
The impromptu back-lot range and.... 
Back Lot Target Shooting 
How to Rig Up a Range of Your Own and Thereby Enjoy the 
HAT anyone actually needs 
WV for an enjoyable outdoor 
range is a hill or dirt bank 
for a backstop, from 50 to 200 yards 
of ground .that can be shot over, a 
place to shoot from in comfort, and 
some kind of a target-holding arrange- 
ment that is reasonably substantial, 
cheap, and easy to construct. If it 
contains nothing of possible interest 
or value to neighborhood boys—so 
much the better—for then it is much 
more likely to remain there for the 
succeeding shooting days. 
A target frame need not be a heavy, 
expensive, or especially substantial 
arrangement. A light wooden skeleton 
of the proper width to hold the stand- 
ard targets for the distance shot over 
and which is of sufficient length to 
hold a number of targets, such as four 
to six at a set-up is all that is neces- 
sary. Frames of this type made of 
pine strips 1% to 2 inches wide and 
% inch thick, are used at all of our 
large small-bore target matches and 
‘they answer the purpose admirably. 
A pair of two by fours driven solidly 
in the ground the proper distance 
apart to project about four feet, sup- 
ply the uprights. Heavy wire nails 
are driven deep enough into the faces 
of the two by fours to act as hooks. 
The frames are hung on these nails 
and are taken off in an instant as 
198 
Benefits of Regular Practice 
By C. S. LANDIS 
soon as convenient after the targets 
are shot on. 
A frame containing new targets is 
then substituted or the old one is re- 
filled with unused targets, and the 
shooting continues. A space of three 
or four feet should always be allowed 
between targets and the backstop dirt 
bank when shooting .22s, and if pos- 
sible twice this clearance when firing 
a high power, to avoid blowing hard 
clods of dirt, little stones, bits of rock 
or sticks, back through the targets. 
A Springfield bullet when fired into 
a dirt bank will throw back a shower 
of particles that makes a pattern 
through the rear of a paper target 
that looks as if it were made by a 
burst of shrapnel. It blows it full of 
holes if the target paper is close 
enough. 
AILROAD ties, logs, or old sills 
make a good front facing for a 
backstop because the use of a_ soft 
wooden surface eliminates most of the 
blowbacks or ricochets but the one ex- 
ception is where a bullet strikes a for- 
gotten spike and throws a metal splash 
or when the ties are set up so that a 
bullet may enter an interstice and cuts 
on through the earth of a built-up 
backstop. When it does this it may 
cause damage. Any rifleman must 
also take account of the cumulative or 
wearing-away effect of concentrated 
rifle fire. 
HE bullets dig a tunnel that ad- 
vances with wear and which may 
in time be extended through ten feet 
or more of wood, earth, and stone. I 
have seen solid hickory and _ locust 
trees two feet thick cut off and mowed 
down back of rifle butts by the cumula- 
tive effect of prolonged shooting. The 
bullets gradually chew out a place a 
foot or more in cross section, the area 
shot out depending upon the range, 
the type of bullets used, and the con- 
centration of fire. 
When a butt is built up it should 
always be examined periodically and 
tamped down on top, to see that it re- 
mains a practically solid obstruction 
and not merely a_tunneled bank. 
When shooting into a hillside it is 
merely necessary to see that the angle 
of contact is sufficient to insure the 
certain penetration of the earth and 
that surface stone is not present in 
sufficient quantity to prove dangerous 
by causing bullets to splash back on 
the butts. Sand is the best disinte- 
grator there is; clay is good; and soft, 
leafy loam is about the worst. 
The firing point should always be 
built up a little if possible so that 
grass, weeds, briars, and underbrush | 
need not be cut down so frequently to ; 
q 
