Rifle range baffles ?

G

Greg 79 F150

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Anyone here seen them or know how they work to prevent rounds from going over a dirt berm ? Are they BR match freindly ?
 
Here is a page from a plan developed for Riverbend Gun Club by Clark Vargus. We are going to have to baffle one of our ranges so that we can use the substantial acreage behind it. When you are sitting at the bench, you can see berm and baffles above but no blue sky.

HUM, when I did "print screen", I didn't know I was getting my desktop too. Oh well.

If you like, send me an email and I can return the plan to you as a PDF.

baffles.jpg
 
Wow, nice job Tom. Is it O.K. if I print it off to hard copy just for my references ?

o.k. email sending.
 
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We have a fully baffled & bermed range at Pinetucky in Augusta, GA. The NRA was our mentor in designing the range, so you might contact them.
 
The BOD of my club is looking in to baffling as a solution for the rounds that got over the berm, this is not the first time this has happened of course. Our rifle division has the misfortune of having the general use range beside us, so whenever a round goes astray no one can determine its origin. So,the rifle range shooters get spanked too....

I really doubt the rounds gave from the rifle range but, that is just my opinion,not a fact. The BOD have closed all ranges now except shotgun & archery until they can come up with a solution. I am in agreement with the BOD decision on this, it is a good call,even though we are going to miss our first BR match of the season this year..

After reviewing the PDF drawings I must be missing something here. It looks like the muzzle side of the shed roof shows a 6'6" elevation from grade to the underside of the fascia board. Our rifle shed has that now. I cannot see how this baffle design is preventing "over the berm" rounds. Bumfuzzled here..
 
Greg 79 F150 said:
Anyone here seen them or know how they work to prevent rounds from going over a dirt berm ? Are they BR match freindly ?
Click to expand...
An overhead baffle works by stopping or slowing rounds that would normally fly over a backstop berm due to the elevation of the rifle. Baffles will not stop:
  • Ricochets or rebounds off the ground, impact berm, or other downrange structures (such as metallic targets), OR;
  • Shots fired from ahead of, behind, or to either side of the baffle.
A baffle built to contain centerfire rifle shots will be more substantial than one for most pistol calibers.

Baffles do get in the way of some shooting events. I've heard BR shooters complain about the baffles on my home range. "They mess up the wind - can't you remove them?". Whiners. Remove the baffles, and it won't be long before the club gets shut down due to bullets being launched off the property. Here's a cardinal rule for running matches: Conditions don't have to be perfect - but everyone does have to shoot under similar conditions for the match to be fair. In my club's case, the baffles might mess up the wind, but they do so for all shooters. Thus, the matches are fair.

EDITED TO ADD: It is not unheard of for anti-gun landowners living near a gun club to "seed" their property with fired bullets, thus making it look like shots from the club are responsible. Or to have rounds fired from somewhere other than the club land on their property.
 
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While baffling is pretty much a safety necessity these days, one of the down sides I have experienced on the range we shoot at in Tacoma, Wa., is the affect of heavy rain dripping in LARGE drops off the baffles and being hit by a bullet. I can not positively say for sure, but during some hard rains up here, I have had shots go to totally unexpected impacts while observing large drops coming off the baffle about 4-5 yards in front of the bench. Not much you can do about it, but it's always in the back of my mind during rainy match days.
Actually I guess you could put some kind of gutter on each baffle to drain the water out of the line of fire.

FWIW
Steve Kostanich
 
Asa Yam said:
An overhead baffle works by stopping or slowing rounds that would normally fly over a backstop berm due to the elevation of the rifle. Baffles will not stop:
  • Ricochets or rebounds off the ground, impact berm, or other downrange structures (such as metallic targets), OR;
  • Shots fired from ahead of, behind, or to either side of the baffle.
A baffle built to contain centerfire rifle shots will be more substantial than one for most pistol calibers.

Baffles do get in the way of some shooting events. I've heard BR shooters complain about the baffles on my home range. "They mess up the wind - can't you remove them?". Whiners. Remove the baffles, and it won't be long before the club gets shut down due to bullets being launched off the property. Here's a cardinal rule for running matches: Conditions don't have to be perfect - but everyone does have to shoot under similar conditions for the match to be fair. In my club's case, the baffles might mess up the wind, but they do so for all shooters. Thus, the matches are fair.

EDITED TO ADD: It is not unheard of for anti-gun landowners living near a gun club to "seed" their property with fired bullets, thus making it look like shots from the club are responsible. Or to have rounds fired from somewhere other than the club land on their property.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. Agreed, better to have a baffle, than no where to shoot.
 
