Use of a 2x6 lumber barrier against "Cowboy" rifle/soft lead loads at 100yds

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mehavey

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Don't even think about it.... ;)

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wood doesn't make the best of backstops

I remember being surprised at how easily a .22 Rimfire penetrated 2X4's and thinking, "Wow". Glad I didn't put anything important behind that wooden backstop.
 
Yeah, wood is generally not a good backstop. I'd stick with several feet of dirt/sand, or some thick, angled armor plate steel.

Wood can do some weird stuff every once in a while. I've seen the short side of a 2x4 stop a 9mm round from an M9. That one surprised me! It certainly wouldn't stop them reliably.
 
It takes about a foot thickness of wood to reliably stop most bullets.
And even then, after awhile they will get though as the wood gets chewed up.
One range I used to frequent used multi layers of railroad ties for a backstop.
They seemed to do ok, but they are really tough.
 
my main backstop is at 300 yards out... it's a big box 30 ft wide, X 6 ft thick, X 10ft high... the boxes surface is 2 layers thick of treated 2 X 6's staggered so the seams of the under layer are covered by the middle of the top layer... then I put steel 55 gallon drums in front for target backers... I still was damaging the wood more than I liked in heavily shot areas... so I added 4' X 4' X 1/4" AR 200 plates screwed across the bottom of the backstop... & those get pretty cratered up by 30 caliber & larger rifle bullets

my pistol backstop is off the side of the rifle range & consists of steel 55 gallon drums bolted together 2 high & 3 wide, 2 deep on the bottom layer, & single deep on the top...it only took 2 years of heavy use, before the barrels got so shot out the dirt ran out, & I started shooting through them with my 45 Colt CAS loads

I'm wondering if old tires stacked & filled with gravel or dirt would have too much bounce back for CAS loads ???
 
I'm wondering if old tires stacked & filled with gravel or dirt would have too much bounce back for CAS loads ???
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6-8" of pea sized gravel or the same amount of sand will stop most bullets
I wouldn't want tires at all

http://www.theboxotruth.com/the-box-o-truth-7-the-sands-o-truth/

Lessons learned:

It’s still fun to shoot stuff.
Sand is a very good barrier. Nothing we shot penetrated more than 6 inches into the sand. Does that mean I would hide behind 6 inches of sand and let someone shoot at me? No way!! I’d rather have 60 feet of sand in front of me. But 6 inches seems to work pretty well for the rounds tested.
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I'm wondering if old tires stacked & filled with gravel or dirt would have too much bounce back for CAS loads ???
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Big truck tires work great if you dont have access to a lot of dirt to build a all dirt mound.

One range I use to frequent used them... first course was 6 deep, then fill with dirt, next course of 5 step back half a tire and so on till one at the top rear.... then cover complete in front with dirt couple feet thick.

It looked like stair steps of tires going away from the shooting bench if ya cant picture it, and then covered in the front with dirt.

I never saw anything pass thru the berm.

Truck tires are free for the asking and saved the $1500+ they wanted to bring in enough for a solid dirt mound.
 
I am not trying to be a smart, but who in their right mind would ever think a 2x6 would protect them from any firearm round?
 
You might (MIGHT) have better luck with low power loads if you face the 2x6s edge on, so the bullet will have to get through 5.5" of wood, instead of 1.5" (you know they (finished) aren't actually 2x6")

Of course, that would take truckloads more lumber ($$$), and higher powered stuff isn't even going to notice the difference as it sails through...
 
People have asked about hay bales several times
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Lengthwise it might work on a tight large square bale, but I doubt they would hold up for long
4 X 5 round bales would be better but I'd still want 2-3 of those if it were important to stop the bullets rather than just slow them down
 
People have asked about hay bales several times. Once specifying they would be wet.
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Hay bales are the wrong answer. Big round hay bales vary greatly in density and weight. Weight varies from about 650 pounds to 2,000 pounds. After an online spat with a firing range "expert" i tested this one. 5.56mm M855 bullets went through 1,200 pound hay bales lengthwise and sideways.

Large used tires are OK but they must be filled with dirt with at least two feet of dirt in front of the tires. There is no substitute for a big mound of dirt.

The shooters name is on every bullet that leaves his property.
 
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This all started w/ the laughable Hollywood fiction that an upturned poker table is a good thing
to hide behind ;) (no less than extended gunfights/returning fire from behind a wall corner in
a frame house). :rolleyes:

As has be said before, dirt (lots of it) is your only dependable friend.
 
Once must understand concealment and cover. Concealment is better than standing in the open, but cover is what we ideally want to have in a fire fight.
 
Back in the 70s (I think, might have been late 60s) Shooting Times ran a somewhat humorous article "Arrows Vs. Bullets" or something close to that.

They shot a number of things with a hunting wt. bow and a .357 Mag pistol.

Harwood board, arrows stopped dead. .357 blew right through.
Sandbags (a pair, draped over a tree limb). Arrows zipped right through. Both sandbags. .357 stopped dead in the first bag. Arrow stopped dead by tree branch.

Hay bales will slow down or stop arrows (if tightly baled and thick enough). Bullets? not so much...
 
A while back a couple of clowns decided that hay bales would stop a .44 Magnum. When their bullets sailed right through the hay and hit a nearby house, they were arrested and charged with reckless endangerment. They paid big fines, restitution, and were put on long term probation with community service. Had their bullets injured or killed someone, the consequences would have been a lot more severe.

Jim
 
On the Saturday morning TV western's I used to watch , an upturned bar room table top would stop all the bullets....
I guess 5 in 1 blanks don't have a whole lot of penetration.
Gary
 
I put an arrow through a round bale... I thought it would stop it... My brief foray into archery lol... I wasn't no good at it.

As to lumber... Penetration with bullets can be very surprising.

At the right distance, you can "cut" a 2x4 in half with one 12ga birdshot.
 
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