From: bercov@bevb.bev.lbl.gov (John Bercovitz)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Re: Indoor range
Keywords: range
Date: 19 Sep 90 19:36:40 GMT

In article <8879@orca.wv.tek.com> boyd@fsucs.cs.fsu.edu (Mickey Boyd) writes:
>In article <8651@orca.wv.tek.com> jfruecht@ncrws1.peachtree.ncr.com (John Fruecht) writes:
>>I am in the preliminary planning stages for a new house, and one of the
>>brain storms that came up was an underground range attached to the
>
>Here's one from a really old gun magazine.  Depending on the kind of shooting
>you want to do this idea could have some merit.  Lay 100 yards of 12" diameter
>pipe between your basement and a large hole in the ground.  Add bench on one
>[...]
>hole (or a small shed with a trapdoor and a lightbulb).  You could even set
>up chronograph screens in the pipe (you would need some sort of light source).

According to Ken Oehler, the light sources to use are those "slim jim" lamps.
They're clear glass and have a single, long, axial filament.  Put the filament
directly above the sky screen.  The charm of this approach is that it's
actually more precise than using the sky as a light source since the filament
is so thin.

>P.S.  When I say lay the pipe, I mean underground.  Oh, by the way, if you do
>put a more conventional type of shooting range in your basement, make sure
>you have plenty of ventilation.  Airborn lead particles are no fun.

A double amen to this advice.  I would also try putting a large flow-rate fan on
your down-range target house's roof to keep the tunnel clear.  The tunnel
will tend to get very smokey if you fire at any reasonable pace.  I would also
use some sort of reduced-diameter port to fire through to try to get the smoke
to stay on the down-range side.  One thing that helps is to make this port by
spacing half a dozen plywood washers a few inches apart in the tunnel.  The
washers could be 12" OD to fit the tunnel and have a 4" X 8" vertical slot
in them.  The washers act as a sort of crude muffler for the tightly-confined
muzzle blast.  You will definitely need good ventilation in the basement:
plenty of gas will still escape into the room in spite of the above precautions.


           JHBercovitz@lbl.gov