Good post Jim, now I get the shooters viewpoint of the baffles. Thanks


I could see where water dripping from them could be a concern though. As said earlier though, all shooters would be under the same conditions so its fair. On the other hand I see the resistance to them though. Looks like a very expensive project with the price of steel and wood nowadays. Or are those treated wood posts ?
 
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Greg 79 F150 said:
After reviewing the PDF drawings I must be missing something here. It looks like the muzzle side of the shed roof shows a 6'6" elevation from grade to the underside of the fascia board. Our rifle shed has that now. I cannot see how this baffle design is preventing "over the berm" rounds. Bumfuzzled here..
Click to expand...

It's not the absolute elevation that is important. You have to play with the geometry a little. Say the rifle muzzle is at 3 feet and the bullet fired stays below the 6'-6" baffle at some distance away. When you extend that angle out to the berm, the berm has to be at least that high. If it isn't, you have 3 choices, raise the berm, lower the baffle or extend the baffles further (or a combination).
 
Greg,
We share the same range so I share your "pain"..... I started a similar thread on www.bench-talk.com to try and get ideas for "resolve" of this issue that may be passed along to the BOD,they have a great task before them and I am sure they would welcome any helpful information. If you talk to Mike before I do, please advise him of our efforts....hope to see you on the range soon.

-H
 
Hi Hope, good to see your still shooting, I will check your link out. Mike told me you knew somewhere to shoot while we are closed,send me a email. thanks Greg
 
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Our two best and most modern ranges here in Utah are run by our Division of Natural Resources and they have baffles. We have two matches per year at one of these ranges and THEY DO mess up some nice groups. If the wind has any down vector to it (which most windflags do not account for) or if the wind comes across flat but at 90 degrees to the direction of the baffle itself, there can be huge changes in vertical.

So we watch the flags carefully. I personally try to never shoot in a tail wind or headwind at this range. Quartering wind can also give vertical. I try and wait until the wind gets at 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock.

One time last season while shooting at 200 yards, I waited as long as possible for my 3 o'clock wind to come back but I began to run out of time and the flags were showing 5 o'clock. So I had to finish my group in a condition I didn't like. I fired a sighter and watched my hole appear 2" lower than where they had been going! So I fired two more sighters and they landed low as well. So with 1 minute left, I went back up to the record and held 2" higher than I had been and managed to stack the last 4 shots (unlimited) into the group.

The point of all this I guess is to show what baffles can do. I don't think I would have had 2" of drop on a non-baffle range in that condition all else being equal.

BTW, Tomd, nice desktop photo. Monument valley is one of my favorite places.
 
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Everyone best get used to baffled ranges. With the legal climate in the country, in ten years I can't see how any range could get insurance without. I know Dublin, GA has had trouble with the occasional round getting over the berm and hitting a highway maintenance depot a mile or tow up by the paved road. The writing is on the wall, only a matter of time.

Our club just spent close to $100K getting a master plan for a major expansion program, preparing Engineered submittal drawings and subsurface investigations so we are serious about remaining an active range near a rapidly expanding major metro area.

At the end of March, Bill Dittman has invited me to attend with him a 5 day seminar on range safety, maintenance, insurance, construction, etc. We'll know a lot more afterwards.
 
We have a different style of baffling at one of the clubs I have membership in. The baffles are wooden boxes aprox 4' high. The boxes are 8" wide and filled with pea rock. Theres 4 sets of baffles on the 100 yard range. Our 600 yard prone range is also baffled.

Lack of common sense causes bullets to leave a range. Our state police were doing some training exercises at another club I have a membership. They had their targets posted at 25 yards. The troopers were firing from the hip with their assualt rifles while they walked towards the target. We watched their bullets hit the ground and then go zinging through the trees above our 100 yard berm. I'd be affraid to guess how many of their bullets left our property that day, they fired a few thousand rounds.

Yes, they were told they wouldn't be doing that exercise again.
 
AJ300MAG said:
We have a different style of baffling at one of the clubs I have membership in. The baffles are wooden boxes aprox 4' high. The boxes are 8" wide and filled with pea rock. Theres 4 sets of baffles on the 100 yard range. Our 600 yard prone range is also baffled.
Click to expand...

If you have enough property, 3 inches of pine is sufficient. Unless it is AP, a round hitting 3 inches of pine is so destabilized and deformed that it is coming down no further than a couple of hundred feet away. This usually works because the concern is to keep the rounds on the property. Get one past the berm and you have to worry about 5 miles downrange.
 
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They use them at Fairfax. Va ;and I have gotten used to them but , no I don't like them but I have seen a lot of great shooting done there. Wayne Shaw might be able to send you pictures of what they use there if interested.
 
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