Indoor range shooting... respiratory risk?

[Guest wTiger]

I went shooting for the second time with my new gun (how many times till is stops being new?) and i was wondering everyones thoughts or opinions on the health risks of gun smoke, etc from an indoor range. there were up to 4 people shooting at the Academy of Personal Defence, and the smoke got kind of thick. Any MD's in the house?

[deerslayer]

No MD here, but I was shooting competitively quite a bit indoors (now I shoot mostly outdoors for a variety of reasons). We have had several people with extremely high lead levels. Supposedly lead poisoning of shooters results not from handling ammo, not from reloading, but from breathing fumes at indoor ranges. I recently got my lead level checked, and it was 12 micrograms/deciliter. Some of our guys registered over 40.

[strickj]

your thinking to much:tinfoil:

if it bothers you to much put on a mask.as far as being harmed,I dont think an hour or two every couple of weeks of breathing the smoke will hurt.your home has far more bad fumes than you gun range,you just dont know it till you start tearing down walls and such.homes can have lead,asbestos tiles,asbestos insulation,fiberglas insulation(a bad irritant)vermiculite insulation(a fire proof coating in some insulation)everyones fear of mold,and enough dust to fill a stadium,and the list goes on,and on....

like i said you dont know whats there untill a home is renovated,and walls start coming down.

if your scared of the breathing quality at the range,just look at the people that work there.there all fine,and have kids!

[Guest Xman]

Your in Nashville, so just a small drive for you would be to Guns and Leather in Greenbrier. That shooting range has some type of hepa filtration system that seems to work very well. I never smell the smoke, and it's only $10 to shoot all day.

[molonlabetn]

Lead is most harmful to children...

Personally, I prefer to shoot outdoors... and I prefer to shoot TMJ bullets (total metal jacket = no exposed lead). I can't control what others shoot, and I don't want to... Unfortunately, I don't get to go to the range enough to pose a health risk.

[DavidD]

Your in Nashville, so just a small drive for you would be to Guns and Leather in Greenbrier. That shooting range has some type of hepa filtration system that seems to work very well. I never smell the smoke, and it's only $10 to shoot all day.

I'll second that. I have only taken the short drive to Greenbrier twice but I have to say, It is the nicest indoor range around. I have not been to On Target in Murfreesboro yet but hear it is also very nice. Of cource I am comparing all to the dungeon at Gun City and I can't imagine worse. They kept saying they were going to remodel but I have yet to see any major improvement but haven't been back in almost two years.

[TGO David]

In order of nice indoor ranges to shoot at locally...

#1 - Guns & Leather

#2 - On Target

And On Target is a distant second. The range at Guns & Leather, while smaller, is much nicer.

[Guest bulletproof]

I'm usually at the Guns & Leather range about once a month but does anyone go to the range in Joelton? What's it like?

[Guest HogMan]

I'm usually at the Guns & Leather range about once a month but does anyone go to the range in Joelton? What's it like?

Its fare, nothing fancy, better than gun city.

[Guest bulletproof]

Thanks HogMan

[shaftbass]

I'm usually at the Guns & Leather range about once a month but does anyone go to the range in Joelton? What's it like?

It's a hole in the wall with mattresses and old carpet and carpet padding for backstop. At least, it was the one time I went a few years ago. It's right next to a gun store at an old strip mall if I remember right, not far off I-24.

[Guest triggertime]

ASP in Joelton is the worst indoor range, bar none. Think about it, old mattresses for a back stop, hardly any air filtration and an oscillating stand fan to disperse the smoke? C'mon. I'd recommend driving 9 miles more to Guns & Leather in Greenbrier. State of the art range, hepa filtration, computerized target programs.

[Marswolf]

As I recall, OSHA gets involved in air quality stuff at indoor ranges. Have to have so many SCFM of air transfer as I recall. Sounds like some of these places are just looking to be shut down.

BTW, on lead.... We have a local battery plant (Exide) that habitually poisons their employees with airborne (sorry I can't spell it any other way ) lead. That really isn't that much of a problem unless you are young and/or want to have kids. Lead does nasty things to DNA in sperm. Just thought you might need to take that into consideration.

[Guest bulletproof]

Thanks guys!

[creeky]

...computerized target programs.

The moving targets alone are worth the drive for me. (45 minutes one way.)

I just love those things.

[Smith]

ASP in Joelton is the worst indoor range, bar none. Think about it, old mattresses for a back stop, hardly any air filtration and an oscillating stand fan to disperse the smoke? C'mon. I'd recommend driving 9 miles more to Guns & Leather in Greenbrier. State of the art range, hepa filtration, computerized target programs.

Evidently you haven't been there in a while. No mattresses, or fans. While not the nicest place in the world it has central air filtration and the people are some of the best.

[Guest wTiger]

thanks for the input. like i said, I found the range @ joulton to get really smoky, and found it somewhat uncomfortable. I did however have a very positive experience with the gun shop personel and some of the local shooters.

Guns and leather sounds like it would be worth the drive.

[Guest canynracer]

Some ranges have air vent systems that they only run when they are busy cause of cost, you may want to just ask them to turn it on...if you dont ask..you never know, it may be as simple as flipping a switch

[analog_kidd]

I was just talking to one of the guys at Coal Creek Armory in Knoxville last week about this. I forget all the details, but I was very impressed at the system he described. They have several filtration systems, with each filter costing several hundreds of $$. He said that when they pull the filters every month or so, they find several pounds of lead in each one. I always thought they were a little pricey on their range time, but I guess this explains a little of it.

[Guest mtsusean]

Evidently you haven't been there in a while. No mattresses, or fans. While not the nicest place in the world it has central air filtration and the people are some of the best.

I was there about two weeks ago and they had mattresses for the backstop.

[threeshot]

Indoor and outdoor ranges still expose you to lead. See the following links that provide useful information on lead exposure and prevention.

http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/police/trainingsection/range/lead_poisoning.html

http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=elwdterminal&L=5&L0=Home&L1=Workers+and+Unions&L2=Licensing+and+Certification&L3=Lead+Program&L4=Lead+Documents&sid=Elwd&b=terminalcontent&f=dos_leaddocs_lead_firing&csid=Elwd

Page 19 from the document "Best Management Practices for Lead at Outdoor Shooting Ranges"

http://www.epa.gov/region02/waste/leadshot/epa_bmp.pdf

My goal with this topic is allow people to make better decisions about preventing their lead levels from rising due to the inherent risk of gun smoke, cleaning and reloading. Also to prevent other family members from being exposed to the lead from your sport/hobby.

Regards threeshot

Edited February 11, 2010 by threeshot
Fixed links

[Marswolf]

Thanks threeshot. Hope you stick around and post. We need some more techies here.

[Mike.357]

Great post threeshot.

I don't particularly care to shoot indoors and have only done it one time, reading through the above links only re-enforces why I don't care for them.

[Smith]

Here's a Navy study on the matter http://www-nehc.med.navy.mil/downloads/ih/tm6290.99-10Rev1.pdf . Haven't fully read it yet, but it seems like a good source.

[Marswolf]

That looks like a pretty thorough rundown on indoor range setup and cleaning.