Indoor firing lane. Anyone here built one?

tinbender

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I have an 80 ft long building and was thinking of building an indoor range/firing lane along one wall. Has anyone attempted this? thoughts or ideas? I understand the need for proper ventilation, as I am in HVAC construction and actually installed the duct system at an underground firing range once. I am wondering about the lead trap and soundproofing that would be needed. Thanks! Tim
 
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I have an 80 ft long building and was thinking of building an indoor range/firing lane along one wall. Has anyone attempted this? thoughts or ideas? I understand the need for proper ventilation, as I am in HVAC construction and actually installed the duct system at an underground firing range once. I am wondering about the lead trap and soundproofing that would be needed. Thanks! Tim
 
If you search on google there are a number of companies that provide services for proper range design.

The first thing I would do is contact whoever handles zoning for your municipality and find out what the laws/regs are for building and operating a range. I wouldn't just try to do this "under the radar" even if it is for personal use only. One mishap or accident might bring your "facility" to light and then the situation could go from bad to MUCH worse.
 
Give your homeowners insurance company a telephone call without using your name. Ask them about having a range on the property. A friend had his insurance cancelled when a company agent stopped by for an unrelated visit, and found that my friend had targets set up on an outdoor range. The agent notified the company which promptly sent him a cancellation notice.
The insurance company (I forget which one) did not want the liability for injury or lead contamination.
 
I don't know how close your neighbors are, but if they are closer than 1000 yards you will probably get some complaints no matter how well you sound proof it. Its very hard to contain the noise of centerfire guns, especially on a calm, quiet day. Starting your lawnmower or chainsaw and having some background noise to mask the shooting might help a little.
 
Here's my 10 yd indoor range. Anything up to .22CB's. Joe
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I haven't built one, but I've thought about it lots... maybe after I have a house.

Not only do you have to consider ventilation, lead mitigation, and noise, but you also need to think about bulletproofing. Yeah, I know, you won't miss - I won't either.
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But from a liability standpoint, anything but a BB is going to punch through most exterior walls without slowing down much. I'd be looking at baffling the ceiling and sandbagging the walls... and then putting a major dirt berm on the outside behind the targets ... which means structural reinforcement ... Ugh.
 
As my name says, I spent four years traveling arround the country installing shooting range equipment for Caswell international, now Meggitt Defence Systems. Target systems, bullett traps, enclosure protection. We did everything but the 4 walls and ventalation. If you have any specific questions I would be glad to answer them as best I can in an email.
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Inside the US Secret Service training facility near Washington DC
 
No, I didn't get out to CA much. I did install these for the US Navy security force at Norfolk. This was a quad set up, six lanes of a full 25yds, self contained.
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You should recognize the control room.
 
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