Standing next to AR-15 in the next booth

American1776

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Went to my local indoor range yesterday with my friend / neighbor. I brought my Makarov to make sure the new recoil spring functions well, he took his G19.

We walk up to our range stalls, and I see that the man in the stall next to me has a rifle. I think to myself, 'Gee, I hope that's a .22 lr'. I go into my stall, set my bag down, and I hear 'BOOOOM'. The hairs in my inner ears vibrate. Again, 'BOOOOM'.

Call me a wimp, but standing directly to the side of the .223 indoors isn't my idea of a fun time at the range. I ask the range master politely about moving down the line, and it's not a problem.

I've been shooting at that indoor range next to folks with .44 mag and .357 mag without a problem. For some reason the AR concussion was too unpleasant for me to be directly next to.

I guess I'm a wimp---but the little MAK shot 100 percent and I'm fine by that.
 
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Good hearing protection is a must at the range. The noise of rifles now are worse with the muzzle brakes or flash hiders. I have several deer rifles that are brain crushing loud without ear muffs.
 
Went to my local indoor range yesterday......

snip

..... standing directly to the side of the .223 indoors isn't my idea of a fun time at the range.

Some indoor ranges around here allow centerfire rifles, some don't. The only ones I have been a customer, don't.
 
At my indoor range, the RO will permit a .223 on the line if that shooter is the ONLY shooter present.


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Years ago when I was practicing with a .22 Free Pistol. (A real "Zen" experience :p) when they put a guy with a .308 next to me. :eek: First time I had ever experienced a rifle on an indoor range. I had to leave......
The latest was just a month or two ago. Once again, I was sighting in a 10/22 when a little gaggle of teen-agers (at least they seemed that young) set up next to me. (I should have been warned when one of them set up a Go-Pro to record their session.) The shooter then proceeded to dump a magazine on full auto (or as fast as he could pull the trigger...) I think it was an AK of some sort. That, and all the whooping, hollering and back slapping had me packing up and leaving. :mad:
 
It all depends on the range......I shoot a 7.62x39 AK pistol and I ask to be on the rifle portion of the indoor range. However, they put me on the pistol range and when I follow instructions and shoot on the gun range everyone else in their bays comes running over to tell me I can't shoot that in there. I then have to call the range master in to get the others off my case......I just go where they tell me. In the summer here in Texas, no other place to shoot other than indoors....sigh.
 
I can sympathize with you. The loudest 'boooms' I've heard indoors were from a guy shooting a 5.56 AR pistol in the lane next to me.

I always dual ear protection when shooting indoors.

The noise level of a 20" AR-15 in .223 isn't any higher than a 4" .357 Mag - but the frequency of the noise is a little higher. But as the barrel length get's shorter the noise level of the .223 AR-15 rises above that of the .357 Magnum.

Way back in the day the government developed a "moderator" to reduce the sound of the short barrel XM-177E1 and XM177E2 carbines, which used 10.5" and 11.5" barrels. The goal was to reduce their sound level to the same level as the 20" M16A1.

d5302e16.jpg


Unfortunately, even though the reduction in sound level was only to the same level as the M16A1 (which is by no means quiet), the ATF defines this moderator as a suppressor and requires the tax stamp and paperwork required of a Class III firearm.

The government made no comparable effort with the 14.7" M4 carbine, nor are there any good options for the 16" civilian legal carbines - absent going the class III route.

That makes the carbine length ARs much louder than they'd actually have to be.

In addition, muzzle brakes deflect significant amounts of gas and sound to the sides of the shooter, making the sound much worse for people at stations beside the shooter than for the shooter himself.

It's little annoying when a shooter decides he or she just has to have a muzzle brake on his or her carbine length semi-auto AR when the muzzle climb on one is already almost non existent.

Muzzle brakes also seem to be very common on larger caliber rifles now than they were in the past (when we were apparently a lot less wimpy about recoil). A .300 Win Mag, for example, with a muzzle brake can be very uncomfortable for shooters on other side of the shooter.

In any case the solution on any indoor range is muffs and plugs, and I use that approach on outdoor ranges as well.
 
Our indoor range has a special end just for rifles. I've never been bothered by a AR15 .223? But a AR10 in .308 is kind'a loud.
 
It depends...my Colt CRE-18 is designed for competition, specifically, 3-Gun Events. It is accurate, and it is LOUD look at the holes in the muzzle brake in the enclosed photo. Even shooting it on an outdoors range I still wear plugs and electronic muffs.

Regards,

Dave
 

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Noisy Pistols?
Be grateful if wasn't someone with a 22 Remington Jet or an Auto Mag in 30 cal carbine in the lane next to you!
Jim
 
I have shot many non-magnum cartridges in indoor ranges. Even shot the best friends 458 Win Mag. Those are all standable with good muffs. My 338 Lapua Mag has only been shot outdoors, but fellow competitors made a "Blast Shield" to keep their legs cool when I shot pron. WIMPS!
 
I had people with machine guns next to me. Kind of hard to consentrate. I left.
 
I've had an AR next to me at the local indoor range. It's not great fun, but I don't see it as much worse than my shooting full .357 magnum rounds out of my Model 60. I've shot my AR there a time or two, but it seems such a waste at that close a distance. JMHO.
 
Try shooting next to someone with a 338 mag. You can actually feel the shock wave roll past. I'm not a huge fan of AR's but at least some of the newer ones can be suppressed.

I love suppressors.
 
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