Building a personal 1K range. What direction?

[BillyGoatGruff]

Hey Guys,
I'm setting up a little practice range on my mom's farm. Question, Do I set it up North South or East West? or does it even matter? East to West is much easier to set up. No real work necessary to do. Already has a natural backstop. North South will take more effort.

At what range will Coriolis significantly come into play? I might try to stretch the range to 12-1300 if I can.

Thanks,

 

[Schnyd112]

North/south. shooting north you will never have the sun in your eyes.

 

[MudRunner2005]

North/south. shooting north you will never have the sun in your eyes.

What he said.

 

[bigngreen]

I would put it so your average prevailing wind is 90 degrees to your shooting direction, you do not want to be doing most of your shooting with a tail or head wind!!

 

[J E Custom]

North would be the best in my opinion because north light is the truest.
(no refraction).

If you can, leave any trees you can to produce a lane on each side to help the/any Windage issues.

J E CUSTOM

 

[BillyGoatGruff]

No trees, wide open Colorado prairie. Wind is not a problem most the time, although when I was out there on Sunday at dawn it was as calm as I've ever had it. I shot zero wind out to 714 yd then about 7am I had a 5mph for my shots at 1000.
My current range is set up east to west. Sun at my back and I normally start shooting at sun up to try to beat the heavier wind. You can always count on a 10-15mph wind from all directions. Sunday once it started it was from the north. I'd say the prevailing is a nw or sw most of the time
Part of my problem is it's just rolling enough, I cant see the target from a prone position in some places. So I set up shooting positions from small rises at whatever distance they happen to be. Currently 489,714, 1001 and 1120. 300 and under I do at my club range. FYI it's an hour drive to the farm and 15 minutes to the club.
I think when I have more time I'll try to set something up south to north. Probably next summer. I'll have to do some checking next time I go.

Thanks for the suggestions

 

[codyadams]

I would put it so your average prevailing wind is 90 degrees to your shooting direction, you do not want to be doing most of your shooting with a tail or head wind!!

I agree with this....also keep in mind terrain issues. Hills in between you and your target + tail/head winds can create up drafts, thus giving you false readings when verifying trajectory. Also, they can create more mirage.

Whatever you do, make sure and do one thing. Try not to just shoot in one location, because certain issues may or may not exist at your personal range that may or may not be where you take your shot while hunting. It's easy to get a favorite spot and not shoot anywhere else, but it can create some habits and inhibit learning. I have 4 or 5 different locations that I shoot, one is great wide open with a strait left to right wind, another, depending on distance, has 3 or 4 hills in between me and the target with a tail or 45 degree tail wind, and nearer to the target has a left to right wind, another is up a large canyon with a bunch of draws coming into it, and wind is extremely hard to read and constantly changing. That one keeps me humble. If I only shot at the easiest range, I may have a misconception about my maximum range, and think that I can shoot 1100 yards up this canyon because I do it all the time at my other range....well with shifting winds at 3 and 4 different directions, your effective 1st round hit range is decreased.

Coriolis comes into play around 1000ish yards and over, but calculating for it is not a big deal. Wind is what is going to give you the most grief. Anyway, enjoy your range, it will be fun!!

 

[Dranger45]

Since you can easily set the east-west, do the north-south as well.

 

[BillyGoatGruff]

I agree with this....also keep in mind terrain issues. Hills in between you and your target + tail/head winds can create up drafts, thus giving you false readings when verifying trajectory. Also, they can create more mirage.

Whatever you do, make sure and do one thing. Try not to just shoot in one location, because certain issues may or may not exist at your personal range that may or may not be where you take your shot while hunting. It's easy to get a favorite spot and not shoot anywhere else, but it can create some habits and inhibit learning. I have 4 or 5 different locations that I shoot, one is great wide open with a strait left to right wind, another, depending on distance, has 3 or 4 hills in between me and the target with a tail or 45 degree tail wind, and nearer to the target has a left to right wind, another is up a large canyon with a bunch of draws coming into it, and wind is extremely hard to read and constantly changing. That one keeps me humble. If I only shot at the easiest range, I may have a misconception about my maximum range, and think that I can shoot 1100 yards up this canyon because I do it all the time at my other range....well with shifting winds at 3 and 4 different directions, your effective 1st round hit range is decreased.

Coriolis comes into play around 1000ish yards and over, but calculating for it is not a big deal. Wind is what is going to give you the most grief. Anyway, enjoy your range, it will be fun!!

Yep, the wind got me the other day. Like I said I had zero wind first thing and it felt so calm. After I shot at 714 and moved to 1001 and shot another group( trying to do some trajectory validation) When I went to check the target I had no impacts? Dam, wth? then I felt it. just the slightest wind. 3-4 mph I only had a small target of 14" wide. that slight wind pushed my bullets off target. Lesson learned, pay better attention to the conditions... I guess Im so used to it blowing all the time that a breath of wind had me thinking it was clam. 4mph is 18" of drift for my bullet. Another note to self. Bring a bigger piece of cardboard..

I'm going to look at a north south setup this weekend when I go again and see if it will work. The area where I can set up N. S. safely has a long steady rise over the course of a mile with the high point pretty close to the middle. need to see if I can see the target after I get past 5-600 yards from a prone position.

Thanks for the comments everyone

 

[Zerk]

North/south. shooting north you will never have the sun in your eyes.

If there is alot of wood to clear, the inconvience of select shooting times, may be worth it.

 

[Frank in the Laurels]

Either with or into the prevailing winds at your location most of the time...too much N/S gets the spinning of the earth involved also, keep that in mind. 10-4 o'clock would be my choice in my area because of the constant wind direction the vast majority of the time.

 

[Kansaswoodguy]

My 1000yd target is two 4'x4' AR400 3/8" plates with a 12"x20" IDPA hanging between them. We got really tired of wasting so much ammo trying to get on target. You may have better back stop materiel that allows the misses to be seen I don't have that luxury.

 

[JTB]

We set up a range on our ranch that I luckily live on. About 5 minutes by RZR to the range. The best thing we did is to pour a concrete shooting table.

We hung 18"x18" steel at 500, 750, 1000, 1200 and 2000 yards. Those distances used to hone-in the ballistics calculators. Have paper set up at 100, 200 and 300 yards. Runs north to south by necessity.

 

[orangediablo]

I would put it so your average prevailing wind is 90 degrees to your shooting direction, you do not want to be doing most of your shooting with a tail or head wind!!

can you explain? I'm assuming there will be a vertical shift that is harder to correct than a horizontal shift? Or am I way off.