baffle question

[Michael R.]

howdy yall,
just got a quick question about baffles. i want to build a range in my backyard for shooting, but the only problem is we have neighbors. most dont care if we shoot 22s, but we save the centerfire rifles for the range. i was wondering, if you could enough baffles above your head could you stop the initial boom of the gunshot. i know the crack wont be stopped but could it be effective enough to stop the noise of centerfire rifles?
thanks

 

[LJ-MosinFreak-Buck]

Firing from a shelter will give your shot a sort of "two gunshot" bang, as in Ba-bang. Experienced this a lot with hunting.

You would be better off builing an under ground range, or just taking the centerfires to the range and rimfire it up.

 

[Michael R.]

yeah, i think that 22s were designed to be shot around the hood, so i could just use those for plinking. i guess ill just have to wait until i can buy my own land and have my own range.

 

[LJ-MosinFreak-Buck]

Well I don't know about that, but the .22 has been around for a LOOOOOOONG time, back when no one really cared if you popped a round off your back porch... Well that and it was a time where people weren't really crowded together either.

 

[Michael R.]

yeah, people really meant it when they lived out in the middle of nowhere back in the day.

 

[hermannr]

MichaelR: Years ago when we lived in Germany, we used a commercial range (very large) that you could not hear the gunfire (let's say, identify it as gunfire) even when you were fairly close.

Most of the range was indoors, but about 10 lanes were outside. The firearm was shot from an enclosed room, brench rest firing positions with Pexiglass front window, and a smaller sliding opening to run the target out on a rail so you could poke the barrel of a rifle out.

The sides of this range were bermed up about 3 meters or so, and about 15 meters out was a wooden inverted V baffle about 2 meters high, filled with sand and covered by inside/outside foam backed carpet. About 50 meters, and again at about 100 meters there were a second and third baffel (high power section was a 300 meter range)

As it was set up, it was impossible to intentially, or unintentially have a bullet leave the range. It was very interesting that there was a restaraunt with this range, (on the other side of the main building from the firing positions), a (you could eat outside) that go to the restaraunt and have a meal, without even really hearing anthing more than a "thump" when someone fired.

 

[Jenrick]

If all you're trying to do is muffle initial report of the rifle, it wouldn't be hard to do at all. A simple shed with a bunch of studio foam, and hole in the wall for the round to exit would do the trick. To be hoenst, even a box that the barrel goes into with a large amount of insulation would do the trick. The biggest thing to remember is that you want the actual muzzle of the firearm inside the enclosure/box. Else your not shielding everyone else, just yourself. I'd say probably 1-2' of standoff from the muzzle of a rifle without a muzzle break would be enough space to significantly muffle the noise if insulated well.

-Jenrick

 

[Michael R.]

hermannr: so youre saying if you want to decrease the escaping noise of the firearm you just need to build up berms around the range and, in theory, you could stop the noise from escaping. also, you have to enclose the place you are shooting in? correct me if im wrong.

 

[S. Hill]

I saw a movie made by Remington.... probably made in the early 70s. It showed them shooting through a row of tires. The tires were hung in such a way that you were shooting through where the rim would normally be. It was kind of like shooting through a huge silencer. The sidewalls of the tires acted like baffles in a suppressor.

I've never tried it myself. I understand the theory, and it makes sense. If you had 15 feet of tires hung side by side, there would be a lot of room for the sound to get trapped. If you could enclose the front and back end of the tube so that there were smaller openings to shoot through, I think it would be very effective.

I'd be careful about shooting into a box of foam. I'd at least have a fire extinguisher handy!

 

[hso]

I have seen pictures of what I think were Swiss ranges using relatively inexpensive corrugated plastic culvert with lining material or other sorts of shooting "tunnels" to absorb a portion of the noise to reduce community noise levels.

http://www.brasschecktv.com/videos/defending-civil-liberties/why-no-one-invades-switzerland.html

 

[Ranb]

I built a shooting box for 50 bmg rifles out of three foam filled steel doors bolted together. It had a small shooting port in the back that the muzzle was inserted to. The box lowered the noise level significantly, but hearing protection was obviously still required for the shooter and anyone else on the rifle line.

Ranb

 

[tyeo098]

Isnt there a $200 gov't fun tax for something a quiets a firearm?

 

[vellocet]

Mavbe a good pellet rifle instead of the .22. They don't cost that much.

 

[Zane]

Isnt there a $200 gov't fun tax for something a quiets a firearm?

For a mobile device the attaches to the firearm? Yes. For a device that is immobile and fixed to the range? No.

 

[Skribs]

Forgive the pun but...I'm baffled by your question.

That said, when I eventually have the money to get some land outside of the suburbs, I'll keep this stuff in mind.

 

[Ranb]

Isnt there a $200 gov't fun tax for something a quiets a firearm?

The $200 tax is only for mufflers that attach to portable firearms. After I was told by a county prosecutor that WA state law forbid the use of any device (including buildings and boxes) to reduce firearm noise, I wrote to the ATF to find out if they controlled devices that were not attached to the gun. The short answer was that non-portable devices not attached to the firearm are not legally silencers according to federal law.

Ranb