Personal gun range in a house?

[RPBrown]

I can help some with the HVAC costs as I have done a few of these. One for the Irving PD training facility and another for the joint reserve base in Ft. Worth. These are the most recent.

A lot depends on if you want it to be cooled and/or heated in the range or just ventilated. If yu want it heated or cooled, it takes a special system that will condition 100% outside air. If you want a 25 ft. range, figure 75 total length minimum. at 10 ft wide is 750 square ft and a 8 ft ceiling is 6000 cubic ft. Using 10 air changes per hour thats a minimum of 1000 cfm of supply and exhaust air required. 1500-2000 cfm would be better but 1000 minimum. Then if you want to condition the air it will take about a 7.5 ton system(will be dependent on a full load calculation but this is a guess based on 102 degree outdoor temp and 1000 cfn supply and exhaust air). Anyway, a 7.5 ton unit for 100% outside air will cost $25-$30 thousand dollars plus the exhaust fan and duct that is not as expensive.

You could also use a swamp cooler to temper the air instead of the outside air unit also. Would be much cheaper but can cause humidity problems at times.

The only other route is to just install a make up air fan and exhaust fan and not use the range in extream weather conditions.

[HankB]

When I was growing up in Chicago my Dad and I had a range in the basement . . . we built our own bullet trap out of 1/4" CRS which was more than adequate for .22 rimfire.

Legality? It was completely inside our own house, we told nobody . . . no problem.

Today, I'd be more concerned about lead contamination, so I'd separate it from the rest of the basement.

If I were building, my new house would have at least a 50' shooting range . . . even if I didn't call it that on the plans. I'd just add a wall alongside the longest side, with a vault door at each end, making the width 6 or 8 feet. Spancrete ceiling, covered with acoustic tile or other sound muffler. (Same for walls and floor.) Probably call it a "Tornado Shelter" and see if I could get a tax credit.

Build or buy a bullet trap (just google "bullet trap") and set it up at one end. Couple the space to the HVAC but put a damper in the line and a good filter over the return, but with a separate ventilation system to use when you're actually shooting to exhaust the sooty air outside, rather than draw it back into the home. Add lighting, a shooting bench, chronograph stand, and you're in business.