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babagan00sh

Questions about indoor pistol range sound levels

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My wife's looking to get a handgun and I'm helping out with the details. I know shotguns / trapshooting, but my experience with indoor shooting and revolvers was at Rays in North Plainfield (RIP) decades ago.

My wife has just done trap shooting with me but never even handled a handgun.

on a recommendation from a friend, we went to Heritage guild in Easton, PA for their try before you buy offering.

We signed up & put on the ear protectors (my wife even used the ear plugs and then ear muffs over that)

There were people using an AR-15 the day we went there. Again, I've been shooting shotguns outdoors for years / more accustomed to loud noise / guns but even for me, that was really loud.  And not just loud but a sharp thumping that went right through you.  We wound up getting a 'rain check' to come back another time. With her having never dealt with a handgun, my thinking is that getting jostled every time they were firing the AR will be a bad start for her to focus / learn about handling the gun, let alone consider what features / characteristics she likes / doesn't like in the different models.

Would anyone know about the Heritage guild Easton range being 'noisier' than other indoor ranges? Decades ago, I don't remember that piercing sound at Rays - I vaguely remember it being a bigger range? 

Would you say that an AR rifle is much / not much louder than handgun shooting?

I'm trying to get us to go to the range in Flemington to just get familiar with handling a gun / see how the acoustics are there, before going back to Easton.

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@babagan00sh:

FYI - RTSP in Randolph, NJ has two ranges, one is 25-yards and the other is 15-yards, with ten (10) shooting bays in each.  They are separated by an acoustical door.  The 25-yard range is where rifles are used exclusively.  Both ranges have electronic target retrieval systems.  That might be one option for you and your wife to consider, in order to avoid the louder acoustical and physical concussion felt when shooting next to or near someone shooting a rifle.

AVB-AMG

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Yea, a 5.56mm inside an indoor range isn’t fun. More so inside one of the booths. Was shooting mine last week to try out the new buffer setup, as the stock JP recoil assembly wasn’t locking the bolt back on empty (going from three steel to two steel/one Tungsten weights solved it).

 

I usually use Surefire EarPro at the range. When I shoot an AR, I just toss ear muffs over them. Lessens the concussion, but you still notice a difference over a shotgun or handgun.

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OP, I completely agree that shooting in the range while high powered rifles are also shooting is very uncomfortable, especially if they are in the port next to me. For me it is the concussion that bothers me more than the noise. As you said, it goes right through me and I can feel it bother my eyes.  Btw, I always doube plug. Ie use ear plugs in my ear canal along with a good set of over the ear protection.

At Garden State Shooting Center where I used to be a member, they try to put the rifle shooters on one side, pistol the other. That helped sometimes. I now belong to Union Hill Gun Club where they have two separate ranges, one for rifle and one for pistol. That has made a big difference in my shooting comfortably.

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For an outdoor range, you may wish to checkout Easton Fish and Game, also in Easton, a short drive from Heritage Guild. $50 per year and they five ranges all outdoor. I can comfortably shoot at their 100 yard rifle range all day long next to all kinds of center fire rifles and have no issue with noise or concussion.

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IIRC you said that you are in Somerset. I'm not sure if they are accepting new members at this time (Krdshrk can let you know) but Somerset County Fish & Game Protective Association is probably close by and they have an indoor range.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

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An AR indoors is WAY, WAY louder than most handguns. 

Personally, I will avoid shooting ARs indoors as much as possible. It's brutal and there is no such thing as sufficient hearing protection for them indoors without a suppressor IMO. Also, just say no to 30-06 in a high power rifle tunnel. Like seriously.. no. 

Outdoors always beats indoors, but indoors has degrees of unpleasant. 

First, stay away from the walls and get a slot near the middle and take advantage of inverse square. I can tell you from experience being against the wall and having the guy with the .475 wildey start popping them off means you get the sound from one side, and the reflected sound nearly as loud from the other. 

Second, for new shooters I recommend muffs and plugs. My favorite combo is the howard leight electronic muffs over foam 33db NRR disposable plugs. 

Then there's the pressure wave. Rifles will do it. Anything magnum will do it. Hot open gun cartridges will do it. They will also be loud to boot, but hearing protection will do nothing to cut the feel of the pressure wave on your skin, and it bugs the shit out of some people. (Outdoors, being off to one side but close to comped .50 BMG feels like someone tossed a big soft pillow in your face). I've shot indoors a lot, and I can say ROing open shooters indoors will induce a flinch for me after a while. 

Then there's just frikin loud. Indoor 12 guage is LOUD and bassy. You feel it a lot especially as the shooter. But it's not high pressure, the impulse isn't as sharp as rifle, and it's easier on the ears. muffs and plugs plus the frequency and reduced impulse strength will keep your ears form too much harm. But noobs likely won't like it one bit. 

Also, I tend to avoid short barrel pistols in .357 sig. Annoying as all get out. And when they were the new hotness, usually shot by people with minimal to negative competence. 

 

 

 

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