How much does a load of fill dirt cost typically?

[FTG-05]

Re; Dumping on a side hill.
Your quite right, I just retired from 14 years in a dump truck and there would be no way that I would raise a box on anything but reasonbly level gound, especially with dirt. Dirt can be a little sticky especially when it is moist. In the yearIs I worked I never laid a truck or trailer on its side but three of my coworkers did and I've seen a few pup trailers on their side too.
If it's wet dumping down hill it can be problem driving an empty truck up grade without gravel. It always worked best backing up an upgrade as far as I could and then dumping. Pulling an empty truck and trailer downhill usually worked quite well, even when the site was greasy wet.
My employer charged by the hour if a truck got stuck, and charged for the tow also.

I'll have to show pics of the 2 areas I plan to put my pistol range and see what you guys think - especially you since you have experience dumping dirt. I suspect Location #1 (Poplar grove) will be a No Go; but it will be interesting to get your opinion.

The person I'll be buying the dirt from is a one man operation and I'd hate to put him out of business, if only for a couple hours while we try to find a tow company willing to retrieve his truck. Not only does the side hill/Poplar grove pose a problem for the dump truck, but also the tow truck.

Still too wet to take pics. Stay tuned!

 

[FTG-05]

Here is a picture of my 50 yard pistol range with berms at 10,25, and a trench berm at 50 yds. [ the berms are actually a yard or two past the 10,25,50, with the target shepards hooks about at the right distance... ] It is built kind of on a side hill shooting down some. I could have put it shooting into the hill, but that would be towards my house/barn and the gravel road. This is pointed out back into the hardwoods.... I have changed it some since 2014, and it needs work since a big beech fell near it about a month ago. With another dead beech I need to take down for safety reasons [ beeches are falling like flies up here from the beetles/fungus ]... I have a shooting table on the rise that has a treated wood structure on the right to hold a catch tarp for the brass out of my Glock 17. Have run thousands of rounds thru it shooting at the AR500 targets... Cheap entertainment...

PS: Just bought me an 18" AR500 gong on Amazon. Going to extend my in ground trench/berm out some this Spring so I can do the 80 yard gong thing like my hero Hickok45... don't think I will be trying any gong pistol shooting out at 230 yards like he does, though... Life is GOOD

Thanks for posting the pics!

We should turn this thread into a "Show Your Pistol Range" pic thread. Whattya think???

 

[JerryK]

Thanks for posting the pics!

We should turn this thread into a "Show Your Pistol Range" pic thread. Whattya think???

OK with me, but mine is not that big. We have guys up here that have underground pistol ranges that they can use year round. No mosquitoes/gnats/etc....

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

If there is a construction nearby, most contractors are happy to give away you haul dirt. Many times the contractors we worked with made arrangements with a homeowner or farmer and we would haul the dirt to their designated dump site. I don't know how the payments were arranged, but we were just getting truck time for the job. The contractor was avoiding paying a dump fee, (about $5 a yard) at a county approved fill site, and paying less truck time since his arranged site was usually considerably closer to his job. We did this for anything from two or three loads to thousands of yards. If homeowners called our dispatch we would haul the dirt to them for a nominal fee, (probably that same $5 a yard) and charge the contractor hourly truck time with no dump fee. Ask around and you may find your dirt, dirt cheap. Just wait for a week or two of dry weather to start your project.

 

[dragoneggs]

I know this might not help but I have been on the giving and receiving end of 100s of yards of free fill. First, when I put in a sports court on my previous property and I had about 400 yards moved out to create a flat sunken area for a 30 by 60ft concrete pad. I put a sign out on the road... free fill you haul. Within a day I had someone arrange to haul all I wanted. Recently, my neighbor put in a huge retaining wall and I got hundreds of yards free delivered because I was next door and it saved him money... I didn't even need to load/haul it, he just travelled a few hundred feet with a decent sized loader. I guess what I am saying, is to advertise your need and maybe you will get lucky with a close by neighbor. Here is my before/after fill... I added a drive around my greenhouse after giving so much away twenty years ago.

 

[beeforty]

I've received lots of free dirt but I've been turned down probably better that 10 to 1 because I was to far away. The free dirt with free delivery always goes to the person who is closest and has the easy room for the trucks to come in, dump and pull out quickly. Usually CL is good for me, but I've stopped by construction sites when out and about when I see trucks being loaded and ask if they need a place to dump. Sometimes you get lucky.

 

[JerryK]

Be careful when trolling for free dirt. Make sure they understand you want dirt only, no concrete. Some folks will take advantage of you... even dump construction debris mixed in with the ' dirt '...

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

Be careful when trolling for free dirt. Make sure they understand you want dirt only, no concrete. Some folks will take advantage of you... even dump construction debris mixed in with the ' dirt '...

Yup that is true. It took the company I worked for years to get contactors to try to segregate their waste products. Our dump sites were permitted and monitored by the county so we could not accept mixed waste. It took the owner/manager having to visit the job sites and threaten the contractor that any mixed waste loads would be taken to the garbage dump and dumped at the rate of $100 per ton. (30 ton loads)
We had a freesite for clean asphalt and we accepted concrete or dirt for a fee. Often the asphalt waste was hauled to the same pit we loaded the pit run, so it was a win win for the contractor. Still, some thought it too much of a bother to segregate their waste.

 

[tmc_31]

My neighbor wanted a pistol range in his back yard so he bought about 50 "bin blocks" (these are 2X2X3 concrete blocks that are keyed and slotted so they are stackable. They weigh about 3600lb each.) He built a 20'X8' rear wall and 2-10' wing walls that tapered down. Then he filled the area in front of the wall and between the wings with dirt. The blocks cost about $35.00 each plus hauling. I hauled them for him with my 1 ton truck and 22' GN trailer. I was limited to hauling 3 blocks at a time so many trips to the concrete yard (about 30 mi rnd trip). We used my skid loader to unload the blocks but had to rent an extended reach fork lift to stack the blocks. All in all, it worked out pretty well. It was not two expensive for him and I just have to step across the street to shoot whenever I want to

 

[FTG-05]

TMC, I think those are known as "Mafia Blocks", not sure why.

I thought of those as well.

However:

- Weight greater than my FEL can lift, so I'd have to rent something to get them off the truck or my trailer.
- $50 each is what they go for around here
- Semi-truck won't get down my one mile gravel road (if they're delivered) so I'd have to unload down at the blacktop one mile away (not a biggie in and of itself)
- Trailering them would require a +40 mile round trip (if I picked them up); one trip for three blocks.

I still need to take pics of the two areas where I want to set up pistol ranges and see what you guys think.

Thanks!