|
Indoor
shooting ranges are an excellent choice for law
enforcement and military agencies. These ranges offer
year round day or night operation and have the
flexibility to control and change conditions for special
training scenarios. The encroachment of residential
communities into rural areas has also contributed to
shooting range facilities moving indoors, it becomes
safer for the community. The tradeoffs of of shooting
indoors are exposure to airborne lead particles and
excess noise levels during live fire exercises.
Many times not acoustically treating a
shooting range under construction is an oversight. Law
enforcement agency, the builder and or architect
generally overlook it. Function and safety of the
shooter should be the highest priority in design
development. Design and construction of shooting ranges
is highly specialized. Acoustical treatments should be
as high priority. In most cases this oversight will
cause a range shut down due to workers compensation
concerns and OSHA complaints until the range noise
problem is remedied.
Prolonged exposure to high noise
levels results in hearing loss. Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA), National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and American
Conference of Government Industrial Hygienist peak sound
pressure is 140dB. Muzzle blast noise levels exceed of
165 dB.
The acoustical objective should be a
low reverberation time.. The design is to include
acoustical treatments of exposed wall surfaces and
overhead baffles or ceilings.
Critical Design Criteria
 |
Ease of installation and cost: Implementation of
an acoustical
treatment during original construction or
retrofitting an existing range. |
|
|
Acoustical performance: absorb a minimum of 95%
of muzzle
blast energy. NRC of 1 or higher |
|
|
Fire concerns: Un-burnt powder must be removed
as part of regular range
maintenance. Treatments are to be fire
rated class A or 1 |
|
|
Ricochets: The treatments are to be uniform on
the surfaces to reduce ricochets . The
treatments should allow penetration of bullets
without reducing the treatments acoustical
performance. |
SONEX on steel and or composites
SONEX on concrete and reactive baffles
Art Xtra AB Panelized System
Curtain Systems and Foam
|
