Building an indoor private range.

[Sisco]

Drawing up plans for a new house and had another one of my wonderful ideas. I was thinking of building an indoor range in the basement. I would use a 5' diameter concrete culvert that would extend from the basement wall about 20 yards. The inside end of the culvert would be contained in a room the size of a large bedroom, soundprofed and vented via one of those whole house vent fans. The room itself would be made of concrete block with a vault door so to serve as a combination walk-in gun safe and tornado shelter (it would also be my reloading room). The one thing I've yet to figrue out is how to seal the far end of the tunnel. It would need to be water proof yet absorb the bullets fired into it. What do you think? Practical or just a pipe dream?

[JoeHatley]

SK, I'll really envy you if you get this thing built. Try going here--> www.caswellintl.com (http://www.caswellintl.com)
for ideas. Good luck....


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Go NRA

[George Hill]

Seal it with cement - then line it with rail road ties. Probably 4 sections thick. Have the ties cut into cubes, then you could replace the cubes as they get shot up.



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"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
The Critic formerly known as Kodiac

[Sisco]

Joe & George, thanks for the input. The link to Caswell was really nice, the club I belong to wants (needs) a new indoor range as soon as funding is available. One thing I thought about after posting is the "Unlawful discharge of a firearm within the city limits" rule. If I build it, they better not come. ;-)
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Face piles of trials with smiles.
It riles them to believe
that you perceive the web they weave.
Keep on thinking free.
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[Dan]

I know a guy at work whose dad did something similar. He just took some cinderblocks out of his basement wall and dug into his backyard about 20 feet.

This set up worked pretty well for him until the winter and it's corresponding wet weather came. About mid feb. his backyard caved in.

You have to admire his initiative, however his execution left something to be desired.

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Dan

Check me out at:
www.mindspring.com/~susdan/interest.htm (http://www.mindspring.com/~susdan/interest.htm)
www.mindspring.com/~susdan/GlocksnGoodies.htm (http://www.mindspring.com/~susdan/GlocksnGoodies.htm)

[Cheapo]

It may be worth the bucks to invest in the Action Target (Provo, UT) flat steel spatterthebullet bullet trap. Great for pistol calibers and something like up to .30 Carbine or so.

A bullet trap for rifle calibers gets more problematical, with angled plates, etc.

IMHO, Caswell is a bit behind the times with their bullet trap stuff.

I strongly recommend the old-fashioned hand-cranked target carriers. The motor-drive systems are always breaking down, don't allow precise mid-range stopping (without added cost downrange sensor switching), and are more of a booger to work with.

Go a full 25 yards if you can, and put some baffles and foam in the tube to calm down the noise. It can be alarming!

[jimc]

for moving target's down range get some used or new if you want garage door opener motor's. also if you have access check out some concrete sewer piping. then you set your shooting position down a few feet lower than tube so you can do either sitting or standing position's. you can also use a hi-flow exhaust fan( look at uesd resturant equip. suppliers) for down range venting.
by the way the epa and haz-mat people consider anything less than 55gal drum as dumpable at your local dump/recycle( oil etc) if you seal it in 5 gal or less container's you should have no problem getting rid of it. at this time osha and the epa ONLY have reg's for lead paint! i know as i have been looking at doing an indi\oor range for the gen public.

[fal308]

I just helped install the new Caswell GranTrap system at an indoor range in St. Louis. This system is light years ahead of their old steel plate system; less lead dust and particles, quieter-less noise and reverb from weapons and no riccochetts. Www.bullettrap.com (http://Www.bullettrap.com) has photos etc of new style system.