stationary shooting position , stationary target , 25 meters / 27 yards you can teach a heck of a lot with 22lr rifle and pistol , you can teach shooting that transfers over to get you out to 400 yards

if you can add places to shoot back to 100 you can train even more moving the shooter not the berm all you need is a flat spot to sit/kneel and a place to lay prone.

I would let everyone cut their teeth on 22lr rifles , then pistols good instruction

really a few of your dump truck loads worth of clean fill to make a pile ideally about 10 feet high , but honestly if you keep the targets low one dump would be safe for slower fire stuff , with back berms we are always thinking sort of worsted case

it also depends on neighbors and how far and where they are.

closer neighbor taller berm
natural hill no or less berm


it is when you get out of the basics of handgun you want space to move , to learn to move and shoot and shoot fast so you want more berm and side berms

if you keep collecting fill as you can you could make a nice set up without a lot of money invested

It’s about 50yds to the target from here. Gonna try and get some dirt moved in this week.

Direction the range faces is often over looked. If you can shooting to the north is best. Shooting east or west sucks in the morning and evening you end up looking into the sun and south stinks mid day. North in the northern hemisphere the sun is always to your back.

Mine is just the base of a 12' hill and I put a few load of sand in it in one spot so it's easier to recover lead if I decide I want to start casting. I'm blessed it's 500 yards and I move shooting locations not adding more berms. Unfortunately it faces south and mid day shooting can stink especially in winter when the sun sits lower in the sky.

for targets .I have some steel and spinners as well as a wood frame .with ply wood for papers target needs

For new shooter don't over look quality air guns. They are cheaper to shoot and develop fundamentals just as well.

Give me some measures, like what would be a reasonable shot with a .22 rifle, open sights from 50yds?

that depend on what your shooting at. Scout camp as a kid they used 50 foot NRA targets and the NRA program. started off shooting from bench but after scoring well enough moved to position shooting

Honest I would look into what the NRA offers and decide. The shooting education programs is in my opinion the absolute best thing they do.

I know at 50 yards with iron sights I struggle to hit anything smaller than a chew can, but mostly just because the front sight covers most (or all) of the can

I can’t even see a chew can at that distance. lol

I can’t see much smaller than this.

why bother with the back stop if the targets are so high bullets shoot over it? Seems like it would work better of the target we're placed lower . I could be missing something not in frame or it's the Camara angle .

Looks like more dirt is in order

Yes, more dirt will be required. Currently there is no one there so shooting into nothing wouldn’t be an issue. Future plans for the property will make it necessary to confine this area.