Muffled gun shots out of garage.

[smkummer]

So I live in a rural subdivision. I shoot CCI quiets and 22 shorts out of my 22 rifles out the back yard in my wooded creek area, no complaints. While most of my neighbors know if they hear a gunshot, it’s probably me, but I want to keep a good relationship with them. My local range is 10 miles or 20 minutes away. Sometimes I just need to test a few rounds. At first I just cracked my detached garage entry door and fired a few shots. Wife could hear them from inside the house. So I added an empty cardboard barrel. Now she says it sounds like a muffled pop. I just tested a 44-40 rifle and revolver. With the revolver, it’s important to get the front of the cylinder inside the barrel for more sound deadening. 304991304992

[Hannibal]

That's an interesting idea. Basically an oversized muffler but unattached to the firearm. :idea:

[Winger Ed.]

Try putting and letting a lawn mower run outside the garage while you're shooting.
It isn't a perfect solution, but it'll help cover and cancel out the noise from the shot.

Also, line your tube with old/junk carpet. Face the fluffy part towards the inside.


Think of your tube as working like a regular suppressor.
When their exit hole wiper gets larger and larger from use, the report gets louder.
The smaller your tube's (entrance &) exit hole is- the better it will work too.

[JimB..]

Roll a piece of chicken wire around a piece of PVC pipe, secure it to itself and remove pvc pipe. Mount roughly in the center of your cardboard tube/barrel using plywood to secure it. Fill around the wire tube with loose stuff that isn’t likely to catch fire, a wrapping of steel wool is great. If you want extra quiet, cut a cap at the shooters end with an oval hole in the center, gun barrel goes at the bottom of the oval, sight through the top.

Your wife won’t know when you’re shooting it, much less the neighbors. Just don’t attach it to a gun.

[smkummer]

Wow, great ideas guys! Sounds ( he he) like you guys have been there and done that! Right now I am shooting into a stump. I do have some extra carpet. I have a much larger stump that maybe I can get permission from the wife to use……or beg for permission. I have the removable steel lid for the cardboard barrel that I’ll install with a smaller hole on the exit end.

[Kosh75287]

NOT to be a wet blanket, but what are you using for a backstop?

[smkummer]

304995
NOT to be a wet blanket, but what are you using for a backstop?
It’s a tree stump. The cowboy lead bullets only go in a just bit and one can see the base. The full power 44-40 go further but none have penetrated the maybe 16” stump.

[Hannibal]

I think the question is what is going to stop the bullet if the stump is unintentionally missed?

[bryan scott]

Nice,

[elmacgyver0]

An effective "range suppressor" can be made from a row of old tires.
Great if you have the room.

[bryan scott]

Now that's an idea,, if you could shoot rifles on your place for example, and wanted to quite it down , you could put a line of tires with carpet or similar in them and rubber sheet on either end and shoot thru. It , would be an interesting project.

[dogrunner]

An effective "range suppressor" can be made from a row of old tires.
Great if you have the room.

Once read an article with pics of that very thing. Shooter stacked about 10 tires on a supporting rack, as I recall he stated that it completely eliminated complaints he was getting shoot a hi powered rifle in a somewhat rural sub division.

[elmacgyver0]

Now that's an idea,, if you could shoot rifles on your place for example, and wanted to quite it down , you could put a line of tires with carpet or similar in them and rubber sheet on either end and shoot thru. It , would be an interesting project.

I think I have a lot of great ideas, but I can't take credit for this one.
Rick Jamison made such a device for shooting high power rifles on his personal range.
If I remember right, he filled the insides of the tires with swarf from a machine shop and kept it in place with wire mesh.

[elmacgyver0]

For anyone that decides to do this, just make sure you drill holes in the tires to drain any water that gets in or you will have a major "skeeter" problems.

[wreckster]

Roll a piece of chicken wire around a piece of PVC pipe, secure it to itself and remove pvc pipe. Mount roughly in the center of your cardboard tube/barrel using plywood to secure it. Fill around the wire tube with loose stuff that isn’t likely to catch fire, a wrapping of steel wool is great. If you want extra quiet, cut a cap at the shooters end with an oval hole in the center, gun barrel goes at the bottom of the oval, sight through the top.

Your wife won’t know when you’re shooting it, much less the neighbors. Just don’t attach it to a gun.

That description demands some photos!

[kootne]

Roll a piece of chicken wire around a piece of PVC pipe, secure it to itself and remove pvc pipe. Mount roughly in the center of your cardboard tube/barrel using plywood to secure it. Fill around the wire tube with loose stuff that isn’t likely to catch fire, a wrapping of steel wool is great. If you want extra quiet, cut a cap at the shooters end with an oval hole in the center, gun barrel goes at the bottom of the oval, sight through the top.

Your wife won’t know when you’re shooting it, much less the neighbors. Just don’t attach it to a gun.

Steel wool is very easily ignited, burns hot and is hard to extinguish, I would use ceramic wool instead.

[Hannibal]

Steel wool is very easily ignited, burns hot and is hard to extinguish, I would use ceramic wool instead.

