Basement shooting range

J

JDG

New member
I've been shooting a cardboard box, full of magazines and newspaper, ducttaped together, for about a month. This thing has held up great. I usually plink away with my 22s, but my 9mm & 45 rounds stop in it too. I only have about 40' of room, but its fun enough! Can only get in about 50rds of 22 in before it gets a little stinky:D
 
Make sure you have plenty of ventilation going with fresh air transfer. Airborne lead is very hazardous to your health.
 
ammo choice

If I were you, I would get that frangible no lead ammo for use in centerfire shooting. Safer for you and the family. If you have an accidental discharge, you dont want it ricocheting all over or going up thru the floor to wherever. You might use 22 ammo with copper washed bullets-perhaps would cut down on lead exposure. If you get alot of lead contamination all over your basement, you would probably have to have it all cleaned up somehow before selling. And you don't want the lead vapors and dust or fragments all over the place. I have heard of pellet rifle basement shooting but for any permanent installation in the basement for firearms shooting, I would take better measures myself. Hope your insurance covers that in case of accident.
 
I would really worry about proper ventilation. Breathing in too much lead will either make you sterile or have 2 headed babies or somesuch.
(Or maybe just cancer)

But that being said, that sounds awesome.
 
Didnt think to much on the lead vapors. I use copper washed ammo, maybe that stuffs cleaner? The centerfire stuff was just a test. Using a scoped rifle, and making same hole groups,but some 1/2" groups get in there also:D Thanks for the health warnings. I dont over do it , though:)
 
personally I would stick to an air rifle or bb gun for basement shooting because of the possible liability/ two headed baby/ holes in the floor/ and airborn lead particle issues. In our area it is illegal to discharge any weapon within 500 feet of an occupied dwelling unless you have written permission of the owner - how close are your neighbors? Be careful!!!
 
with poor ventilation, if you do this too long, you might want to check yourself often for a twitch or involentary movements....lead and those vapor's are not good for ya!

watch out for flyer's, that could be a serious prob.....ricochets and all;)
 
Bad idea. Very bad idea.

First, you're putting airborne lead into the house. The lead comes from the primer compound and the base of the bullet. If you use TMJ (i.e., plated) or JHP, the base of the bullet is covered so that will reduce the airborne lead somewhat. Non-toxic, lead-free rounds are available, but they cost ~3 times the cost of standard ammunition and the shelf life of the lead-free primers is suspect.

Second, you're dispersing unburnt powder all over your basement. Try this: go to your local gun club with a broom and a metal dustpan. Go the indoor range and gently sweep some of the dark-looking dust off the floor into the dustpan. Take the dustpan outside, well away from anything flammable. Standing as far away from the dustpan as you can, drop a lit match into the dustpan. Woooosssshhhh! Is that what you want all over your basement? And if you had a house fire, would your fire insurance still be in effect?

Get an airsoft gun or an airgun for practice in your basement. Don't shoot live rounds.
 
Cb?

I do admit that I have fired some of the little primer powered CB cap ammo inside my house, down the hallway, from a bolt action 22 for fun or just to see if the gun will light a primer. They were the Mexican made Colibris or such what. No penetration in a board backstop, and no noise to speak of, but the do make a little smoke so it was pretty much limited testing. Also tested 22 revolvers indoors with that, but just enough for function testing. I have also fired some of those plastic cased plastic bullets from a 38, the kind that just take a primer to propel the "bullet". They need a good backstop indoors. Lot noisier than the primer powered 22's. But I never was overly concerned about the primer smoke. Good thing it was pretty much a limited experiment. You could get away with firing rimfire in your basement in a neigborhood, I guess. I might try it if I could ventilate the place, but all it would take would be one round going awry, or nosy Mrs. Kravitz peeking in your basement window and...
 
You could get away with firing rimfire in your basement in a neigborhood, I guess. I might try it if I could ventilate the place, but all it would take would be one round going awry, or nosy Mrs. Kravitz peeking in your basement window and...
Click to expand...
You're still going to deposit lead and unburnt powder in your basement, even if you have ventilation. Not a good idea.
 
I shoot the Speer plastic, primer powered practice rounds in the basement occasionally. An old refrigerator box with a towel hung inside stops them just fine. Cheap practice when the snow blows:)
Farmall
 
Holy Macaroni!

:eek: Breathe in all that lead for a while and your family's all gonna think they're Napoleon;)
 
And of course there is no chance of missing this fool proof backstop... right?

How about the ceiling, aka the floor of teh floor above you?

This is a very bad idea.
 
JDG: Do you live at an indoor range? Do your children crawl around on the floor of the indoor range? Didn't think so. If they did, their blood lead level would be significantly elevated. And decontaminating your house from the lead would be very expensive.

You don't have to go to that expense at an indoor range, because people don't live there, so their exposure is limited.
 
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