"quiet box" for ammo/cycling testing

[frank_drebin]

I do a lot of swapping and trading on my local trader forum. And, while I shoot my Glocks out on my property quite a lot, sometimes I take a trade and just want to give it a quick function check without driving over to my land. I am interested in constructing/building/designing/creating/engineering/etc... some way to test fire my handguns outside at home without making too much noise. A "quiet box" if you will. I have read a lot of ideas on the web but wonder what anyone here has come up with.

Basically, I would like to be able to take a handgun and fire a magazine of ammo through it simply to test for functionality. I'm not interested in accuracy or anything of that nature just a function test.

Right now I am considering a 50gal drum set into a hillside at a 45deg angle. Maybe filled with sand or water but I need some way to kill the sound at the top. I also don't want a bunch of sand and water in the gun.

Any ideas?

[TheTman]

Take your 50 gallon drum, take the bottom off, and line it with old carpet, carpet pad, acoustic foam, or anthing else that absorbs sound. Align the open ends of the drum with your target, then shoot with the gun slightly inside the drum, and it will trap some of the noise inside the drum. I'm fixing to do something similiar for shooting out here on the farm. It will be inside a small barn, shooting out the back door, so the sound will be baffled even more by the barn.

[frank_drebin]

If I add a foam cap with an arm hole that may do the trick

[tv_racin_fan]

It should do the trick.

About the cheapest sound deadening material is the egg holder from a 2 1/2 dozen package (I think that is the correct size). One could very easily aquire enough of those to double up on the inside of a box placed on top of a 5 gal bucket filled with sand and have a near sound proof solution I believe.

[wyntrout]

I would watch for some old carpet and the foam pad that people throw away all of the time when getting new carpet. You could use both to line the inside of the barrel... sides and the front, except for the hand hole. If you're shooting into a hill you could partially bury the barrel. This could be like a large "silencer". Hot or magnum loads could start a fire, though. I saw a .357 magnum my buddy was firing clear the concrete table off and catch the 25-lb bag of shot he was using for a rest on fire!

You could use a piece of hose slit on one side to make a guard around the hole to protect the gun and your hand.

I don't think that the egg box styrofoam, or the paper ones either, would muffle the noise... you're thinking of the guncase egg-cradle-like foam that IS used for sound reduction. That foam is able to absorb sound and not reflect it much due to the zillions of "pores" that help trap and not reflect the sound waves.

JMHO

Wynn

[yqtszhj]

Do you think I can put 25 barrels end to end, line them with sound material, and put a good backstop so I can have a range in my backyard in the city limits? Hmmmm...

[frank_drebin]

Do you think I can put 25 barrels end to end, line them with sound material, and put a good backstop so I can have a range in my backyard in the city limits? Hmmmm...

I like where your heads at.

[yqtszhj]

I'm figuring if someone complains, all I have to do is let the police come over and shoot too and it will all work out.

[OldLincoln]

Seems the concept of trapping the expanding gas in the manner of a silencer would be efficient. My DIY design would be to:

Cut a 55 gal sized barrel in half laterally (like a loaf of French bread) with one side and the bottom and the other as top.

In the bottom half, place 6 spaced baffles of eggshell type material in frames to fit the diameter of the barrel. Each baffle would have a hole in the middle for the bullet to travel. Hole size is larger at the gun end and each is smaller toward the target. The first baffle (with the largest hole) mounts flush to the gun end of the barrel so you can put your hand inside.

Line the space between the baffles with fiberglass insulation with the glass side exposed.

Construct a bench rest inside for the gun to be aligned without actual sighting.

Construct mating devices to hold barrel halves together. First choice is hinges on one side so it can be opened easily for maintenance.

There you have it. You can add a cloth port to the gun entrance to trap more sound. It would look something like the gloved ports on containment tanks.

There are several options for the target end to trap the round. I might be inclined to have an angled steel plate into a sand trap with a steel bottom.

To clean that and recover brass you would open the barrel for access.

So, not exactly a weekend project but it may be doable. I saw something similar for a basement rig that shot into a wooden frame lined with steel plates set closer together at the end mating with an angled plate into a sand trap. It was open and worked well according to the article. Of course it would be very noisy.

My design would be like the silencers in the movies "pfft" like a small cough. Well, maybe something the neighbors would not call about anyway.

[frank_drebin]

Great ideas. Keep them coming. BTW, how many of you read the OP, laughed, thought of something clever to say then realized you really wanted to make one?

[OldLincoln]

Do you think I can put 25 barrels end to end, line them with sound material, and put a good backstop so I can have a range in my backyard in the city limits? Hmmmm...

I saw a DIY range where the guy trenched out from the basement with concrete irrigation pipe (24"?) carefully waterproofing the joints. At the far end he put a vertical riser with a good lid for access to clean out the lead and maintenance (i.e., replace the light bulb). He constructed a pulley system for the target.

I can never remember where I saw this but it was from one of the forums posting about building your own range.

[tv_racin_fan]

I don't think that the egg box styrofoam, or the paper ones either, would muffle the noise... you're thinking of the guncase egg-cradle-like foam that IS used for sound reduction. That foam is able to absorb sound and not reflect it much due to the zillions of "pores" that help trap and not reflect the sound waves.

JMHO

Wynn

I wouldn't use the styrofoam stuff but I am sure the paper one would work fine. Many a home recording studio and even professional ones used it before the foam stuff was developed.

No reason a home range couldn't use barrels.. Seen a couple on TV or some forum or another where someone used containers buried underground. In fact I told my wife our next home WILL have an underground range. (she actually kinda liked that idea after she thought about it)

[muggsy]

I dunno, putting on a pair of shooting ear muffs quiets my gun down quite a bit and isn't nearly as much work. Just sayin'.

[TucsonMTB]

Yes, but . . . issuing ear protection to the officer investigating a neighbor's complaint probably won't prevent you from being charged with discharging a weapon within city limits.

[BEARDOG]

Here is some info you maybe able to use.
http://www.gunreports.com/special_re...ols1422-1.html