Need to make a small pit about a foot deep x 2 ft square. Fill with sand. Set the 1/2 plate at a 15-20 degree angle deflecting bullets down into the sand. Bullets don't penetrate if they ricochet. Not a bad set-up for 50 yds and over.
You have the right idea. The bullets hitting a straight on target is more the issue. If you look at some of the new range back stops in this picture that we installed the past 2 years, they are set up to keep the projectiles within the confines of those structures. We have them at a specific angle down to the ground and then into a "pit" of sand and dirt. Works very well and keeps the bullets coinfined and in a protected area, where they don't damage the environment(Trees and Land). Safety is also our #1 priority.
The two large backstops in the back were installed this year. There are two more large ones to the left of this picture that you cannot see here.
The steel, welding and labor to install all of this is very costly. The labor and design were strictly done by members only. We have a design guru who is 79 years old that spear heads most of this. Smart and hard working and we don't know what we would do without him. He literally is there just about every day in the summer.
The issue comes about in some of our smaller sight in ranges, and the back of the bunkers we have made- you will notice bullet holes in the 2nd picture in the back of this bunker. It's only 1.5 years old, and that 1/4 hardened steel may not be enough. We tested the 1/2 hardened steel and it seems to hold up better. Steel sheets and plates comes in many forms and "grades" and we try to use the best hardened grade steel we can buy. It's just scary that the vertical posts that I posted above and the steel we used to protect them-even at an angle- took the bullet and allowed it to go completely thru.
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