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View Full Version : ever consider personal underground shooting range?


tmckay2
11-12-2013, 23:11
i am curious about this idea. there are probably a crap ton of county or city codes youd have to get some sort of approval to get around, but what if you had a decent sized yard and buried a steel 8 ft diameter tube or something? ventilation is a key problem, but i am sure experienced people could figure that out. i wonder realistically how cheap you could do it. anyone have any ideas? it would just be a pistol range/22 range.
ChunkyMonkey
11-12-2013, 23:15
DADT!! said some folks in this forum who already have their own. [dig] :D
Great-Kazoo
11-12-2013, 23:33
i am curious about this idea. there are probably a crap ton of county or city codes youd have to get some sort of approval to get around, but what if you had a decent sized yard and buried a steel 8 ft diameter tube or something? ventilation is a key problem, but i am sure experienced people could figure that out. i wonder realistically how cheap you could do it. anyone have any ideas? it would just be a pistol range/22 range.

Some guy told me he spent $75.00 , not counting ventilation.

If you scored some 2' culvert pipe, rented a back hoe on the weekend and have access to a basement with backyard window, it might work. PVC works too.

http://denver.craigslist.org/mat/4144341856.html
asmo
11-12-2013, 23:41
When/if I win the big money in the lottery I will have a 1000m underground rifle range -- sitting under a BIG ass above ground rifle range.

We all have dreams...
rondog
11-12-2013, 23:58
Myself, I'd rather have a place in the country with a private outdoor range.
buffalobo
11-13-2013, 00:14
DADT!! said some folks in this forum who already have their own.


Myself, I'd rather have a place in the country with a private outdoor range.


No reason you can't have both. [Beer]
Circuits
11-13-2013, 02:10
DADT: suppressors and/or basements are common
cstone
11-13-2013, 07:28
Here is a price list. There are certainly plenty of suppliers for precast box culverts.

http://www.ncp-inc.com/price1.html

If you consider drainage and ventilation, 50 to 100 yards underground would probably meet most needs. Over 100 yards and it is just cheaper to go above ground.

First you need the property.

Be safe.
Snowman78
11-13-2013, 12:03
Here you go,
http://coloradosurvivalbunkers.com/underground-shooting-range (http://coloradosurvivalbunkers.com/underground-shooting-range)
Snowman78
11-13-2013, 12:11
36387
3638936391
TFOGGER
11-13-2013, 12:48
One of the kids I went to elementary school with had a "gun tunnel" off of his basement running about 25 yards into his back yard. If memory serves, it was about 5 feet underground, and lined with spiral corrugated culvert about 2 1/2 feet in diameter. Out in the yard it terminated in a buried enclosure that was made out of concrete, with a hinged steel lid.
275RLTW
11-13-2013, 13:34
I had a client that was pursuing this option a few years ago. Having an underground 2 lane, 25 yd range with proper ventilation and a Savage Systems trap was going to cost between $120-130K. Permits and other city/county fees not included...
whitbaby
11-13-2013, 16:36
My home basement is about 3/4 finished. There is a crawl space under the family room with a 28" x 24" crawl-through door.
In my younger days I, and a neighbor, managed to get a 36" x 48" sheet of 1/2" steel plate, diagonally, through that door.
The top of the plate is loosely anchored to a joist with a couple 1/4" lag screws. The plate is at a 40 degree slope and deflecting everything down into the dirt. Also added a switchable light directed at the targets/plate.
Behind the plate is concrete foundation. That plate is 2 to 4 feet below grade on the other side of the foundation. I can shoot from 60' away, this is through an open door into the furnace room. Even rigged up a manual pulley target holder.
I've never hit the foundation but while playing 'quick-draw' one night I did manage to put a furrow into the crawl-through door frame. ;-\

I used to shoot IPSC, before the 'arms/optics race', and worked up many differing loads for .45 on my Dillon 550.
I've shot pistols up to .44 Mag and 22 rifles down there. I've never noticed the plate moving, even with the .44.
I close up the basement windows and you really can't hear much outside. I used to wait for momma to take the dogs shopping.
After awhile the smoke gets kind of heavy and I open the windows and turn on a couple window fans for an hour or two.

I din' do no steenking permits...

