Pistol Range in the Basement

[El Guero]

It's a long ways off, but it's one of my ideal to have an indoor pistol range in a house that I have built so that I could just go do some shooting whenever I felt like it (this would probably be in town, but who knows, it's a long ways off )

I was wondering if any folks from the High Road have looked into this or have a setup like I'm talking about. About how much does it normally cost? And most important, is it legal? I thought that maybe if it was sound-proofed somehow it might not matter but I know there are generally laws against discharging firearms in the city limits. What do you folks think?

 

[PAC 762]

I used to have one set up in my father's basement. It probably wasn't the safest set-up, so I'd rather not post exactly what I used as a back stop.

However, my sister had some jewelry stolen by a person who was fixing our roof. The police came unexpectedly to talk to my sister while I was shooting my buckmark in the basement. I stopped shooting before they came into the house, but they were outside and never mentioned hearing a thing.

 

[Gameface]

Oh man, so I'm not the only one with this dream? I always imagine that I do this after I hit the lotto. The indoor range is next to my bowling alley and below my casino/game room.

You sound a little more serious than I am, but I hope it's possible. This really is one of my Fantasies.

Gameface

 

[Andrew Rothman]

Have a look at this:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=54467

Never underestimate the power of the "search" button!

 

[IMtheNRA]

Your time would also be well invested in researching the best ventillation system for your range. I'd want the airborne lead, chemicals and the smoke cleared out as quickly as possible. I'd also take the time to sweep the range frequently to keep the flamable stuff like paper dust and unburned powder from building up to dangerous levels.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Speer makes plastic, primer only ammo -- I use it in my basement all the time.

 

[antsi]

A lot depends on how much shooting you want to do and what calibers.

I built a bullet trap for my basement. It is about the size of a file cabinet. Most of it is made of wood, except for the backstop which is 3/8" steel at a 45 degree angle. This directs the bullets downward into a sandbox lined with 1/8" steel. The sandbox is about 12" deep and the sand itself is about 8" deep. It does not require a great deal of metalworking to build one like this - the biggest issue is getting the steel cut to size and a lot of suppliers will do that part for you. Then it is essentially a matter of building a big wooden box.

Ventilation - it depends. I tend to just shoot a few five shot groups at at time - maybe 25 rounds at most - and .22 caliber only. The smoke/vapor/air pollution is minimal. A couple of bathroom type fans exhausting out a basement window is plenty sufficient for this. Naturally, if I was going to have a big shoot-fest with a lot of people all blazing away with .45 Colts and black powder revolvers, I would need a much more serious ventilation system.

Hanging some old blankets around the basement helps deaden the sound a lot. This is more for the shooter than for neighborhood disturbance issues - people standing outside the house don't seem to hear or notice at all, even in my yard standing right next to the house. My wife will often be out working in the garden or whatever and come in later with no idea I've been shooting.

I said .22's only, but I know my bullet trap is adequate for more than that. If I am working on a new hand load or whatever, I will ocassionally shoot off a few test rounds in a light target load. I do not make a regular habit of shooting centerfire in the basement, though, because it is heaps more smoky/lead-y/etc. - ventilation and noise are the limiting factor, not the bullet trap.

All in all it is a lot of fun and well worth the effort. Trying to get out to the range can be a difficult proposition if it is a busy week, but I can always find 15-20 minutes to loose off a few .22's in the basement. Also, I find that shooting a lot of .22 improves my shooting much moreso than shooting a lot of centerfire.

 

[JohnKSa]

If you're going to do this I HIGHLY recommend that you use only lead free ammunition. The bullets aren't so much an issue as the lead compounds in the primer.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Unless your basement is sealed from the rest of the house, with no internal air circulation to the basement, basement ranges really aren't a great idea.

Smoke from the powder and whatever lead that vaporizes via the heat of the ignition is going to contaminate your home. Even if you have a properly sealed range (from the rest of the house) with its own ventilation system, you will still end up with quite a bit of residue on the floor. This residue will end up being tracked into the rest of your home and that is not a good idea.

If you do have proper ventilation that brings in outside air and expels the inside air, you really need to have a filter setup to pull the lead fumes before the contaminated air ends up outside.

If you have children in your home, the threat of lead poisoning should preclude you from building the range. Lead poisoning can retard proper brain development.

Additionally, you would be better served if you shot lead free ammo with primers that do not include mercury. This would reduce quite a bit of the contamination risk.

Check with the NRA, they have a whole book on range designs and criteria that need to be met for a range to be safe to use. It covers everything from backstops to air flow rates, sound abatement, etc.

 

[JohnKSa]

If you have children in your home, the threat of lead poisoning should preclude you from building the range. Lead poisoning can retard proper brain development.

I might add "If you have children or ever plan to sell your house..."

One of these days, someone with one of these home ranges is going to get to be the test case. Someone's going to buy their house and then want to adopt kids. Some adoption agencies do lead tests. Imagine their surprise to find lead levels through the roof in the range area.

NOW, what to do? Unless they sold the house as is, my guess is they're on the hook for lead abatement in the contaminated area. You know that ain't gonna be cheap!

That's the best case scenario. Imagine what would happen if the new owners didn't discover the problem until their kids test out mentally retarded from lead contamination.

Get a GOOD QUALITY airgun. They put no lead into the air, and with the proper pellet trap there is zero lead dust to contend with.

 

[MICHAEL T]

Oh for the good old days when you didn t worry about lead this lead that . You just went downstairs set up your backstop and went to shooting. But in to days world we can t do any thing with out a gov. warning or a dam lawyer telling us what to do. I live many miles from a town so I mostley do as I please on my 55 A.

