Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Reducing Noise on a home rifle range

Finally had some time to shoot out the window of the gun room in my workshop. Shot some .223 and a few rounds out of the smokepole. Got some "feedback" from the wife in the house 100 yards away. It seems two of the resident dogs grabbed rugs and dove under the bed. . God bless the lab who ran out to retrieve whatever fell. .

So, some method of noise reduction is needed. Suppressors not an option, as there are too many rifles to shoot. . A berm would take up a fair bit of space, but could be done. Would it work if it was several feet higher than the window? And how would one deal with the gap between the shooting building and the berm, as it would not be wise to put the berm up against the building. Or maybe a wooden baffle?

I've also heard (on the internet, for what its worth) that shooting through several tires can also reduce noise.

How do you folks keep the wife happy while you are shooting near the homestead? I can't afford the "take the credit card and be gone for several hours" approach.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Earplugs and STFU!!!!

Tires work really WELL,....but one has to watch out for a buildup of unburned powder that WILL eventually flash, and make life exciting (and warm).

I would NOT shoot BP through a tire baffle system,....

Holes in the bottom of the tires and periodic rinsing with H2O would seem to be one way to defeat the unburned powder gremlin.

Lotta' guys talk about putting insulation in the tires,....I never bothered, and found 8 feet of 20" truck tires wired together to really quieten down my shooting.

GTC

I built a muffle box when I lived in upstate NY, it was positioned in the back of the open barn to shoot against a far hillside. I had neighbors on both sides and they never heard anything. You can go fancy with a plywood box lined with fiberglass insulation like I had or just stack tires together.

They're a PITA to move around so are best for positioning and shooting at a stationary point like a target frame, but they do work. Don't know from personal experience how well a set of tires by themselves reduce noise but my muffler would reduce a centerfire rifle or 12 gauge shotgun to a dull "poomph" even standing a few feet to the side.

I saw one done that was about a ten foot long wooden framed tube, window height, with insulation filled baffles. Basically a square tube inside a larger square tube with the baffles in between. At the end he had a mount for his chronograph. Claimed it made most rifles sound like a 22 from the outside. It was in an old article I saw years ago.

About ten auto tires or 16" truck tired wired or fixed together and the noise is almost gone.I doubt very seriously that you will get unburned powder in the tires from shooting a rifle .We have run 40-50 rounds of 50 cal of BP thru them also. No flash

Years ago Rick Jamison showed one he owned. It was a bunch of tires on a trailer frame. It was easy to move around or take some place, and it seemed to do the trick for him. If I were going to build one I'd do a take-off on it. The tires were close to balanced so there was little tongue weight and it was easily moveable a short distance by hand.

Range mounted suppressors are the only option. The gimmick that makes them work and be legal is that there is no necessity to attach the firearm and the suppressor.

As noted shooting through several tires has been known to work. There is a long ago article in Gun Digest - somebody with back issues on disc may chime in.

It's a tradeoff between using tires which may be a more familiar shooting experience with normal sights and such for the distances involved or a more compact muffler system that may block sights and such or maybe a combination for more noise suppression. If it were mine I'd pay attention to parallax and to both unburned powder and other fire hazards.

See e.g. https://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=6&f=20&t=366753 and a myriad of other discussions on a wide variety of other boards. Apparently there are jurisdictions that define anything to reduce noise, such as an indoor range, as prohibited silencers to which others have responded with a laugh test.

I too am thinking of building one of these contraptions. We just bought 43.5 acres just out of town to build on and hunt as well. I have a neighbor that is going to build as well and our house sites are going to be pretty close to each other due to terrain and utilities. I'm going to have a large shop with a conditioned reloading room built out in it and have thought about doing a nice covered porch on the rear to place a permanent bench. I plan to clear a range and add a berm.

My first thoughts were to take a couple 60gal plastic drums, cut small openings top and bottom, and line them with egg crate bed cushions or fiberglass insulation. Do you guys think the tire approach is a better idea?

Thanks,

loder

Looks to me like the tire deal would be the easiest and I can see those tires mounted on a rack with nice big wheels to roll it out of the way when not in use.

I'd cut a hole in the bottom of each tire and probably a hole in the side to insert a garden hose for the periodical wash down.

DF

Kind of what I'm thinking DF. I can build a rack that will hold the tires for a squeeze fit. The question is how long or how many tires does it take in a series to be most effective?

What is a "range-mounted suppressor?"

Thanks for all the great info. It looks like tires will do the job. One of my hesitations was what to do with 20 tires if they didn't work, as we have to pay $5 or $10 each to get rid of them. The answer is that they "will catch fire from unburnt powder!"

Will drill holes in the bottom for drainage, and bolt or cable them together. They will need to be on some sort of mobile gantry, as I shoot from a bench for load development and benchrest practice, but shoot prone or off a backpack for hunting practice.

Next issue is how to trap the lead. My range will probably encroach on federal property, at least beyond 300 yds. I need to be able to pick up my lead and leave if so ordered, and not get involved in remediating lead. . So far, my idea is to put 2ftX2ftX4ft long treated plywood boxes on legs. Boxes would be filled with sand, and covered with metal roofing to keep them dry. Couple of baffles in front of the box to keep sand in box as it gets shot up. What say ye?

REloader

You are planning what I did! At least there are two great minds at work

My loading room is 20 X 12 and has two shooting positions inside. If you are going to air condition the building you may as well sit inside. Outside shooting position allows practice for other than bench positions. Pm me if interested and I can post pictures. .

I was thinking that same thought.

If I was building one, I'd go my favorite tire store and see if they could collect me a set of 20" used tires, I'm thinking 10-12 or so. I'd get a couple and measure their width stacked side by side. I'd try to make the rack so a dozen or so would just fit.

I'd drill a half inch hole at the bottom and on the side. I'd cut a 2" hole with a saber saw, that way I'd have a drain at the bottom and holes in each tire on the side for a garden hose. To me, that would be the easiest way to flush out powder particles from time to time. Just go from tire to tire with the hose, letting the water drain out the bottom holes.

I'd get some large, industrial caster wheels with locks on at least two. That way you could roll the rig into position and lock one front and one rear wheel.

DF

Upon reading a few posts on the web of people building these. The main reccomendations were to keep the tires tight(no sound leaks) and to place rubber or plywood covers on each end with smaller holes to shoot through. Some even placed rubber/plywood/carpet every other tire to create more baffling. Many also mentioned lining the tires with insulation.

It will be a while before I build the range, so plenty of time to think it out.

forpest,

That does sound nice. I went to a really awesome home range a while back. The guy had a ~15x30 cooled reloading/gun room on the back of a large shop. He had a covered porch across the back with concrete slab and two ranges. One range was ~100yds with about 50 pistol and rimfire gongs, the other was set up to 400yds with rifle gongs. He had a concrete bench for the rifle range. It was the nicest I've ever seen and really got the wheels turning.

If anyone has the plans for a tire buffer, I'd like to see how it was put together, what works and what doesn't.

DF

I'd fill the trap with rubber mulch and go to your local printer and ask him for a couple of old press blankets. They're rubber coated cloth that should hold up well to gunfire. I'd use these to create the "face" of the bullet trap.

Not many details here but it gives some hints about how to set one up.





Here's a more portable possibility. Looks like you could use a 55 gallon drum and line it with eggshell foam. Might not be as good as a longer set of tires but certainly easier to manage.



These mufflers on a Swiss rifle range apparently reduce noise levels to 20 db which is pretty quiet.

Jim:

Thanks! The blue barrels solve the problem shooting prone, and with a ramp, kneeling. Much easier than moving tires.