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The qualification range at Whiteman AFB, MO is pretty much enclosed, except for the top. But if you look closely at the side walls yo will see bullet pock-marks and long scars where the bullets have been stopped by the wall.

Recently a guy on one of the websites i visit recommend the use of a large round hay bale for a backstop.
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NO! This is an extremely bad idea. I set up a round bale and put a target in front of it (Target held in place by a piece of plywood) and a 4x8 piece of plywood behind the round bale. My rifle bullets passed right through it. (I do not know if a pistol round would penetrate.)

I have would, stone and dirt as well as natural topography on my firing range.


The stories about people moving in to places and then complaining reminds me of an old church in Mystic CT. When I was a kid we would spend summers on a lake near there and a small church always range the bell on Sundays and Wednesdays. A big city lawyer moved in to town for the "Small town atmosphere" and then complained about the bell ringing. The church, which had been ringing the bell for at least 150 years, was ordered to stop.
 
That is the funny thing about rights. Just because you were here first does not necessarily mean that you have more rights than I do as a newcomer to the area.

However, having bullets leave the property isn't the same thing as a noise issue with a church, is it? The Caldwells were not complaining about the noise from the range, right? They were complaining about a life threatening situation where bullets were illegally leaving the range's property and doing so repetitively and striking their home and causing property damage. They had complained with the range on numerous occasions and the range failed to correct the issue despite having YEARS of opportunity to do so The Caldwells sued as a form of last resort when they were not able to get relief through more direct channels.
 
I agree with you. Regardless of who was there first, if I found out I was damaging or allowing damage to occur to my neighbors property, we would cease fire and either find another place to shoot or fix the problems that led to the damage in the first place.
 
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