Adam B Posted September 3, 2015 Share Posted September 3, 2015 I recently built a new home and my plan was to have a gun vault under our front cement porch. Well fast forward 11 months and I really don't care for how the vault area turned out. After all of the cement was poured it ended up being 6 feet wide, 36 feet long and 8 feet tall, everything is surrounded by cement. I have decided that I want to turn this into a pistol range but I don't feel like dumping $20k into it so I am looking for ideas to do it on the cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hi-Power Jack Posted September 3, 2015 Share Posted September 3, 2015 I built a backstop from 1/4" steel plate and supporting 2" x 4" boards - put sand in a box below the backstop to catch the bullets. Very handy for .22's, and will take some CF's - you might use 3/8" steel if you want to get heavier. Lots of sound suppression is nice - I put stacked newspapers on top of the steel to keep it little quieter. Need lots of lighting, too, of course. Sounds like ventilation is going to be a problem for you, though. Good luck with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhett45acp Posted September 3, 2015 Share Posted September 3, 2015 Ventilation, Ventilation and more Ventilation is the biggest challenge. Since you are looking at a max of 10 yards and fairly limited side to side. I would just build a big bullet trap as suggested above, but an angled design will eat away your distance. There are "flat" traps on the market that will help. check actiontarget.com for ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
802Shawn Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 I built a backstop from 1/4" steel plate and supporting 2" x 4" boards - put sand in a box below the backstop to catch the bullets. Very handy for .22's, and will take some CF's - you might use 3/8" steel if you want to get heavier. Lots of sound suppression is nice - I put stacked newspapers on top of the steel to keep it little quieter. Need lots of lighting, too, of course. Sounds like ventilation is going to be a problem for you, though. Good luck with it. I have shot at a indoor range pretty much as stated above. It is in the basement of the club house at a local range. I have shot at many indoor ranges and this one was by far the loudest, I had to wear two sets of ear plugs (one inside the ear and the other outside ). One of the major concerns was someone shooting through the ceiling ( it wasn't bullet proof ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam B Posted September 10, 2015 Author Share Posted September 10, 2015 Thanks for the info guys, keep it coming! I am just planning on shooting rimfire and my 9 and 40 so I dont think I will need to crazy of a backstop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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