;->
spongejosh
11-13-2013, 20:10
If you have a big yard you could bury a shipping container and leave the far end open so you're just shooting into the dirt. You could even expand as much as you want by adding containers.

http://denver.craigslist.org/fod/4100754291.html
hatidua
11-15-2013, 09:21
I don't have a basement but know people who shoot suppressed .22 in their basements all the time. They simply don't make it a habit of telling anyone in code enforcement about it.

My grandparents owned a rather large home above the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA (it's now the HQ of the Moonies oddly enough). There was a bowling alley in the basement and at five years old I was allowed to shoot my grandfathers 1911 in the far lane any time I wanted. Sadly, hearing protection was not used back then...
rondog
11-15-2013, 15:09
36387
3638936391

Awesome!
Zundfolge
11-15-2013, 17:42
One of the kids I went to elementary school with had a "gun tunnel" off of his basement running about 25 yards into his back yard. If memory serves, it was about 5 feet underground, and lined with spiral corrugated culvert about 2 1/2 feet in diameter. Out in the yard it terminated in a buried enclosure that was made out of concrete, with a hinged steel lid.
I've thought about something like this using pre-cast concrete drainage pipe (4 or 5 foot) ... making it to where it doesn't leak is going to be the biggest challenge. That and you really want your ventilation on the target end so it pulls all the nasty chemicals that result from shooting indoors (and there's a lot of nasty chemicals that end up in the air when you shoot a gun ... that's why just shooting a suppressed .22 indoors is a bad idea even though it's not that loud).


Honestly though, the cost of building it (and then tearing it out whenever you decide to sell ... you really don't want that big an "off permit" construction project to be discovered by would-be buyers since in addition you being forced to remove it you might incur the wrath of the local building inspector) seems to me it would be cheaper to buy some country property and build an outdoor range there.
tmckay2
11-15-2013, 21:54
I've thought about something like this using pre-cast concrete drainage pipe (4 or 5 foot) ... making it to where it doesn't leak is going to be the biggest challenge. That and you really want your ventilation on the target end so it pulls all the nasty chemicals that result from shooting indoors (and there's a lot of nasty chemicals that end up in the air when you shoot a gun ... that's why just shooting a suppressed .22 indoors is a bad idea even though it's not that loud).


Honestly though, the cost of building it (and then tearing it out whenever you decide to sell ... you really don't want that big an "off permit" construction project to be discovered by would-be buyers since in addition you being forced to remove it you might incur the wrath of the local building inspector) seems to me it would be cheaper to buy some country property and build an outdoor range there.
cheaper yes. as convenient no.
def90
11-15-2013, 23:48
I've worked on 3 homes in the last few hears with underground in home ranges. One in Parker, one in Steamboat and one in Ft Collins.

sent from a soup can and some string..
carnplanenut
02-12-2014, 12:39
This has been a dream of mine for as long as long as i can remember....
ChunkyMonkey
02-12-2014, 13:57
This has been a dream of mine for as long as long as i can remember....

DO IT!!!! So as a realtor, honestly how many private range have you stumbled upon?
carnplanenut
02-12-2014, 15:35
Once I can afford it, the wife says I can....

In Colorado, only an outdoor range. In AZ, I have seen 3, and man was I envious!!!!
hatidua
02-18-2014, 19:15
At the risk of getting the repost police all panty-knotted, this bears reading again if planning on shooting indoors with less than adequate ventilation:

http://dfuse.us/lead.html
whitbaby
02-18-2014, 19:33
At the risk of getting the repost police all panty-knotted,


LOL!! I love it!!
baglock1
02-18-2014, 20:07
My uncle, who lived in a regular neighborhood, albeit with large lots, had one in his backyard. He simply dug a hole large enough to stand up in (it was about 4' x 4' square and about 7' deep) and then had a shallower trench dug stretching across the backyard to a similar box (but not as deep) with a fabricated, heavy steel lead catcher in it. The entire thing was lined in cinder blocks and sound deadening material. Each end had a trap door to enter and/or replace the target. Ventilation was two fans to force the flow from the shooter to the target. The entire thing was about 100' long.

He mainly used it for testing new loads where he was more interested in getting the data off the chrono instead of real world shooting (wind, sun, dust, etc). With both lids closed and the fan running, it was pretty quiet (there was about 1' of dirt over the lane) but you could still hear it. A shooter would probably recognize the report but unless they knew it was there, the setting (a neighborhood) would probably lull them into disregarding as anything other than a gunshot.