 

[tcsd1236]

Oh for the good old days when you didn t worry about lead this lead that . You just went downstairs set up your backstop and went to shooting.

However, people were ignorant of the hazards associated with the behavior. We KNOW what the risks are now. Why NOT be more cautious? There are some very serious long term effects of lead contamination.

 

[yankytrash]

antsi,

I saw now where the new fad is to put a top and bottom plate before the 45 degree plate, putting them at a more extreme angle, like 30 degrees. The exit hole is only a couple inches wide where the bullet then proceeds to the 45 degree plate. Eliminates "sweet spots" where the 45 degree plate is hit the most and causes ricochet.

'course, that was for commercial ranges where they're used daily, and often, with larger calibers.

 

[whm1974]

TrippyFool I have the same dream. However There some issues, manily venaltion and soundproofing, and yes lead can build up over time. Personally even with those issues solved I would stick with .22 LR. A airgun maybe a better solution.

-Bill

 

[El Guero]

Well since we're all dreaming here...

I'm 18 right now and since I plan on attending med school in a few years I've got a lot of ideas for toys.

I don't really intend to have just a room in my basement with some homemade bullet trap. I'm talking professional built like an indoor range that you go to on weekends, but only a lane or 2.

I understand that lead and ventilation will be a problem, but what do the indoor ranges do about this? Would I have to get it professionally cleaned annually or whenever depending on how much I shoot? I'm not really looking to do this on the cheap, but if it is going to be hugely expensive I'll just have to divert my fantasies to that Porsche 911.

 

[tcsd1236]

Would I have to get it professionally cleaned annually or whenever depending on how much I shoot?

Well, to put things in perspective, my National Guard armory shut down its indoor range because the EPA-mandated quaterly cleaning of the lead would have run 50K at a pop. Can you cough up that kind of dough?

 

[TechBrute]

The Compton Hunting Club in LA has an underground range. Basically, they dug a 100 yard trench and then laid 4' diameter concrete sewer pipe the length of the trench and then buried it. The top of the inside of the pipe had a metal I-beam the length of the pipe. There's a little electric cart that hangs from the I-beam and carries the targets down the beam. When the cart hits 25, 50, 75, and 100 yards, it trips a switch that turns on a small spot light that illuminates the target. The shooting bench is located in a 15x15 room that has stairs leading down to it. The walls of the room were covered in some sound deadening material. Firing a .308 in there wasn't painful, but I wouldn't do it without both plugs and muffs. The room had some sort of ventilation system. I don't know what kind of environmental concerns there were with it, but it IS in LA...

 

[whm1974]

Well, to put things in perspective, my National Guard armory shut down its indoor range because the EPA-mandated quaterly cleaning of the lead would have run 50K at a pop. Can you cough up that kind of dough?

How many people shoot there? For how long? I doupbt that one person shooting will put out that much lead.

-Bill

 

[El Guero]

Well, to put things in perspective, my National Guard armory shut down its indoor range because the EPA-mandated quaterly cleaning of the lead would have run 50K at a pop. Can you cough up that kind of dough?

That is ludicrously expensive, but how large was that range? And how many people were going to be using it and how frequently? Not to say it still wouldn't be expensive to do it at home, but a one or 2 lane range used by a guy and maybe his buddies is going to require much less maintence than one used by a Guard unit, which would lead me to assume it's a pretty big range.

 

[sturmruger]

My plan

You know what they say about great minds thinking alike!! I authored a thread back in December check it out here.

I think it is a great idea, I just wish I could figure out how much extra it will add to my mortgage?



Here is how I am thinking it will work. Read the thread I linked to. There were a lot of good ideas there.

 

[JohnKSa]

If you tell your insurance company that you have an indoor range, I'll bet they cancel you.

 

[Zundfolge]

If you tell your insurance company that you have an indoor range, I'll bet they cancel you.

Note to self: Don't invite insurance guy over for shooting


I think TechBrute and sturmruger have the right idea ... dig a trench and put in a big concrete pipe ... put a couple of large exhaust fans at the bullet trap end (maybe build a shed over it) and seal up "firing line" room well with a door that seals (wonder if a walk in refrigerator door would work).

If the pipe ran slightly downhill and you put a drain in at the bullet trap end you could hose out the tube once in a while and run the lead and unburned powder out (not sure if this would create groundwater problems).

Maybe put a door on the firing line end of the tube that sealed up good so you could seal it off if it caught fire (and to keep water out of your basement if it flooded for some reason).

downside is that 25yd of 48" pipe will probably cost in excess of $10,000

Hmm ... the wheels in my head are turning

 

[Dave R]

Speer makes plastic, primer only ammo -- I use it in my basement all the time.

Me too. In the garage, in my case. Easier to clean out. Works great. No implications for insurance, mortgage, etc.

 

[Wolfy]

Here is a guy with an outdoor range and his insurance company dropped him.

http://www.scfirearms.org/Merchants/StateFarm/

 

[FullClip]

HOLY SMOKIN" INSURANCE PREMIUMS!! Guess I'd better not let on about my trap throwers on the back deck and my bench rest under the deck for shooting even in bad weather!!

Glad I don't have the "Snake Farm" insurance like that poor guy. But like him, what was once pretty much my wilderness neighborhood has been slowly filling in with camps and a few year round houses within ear shot of the shooting range. No complaints yet, but I have voluntarily slowed down the action a lot and now mostly go to the gravel pits to shoot the large stuff.
Have shot a lot of .22s in the basement when young as my father had a small range with a few cords of firewood as the back-stop. (mostly 22 shorts) That was before the whole lead scare. Heck, we even had asbestos insulation on the pipes. It never jumped down from the overhead and ran up our noses!!