I believe some of y'all aren't a fan of this guy, I find his articles interesting. He's asking for feedback & ideas, I'll bet @Michael458 has a few thoughts.
A decade ago, I was captivated by the article The Secrets of the Houston Warehouse, one of the most popular and most quoted pieces ever printed during Precision Shooting Magazine’s 56 years of publication. That landmark article, originally published in 1993, shared the findings of a group of Benchrest shooters who turned a vast Houston warehouse into a precision rifle laboratory.
The Houston warehouse had a 325-yard straight-away through the heart of it, which provided an ideal shooting environment – where the wind never blew, the rain never fell, the mirage never shimmered, and the sun never set. So began some of the most insightful and revealing experimentation into practical rifle accuracy ever conducted. Over six years, the levels of accuracy achieved in the Houston Warehouse went beyond what many precision shooters thought possible for rifles aimed shot-to-shot by the human eye.
The warehouse experiments reshuffled the list of what did and didn’t matter in precision shooting. They blew away many myths that had been long held by the shooting community (some still stubbornly held 30+ years later) and elevated other elements previously thought to be of no consequence. Their findings rocked the shooting community and continue to enlighten to this day.
Dr. Harold Vaughn also used a shooting tunnel to conduct his precision rifle experiments published in Rifle Accuracy Facts. Dr. Vaughn was a leading scientist at Sandia Labs and arguably contributed as much to our understanding of modern weapons and ballistics as any other figure in history.
Doing experiments like my recent 6.5 Creedmoor match ammo test, my muzzle brake field test, or my massive barrel test that was published in Bryan Litz’s last book requires a lot of time at the range. I’m fortunate to have access to a private range that is just 25 minutes away from my home, but if you add up the round-trip drive time and typical setup/teardown, those things account for almost 2 extra hours each day that I did experiments. If I was out at the range and the wind ever got over 5 mph I’d pack up for the day to prevent the wind from skewing my results. In west Texas, the wind is always blowing! So I’m thrilled about what I could do with this underground shooting tunnel – especially one that is right at my house! I already have a long list of ideas for things I could test, and of course, I’d share the results with you guys.
I reached out to several experts in the industry who helped me with the initial range design, including guys at Applied Ballistics, Accuracy International, and other companies. Aaron Davidson from Gunwerks has built 3 shooting tunnels over the years to test their rifles, and when I asked him for advice for this project, he invited me to fly up to see all of them and experience shooting in them first-hand – and I took him up on it! Aaron graciously shared mistakes he’d learned the hard way, as well as construction drawings, equipment specs, etc. Thank you to all those guys who helped me out!
Now I need your help! I want to share what I’ve done so far and what I have in mind because I’m sure some of you may have experience in an area that could help. I’d love to hear what ideas or products I could use to make it better as I finish it out.
My underground range is basically two concrete rooms connected by an 8-foot diameter corrugated steel pipe. I’ll first show you the plans, and then I’ll share some design choices I’m sure some of you guys may have questions about.
There is exactly 290 feet of corrugated steel pipe connecting the rooms, and the rifle and target are each offset 5 feet into their respective room, providing a total distance of 300 feet – precisely 100 yards. If I decide to move the rifle forward/backward for any reason, I could adjust the target’s location by at least +/- 3 feet without a problem, which is what the red “Target Area” is showing above. There is actually a debate about whether the distance should be measured from the rifle’s muzzle or scope (read more here), but I gave myself enough margin to do either. I didn’t want to make the concrete rooms bigger than needed, but I also tried not to hem myself in either.
A decade ago, I was captivated by the article The Secrets of the Houston Warehouse, one of the most popular and most quoted pieces ever printed during Precision Shooting Magazine’s 56 years of publication. That landmark article, originally published in 1993, shared the findings of a group of Benchrest shooters who turned a vast Houston warehouse into a precision rifle laboratory.
