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Posted: 10/9/2007 10:27:42 AM EDT
Ok, ok, ok....
Let's say that you live in a "semi-rural", "semi-suburban" setting. You live on a few acres, not anywhere most people would consider rural, because it's only a couple miles from suburbia, but the area you live is pretty secluded. What are your thoughts on buying some intermodal shipping containers and welding 3 or so of them end-to-end, lining them for sound attenuation purposes, building a solid backstop at the end, and using it as an indoor pistol range? Crazy or really cool idea? Not anything I can consider right now, but something I'm keeping in the back of my mind for the future. Intermodal containers are supposedly cheap right now, though I haven't priced them. Think of how much practice one could get if they could shoot whenever they wanted as opposed to having to make the 1.5 hour round-trip to the range and back?!   |
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Posted: 10/9/2007 10:51:04 AM EDT
[#1]
You are going to use this for pistol shooting, correct?
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Posted: 10/9/2007 10:55:57 AM EDT
[#2]
Sounds like a good plan to me. I'd set them up above ground and build a large dirt berm on all sides (and over them). If you seal them well with epoxy paint first they should last a long time without rusting out. Use more dirt for the backstop and it'll be gtg. You'll have to figure out a large air handling system though to keep from breathing a lot of lead dust, and that'll probably be the expensive part.
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Posted: 10/9/2007 10:58:43 AM EDT
[#3]
Doesn't sound like a good idea...
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Posted: 10/9/2007 10:59:11 AM EDT
[#4]
A fan like you would use to ventilate an automotive paint booth should do the trick fairly cheap. |
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Posted: 10/9/2007 11:00:18 AM EDT
[#5]
loud comes to mind
Ever been in one? |
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Posted: 10/9/2007 11:02:05 AM EDT
[#6]
The cheapest I've seen one-use ConEx boxes is about $2500. They're about 8,000 pounds of steel, so much below that and they're more valuable as scrap. I guess it's feasible, but I could find a gazzilion other things to do with $7500.
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Posted: 10/9/2007 11:02:41 AM EDT
[#7]
If I was the one building it I would like the insides of the containers with plywood to control potential ricochets and then use sound deadening foam to line the plywood. Should do the trick just fine. Also, suppressors are legal in MO IIRC.
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Posted: 10/9/2007 11:03:49 AM EDT
[#8]
MARK MY WORDS: THIS WILL NOT END WELL.
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Posted: 10/9/2007 11:04:30 AM EDT
[#9]
Due to my location (near some huge ports) I have seen used 40' conexes for <$1K, but then you'd have to move them to the midwest. That's not for one use ones though, some of them are pretty beat up. You could make a pretty nice range with two 40 footers. |
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Posted: 10/9/2007 11:04:31 AM EDT
[#10]
Mobile Tactics in Marco Island, FL is a three lane
pistol range inside a 18 wheel tractor/ trailer rig. And yes, it is mobile. I used to shoot there all time. Its AR15 friendly too. Ask for retired LEO Mike Christoff. |
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Posted: 10/9/2007 11:05:08 AM EDT
[#11]
Only if your a C2 Manufacturer or C3 dealer, us peons are left to deal with traumatic hearing loss.  yak |
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Posted: 10/9/2007 11:16:02 AM EDT
[#12]
Yes, pistols and rimfire only.
I don't know that a dirt berm would really be necessary. A backstop in the rear of the last container substantial enough to stop pistol rounds wouldn't be difficult to fabricate (maybe railroad ties with 3 feet of sand behind it). And for the walls an roof, you'd need to line them with acoustic liner and place a hard, flat barrier over them because you don't want to bullets to hit the "verticals" of the corrugated exterior. If it's going to hit, you want it to hit a hard, flat surface so it strikes at an obtuse angle and deflects the errant shot into the backstop. I don't know how one would go about an inlet for an exhaust fan at the end berm end though, however an exhaust fan at the berm end and some louvers at the firing position end should clear powder and lead vapor quickly. |
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Posted: 10/9/2007 11:17:02 AM EDT
[#13]
No.  Everything else NFA is gtg though. |
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Posted: 10/9/2007 11:20:17 AM EDT
[#14]
I've loaded and unloaded them in past lives. Yeah, concussions sound like fun though! Seriously, some acoustic lining would absorb the sound before it can bounce back off the walls.
AHA!!! It IS doable! ETA: A friend of mine has joked about doing this with large concrete sewer pipes buried underground, coming off the basement. ETA2: There's gotta be a WECSOG way to do this! www.lasershot.com/pdf/CSR.pdf |
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Posted: 10/9/2007 12:19:52 PM EDT
[#15]
I build buildings in these things for a living, and I can tell you that most of your designs are overkill.
