Shooting Shed Sound Proofing

My shooting shack is uninsulated. I have small windows on each side and in front, and an inside bench. I have berms at 40 and 80 yards. I put two blue barrels together. They are stuffed with insulation with about a 10 inch hole all the way through. I put the muzzle out the window and into the barrels a bit.

This all faces away from my house which is about 80 yards in back of it. The range is in the woods. When I touch off anything centerfire, my wife says the windows rattle in the house. A .22 WMR makes a pretty sharp crack. Subsonic .22 match rounds are very quiet.

I limit my centerfire use to checking zero on guns I have a question about. My neighbors are not close, but they are all nice and I don't want to tick them off. I have one neighbor that I call double-tap man. He must spend a fortune on ammo. He shoots for hours on end, generally on nice days when you want to be outside or have your windows open. I don't want to be that guy.

In short, it's nice to have an "in a pinch" range and one for .22's but it was not the glorious trimph I was hoping for. On rainy days, I hunt from the porch. I hunted from inside once, fell asleep and woke up to a deer in front of the 80 yard berm and moving. I up and fired. No ear plugs and the muzzle inside. Big mistake. My right ear used to be my good one. Now it's the bad one. DO NOT do this.

I still drive 90 miles one way to get to my favorite range. I take 3 or 4 rifles and a sandwich and make a day of it.
 
Cementitious Wood Fiber Products

FBecigneul said:
Paul built a sound reduced room in his walkout basement with doubled walls and insulation between the walls and sound containing paneling that you use in soundproof walls. It looks like loosely glued wood fibers or excelsior. He used the same stuff on the ceiling. He spray painted the walls and ceiling. It works quite well. He isn’t so concerned about sound outside the house and so the rifle muzzle is about even with the opened window. He put a couple stickers on the window so he wouldn’t forget to open it. He also raised the floor with 2X6 framing resting on the concrete floor and shimmed and insulated that also. My outdoor range has a lot of shrubs and trees running the full 300 yards but everyone knows when I’m shooting. I don’t know what to tell you about soundproofing or reducing an entire range. How did your shooting go this year, Josh?
I can’t believe 42 people saw your post and didn’t have experience or opinions on a range such as what you are looking to do.
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Armstrong tectum. Also fireproof but not mouse proof.
 
I once visited the home of a young digger whom I supervised (as a Warrant Officer) and he showed me his garden shed where he practised playing his drums. The shed was made from pressed metal.

The shed was lined with cardboard egg cartons glued to the walls and ceiling and I stood outside while he gave the drums a few rolls and could barely hear a sound. So worth considering for the internal noise issue.

I gave him a big tick on his annual report for his ingenuity and also for his consideration for his neighbours. He made corporal within a year.

I like smart people.

* doggie *
 
[QUOTE YOUR NOISE IS ONLY AT MUZZEL MAKE PARTIAL ROLL OF HEAVY FENCE WIRE TO LET YOUR REST SET RIGHT WITH STRAFOAM WRAPED AROUND IT YOU GET A LITTLE DUST AT FIRST BUT REALY CUTS NOISE=josh shrum;839261]I am thinking about building a shed to practice from, but with a slight twist.

In an effort to keep folks from hearing/knowing I am shooting I want to to keep the muzzle INSIDE the building to prevent as much noise as possible from escaping. I likes my privacy and don't want neighbors nebbin'.

If I go forward with this plan I would fence in the range (100 yards) to keep folks, pets, etc from wandering into my field of fire.

So my question is:

With sound proofing the walls and ceiling, baffling in front of the muzzle, carpet on the floor, ear plugs and muffs, is my idea safe/viable? I am thinking along the lines a of Jam Room that a lot of musicians build, something with sound proofing to keep sound in as well as baffling to keep sound from blowing up my ears.

Almost an anechoic chamber, except I will need at least one opening for the bullets to go through.

In addition, I was considering planting some species of Thuja/Arborvitae around the building, possibly the entire range, in an effort to reduce noise.

I would welcome any concerns and/or suggestions.

Thanks!

Josh[/QUOTE]
 
hay

hay sounds great. if you find a farmer that stashed a bunch and did not sell for a couple of years, you can probably get it for free. hauling might be a pain.
 
One club I was in tried a 20' hanging tunnel of old tires, with the muzzle in the opening. This worked well to deaden the blast, but not the sonic crack downrange. With most pistol, .22LR and other subsonic rounds it worked real well. The only problem with the tunnel itself was that unburnt powder accumulated in the tires. Not much of a problem till a muzzleloader was shot thru it and lit everything off for a fireworks effect.
 
MilGunsmith said:
One club I was in tried a 20' hanging tunnel of old tires, with the muzzle in the opening... The only problem with the tunnel itself was that unburnt powder accumulated in the tires. Not much of a problem till a muzzleloader was shot thru it and lit everything off for a fireworks effect.
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The fix? Wash out the interior of the tires, on a frequent basis. Failure to do this leads to an accumulation of unburnt powder. This is one cause of fires in indoor (and outdoor) ranges, Glock in Smyrna, GA lost an employee to such an accident in 2003.

The Range Source Book discusses this issue, as well as other issues with tunnel construction - such as mosquitos breeding in pooled water inside one. Solution is simple: drill holes in the bottom side of the tires so water drains out.
 
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