Basement shooting range.....

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steve1147

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OK, I'm ready for the scathing replies, the "thou shalt nots", safety warnings about lead dust,etc., etc., BUT.....
I'm seriously considering, at least for the cold Missouri winter, moving my 1/2 inch plate steel bullet trap into the basement, putting a double sheet of 3/4 plywood behind it 'just in case', opening the walk-out door for ventilation, and firing a few rounds down there with my .38spl and .45acp. I shoot home cast bullets, and by the time they hit the 37 degree back plate, then the bottom and possibly the restrictor plate on the bottom-front, pretty much all energy is expended. I have only 2-3 time seen a small sliver of lead come back out of the trap, and it could have been thrown by a 2 year old.
I live alone, way out in the country, so there's no danger of anyone other than me getting injured by richochet, etc., and no-one to complain about the noise.
Whatcha think?
Thanks, steve w.
 
Have you considered shooting wax or plastic bullets powered only by a primer? They won't cycle and auto but they're fun and cheap to shoot.

I had a loft apartment for a while when I was in college and I shot primer power rubber eraser loads out of my '06 at campaign buttons. The place was long and narrow and it was like my personal firing range.

Tony
 
I think it is a great idea.
I am in the planning stages of building a new house and will probably have a buried tube coming from my basement to shoot into.
My neighbor owns a construction company so I have access to excavation equipment. The only cost I would have is the drain tile and diesel fuel. I am thinking 36" so that I could crawl to the end if the pulley system fails.

A small suction vent at the middle and target end should do the trick for ventilation.:cool:
 
I've considered doing the same thing with a commercial .22 bullet trap at the far end of my crawlspace. But I think you need a good exhaust fan to pull the nasties away from you and exhaust them down range.
 
If you live way out in the boonies, why not just shoot out of window? Set up a small fan to blow upwards, keeping cold air out, and you're good to go.
 
Lead,

Maybe you wouldn't care about lead from bullets, primers, etc., but about the next owner?

A real estate lawyer or agent might also say that you would have to disclose this to the next owner.

-just my thoughts

H.
 
Whatcha think?
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Lead poisoning is the first thing that popped into my head :D

I do love the idea of an indoor range. Does it have to be
centerfire or rimfire rounds? Why not invest in a good and
accurate pellet handgun. You won't get the recoil or lead
dust but, there is still trigger control and sight picture. Did
I mention cheap shooting!
 
Set up an airgun range. Buy a Daisy 717 and shoot. No noise.

Oh, and the priming compound has a lot to do with how much lead you'd leave behind.
 
I just bought a Crosman 2300T for that very reason, indoors and no gun smoke or lead dust to contend with.

I used to do a lot of the plastic bullet primer powered shooting out of my .357 but this way I can get 50 rounds off with a single CO2 cylinder without having to stop and reprime the cases and reinsert the bullets. Not the same feel but still it's trigger and sight control exercise with holes in the target to give me feed back. Cardboard box loaded with shredded paper is my back stop. Sheet of cardboard in front of the box with a fresh target on it makes up for blowing a fist sized hole in my back stop box.
 
Somewhere in the not too distant future, we will have to move into my inlaws house (they have a single floor, we have levels with stairs) to take care of them (they are in their upper 80's). They have a long basement, and I have a plan to wall up one side to create a lane, with a full 25 yards of distance. I intend to have hardened steel plate at the end, dumping bullets into a trap/trough, and an exhaust and safety steel "baffles" just down from the muzzle to draw air, dust, and smoke immediately near the muzzle and OUT, by way of venting to the exterior. The baffles at that location are to prevent any accidental discharge being directed toward the trap area (this will catch sideways and vertical dicharges and direct them in line to the target area. Kind of like a constricted zone, narrowing the "field of fire". This plan is the result of having to move from our nice, unzoned, rural abode to the "city", a compromise to allow me to keep shooting regularly. I have been devising the plan for quite a few years, and, along with mucho sound dampening material, I think it will be safe, reasonably environmentally sound, and reasonably quiet (I'm sure I will be heard indoors, upstairs, but probably only very mild "popping" outside, and the further from the house, the less noticeable even that will be. It may be a few years from now, but I'll definitely post a report when and if it comes to pass. My plan may vary from yours.:D
 
I have always thought it would be neat to have a computer screen that would "see" a laser type light and respond to it. It could be programmed to see a momentary laser that is generated in a fake cartridge that is inserted into a rifle / shotgun / handgun and aimed and "fired" at the unsuspecting computer screen.

I cannot think of a down side other than not receiving the recoil, . . . and having to manually re-cock the thing.

Anyway, . . . that would be my "druthers" for indoor shooting, . . . if I had em.

May God bless,
Dwight
 
You're going to want some way to move the air outside. You might be able to do this with two large fans. But whatever you use, there needs to be something pushing a/o drawing the air outside. An open door isn't going to generate enough air flow to do this alone.

Also there are laser target systems like you describe. Some are simple electronic targets that react to the laser, others use computer vision to locate a laser dot on a screen.
 
at least for the cold Missouri winter
Click to expand...

Instead of contending with possible lead poisoning, go outside; or airgun route.
(It is not like you live in Alaska; where it was -7F when I went out shooting yesterday...)
 
I recall seeing in a Gil Hebard catalog years ago a bullet trap that had an internal circular construction-the idea being the bullet expended its energy over a longer time and surface and then dropped down harmlessly. And yes, proper ventilation is a must.
I tried the plastic bullets with primers years ago. Fun to shoot but because of their lightweight the POI is way off.
 
If you do this, you should educate yourself on the required ventalation, the movement and replacement, necessary to make the air acceptable, especially when shooting lead.
 
Let him set up the indoor range get lead poisoning and die, then we all can split up his gun collection, ammo and all other supplies and if someone wants they can squat on the property.
 
The idea is great. The execution is very wrong.

If you are going to open an outside door for ventilation, where is that air going exactly? Is it traveling up into the house? Why would you think that opening a single door actually constitutes ventilation? You need a place for clean air to come in and a place for filtered air to go out. That circuit of air should be isolated from the air that circulates in the house.

If you are just going to open the door to the outside, then buck it up and put on your coat and just go outside to shoot.
 
Yup, as I said in my first post, this is what I expected, "go for its" and "oh MY, the safety concerns".
Does anyone really believe a couple hundred rounds in the basement each week with an exhaust fan blowing out an open door is so much worse that ANY indoor shooting range where tens of thousands of rounds each week are expended by guys standing right next to you? I don't care WHAT kinda fancy ventilation system they have, you must be breathing stuff much more concentrated than what will exist in my basement. NO circulation/filtering system can be SO GOOD in that environment that I and future visitors will be breathing only pure, filtered air void of any and all contaminents from the prior 5,000 rounds fired that day.
I'm not buyin' all the doomsayers here.
 
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