Basement Ranges

jawn · Aug 4, 2011

So, I keep hearing from people that it's legal in MoCo to shoot in a below-grade basement provided that you stay within the noise ordinances. Anyone have any actual experience shooting inside the house?

I'm thinking about stacking up some phonebooks, shooting my Ruger Mk3 in my basement, and setting up a fan to ventilate.

Markp · Aug 4, 2011

You need to consider ventilation issues first... Then you need to come up with something better than phone books, because ricochets suck.

Mark

The Shooter · Aug 4, 2011

My brother almost bought a house in MoCo that had a huge wine cellar built into the basement after the house was built. It was constructed of rail rd ties and measured 40'X10'. Already lighted and it would have been nothing to vent it and we figured we could stack two rows of sand bags as backstops. It was a sweet set up but then his wife didn't like the windows.

GNLaFrance · Aug 4, 2011

If I were to set up a shooting range in the basement (not to say I will, much less already have - ahem), I'd get one of these.

jawn · Aug 4, 2011

Markp said:
You need to consider ventilation issues first... Then you need to come up with something better than phone books, because ricochets suck.

Mark

I have a pretty hefty HEPA filtration system in the basement, and I figure if I keep my basement excursions relatively light (15 minutes or so at a time), it shouldn't be too bad with a good fan.

I hear you on the phone books. It's a small target, and while I'm sure .22LR won't go near deep enough to penetrate completely through, a solid bullet trap would do much to ease my mind.

I'm just curious if anyone has taken advantage of this relative liberty that we have in the occupied territories.

guthook · Aug 4, 2011

I have a few customers with basement ranges. One even has the automatic target return. From what I've seen, the ranges are narrow, with a heavy duty exhaust system attached to a return vent that spans the length of the range. Remember, the smoke travels the whole distance, not just where you are shooting.

As for backstops, I've seen mainly pit and plate style traps. At least 1/2" smash plates or better. One of the guys rents his range for LEO qualification as he used to be an instructor. Cool enough to have your own indoor range, let alone make money at it. :cool:

BTW, he keeps all of the brass and gave me a few gallons worth. :party29:

Too bad a good portion was Glock .40 guppy brass. :sad20:

wlc · Aug 5, 2011

jawn said:
I have a pretty hefty HEPA filtration system in the basement, and I figure if I keep my basement excursions relatively light (15 minutes or so at a time), it shouldn't be too bad with a good fan.

I hear you on the phone books. It's a small target, and while I'm sure .22LR won't go near deep enough to penetrate completely through, a solid bullet trap would do much to ease my mind.

I'm just curious if anyone has taken advantage of this relative liberty that we have in the occupied territories.

I wouldn't do it without some strong exhaust fan venting to the outside and fresh air being blown in. If you do go with just the hepa filter and a fan, go and have your lead levels tested after 6 months.

Nanook · Aug 5, 2011

I've actually put a bit of thought into this one, but it's just not feasible for me until I eventually move.

I'd probably go with this stuff for the back wall/splatter zone
http://www.patriotrange.com/static.asp?path=55,365

And one of these in the appropriate size for the primary impact point(s).
http://www.thebulletbunker.com/index.html

eruby · Aug 5, 2011

jawn said:
So, I keep hearing from people that it's legal in MoCo to shoot in a below-grade basement provided that you stay within the noise ordinances. Anyone have any actual experience shooting inside the house?

I'm thinking about stacking up some phonebooks, shooting my Ruger Mk3 in my basement, and setting up a fan to ventilate.

Henceforth, you will also be known as Peter Clemenza.

erwos · Aug 5, 2011

As others have mentioned, the ventilation issues are huge, especially if you have kids in the house. I would definitely think hard about using "green" ammo.

Have you considered air or CO2 powered guns? I'm not a huge fan of them myself, but I'm told you can buy pretty good facsimiles of real firearms for training purposes, and they can definitely punch through paper. If I ever had the room for an indoor range, I'd probably go down that route.

You could also try the Laserlyte training system - a bit more in terms of setup cost, but zero chance of killing everyone in your family with lead poisoning. Unfortunately, I don't think they make a .22LR laser cartridge.

Ethan83 · Aug 5, 2011

I shoot .177 and .22 lead airgun pellets in my basement all the time. Great practice.

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