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I'd think you would be SOL on building one in your home if you are inside city limits. I don't think it matters where you shoot your gun off in the city, it's still illegal unless you have all the permits or whatever it is that ranges get.
 
I'd think you would be SOL on building one in your home if you are inside city limits. I don't think it matters where you shoot your gun off in the city, it's still illegal unless you have all the permits or whatever it is that ranges get.

Just to clarify - I'm talking about a basement (below grade) range that is entirely contained by concrete. The basic structure is easy - it's things like baffles, lighting, air filtration, etc. that I was looking for specifics on.
 
Would this be for pistol, rifle, or both?

We had an indoor range in the Navy that was a converted tractor trailer. The sides were 1/4 inch steel plate with 3/4 inch rubber over the top.

The rear (backstop) was the same with dense 6 inch thick rubber bricks covering the back stop and 3/4 inch thick (about 8 inches wide, ran ceiling to floor) rubber strips hanging overlapping each other, forming a curtain immediately in front of the back stop. It gave the rounds about an 1 1/2 of dense rubber to pass through before hitting the 6 inches of rubber covering the backstop. This caught all of the rounds no problem, with most being caught in the curtain, not even making it to the backstop.

Now keep in mind that this was for pistol training ONLY! Never fired a rifle inside there. Don't think it was meant for it. We were also shooting military 9mm rds. Not sure how hot those are loaded but I will tell you while running that range I was able a few times to visually see the projectile travel downrange. (Made me feel real comfortable about the effectiveness of the rounds I was expected to rely on, sarcasm).

Take that tiny bit of experience for what it's worth. I'm not a range building expert. Just know what I had to use every day and what we had to tear apart and clean twice a year. That's another thing, depending on how much use it gets, you'll want to keep an eye on the amount of lead you're building up down there. We NEVER swept ours out. Always vacuumed it. Supposedly there was enough lead residue that they didn't want us getting it airborne by pushing it around. But we're talking a few thousand rounds a day going through there. I imagine your use will be much less than that.

I don't know what kind of ventilation it had, I didn't pay much attention other than I know it was running continuously while in use. (Wired into the light switch). I had one of my minions change the filter in it every few months.
 
I was house hunting last weekend & found one in Vancouver that two pistol lanes built in the basement. The guy had cut two holes in the basement wall about 4' wide, and from there had dug out 50' under the back yard. He mounted an electric motor & a pulley system on each one for running out
& retrieving targets. That was enough to make me want to make an offer oin the place....plus it would be easy to put some paneling over the lanes to conceal 'em & have a great place to stash valuable, non valuables, etc...but then again I didn't want to have to deal w/ potentially toxic side effects so had to pass on it....but it was very tempting
 
Just digging up an old post< any constructive ideas? I live in the county, have some room, and am adding on. Thinking of putting something like a 5' x 50' concrete tunnel. That would be enough for a 15yard pistol range... Has anyone shot in a private range? I can do the concrete cheap...and excavation is free
 
I would use a section of corrugated drain pipe or culvert for the lane. It comes in some pretty large sizes and long lengths so no joints to leak. It would be cheaper then lining a lane with concrete. Look in the local yellow pages for a plastic pipe supplier. You can rig a pulley system along the top to run targets and make a manhole sized access at the target end for servicing and lead harvesting. Put your vent fan on the target end so it draws the fumes away from you. Look to Grainger for a vent fan that you can mount in a pipe elbow so no rain can enter etc. A fresh air intake close to the shooting position would help.
 

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