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Use of rubber sheet in indoor ranges.


Flyboy1950
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I have been looking into methods of dust suppression in indoor ranges. My idea is to lay a roll of 5mm rubber sheeting behind the target frames, lying it directly on the sand in the butts. Every so often we can "stitch" a sacrificial piece over the pulverised area. With lying the rubber on the sand it may help to stop the cratering effect of repeated strikes in the same area by stopping the sand erupting into free air.  One or two committee members are concerned about the introduction of minute rubber particles in the air,  but I dont know if this is a valid argument as we are all subject to rubber particles from road tyres on a daily basis. I personally am more concerned with the lead dust that is given off. There is a lot of evidence about the increased levels of lead in the blood stream of shooters in indoor ranges. The only thing I can find is that rubber curtains are used in some indoor ranges where steel back stops are used, but nothing about the type of rubber used or whether it has to have some kind of CE mark. The range does have dust extraction but I am concerned that this may not be enough on its own.

Any comments gratefully received.

FB

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I always thought that the rubber sheeting behind the targets was to do what it could to prevent bullet fragments ricocheting back up-range after the bullet had struck the backstop. Once there are a few holes in it I don't think it will make any noticeable difference to the amount of air-borne lead floating around.

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Our indoor range ..West Midlands Police... had rubber curtains, a sloping heavy armour proof steel back stop angled into about 18 inches of water.  I still received a sliver of 357 bullet on the cheek whilst shooting double taps at 7yrds.  VENTILLATION  VENTILLATION  VENTILLATION is the answer for air born contaminants but as Ditchie says it can get pretty cold.

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The recognised rubber sheet for MoD approved indoor ranges was and I believe still is, `Lynatex`. If you `google` the name you will get a lot of info. 

As others have stated, its not the rubber particles you need to worry about, its air borne lead particles and toxic gas from firing that are the danger. Extractor fans at the stop butt end must produce a flow down the range to remove toxic fumes and airborne particles. There is a formula laid down on range contstruction that the fan(s) produce so many air changes per hour based on the volume of the range.

Edited by JJsDad
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1 hour ago, welsh1 said:

Gat a Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV) system designed and installed,it's the only way to control all the dust and gasses that are being produced.

It should be realized that local extract is only effective within "one equivalent diameter" of the extract point therefore downrange air movement from the firing point is necessary to move fumes from this point and LEV may only be effective at the point of impact.

A good downrange air transference may be the best option.

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24 minutes ago, Yellow Bear said:

It should be realized that local extract is only effective within "one equivalent diameter" of the extract point therefore downrange air movement from the firing point is necessary to move fumes from this point and LEV may only be effective at the point of impact.

A good downrange air transference may be the best option.

That depends on the lev system installed, if you were welding then the criteria would be your "one equivalent diameter", LEV encompasses all systems that remove fumes from an area, e.g. cooker hoods, which can have a very large area to cover., a system of overhead extraction at the firing point and down range transference would be one way a system would work.
My job is to check Engineers reports for lev systems, we do a huge amount of work for the MOD including all sorts of ranges round the world

There are many ways that LEV's work,
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pUbns/priced/hsg258.pdf

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19 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

My mind boggles at the expertise available on this forum. Brilliant.

Mine too :good:. I am looking at a shooting 'Shed' as a firing point on my outdoor range to control and contain a little of the noise and reduce any disturbance for neighbours. I will line the shed with rubber but will need to give some thought to ventilation. 

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I shot on a indoor 25mt Rimfire range where they sprayed the top layer of sand with water. It worked really well, kept the dust down a treat! 

They didn’t soak it, just damp it down. If a lot of people were shooting when the targets were collected just give it another quick wet!

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We have a push fan behind the firing points and extractors at the rear. 

We had a lead particle test carried out on the firing point with minimal findings. 

We have rubber / neoprene  matting with an angled steel back plate - it’s no good for airguns mind as they ricochet badly so we have a commercial portable airgun range. 

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We use thick belting also. Hangs about one foot in front of sand filled backstop. Our ventilation is not set up properly from my point of view. We have an input fan behind the firing line and two suction fans at backstop. I think this is to far to pull smoke and lead particles properly from the firing line. (20 yards) However it has been cleared by authorities. Aithough they did not scientifically ***** it.  This is a pistol range in the basement of my local town hall. When council is having a meeting they prefer we don't use the .44 mags and such.

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