Big Uncle

I have a private range on my property that is handy when I do not want to drive to one of my clubs. It is only a 100 yard range and there is plenty of land around it so it is legal to shoot there. I also have a separate pistol range.

In the past few years people have been building homes nearby and I do not want to have bad neighbor relations so I want to reduce the noise of rifle fire. I am not going to worry about the noise from pistol fire as that range is further from the property borders and surrounded by trees.

I am thinking of having a large pipe (18" x 10', 24" x 10'?) installed in front of the shooting bench that can have some removable insulation to make things a bit less loud for the neighbors. Does anyone here have any personal experience with this type of setup?

Oldtimr

What some sportsmen clubs have done around here when they started to get built in and get complaints was plant conifer trees so they grow together and form a noise buffer as they grow. It isn't immediate but it works. They also don't allow shooting until 1pm on Sunday and 10am on week days. I appreciate your desire to avoid neighbor problems but when people build a home in the country some of the things that go with owning a home in the country are the smell of manure, hunters and gunfire. Have you spoken to the neighbors regarding your shooting?

Big Uncle

I have spoken with a few of them and although nobody has yet complained they did make comments about it being very loud. We do have noise a ordinance, but as I only use this range occasionally and always at mid-day this is not a legal issue. Unhappy neighbors can cause problems in many facets of life and it is better to avoid that kind of environment if possible.

My neighborhood is going "upscale" with well heeled refugees from the big cities building houses with access to, or at least a view of, a river. I think that generally they are nice people so I am willing to compromise.

I have made the decision to do something to reduce the noise. Now I just have to determine how to best accomplish the task. I want to use the most compact sound trap that will do the job so it will not interfere with setting up the chronograph.

Oldtimr

There goes the neighborhood! You could put up a baffle fence about 8 feet high for about 15 to 20 feet from your bench, it would beat shooting through a pipe. Or you could buy suppressors for your rifles.

MaineRida

I hope you get an answer to your noise baffle. I was thinking about doing the same thing with a U shaped box lxwxh 8'x 2'x 2'. Line this with corrugated, egg carton shaped foam, and believe it would reduce some noise. Paint it and put legs on it, maybe on a cart were I can haul it inside. I don't need it yet, I'm about two years from a perminate move to this location, but I would rather start on the positive end, I'll be the noisy neighbor moving in.....