Underground Shooting Range

I want to have my own private shooting range. I am tired of having to share with others, obey arbitrary rules, and risk being around stupid people with guns. I don't want to have to drive there, pay to use it, wait for them to be open, and wait for a lane to free up. I want to be able to take my time when I shoot.

An underground range has other benefits. The sound is almost completely dampened, so the neighbors won't be disturbed. There is no danger of a stray shot hitting the neighbors, and therefore I don't need a big buffer zone and can build it on a relatively small parcel of land. I can shoot in any weather. Year round, the range will have a naturally steady temperature. I can shoot during any time of the day or night regardless of lighting conditions. And there will be no wind.

Construction

I will buy concrete pipe for the range. I will pay for the excavation, having the pipe laid in the ground, and then burried. At one end will be a room, the shooting booth. The shooting booth will be lined with sound absorbing materials. At the other end of the pipe will be the bullet trap, which will simply be a wall of sandbags.

I want to have a 100 yard tube for rifle shooting and a 15 yard tube for pistol shooting. These could be side-by-side, but it might fit the contour of the land more easily if they are end-to-end, with the shooting booth in between.

The shooting booth should have a floor that makes it easy to collect spent brass. A hard concrete floor will reflect sound, so perhaps it should be covered with astro-turf. Need to test the floor covering for resistance to hot shell cases.

Alternative Construction

Rather than buying, transporting, and installing ready-made concrete pipe, it might be cheaper to pour a tunnel in place. In such a case, the tunnel could be square, or made with beveled upper edges.