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What We Look For in a Range Before We Rig a Moving Target

1 day ago
2 min read

The first walk of a new range is the same whether it is ours or yours. How long are the lanes. Is there a berm tall enough to screw earth anchors into, so the cable can run without a post. Are there trees that will take an eye bolt. And is the ground fit to shoot on today. Our new test site has a 50 m lane and a 100 m lane, a berm on the right around 14 feet high where 10 is enough, big trees on the far side, and gravel that drained overnight after rain. It passed.

Watch: First Shots Fired at Our New Test Site (3:37) on YouTube. The walk-through, and the unplanned first shots.

The new test range from the firing line: a mown 50 m lane on the right and a 100 m lane on the left
50 m on the right, 100 m on the left. More than enough for everything we test.

Lane length

50 m and 100 m. Most of what a moving target has to prove happens inside 100 m, and the longer runs we test elsewhere. A range does not need to be long to be useful for movement; it needs somewhere solid at each end of the cable.

Wooden shooting benches under the roofed firing line at the new test range
The firing line. Covered benches, gravel underfoot, dry the morning after rain.

The berm as an anchor

A berm at least 10 feet high can carry one end of the cable on its own. Screw-in earth anchors go straight into the top of it, the cable clips to the anchor, and there is no post to stand and nothing to dig. The berm on the right of this range is about 14 feet, so that is how the cable will run here.

The tall earth berm at the right of the range that will take screw-in earth anchors for the cable
The berm on the right is about 14 feet high. A cable needs 10, so earth anchors go straight into it and no post is needed.

Trees as anchors

Large trees on the far side give the other easy option: an eye bolt into the trunk and a carabiner on the eye bolt. A big birch on this range is the first one we will use, and the tree-to-tree setup is its own post.

Is it safe today

The site had rain the night before and was dry underfoot by morning, which says the drainage works. The owners were planning to replace the firing-line surface; on the day it did not need it. A range that holds water after rain is a range where setup takes longer and anchors do not seat, so the walk after rain is worth doing on purpose.

First shots on the new range from the bench with a scoped rimfire rifle
Not the plan for the day, but the rifle was in the van.

The berm and tree versions of the cable run are in Set Up a Moving Target System Without Digging Post Holes and Tree to Tree: A Moving Target Between Two Trees in 25 Minutes. For a demo on your own range, ask on the book a demo page.

 
 
 

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