I am hoping to build a house within a year or two....and I would like to build an underground rifle/pistol range as well.

I am thinking a 2-stall range:
-One that is 100 yards for rifle
-One that is either 15 or 25 yards for handgun

Do any of you have any experience building something like this? Any advice would be great.

And by the way....the type of soil I would be dealing with will more than likely be "sandy loam". I would also like to stay under $10,000 for the build....if possible.

I'm looking forward to hearing some of your thoughts on this.

Thanks.

Our host has one in his basement. Check out the picture here:

Saeed's range

All it takes is cash

I would suggest that you look at the website of this guy in the UK:

http://www.caltonmoorrange.com/

Hope it helps!

If you have the property it probably isn't too bad. My uncle or my stepfather, can't remember which, had a buddy that took and I think off the pit in his garage (for working on cars) trenched with a backhoe and then laid 100yds of cement culverts in there to make his range. I don't remember if he put a hole at the end for changing targets or made a pulley. I have given this some thought and I would probably make a pulley and make sure the culvert was large enough I could get inside, then I could use a kids skateboard and get to the end for any maintenance. string lights along it of course, I'd probably use LED rope lights or maybe a light at the end, recessed above the target.

at the end I guess you could leave dirt, alternatively you could probably make a larger area at the end, angle the wall, and then the bullets would come out the culvert, hit the wall and go into the dirt.

Do a shorter one for the pistols, or just don't send the target all the way to the end.

you could also get one of those snails (big metal bullet trap) but I think they're pricey. I saw on tv one time an indoor range and they had this special material that went on the wall and bullets would hit and fall, and when it was pockmarked you just put more on with a regular paint roller.

With sandy loam soil, a cut and cover installation would likely be needed. The shooting tunnel would have to be self-supporting and able to take the load of soil from above and pushing in from the sides. Excavate a trench, construct basically a tunnel out of pre-cast or cast in place concrete, then cover it up. Another thing to consider is the height of your water table.

Check with the TX dept of transportation and see if they have any salvage culvert for sale. Here is a link to a pre-cast concrete co. in TX which might be an option too:

http://www.jandgconcrete.com/productinfoB.html


I'm thinking $10,000 won't touch it though. You also have to have ventilation that will move powder gases outside quickly. You'll also need a target trolley to move your targets back and forth.

any thought to codes/ventilation/lead?

I would put in a 36 inch diameter corrugated metal pipe culvert, originating in the wall of my basement and ending in a concrete manhole or such to give access at that end. At the target end, put in a hardened steel deflector plate at a shallow angle, and a concrete tank of water to catch the bullets. A 5 foot concrete manhole will give you an access port on top, and a tank of water to catch bullets. Run the conduit for your wiring outside the culvert, so you don’t inadvertently cut it with bullet splatters, etc. You’ll need power for lights and exhaust fan.

Put in a good, high capacity fan, to pull air out of the end of the culvert at the target end. You want to pull powder fumes and atomized bullet lead out of the shooting area in a very positive manner. An array of furnace filters will trap the lead dust pulled out by the fan. The water trap will also help with the lead problem.

I would put in an indirect light to hit the targets, arranged so that bullet splatter won’t take out the bulbs. A plexiglass cover will help that a lot. Having a few feet behind the targets before the splatter sheet and tank will keep the splatter down. An angled baffle at the floor of the culvert in front of the tank will keep water splatter under control.

An alternative design is to leave an open end of the culvert in the dirt, and let bullets go into that. It will be dusty and won’t take a lot of bullets without breaking down. A sheet of OSB plywood against the dirt will help it work longer, but it isn’t a long term answer. It will keep most of the lead dust down, though while it works.

At the house end, make a tight fitting plug out of foam sheet, plywood and weather stripping to make it air tight. Make sure you lock it so that your house can’t be broken into from the target range.

The NRA used to send you a packet of info about range ventilation ,that's a start.
A HVAC man who is a shooter also helps.
Another problem is heat waves .After shooting a small amount heat waves start to form and they distort things like a mirage .There was a range like that in the Denver area years ago.Smaller tunnels like 36" have more of a problem.

It's not only heat mirage but the confined space of the tunnel interacts somehow with the bullet shock wave. It was long ago but I think the sum of the article was that there was a risk of a change in POI in open air. It had to do with diameters but I can't recall the details.

Great stuff guys....keep in coming.

Obviously there's a lot more research I have to do....but that's why I am asking now (at least a year in advance). I am actually planning to build a vault room.....and was thinking about connecting the underground range to it, if it's feasible.