There's a product called mineral wool board that is used in construction for fireproofing. I've used it before when making outside wood stoves and it's easy to work with if the part has flat sides. It would be pretty easy to make a square out of it that would fit inside 4" PVC for example. Might work out pretty well.

[BP Dave]

Check your local laws/ordinances as well as the location of any urban boundaries. In some jurisdictions it's a felony to discharge a firearm in urban areas (with exceptions for cops, self-defense, and shooting ranges, etc.), and a complaint by a disgruntled somebody could suddenly make that 20-minute drive to the range much more attractive. If you do continue, bear in mind that a round glancing off a stump and into someone else's yard can change even the friendliest neighbor into something else,

[Loudenboomer]

Keep in mind you can muffle the muzzle blast but super sonic rounds will still have supersonic Crack.

[smkummer]

Thanks again guys, no ordinances here. If I would miss the stump ( rare, it’s only 15 yards away), the bullet would either penetrate the grass ground or glance off from the angle I shoot and have to make it past a 4-5’ stack of firewood 20’ behind the stump. If it somehow miss that, then it would have to make it through 2 lines of trees that are fully full of leaves and branches. After that, it’s 200 feet to the neighbors house up the hill.

[nicholst55]

Fill around the wire tube with loose stuff that isn’t likely to catch fire, a wrapping of steel wool is great.

I frequently used steel wool as tinder, in days gone by. It burns like nobody's business!

[NyFirefighter357]

https://www.amazon.com/Brass-Wool-3-5-Skein-Pad/dp/B07MP1JJ6H?th=1

[barnetmill]

Steel wool is very easily ignited, burns hot and is hard to extinguish, I would use ceramic wool instead.

Accumulation of partially burnt powder can be an issue if very large numbers of rounds are fired. it is part of what makes up indoor range trash. Maybe every so often thoroughly clean your muffling device to prevent build up.

[poppy42]

Can’t speak of your area, unfortunately for me every place I’ve lived has had a law Forbidding the discharge of a firearm within certain distance of a building. (i’m not quoting actual law, you guys get the idea). It’s prohibited me from doing what the OP has done. Really stinks! I always figured it wouldn’t be one of the neighbors but some anti-gun member of some Law Enforcement organization randomly driving past my house! My luck has never been the best and it just ain’t worth it for me! Believe me I wish I could it would make things a heck of a lot easier for me. My closest range is about an hour away!

[uscra112]

200 feet? :shock: If I were that neighbor I would be mighty apprehensive. A woodpile is not a backstop.

[Milky Duck]

the beauty of shooting through a PIPE somewhere along your short range is that it makes it just about imposible for round to stray away from intended target area.

[smkummer]

305016
the beauty of shooting through a PIPE somewhere along your short range is that it makes it just about imposible for round to stray away from intended target area.

Yes, that’s very true. Again out of maybe 25 rounds tested, none have been outside of the paper target let alone the 20” wide by 24” tall stump at about 18 yards. Eventually a 3’ by 3’ less movable stump will be at a 25 yard distance closer to the woodpile Again, this is NOT a full range. It’s just for load testing of 5-10 rounds.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I have added carpet to my cardboard drum and cut a hole to the exit side. I may have to oblong the hole as I am shooting down.

[smkummer]

200 feet? :shock: If I were that neighbor I would be mighty apprehensive. A woodpile is not a backstop.

The primary backstop is the wood tree trunk stump of which the lead bullets go into but don’t penetrate. IF I would some how miss, the grass covered yard is next as I am shooting down hill. IF the bullet were to ricochet from the soft soil, the next obstacle would be the wood pile and first group of trees. IF the bullet were to somehow miss all of that, 20 yards from that is a steep bank about 20 feet high above the creek, then the 30’ tall trees start. Right now the vegation from that tree line is so thick it’s hard to see the house 200’ away. The person living there is bed ridden and does not leave the house. Once a week someone mows his grass. Obviously I wouldn’t shoot when someone is in his backyard.

I appreciate everyone’s comment on safety and I know I am fully responsible for where that bullet goes.

[smkummer]

UPDATE, The carpet in the drum barrel and the cover with exit hole cut REALLY suppressed the noise especially inside the garage! I asked wife to stay in the kitchen which is next the the attached garage then 30’ to the detached garage of which I fired inside of. I said I would fire 2 shots, 1 in rifle and 1 in revolver ( cowboy 44-40 loads). She said both shots sounded the same like someone was taking a sledgehammer to a stump, not at all like a gun shot. This is the goal of what I was hoping for that if neighbors just were happening to pay attention inside there house, they could not tell it’s a gunshot, and of course they are much farther away. I asked her if the second shot ( handgun) sounded louder, she say nope, sounded the same. I believe that has to be the newly insulated drum with restricted exit hole! Thanks guys.

[Winger Ed.]

I like to see people get what they want----- (especially me).:bigsmyl2:

Crank up a lawn mower and set it outside the garage. Nobody pays attention to them.
That should cover the 'whump' sound.

