Anyone Get Black Nose From an Indoor Range?

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DMW1116

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Oct 10, 2020
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I was shooting a Victory 22 and Blackhawk with cast bullets and Titegroup. These were pretty smokey. I typically shoot outdoors, and have only shot at an indoor range two other times. Is this normal?
 
warnerwh said:
The indoor part at my range has ventilation that replaces all of the air inside of the building every minute or two. I would not shoot anywhere that didn't have excellent ventilation.
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They may have excellent air handling, but I doubt they are replacing all the air in the building with outdoor air every minute or two. Would be extremely $$ to do that if you want to control temp and humidity. Regs here for hospitals, they have to have 2 exchanges per hour with outdoor air in most locations; ANSI/ASHRAE/ASHE Addendum p to ANSI/ASHRAE/ASHE Standard 170-2017

Semantics somewhat, but they could be filtering the air and running it back through every 2 minutes.
 
"Semantics somewhat, but they could be filtering the air and running it back through every 2 minutes.[/QUOTE]

It may not be every couple of minutes but there's a massive pump working the ventilation. I'm pretty sure they're not filtering the air but will ask. Last year the indoor range had a complete makeover but whenever I was in there before the makeover I knew I was breathing clean air. I don't even know why they spent all that money other than to make it nicer than it was but I've not been in it since the redo. It is a very respectable range I belong to. There's money to make sure everything is in nice condition and knowing the officers they aren't the kind of people who would cheap out on people's health to save a few bucks.
 
I have, if you continue, your lead levels will become elevated for a couple years after you stop but will eventually get back to normal.
 
I don’t shoot there often, maybe 2x in as many years. Sounds like I won’t be back.
 
I used to shoot at an indoor range until I traced my high blood leads levels back to there.

A quick check if you light a match or a lighter the flame should be headed down range if it's not that's not good.
 
Shooting wise I had a pretty good day. I worked in my slow and rapid fire bullseye shooting. I didn’t really think of anything as it was pretty crowded and the odor of gunpowder didn’t seem out of place. There was definitely no breeze blowing toward the berm. I’ve had black nose worse when testing welders and watching them grind their coupons. That just smelled like iron/steel. I’ll have to ask them when I go back. They are a reliable source of primers and SW brand powders.
 
One range I've shot at on the other side of town you'd blow black soot out of your nose for the rest of the day.
Ventilation was so bad the range officer was helping a new shooter next to me. He had her all set up. I heard him tell her to go ahead and shoot. She told him she couldn't see the target. LOL I was shooting some smokey 44 mag reloads. You'd swear they were loaded with black powder.
 
Sounds about like what I experienced. I was shooting some cast HBWC loads over Titegroup. I’ve previously only shot these outdoors and on days where the target stands had to be weighted down. I didn’t notice any smoke then.
 
I did once when shooting a good amount of hardcast in my 10mm. This was in a place with what seemed to be good ventilation and they kept the floor and desks very clean. Lately I have been only using outdoor ranges, which give me peace of mind and are better for my mental health. Of course if it's super wet in TX it may mean I don't get to go.
 
Ohen Cepel said:
Regs here for hospitals
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Stolen from here: https://www.nssf.org/articles/understanding-government-range-ventilation-criteria/
NIOSH – National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
What NIOSH says – NIOSH has published the following detailed design criteria for the ventilation of indoor ranges, originally written in 1975 and updated in 2007:

  • NIOSH suggests 75 feet per minute air flow velocity at the firing line, with a minimum acceptable flow of 50 feet per minute. To maintain readings over 50 feet per minute in all areas at the firing line, the supply design must be designed at 75 feet per minute.
  • NIOSH suggests that the exhaust is designed at 10-percent greater air flow than the supply.
  • NIOSH suggests that the firing line be placed at least 15 feet from the rear wall to allow the air to minimize turbulence at the firing line (and prevent backflow of contaminated air).
  • NIOSH suggests that the minimum final filter is a HEPA filter that must capture a minimum of 99.97 percent of contaminates 0.3-micron in size.
  • NIOSH recommends a “modern computer-operated” controls system. This is typically referred to as a Direct Digital Control (DDC) system.
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Now, many locations will require some form of "heat recovery" for the exhaust air, as the above standard suggests a 10% exhaust volume. "Make up air" will want filtering before being conditioned, too.

How that's read as a statement of design will matter, too. Moving an entire bay of air versus each shooting position will make a design difference. A 6x6x10 bay is 360cf it would need to be replaced every 4.8 minutes.
 
DMW1116 said:
I was shooting a Victory 22 and Blackhawk with cast bullets and Titegroup. These were pretty smokey. I typically shoot outdoors, and have only shot at an indoor range two other times. Is this normal?
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No it is not normal. A good indoor range should have good air handlers. A good system should turn over the range air every few min. There are, as posted, actual health guidelines published on this subject.

Ron
 
chicharrones said:
20 years ago I went to some old school indoor ranges that the smoke would hang around much too long.
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Same here. There was a indoor range and shop north of Columbus, OH I used to go to... you walk out of there after a range session, you could taste lead at the back of your throat, and you were blowing black crap out of your nose for 2 days. There were a few other ranges I've been to that were pretty close, but not quite that bad... back in the day.

The 2 indoor ranges I frequent now are newer, and have all sorts of air circulation equipment going.
 
I'm not going to say that I've experienced that in every single indoor range I've ever spent any significant time in, because it sticks in my head that maybe there was one that didn't do that. But certainly the huge majority of them will result in at least some visible buildup in the nose. One of my post-shooting routines is to clean my nose out as best I can.
 
You are getting blow-by from the cylinder gap in the Blackhawk and it may be directed back towards your face before the exhaust can extract it. Most folks hold their breath when shooting for accuracy and the first thing they do after the shot is take a breath.
 
I don’t remember anything like that. It just smelled a lot like the smell I remember the first time I shot my buddies AR and the smell of Aguila rimfire ammo, which I was using.
 
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