Weird odor at indoor range. Pics added.

[6string]

Hi Everyone,

There's an indoor range nearby that I have used for the past 20 years. The backstop area has been refurbished several times.
Over the years, it has had, at various times, a backstop of sand, then a pool of water contained in an enclosed metal tank, to it's current form.....nothing but steel plate. It is kind of like a room sized version of one of those portable 22 bullet catchers, except without the reverse baffle.
So, a bullet hits the angled rear plate, and it deflects downwards into what has quickly become a wide pocket of fused, solid lead, with pieces of copper jacket mixed in.

The effects on the building are disturbing.
Everything has a fine metallic grey layer of dust!
But, the strange thing is the odor. It reminds me of an electric bullet casting pot, except much stronger. I know lead itself has no fumes, so what exactly is it?
It's so strong, you can smell it as you approach the building from outside.

Last time I went, I needed to take a shower just to get the grimy feeling out of my hair and skin. As a result of just two or three visits, I have stopped going there.

Any thoughts or experiences?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[ParadiseRoad]

...maybe it's one of the members...

 

[Onomea]

My thought is the ventilation system needs a massive upgrade.

 

[Bekeart]

Hi Everyone,

There's an indoor range nearby that I have used for the past 20 years. .

The effects on the building are disturbing.
Everything has a fine metallic grey layer of dust!

Any thoughts or experiences?

Thanks,
Jim

fine metallic grey layer of dust!

Sound like dangerous lead level to me.

HAZMAT SUIT SUGGESTED!

Bekeart

 

[rwsmith]

Sounds like hot metal....

The setup is hard on the projectiles, enough to grind the lead into dust, which also imparts more heat and the ventilation isn't adequate to remove it. The grey dust that you see is lead and it's also in the air where you breathe it and get it in your mouth.

 

[jag312]

Do you get a sweet metallic taste in your mouth? Might be time for a blood level test.

 

[s&wchad]

You were smart to stop going. I agree with Onomea, their ventilation system is probably inadequate and the metallic dust is a real concern.

Our club indoor range has two large intake fans behind the shooters and heavy duty filtered exhaust fans down by the targets. The bullet trap is steel plate, covered with a thick layer of shredded car tires. The filters are replaced regularly and bullets are mined out of the trap every year or so. We advise members not to eat or drink on the range and to thoroughly wash their hands before leaving.

Even with all the precautions, I can taste it when a lot of members are shooting. We don't have the dust issue. I run the range in the winter and was concerned, so I had my doctor check for lead levels last year when he did my annual blood test. The results came back well within acceptable guidelines, so I guess our system is up to the task.

 

[2152hq]

Lead dust in combination with powder (burned & unburned) and primer residue.

Definite smell to it and a taste in your mouth from breathing it.
It gets in your clothes and on your shoes and you track it into your veh and back into your house.
It never goes away,, think about that one issue alone.
None of it a good thing.

Don't let someone tell you it's simple to clean up by sweeping and vac the place up!
Heavy duty EPA rules for that stuff and I'd suspect the door's would be nailed shut if the Health Dept or one of those type did an air quality check or even a simple surface contamination check in there.

Is the building itself that the range is in old enough to have been constructed using asbestos? (mid 1960's and before)
They used asbestos in everything,,mixed it in the cement,,the paint, wrapped heat runs with it,,mixed it in the wall plaster,,great stuff.
Floor tiles were 'Asbestos Floor Tiles'. Older insulation was asbestos.
Deteriorating buildings or bullets and fragments piercing old walls, ceilings and layers of paint can add asbestos to the mix as well.

Stay away from that stuff

 

[Nightowl]

We had a sand pit with a steel back plate in the basement of a large class room building. Every few months the lead had to be mined out of it, as the lead would fuse into very large globs and bullets would begin to bounce back into the shooters. Also, the lead dust generated permeated everywhere. Eventually the range was shut down and later the entire building was cleaned at a cost of around 5 million and 9 months closure.

Lead exposure was pretty high. Stay away from that place!! Get your lead level tested and if it is high, start taking 1000 units of vitamin C daily. Speaking from experience here!

 

[6string]

Hi Everybody,

First thing....
THANK YOU!!

You confirmed my suspicions. I'm done with that place.

Jim

 

[Ματθιας]

Maybe a call to OHSA or EPA or local health department. You might save a life or at least mitigate future/long term health issues.

 

[shouldazagged]

The range where I used to shoot was closed by the health department because of excessive lead and overloaded ventilation. I think I recall that it took well over a year to clean it up.

That kind of lead exposure is very, very dangerous.

 

[scotthickoryky]

to much taco bell?????

 

[DeathGrip]

Maybe a call to OHSA or EPA or local health department. You might save a life or at least mitigate future/long term health issues.

I usually try to mind my own business but have to agree on this.

Other shooters may not care but they're tracking that stuff everywhere. Seriously. If you can smell it outside it's a big hazard.

Think of it this way, It's for the children.

 

[Trooperdan]

Maybe a call to OHSA or EPA or local health department. You might save a life or at least mitigate future/long term health issues.

Or get it shut down!

 

[cfplinker]

At the indoor range I frequent the heating/cooling system blows onto the shooter from the back. Then there are exhaust fans just downrange of the firing line and again in front of the backstop. During matches you can see the smoke from the firing line being pulled downrange and then up to the ceiling.

 

[LVSteve]

Does anybody shoot that Romanian 7.92x57 steel cased ammo at your range? I'm told the smell is what you might expect from the blunt end of a yak.

 

[BB57]

As others have noted, an indoor range should have very positive ventilation that draws all the smoke down range, where the air is then filtered before being exhausted to the outside of the building.

I have shot on several indoor ranges around the country and there are two basic designs that I'm comfortable with.

The first design uses pair of long upper and lower steel deflector plates that create a very low impact angle that deflects all the bullets through a narrow slot at the back in between the two plates, the bullet then enters a cylindrical deceleration chamber that slows the bullet and leaves it in a bullet trap. This design minimizes any lead fragmentation and keeps most of the particles contained behind the steel plates. Positive ventilation drawing air in through the slot takes care of the rest. "Adequate" ventilation is 20-30 cfm per linear foot of bullet trap.

You'll find these in both horizontal and vertical configurations. Both are ideal for high volume ranges as the lead is collected via gravity from the deceleration cylinders into 2 1/2 gallon plastic buckets, so it's very easy to maintain and recycle the lead. The horizontal version allows for close range tactical shooting where the vertical design does not.

The second design a thick bed of granulated rubber (recycled tires) supported on an angled steel plate. The bed of rubber decelerates and traps the bullets and prevents bullets from fragmenting, with virtually no lead dust. This is a good low cost design that also works well for close range tactical shooting and there is almost no noise from bullet impacts so the range is quieter. It is a bit more maintenance intensive when it comes to recovering the lead in the bed of granulated rubber.

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I'm appalled that an indoor range would have just an angled plate deflecting bullets down into an open sand pit, where the lead is both exposed and subject to repeated impacts by subsequent bullets.

That's made far worse by an apparently inadequate ventilation system.

 

[chief38]

Check your lead level! Don't shoot there until (and ONLY IF) the air filtration system gets overhauled! Find another Range!

 

[billwill]

Run Forrest Run