Dirt backstops

Archeryrob · Jun 21, 2018

I got two yards of top soil this spring and pilled them up as a crossbow and rifle backstop for 50 yards at my house. I figured it was ready andmy daughter shot it with a crossbow bolt and it sank 20" plus deep. Now I got to try and find it with a metal detector and dig it out.

How long does it take for dirt to compact?

Inigoes · Jun 21, 2018

About 2 years.

Depends on the Amount of rainfall, really.

welder516 · Jun 21, 2018

About 30 years or so , you have to tamp down the soil IMHO after you place layer upon layer .

That is to do it as tight as possible , but loose dirt will be loose dirt or mud for a while .

gtodave · Jun 21, 2018

welder516 said:
About 30 years or so

What? Way less than that.

At my old house, my neighbor and I both built garages within a couple years of each other. We both had to build up dirt to build on. Both were hard enough to build on after about a month. Each time there were some hard rains that helped pack things down, but both times the county tested the hardness of the soil, and could barely get the tool in the ground.

It really depends on rain. You need a hard rain or two to pack it all down, and then you need dryness for it to harden up.

welder516 · Jun 21, 2018

gtodave said:
What? Way less than that.

At my old house, my neighbor and I both built garages within a couple years of each other. We both had to build up dirt to build on. Both were hard enough to build on after about a month. Each time there were some hard rains that helped pack things down, but both times the county tested the hardness of the soil, and could barely get the tool in the ground.

It really depends on rain. You need a hard rain or two to pack it all down, and then you need dryness for it to harden up.

I was kinda playing , to really compact ground without the use of nature you really have to get in a tamp it .

In our fire lane at our shop we needed to compact the dirt to certain requirements so fire trucks would not sink . If i was putting in a back stop i would tamp .

Alea Jacta Est · Jun 21, 2018

Soil is a hole subject area for civil engineers...

Different dirt acts differently for many things. Compacting. Absorption. Mixing with other dirt. Etcetera.

outrider58 · Jun 21, 2018

Nnztg8r said:
Soil is a hole subject area for civil engineers...

Different dirt acts differently for many things. Compacting. Absorption. Mixing with other dirt. Etcetera.

This is holey true. :rolleyes:

Topsoil is meant to be light and arable. You don't want it to be able to be compacted. It defeats the purpose.

Put a couple-three layers of cardboard up first and see if that helps to slow the bolts down some.

Mr. Ed · Jun 21, 2018

A couple of layers of landscape cloth under the top layer of soil will help, too.

Occam · Jun 21, 2018

Also, if you stand a deer up there in front of the backstop, it soaks up a lot of the energy. In our neighborhood, there's a damn deer standing in front of everything. Well, everything except ornamental shrubs, because they ate those already.

buellsfurn · Jun 21, 2018

outrider58 said:
This is holey true.

Topsoil is meant to be light and arable. You don't want it to be able to be compacted. It defeats the purpose.

Put a couple-three layers of cardboard up first and see if that helps to slow the bolts down some.

this, top soil not meant to compact bank run IMO something with lots of clay a wood wall behind bank run couldn't hurt

willtill · Jun 21, 2018

Occam said:
Also, if you stand a deer up there in front of the backstop, it soaks up a lot of the energy. In our neighborhood, there's a damn deer standing in front of everything. Well, everything except ornamental shrubs, because they ate those already.

.

Blacksmith101 · Jun 21, 2018

If you don't have a deer handy a couple of straw bales will help with the arrows.

According to Hatcher's Notebook page 408 the average penetration of a .30-06 in loose earth at 200 yds. is 19.0".
https://archive.org/details/Hatchers_Notebook

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