The Houston warehouse had a 325-yard straight-away through the heart of it, which provided an ideal shooting environment – where the wind never blew, the rain never fell, the mirage never shimmered, and the sun never set. So began some of the most insightful and revealing experimentation into practical rifle accuracy ever conducted. Over six years, the levels of accuracy achieved in the Houston Warehouse went beyond what many precision shooters thought possible for rifles aimed shot-to-shot by the human eye.
The warehouse experiments reshuffled the list of what did and didn’t matter in precision shooting. They blew away many myths that had been long held by the shooting community (some still stubbornly held 30+ years later) and elevated other elements previously thought to be of no consequence. Their findings rocked the shooting community and continue to enlighten to this day.
Dr. Harold Vaughn also used a shooting tunnel to conduct his precision rifle experiments published in Rifle Accuracy Facts. Dr. Vaughn was a leading scientist at Sandia Labs and arguably contributed as much to our understanding of modern weapons and ballistics as any other figure in history.
The Houston Warehouse and Dr. Vaughn sparked a dream that has been bouncing around my head ever since: that one day I might have access to a fully-controlled environment that I could use as a precision rifle lab to do my own experiments. I honestly doubted I’d ever get that opportunity, but I’m very excited to share that my dream is about to be realized.“I have found the Tunnel Range to be essential in doing rifle accuracy diagnostic work because it eliminates the worst variable: wind effects.” – Dr. Harold Vaughn in Rifle Accuracy Facts
PRB’s 100-Yard Underground Range
Last year, I bought 10-acres just a couple of miles outside of town, where I’ve been building a home, a shop, and a fully-enclosed 100-yard underground range. That project has taken most of my free time – which is why I haven’t been publishing as many articles this year. It’s a huge investment, but I’m excited about what I’ll be able to do with a lab similar to the Houston Warehouse right at my house.Doing experiments like my recent 6.5 Creedmoor match ammo test, my muzzle brake field test, or my massive barrel test that was published in Bryan Litz’s last book requires a lot of time at the range. I’m fortunate to have access to a private range that is just 25 minutes away from my home, but if you add up the round-trip drive time and typical setup/teardown, those things account for almost 2 extra hours each day that I did experiments. If I was out at the range and the wind ever got over 5 mph I’d pack up for the day to prevent the wind from skewing my results. In west Texas, the wind is always blowing! So I’m thrilled about what I could do with this underground shooting tunnel – especially one that is right at my house! I already have a long list of ideas for things I could test, and of course, I’d share the results with you guys.
I reached out to several experts in the industry who helped me with the initial range design, including guys at Applied Ballistics, Accuracy International, and other companies. Aaron Davidson from Gunwerks has built 3 shooting tunnels over the years to test their rifles, and when I asked him for advice for this project, he invited me to fly up to see all of them and experience shooting in them first-hand – and I took him up on it! Aaron graciously shared mistakes he’d learned the hard way, as well as construction drawings, equipment specs, etc. Thank you to all those guys who helped me out!
Now I need your help! I want to share what I’ve done so far and what I have in mind because I’m sure some of you may have experience in an area that could help. I’d love to hear what ideas or products I could use to make it better as I finish it out.
My underground range is basically two concrete rooms connected by an 8-foot diameter corrugated steel pipe. I’ll first show you the plans, and then I’ll share some design choices I’m sure some of you guys may have questions about.
There is exactly 290 feet of corrugated steel pipe connecting the rooms, and the rifle and target are each offset 5 feet into their respective room, providing a total distance of 300 feet – precisely 100 yards. If I decide to move the rifle forward/backward for any reason, I could adjust the target’s location by at least +/- 3 feet without a problem, which is what the red “Target Area” is showing above. There is actually a debate about whether the distance should be measured from the rifle’s muzzle or scope (read more here), but I gave myself enough margin to do either. I didn’t want to make the concrete rooms bigger than needed, but I also tried not to hem myself in either.
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