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I am building a field target corse at the local gun range. It will be open to the public next week.
I started to lay out the lanes and the area has a nice small grove perfectly suited to field target. It’s about 40 yards wide 70+ yards deep. To go wider is a little more work .
Here is the question. Should l build it with 4 or 5 lanes ?

A. 5 lanes with 2 targets per lane?
B. 4 lanes slightly further apart with 3 targets per lane ?
C. 5 lanes with 3 targets per lane?
The difference is three feet apart or five feet apart.
I kinda like 4 lanes with 3 targets I have 12 targets already .
Plus I don’t expect a huge crowd and we can always expand later.
But that’s a bit of work.

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I burned up my weed wacker and still have to cut the lanes.
 
My favorite matches are the kind where the lanes are all random distances apart....where the match director specifically took advantage of a shade tree here or there for the lane marker. Or had a really cool landscape feature that they wanted to use.

Perfectly spaced out distances between shooters is for benchrest. And we do indeed have a ft club here in AZ that chose to go that route, out of convenience. They shoot from a concrete slab under a cover at an established range. All the lane markers are the same distance apart. Targets are all at 90 degrees to the firing line. No topography. No natural features. It's like a benchrest match, but from ft positions, and on steel. Envision an overzealous range officer barking orders and that's the kind of environment they're shooting field target from. Very vanilla, very sterile. Same thing every month. Not much ranging skill necessary once you knock a target or two down cuz you can eyeball down the line and pretty much know how far each target is. Any field target is fun, but those firing line type matches are harder to enjoy versus matches where the match director emphasizes variety and taking advantage of the natural landscape and topography to make it a unique experience.
 
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Thanks I can run through the corse twice . 12 target shot twice is 24 shots. Two loops makes it a 48 shot corse.

But how far apart do the lanes need to be? Three or six feet apart.

If I run five lanes there is about 3 feet between lanes. With 4 lanes there is about 5 feet between lanes I am using 2x4 buried in the ground as toe boards.
 
Thanks I can run through the corse twice . 12 target shot twice is 24 shots. Two loops makes it a 48 shot corse.

But how far apart do the lanes need to be? Three or six feet apart.

If I run five lanes there is about 3 feet between lanes. With 4 lanes there is about 5 feet between lanes I am using 2x4 buried in the ground as toe boards.

I'll try again....

Let the area determine the lane markers location and spacing. Got a cool V in a tree down close to the ground? shoot through the V, set the lane markers so that the angle is correct. Etc.

Nobody likes to cook in the sun, so if you've got a nice dense spot of shade...lane marker goes there. Etc.
 
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Thanks I am going back in the morning with a new weed eater.
I am going to rethink the set up. It felt tight after I put in the first lane then the second seemed to close. There is kinda a tree line. And thicker brush .
I get definitely get the shooting line is for benchrest. I don’t want that.

I’m trying to take as much advantage of the natural landscape. It is a field behind a large berm . I am parallel with a pistol range. It looks like the used some big equipment and made a pistol bay that has dirt walls all around. I am on the other side of that. And all the trees and less than 20 years old. No shade from them at all.

But plenty of room. But I am just one person. Maybe I build three lanes at first then add three more as time passes.
The over view I have the sight in range with bench in red the green box is what I have to work with.

The trees are little pines fifteen to twenty feet high. Just weed trees . I suspect it is a land fill.

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Looks like a perfectly fine area to have a match in. I'd rather shoot a course on this property where you'll be having matches, then on a gravel parking lot.

Some other ideas...
I've seen matches where all the shooting lanes make a big C or U shape, shooting outwards so there's no safety concerns. I've shot matches where the lanes were WAY too close together, and I've shot matches where there was a solid 30-40 yard between each lane marker.

Try to use what you've got. Even placing a target right at the base of one of your new growth trees is more interesting than just out in the open. And mounted to trees, even only as high as you can reach off the ground, adds variety and makes a course more interesting.

Looks like maybe a minor drainage runs through the area? If so, place a shooting lane down in the bottom or vice versa, to induce some incline/decline to make folks have to consider that a bit during the match.

You can even add character.....like a 50 gallon bucket with ends chopped off, put that 2/3 of the way to a 45-55 yard target and make guys shoot through the "tunnel." Drag tree limbs into the shooting lanes to make people consider shooting around/through the obstacles too.

Lots of ways to make a course more enjoyable.
 
I am restricted to shooting north. I might be able to angle west a bit . But I gotta keep the pellets flying north. And I think I am going to look at building one lane a week rather than five close lanes in one weekend. It’s a lot of brush to clear on the other side of the trees .
But it really is an ideal spot .
It has everything from parking lot, a spot o pot and it’s a regular public range . So anyone can practice for 15 bucks.