Needs to Lessen Rifle Report

Q: I’m building a rifle range on my property with a benchrest
for  my own use in sighting in and testing handloads. However,
I want  it to be as private as possible, which means I’d like
to find  some way of reducing the loud rifle reports. Is there
any way I  can do this?
Frank Martin

A:  An efficient sound moderator for rifle ranges is readily
made  up using a dozen or more worn-out light truck tyres mounted
together on a wooden rack in front of the benchrest. Tyres are 
firmly tied together with plastic clothes line on each side but 
not so tightly that interior beads are compressed. A firing port 
hole in a plywood bulkhead, wedged in place by a cross-member at 
the end of rack is lined with split rubber hose. Let me know how 
this works for you.