Reality check on 10K budget

At $28+ per foot 36"dia x 100 yards culvert = $8400 just for the pipe.

i have seriously considered doing the same thing... dig a big ditch, like 10 feet wide, with a backhoe, about 70 yds long, 8 feet deep... line the sidewalls with upright used railroad crossties, support ever 10 feet with a piece of drillstem, top with an angle iron rail to keep it straight, then cover with crossties and used tin, tarpaper, etc and cover it up deep enough so grass would grow... then at the shooting end, either build a tilt-wall concrete room or bury a conex box... use steel plate sloped downward for a bullet trap in the other end, put a garage door opener to move targets back and forth... use gravel for the floor and put a sump in somewhere to drain , in case it ever leaked.. ought to last 15-20 yrs before it caved in....if you hired it done, lots of $$... do it yourself for the $10k you're talking about...

BTW, you might call KDF in seguin.... Phil has an underground range of sorts, you can see it from hy 46...looks like an outhouse with a pile of dirt...

I think Ted Horn has introduced a bit of reality that needs to be considered in the planning stage.

If the proposed users/shooters are always in control their muzzle ( better than the average shooter anyway) then how much cheaper is plastic corrugated pipe per foot?

It seems that plastic will cost more.

Contact RCBS in Oroville, Ca. They have one. Could probably give you some specs.

What ssdave said.

Harold Vaughn's book Rifle Accuracy Facts covers this subject and is worth reading. His range was enclosed rather than strictly underground but the same problems arise.

Use smooth-wall pipe (USED!) with a skateboard for target-trolley maintenance. If the far end is open to the air (lots cheaper), make a sturdy tight-fitting plug to prevent varmints from nesting there. Consider a shallower half-ditch for the pipe with the excavated soil being used for 2' of backfill, instead of a deeper and thus more expensive ditch.

Run the pipe downhill @ 1/4"/lf to prevent condensation/leakage backflow/puddling.

MECHANICALLY & THOROUGHLY COMPACT YOUR INITIAL BACKFILL SOIL 'TO ELEVATION' ON THE EXCAVATION FLOOR BEFORE LAYING ANY PIPE! This will prevent any future elevation settling that may disrupt your trolley system or cause water inseepage. Also mechanically compact your above-floor backfill lifts every 6" or so until the pipe is covered completely, to prevent future side shift.
Regards, Joe

Being somewhat familar with backfill issues and differential settleing, I'd not set the pipe on top of fill for 6 months. You can never get 100% compaction immediately. The best, easiest way is to over-pack 3-4 feet, let it finish compacting through the winter and cut down to the desired elevation when it dries up enough to go to work.

quote:

Originally posted by TCLouis:
I think Ted Horn has introduced a bit of reality that needs to be considered in the planning stage.

If the proposed users/shooters are always in control their muzzle ( better than the average shooter anyway) then how much cheaper is plastic corrugated pipe per foot?

-or reclaimed culvert.

quote:

Originally posted by tiggertate:
Being somewhat familar with backfill issues and differential settleing, I'd not set the pipe on top of fill for 6 months. You can never get 100% compaction immediately. The best, easiest way is to over-pack 3-4 feet, let it finish compacting through the winter and cut down to the desired elevation when it dries up enough to go to work.

Quite true and a good point. Sandy loam is the predominant soil type here in eastern SC. Most of the homes are built with a crawlspace and floor joists set on piers or footers. They dig down to pre-compacted subsoil and pour a concrete pad. Then build a concrete block pier to support the structure. That way, no need to let anything settle. If you use concrete pipe, you can build a pier at each joint, then backfill under and around the pipe w/o regard for settling(other than cosmetic).

If you have more time than money, a cheap tunnel can be made with barrels. Cut off the ends, weld them together. Low cost, and if you tar them with foundation tar on the outside, and then cover with black plastic before you backfill the soil, they will last a long time. You can tape each joint over the welds with duct tape before you tar them, and even if your welds aren't perfect, they won't leak, at least much!

Compaction is the least of your wories here. If you dig in original soil, just put a bit of sand (2 inches or so) under the tunnel, and then compact the soil with a wacker packer as you come up. If you have to fill some areas, wet the soil thoroughly until it just starts to "pump" when you wacker packer it. Thoroughly compact it, and then let it dry till it won't pump, and hit it again with about 3 passes. I've worked with compaction for over 25 years, jobs up to 1.5 million cubic yards. It's a lot easier than most people think. The trick is to put in a lot more effort into it than you think you need, and do it consistently throughout the job; both the wetting and the compactive effort. Most settlement is from the excavator being lazy and trying to cut corners to get off a job faster.

dave

quote:

Originally posted by ssdave:
Most settlement is from the excavator being lazy and trying to cut corners to get off a job faster.dave

HOW VERY TRUE! Most of my career was spent in dealing with excavations and the heavy-construction-type things built in and over them, mainly interstate highways (early years) and nuclear power plants (later years). Found over the years that ~75% of many later problems could be linked either directly or indirectly to faulty dirtwork in the initial phases.
Regards, Joe

quote:

Originally posted by ssdave:
If you have more time than money, a cheap tunnel can be made with barrels..

dave

I have been wondering about this for a long time. I assume you are talking about 55 gallon drums, where can you find them at good prices?