[TurnipEaterDown]

Accumulation of partially burnt powder can be an issue if very large numbers of rounds are fired. it is part of what makes up indoor range trash. Maybe every so often thoroughly clean your muffling device to prevent build up.

Absolutely recognize the unburned powder risk, and do something about it when required.
25+ years ago I built a sound deadening box to assist in my forming of 1000 cases for 17 Ackley Hornet. The load used was unique for powder and a toilet paper plug/wad to build pressure.
Lined the box with that synthetic "egg crate" foam you see in mattress toppers, some carpet scrap, and stacked some magazines at the end to keep the toilet paper wads from exiting. Worked great, thought I was real clever. The Thump was only like dropping a small bundle of newspaper on floor from waist high.
About the 400 round mark the accumulation of unburned powder caught fire, ignited the foam & carpet, and the most noxious brown smoke was pouring out of the box. It did smother itself fairly soon, but I went back to cheap Rem 25 grainers and lots of time at a local range after that little lesson.

[Winger Ed.]

the accumulation of unburned powder caught fire, ignited the foam & carpet,

I feel terrible for laughing at that.
It reminds me of a buddy who would tell of some similar event and he'd say something like,
"As the flames got taller, business really picked up".

[Charlie Horse]

I just crack a window and step back to the center of the kitchen - when the wife is away, of course. :lol:

[JimB..]

Thanks guys, fine steel wool is most certainly combustible, although I’ve never had it happen. Coarse stainless won't burn as far as I know. But the whole thing is pretty crude, you could crumple up empty beer cans and use them to fill the space and get a decent result. Even better, cut a few wood discs to inside the drum. Space them along the chicken wire. I have a lathe that’ll turn a 30” disc, with that diameter and 3’ of length you can moderate a lot of pressure.

But what I really need to do is put a larger filter on the air compressor, that thing is louder than an unsuppressed 22 for sure.

[Winger Ed.]

Thanks guys, fine steel wool is most certainly combustible, although I’ve never had it happen.

In the Boy Scouts, we'd use it for a fire starter.
Put a few strands of it across a battery and it'll light right up.

[smkummer]

So the rifle I was just testing in it came with egg shell foam that I swap out the carpet. The carpet now lays over the outside. The cardboard drum cylinder is an ex-military gun powder container. It still had a bit of 700X in it ( maybe 3-5 grains) so I made sure I shook it out real good ( don’t need a head start on my detached sound suppressor fire!).

[JimB..]

In the Boy Scouts, we'd use it for a fire starter.
Put a few strands of it across a battery and it'll light right up.

Same, but have you ever had it catch in the application we’re talking about, or even in a smaller suppressor? The cutting oil will smoke as it heats, but I’ve never had fire with coarse wool. I could set a battleship hull on fire in the right circumstances, almost anything can burn.

[ascast]

This is great stuff. I've been meaning to put this on the table for awhile. I don't need every body knowing my shooting schedule. I like the tractor tire idea. Lots of room for visibility. For OP ! Do not trust " a stump". I shot myself years ago in the groin with a 357 Mag. Went to a buddies house whos gramps was a hot dog pistol shooter. He had a basement range. We were shooting and out pops one and gets me in the groin. He had filled the backstop with firewood and mostly shot 22., so the 357 was just too much. Fortunately for me, it was enough as the slug left a black and blue and no more. Still, if things had been a bit different..... Best to be sure you done all you can to prevent an incident.

[Winger Ed.]

Same, but have you ever had it catch in the application we’re talking about,

Nah, it only works with the fine stuff.
A coarser thread/strands of it will just get hot and quickly drain the battery.

[JimB..]

Nah, it only works with the fine stuff.
A coarser thread/strands of it will just get hot and quickly drain the battery.

After I got out of scouts they started lighting the big fires with a mixture of, I think pool shock and ATF. Put it in a cup and it self ignites after a min or two. Nobody let the kids play with it of course. Haven’t though of that in decades.

[Plate plinker]

I like to see people get what they want----- (especially me).:bigsmyl2:

Crank up a lawn mower and set it outside the garage. Nobody pays attention to them.
That should cover the 'whump' sound.

Winger for the win! Love the lawn mower idea.

[Hannibal]

After I got out of scouts they started lighting the big fires with a mixture of, I think pool shock and ATF. Put it in a cup and it self ignites after a min or two. Nobody let the kids play with it of course. Haven’t though of that in decades.

In previous decades there was all kinds of neat stuff you could buy and mix for various uses. Trouble is some people manage to get a Darwin Award and if that happens often enough then things become regulated. With some of the stunts I've seen online involving Tannerite I've no doubt a license will be required to buy that at some future time.

[elmacgyver0]

In previous decades there was all kinds of neat stuff you could buy and mix for various uses. Trouble is some people manage to get a Darwin Award and if that happens often enough then things become regulated. With some of the stunts I've seen online involving Tannerite I've no doubt a license will be required to buy that at some future time.

I'm amazed it hasn't happened already.