My Little Suburban Rifle Range

[cslinger]

I just came in from a little plinking and thought I would share my suburban rifle range setup. I have really come to enjoy airguns not simply as low power practice for real guns but for their own merits.

I bought my first adult airgun several years ago because I wanted the ability to practice my shooting and plink without having to make a trip to the shooting range. I did a little research and found that airguns had come a long way since I was a kid and these were darn nice actual firearms, minus the fire.

So I picked up a .22 Beeman GS1000. I realize this is Beemans cheap entry but in sure made a darn nice first air rifle and easily approximated the shooting I wanted it to. As an added bonus I was amazed at the ballistics of those little .22 pellets. They really pack a punch within their effective range.

As time went on I picked up a CZ Slavia 631 Lux, that I love, to have an iron sighted plinker. Then came a replica of my SIG P225, the CP225 C02 pistol in order to practice some pistol presentations.

Now I find myself sitting here with two more on order. An RWS Diana 46 Stutzen and a IZH 46M pistol. These will be my first foray into the higher end guns and I cannot wait.

So anyway I thought I would show you guys my backyard plinking range. It measures out to just about 50 feet on the nose.

First we have the rifles. My Beeman and CZ.

Then we have the bench area or as I like to call it, the stairs.

My shooting lane.

My Trap with Shoot and See Targets.

So what do you think of my little suburban rifle range?

 

[surg_res]

Nice trees! Airguns are a lot of fun. The RWS Diana model that I bought shoots around 1100 fps in the .117. It has been a sport cleaning out the local pidgeon population as well as a couple of garden-attacking squirrels. Only problem with the birds is that the pellets don't transfer energy very well. I discovered early on that the field pellets are not as useful as the flat-nosed target pellets when it comes to stopping power.

 

[M14fan]

Nice setup

Nice setup. Airguns have the advantage of being quiet as well as easy to shoot. Keeps the neighbors complaints to a minimum since they probably never know you are shooting. For bigger toys have you ever tried the NRA range on Hobson Pike? Pretty nice but only open on weekends.

 

[cslinger]

I frequent the Hobson pike range or Owl Hollow. Hobson is a very nice range.

 

[skeeter1]

I like airguns, too

I've still got a .22 Crossman air rifle and .22 Benjamin air pistol that go back about 40 years. I just got a new bullet trap so I can set up a small range in my garage (it's a fairly-large 3-car garage and has an exhaust fan, so I'm not too concerned about lead dust). If it works out (and I don't have the cops here), I might try using one of the .22 rimfires as well, though probably with CB caps and not CCI Stingers.

 

[sparkysteve]

Nice little plinking spot. A friend from work had a serious chipmunk problem in his garden. He bought an RWS .22 pellet rifle and a scope to take care of it. He says his new pellet rifle is the funnest gardening tool he's ever purchased.