Not being an expert on 55 gallon drums and holes in the ground, I'll offer this anyway- in a trench, a 100 yard tunnel of drums attached end-to-end, cover with dirt. Sooner or later the drums rot away and your neighbor's (your just-moved-in-the-vicinity-from-a-large-urban-area-and-brought-his-nanny-politics-with-him-neighbor) kid falls through this obvious death-trap causing lead exposure, inhalation, abrasions, contusions, and gross mental trauma.

If you go the barrel route (I wouldn't for the above stated reason) you can find places that refurbish them. DON'T CHOP INTO A USED, CLOSED HEAD DRUM. I have a one legged customer that did this, apparently the drum once held a petroleum product and the explosion put him in a wheelchair and nearly killed him.

Really 2 separate questions here:

Is the primary purpose of the 'underground' stipulation to be for noise mitigation, or for safety, or for no-wind accuracy conditions? Each of these goals will require a different approach and permit different solutions that can be combined.

What are the least-expensive options for materials & labor?

An above-ground enclosed range can solve some of these issues for a lot less money than a buried one, depending. And, also depending, even a buried range may not be as effective and trouble-free as wanted. For instance the noise mitigation issue may still be present to some degree unless a muffler is fabbed as a part of the tunnel. The 'thump' of the overpressure may travel to the neighbors' houses unless lowered in some way and an independently-supported muffler is one solution.

Used RR crossties in my neck of the woods cost $5-$10 each, kinda expensive for materials. OTOH salvaged culvert is sometimes hard to find in enough length for the purpose. Steel 55-gal drums will rot unless coated and plastic ones are expensive when found. Cast-in-place concrete is one of the most expensive options, it's far far better to use precast units wherever possible.

Can you run a backhoe, or do you know someone who can? How much earthwork will be required? Your structure may also qualify for some sort of tornado-shelter assistance or insurance discount. There are lots of ways to save money and you'll need every one of them that you can think of (grin).
Regards, Joe

A 100 yard 3x3 (inside dim.) tunnel made with 4" poured and formed concrete is about 49 yards of raw. Around my place its about $90 to $105 a yard
I would sit down and figure in for plywood forming and steel to see if a floor/two walls/roof would fall under 6K to be a beutifull tunnel and dern strong to boot.

Make friends with an inground pool guy, better yet touch base with the the Monolithic dome home company. They're in Tx somewhere. You'll need some foam board, rebar and a whole lot a shotcrete.

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:
A 100 yard 3x3 (inside dim.) tunnel made with 4" poured and formed concrete is about 49 yards of raw. Around my place its about $90 to $105 a yard
I would sit down and figure in for plywood forming and steel to see if a floor/two walls/roof would fall under 6K to be a beutifull tunnel and dern strong to boot.

The cost of the concrete itself is quite minor compared to the cost of the formwork, reinforcement and placement. It will require a crew of carpenters to build the forms, another crew of ironworkers to install the reinforcement and a third crew of laborers to place the concrete; then a few days after the pour the carpenters come in again to strip the formwork.

If you are experienced enough to be able to assemble and straw-boss a small consolidated construction crew in a non-union area then the expense will be less but the actual hundreds of required manhours will still make you gasp.

Investigate the temporary formwork used to pour square culvert, it will make things go A LOT faster. Also entirely-precast concrete sections are a lot less costly.

It's possible to place the concrete in a single pour but will require extensive vibration in that case, with still more expense. Otherwise at least 2 pours with several construction/expansion joints. You'll need easy full-length access for the transit-mix trucks or else a concrete pump or CreterCrane or similar delivery device.

Shotcrete is another option but it's not very suitable since it has little strength when compared to cast-in-place concrete or precast units.

Still another option is cinder blocks placed with a surface-bonding adhesive. The principal advantage is that much of the work can be done by 1 or 2 relatively inexperienced people over a longer time period if wanted.

Like Paul Simon says in the song, "...there are fifty ways...." (grin)
Regards, Joe

well i've built them for people before, but 10,000 ain't gonna cover it

You could try a concrete panel design.Form your panels out in the yard or field next to the trench.pour a slab for the bottom how wide you need.stand panels in place with backhoe or small crane.Or use insulated concrete core blocks.sound proof and safety all in one

quote:

well i've built them for people before, but 10,000 ain't gonna cover it

This is probably correct also

Thanks for all the input guys....

I guess I probably won't end up building one. I never really thought about the potential ventilation issue. I would rather just have an outdoor/above-ground range than spend $50k+ on an under-ground range.

This is why forums are great!! Thanks guys.

Hey don't give up just because the arm chair experts throw reality at you.

A lot of patience and stalking of a deal might get you what you want. You never know when you might scrounge up 300 feet of used culvert or concrete storm sewer for hauling it off.