Specs & ideas for indoor shooting range
Long term plans to add a single station range to the shop. To relieve stress. Figure enough nuts on this board to give me ideas and resources for…
1. Sound mitication
2. Backstops
3. Source of target retrival (that wire thingy)
4. Ventilation
5. design
Like I said, its indoor, and I hope to get 100 feet, if not more. For pistols and the occasional shotgun and .22 rifle
Replies
SO my ideas is a tunnel of mattresses with a wall of haybales on edge.
What I want is something slick and safe, like the pros.
-Steve
Most professional ranges are contaminated with lead - even those with really good ventilation. Our company spent years cleaning (lead removal) many indoor ranges. And the contamination is also "upwind" or behind the firing line.
Don't do it.
I don't imagine firing nearly the number of rounds that a public range does. And, in fact, I have a lot of russian steel ammo that ranges don't allow.
Plus, in the same shop, I cast bronze and aluminum on occasion. Plenty of nasties there, including lead. So I will do it.
The lead at the shooting end of the range is from the primers (lead styphenate).Formerly just 'Don' but not the 'Glassmaster Don' or the lower-case 'don'.
there are lots of documented cases where even with ranges that met the design standards for ventilation, there was still lead "upwind".
in one case FBI students I think it got tracked back to the dorms.
See recommendations on actual p 16 (p 23) of
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/hhe/reports/pdfs/1991-0346-2572.pdf
Edited 3/14/2005 9:24 pm ET by wain
WAIN- Thanks for the link! good info.
A lot of the info on actual page 17 is also relevent to basic shop safety
There are several sites that sell the backstops, target retreval systems, etc., and also have excellent design advice regarding sizes, clearances, ventilation, etc. The name of the company we used is slipping my mind right now, but will come to me eventually, I'm sure.
We built one under a huge house in Las Vegas- it was sections of concrete box culvert, maybe 10'x20, which created 2 shooting lanes. The sections were set end to end, joints waterproofed, and closure walls poured. A set of precast stairs led down to the range, and the only thing visible above grade was the ventilation fan. Pretty cool setup.
Bob
BobK,
Any idas of that company's name?
My google has run dry.
-Steve
I would start out with checking around the NRA site. They offer insurance to clubs that have shooting ranges so they probably have a set of standards or a book available.
as I remember an indoor range would have a plate steel behind the targets, on aslope facing down like about a 4/12 cieling to defelct rounds into a sand pit under it. This plate is backed up by various other velocity absorbing materials
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