Soundproofing Shooting Area

[txnative1951]

I want to create a shooting area in my garage that will reduce the sound of the gunfire enough that my neighbors (suburban small lots) can either not hear it or it sounds different enough that they will just think that I'm pounding on something with a hammer. The garage is brick, so that helps a bit, but I want even more sound reduction since the garage door is uninsulated metal.

I'm not going to be shooting much in there, just enough to chrono some loads that I'm developing -- maybe just a couple of shots each time. I'm not worried about a backstop since I will be shooting at very close range, from a rest, and into a barrel filled with various types of decelerating media. There is a 1/2" thick piece of plate steel in the bottom of the barrel and the barrel will be bedded in another area with gravel surrounding it. The barrel will be sitting on the floor and inclined at an angle that would put me shooting from a sitting position after about 12' from the front edge of the barrel. So even if the bullet did got through the decelerating media, the steel plate, a foot or so of gravel, and the brick wall, it would just end up boring into the yard before it exited my property.

What I'm wanting to do is create a long box about 24" on each side for the length of the incline to the barrel and have my chrono inside this box near the barrel. I'm wondering what might be the best way to insulate the box so that the noise would be reduced. I have a lot of scrap cedar fencing pickets, so I'm thinking of using them for the outer shell of the box. I also have access to a few 30g plastic barrels that could be used to form the inner chamber of the box. I guess what I'm building is a functionally a super size silencer (although it would not be classified as a silencer / suppressor by the ATF) that does not actually attach to a firearm.

[GabbyM]

It's been done with 55 gallon steel drums.

gravel will deflect a bullet. Sand is what you want.
You'll need more than one 33 gallon plastic barrel for a rifle. So what you looking at? Rifle or hand gun. Rifle is a large order. pistol not so much.

[220swiftfn]

The other thing to think of is the legality of doing what you're thinking of.... (Generally, if it's "small suburban lots" there's usually an ordinance against discharge of firearms that goes along with it......)



Dan

[salty dog]

If it's your neighbors you're worried about, I would guess that an enclosed garage would capture most of the sound. It could be heard by somebody standing outside the garage, but I'll bet a neighbor watching TV with the windows closed wouldn't notice. But it is just a guess, and your idea of barrels seems like a good one. Especially for you, who will be inside the garage where it will be very loud.

[akajun]

You could hang a cloth tarp over the garage door to muffle the sound, also check out videos of shooting in Europe, the place the end of the barrel inside of a concrete culvert lined with a rubber mat that looks like a floormat. Im sure you could come up with something that is similar and smaller in nature.

That said, firing a gun in an unventilated area exposes you to airborne lead particles, primarily from the primers. That is why indoor ranges have the big exhause fans, and wipe everything down on a regular basis.

[high standard 40]

You could get some old tires and assemble them together side by side to form a tube and align this between the shooting position and the backstop. Place the muzzle inside the tube when shooting. The tires will act as a baffle and absorb much of the sound.

[jmorris]

When we lived in the city I would go to the shed out back or garage and function fire into newspaper. Makes a lot less noise than an air hammer on sheet metal. How about just getting a suppressor?

[txnative1951]

It's been done with 55 gallon steel drums.

gravel will deflect a bullet. Sand is what you want.
You'll need more than one 33 gallon plastic barrel for a rifle. So what you looking at? Rifle or hand gun. Rifle is a large order. pistol not so much.

Mainly looking at handgun, but there might be some rifle shots here and there also (e.g. .308, .223, .45-70). They would all be cast bullets though. The gravel would be the last step in the bullet deceleration media before actually hitting the brick wall of the garage. Since I'm not going to want to be repairing the brick, I'll work up my loads over time to ensure that the bullets stay in the deceleration barrel and do not end up in the gravel. The gravel is just supposed to be the last ditch attempt to stop the bullet if it manages to go through the deceleration media AND the steel plate. If necessary, I'll switch to AR500 plate. I am hoping to bleed off most of the bullet energy in the deceleration media before it hits the steel plate so that the lead will be more easily recoverable. I've already tested this with .40SW, 10mm, and .45ACP and the bullets do not even make it to the steel plate. Stopping the bullets is not much of a concern for me since I know that I can combine enough elements (sand, gravel, steel, rubber mulch, etc) to capture the bullet and it not be a hazard to anyone outside of the garage. Sound deadening, I don't have much of any experience in though. Well, other than just putting earplugs in my ears when I'm at a restaurant or on an airplane where someone brought their whiny little brat along with them. :)