How about this: Get a 40, build a small building in front of it, about 15' deep. This will be where you are going to stand to fire. Drill a hole in each of the end headers and install a pulley with some wire rope, so you have a means to run a target down and back. Don't worry about the sides. If you happen to shoot one, the bullet will go through, but will lose most of its power. This is supposed to be in a semi rural area. Correct? Install at the end a sheet of 1/4" steel angled from lower front so as to deflect the bullets towards the floor. Cover the floor with about 6" of sand in the impact area and back so to absorb all bullet strikes. Put a vent back where you are standing while shooting. Install a fan down behind the deflecting sheet. Put it closer to the floor, since lead is heavy. Fire away. |
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Posted: 10/9/2007 12:24:34 PM EDT
[#16]
I like this idea better. Imagine a concealed 50' range next to the reloading bench. 
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Posted: 10/9/2007 12:29:32 PM EDT
[#17]
Yeah, I really don't think it would be hard at all. How thick are the walls on these? 1/8"? I don't want to be poking holes in the sides, and I want something to deaden the sound some, so I'd probably line the walls with duct liner or acoustic tiles. I doubt I'd ever hit the walls, but it's a risk not worth taking and if it does occur, a layer of something hard (what I don't know, yet) to keep bullets from hitting the exterior walls of the container. Duct liner/acoustic tiles are cheap. If I can keep my "bullet deflecting material" price down, it could be done quite affordably! I really like your backstop w/ exhaust fan idea! I hope someday I have the means to build this. How cool would it be to have your own indoor pistol range?! |
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Posted: 10/9/2007 12:32:27 PM EDT
[#18]
That would be obscenely convenient. Working up a load could take a couple hours from start to finish! 
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Posted: 10/9/2007 12:38:35 PM EDT
[#19]
I have meant to post pics for some time now, but in close proximity to my current location there is a range of similiar design, in a suburban setting, buried in the back yard.
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Posted: 10/9/2007 12:43:45 PM EDT
[#20]
Cool! I hope you get around to that! I'd love to see it! |
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Posted: 10/9/2007 1:07:57 PM EDT
[#21]
So where in MO are you, poster. Can I come play when you are done?
I always thought burying some shipping containers and lining them with tires or someother protective substance would make a good indoor/underground range. |
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Posted: 10/9/2007 1:08:56 PM EDT
[#22]
The walls are 14 ga. (.071)
You have about 340 sq. ft per wall and 320 for the ceiling, so sound proofing can get expensive. It takes 10 sheets of plywood to do a wall X 3 X 20 bucks per 1/2" sheet, now you have 600 bucks wrapped up in it. The only places you are actually letting sound (which is vibration) out is at your vent and your fan. What you might get is a pressure spike from the expanding gas. I'm not a good enough physicist to phigure that out. |
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Posted: 10/9/2007 1:13:21 PM EDT
[#23]
Very, very loud.
Lead residue problems (lead particles will become airborne and be inhaled)--very bad to say the least. Boring. No room to move, etc. If bullseye is your thing, then maybe it would be okay. Probably not legal. |
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Posted: 10/9/2007 2:37:42 PM EDT
[#24]
Too bad you didn't post this in the Survival forums.
In about 5 minutes someone would have posted the 140+ page .pdf in zip format that discusses the various uses of ISO containers, including as an indoor pistol range. Sorry, can't recall the poster's name (perhaps Airwolf??) and I only have the .pdf on my work 'puter. Search on "container" in the survival forums and see if it comes up in the last 3 months, I bet it does. Bottom line: it's very doable and containers would make a kick-ass pistol range. Good luck. Merlin |
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Posted: 10/9/2007 3:31:34 PM EDT
[#25]
I will do just that. There's a lot of things I can think to do with these things! |
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Posted: 10/9/2007 5:11:04 PM EDT
[#26]
That be it, thanks! Ok, Airwolf Wolfpack... I was close! |
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Posted: 10/9/2007 5:17:04 PM EDT
[#27]
This isn't true. A suppressor has to attach to a gun. There are hundreds of "range suppressors" all over the country. Different variations of a stack of tires to shoot through. |
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Posted: 10/9/2007 9:18:09 PM EDT
[#28]
No reason it couldnt be done. The local cops here have a pistol range that inside a semi truck trailor. uses ground up car tires for the backstop.
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Posted: 10/10/2007 6:15:08 AM EDT
[#29]
I guess I am going to have to go out in the yard and fire my pistol at some walls to see what happens. My best guess right now is I get a large dent. Here are some things to think about: 1. Container skins are corrugated. So the possibility of hitting a side perpendicular is fairly small. 2. This was supposed to be in a semi-rural area, not downtown, so if a round actually went through a wall or roof, it is going to have to travel some distance, to actually hit something. 3. When you go to the indoor range, how many times have you shot the roof, and the walls? Total? |
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