With respect to the legality, I figure that if no one can hear me, the legality of it not that much of an issue. Even without this sort of sound deadening chamber, the noise that you hear outside my garage is less than when my neighbor starts up his Harley (he believes in the concept of "loud pipes save lives"). I have been known to try to time my shooting with the times when he is working on his old Harley. :)

[txnative1951]

When we lived in the city I would go to the shed out back or garage and function fire into newspaper. Makes a lot less noise than an air hammer on sheet metal. How about just getting a suppressor?

A suppressor is not an option since there are too many different firearms that I would want to be testing. I also do not want to be threading the barrels on all of my firearms.

I'm not talking about a lot of rounds being fired here. Most of the time, it will just be a couple of shots per night -- just enough to get a chrono reading to see if that is a load that I want to pursue.

[Larry Gibson]

Build and external suppressor out of tires. Also with the chrono screens that close you will have to defect the muzzle blast to avoid bad readings from it. Additional spray on foam insulation can be put on the tire suppressor to further deaden sound.

Larry Gibson

[jmorris]

The "it's only wrong if you get caught" philosophy generally leads to trouble but if you are only shooting a shot or two, how about drowning out the noise with other loud noise. I have heard car radios so loud you couldn't hear a gun shot fired. If you have a teenager I am sure they already have something you could use.

[high standard 40]

Build and external suppressor out of tires. Also with the chrono screens that close you will have to defect the muzzle blast to avoid bad readings from it. Additional spray on foam insulation can be put on the tire suppressor to further deaden sound.

Larry Gibson

This is what I was trying to describe. The photos do a much better job than i did.

[txnative1951]

Well, I have been known to turn my high powered electric leaf blower on at the same time that I am shooting to help mask the sound. I haven't had someone else shoot while I was outside to see what it sounds like. I'm pretty sure than my neighbor's Harley disguises it a lot better. :)

Now, if I just had a recording of his Harley and a really powerful stereo... Hmmm... People might wonder if I was going to kill myself from carbon monoxide by running the bike in the garage though... :)

[oldpara]

With respect to the legality, I figure that if no one can hear me, the legality of it not that much of an issue. Even without this sort of sound deadening chamber, the noise that you hear outside my garage is less than when my neighbor starts up his Harley (he believes in the concept of "loud pipes save lives"). I have been known to try to time my shooting with the times when he is working on his old Harley. :)

Be very thoughtful before you decide to break a law or city ordinance. The law may seem silly to you (it does to me), but the
overseers take it very seriously.
I know you would be as careful as any of us safety wise, but one complaint, one citation or arrest will single you out and give our sport one more black eye.
Take care.

[lavenatti]

Whatever kind of setup you go with - have a "lie" setup in case you are ever questioned. Even if it's just an old lawn mower with the muffler taken off always have a quick and ready answer for the noise.

[nekshot]

I have a situation where a ex-villager bought 10 acres beside my shop and built his house about 200 feet away from my shop range. I built a box 16 inches square by 7 feet long with a tube of chicken wire formed into a 6 inch diameter running the whole length of it. Around this wire I stuffed fiber glass insulation very tightly with out smashing the wire tube. So at either end I have a 6 inch hole to shoot thru. Any thing below the speed of sound cannot be heard in his house. The higher velocity loads get louder bit I can shoot with out ear protection if I want to. I shoot in a trap 80 yards away which is 2x12 treated wood making a 24 inch box with heavy plywood on either side and set up to give me a 24x24 target area. I fill this with sand and clean it out about once a year to reuse the lead I can find. Some things change with time and the freedom to shoot freely is now called shooting responsibly and I don't mind that.

[DCM]

Preferably spray foam insulation, 2nd choice being carefully sawn blue/pink styrofoam pieces glued to that unisulated garage door will help the noise plus provide insulation.
+1 on Larrys' tire moderator, BIG +1 on his choice of chrono.

[zuke]

Use fiberglass insulation around the area to absorb the sound.
You can also hang heavy duty cloth moving blanket's to absorb a lotta sound.Sleeping bag's work also