American Airguns Blog
The Random Ramblings Of An Airgun Addict

Over the winter I setup an indoor range in my garage. I mounted an old pellet trap I made many moons ago in one corner of the garage and I shoot from the opposite corner which allows me a 6.5 meter range. I didn't think I would use it that much but I needed somewhere to practice in the winter time with both my 10 meter rifle and my field target rig. I surprised myself in that I used the range a lot and found that shooting at a 10 meter target reduced to 6.5 meters was very challenging and a lot of fun to shoot.

After some pratice and study of "The Way of the Rifle" book I decided to put up one of my 3/8" field targets up on top of my trap and see how I did with that. I thought the 3/8" hole would be easy after shooting at a dot of a 10 ring, but I was wrong. Knocking the field target over became quite a challenge. I took my FT rig out to practice sitting too when I had the time. I turn downed the power down to 6x to give the perception of distance and so I could see the target at 6 meters. It was definitely easier to hit with my FT rig but it still wasn't a gimme.

My old trap was a pretty poor design since it doesn't have a bottom on it, the pellets would hit and slide down the rear plate into a smal reservoir at the bottom. Without a bottom plate, some of the pellet splatter ends up on the floor. I finally broke down and bought an Outers bullet trap from Champion Shooters Supply to help keep the garage clean and so I can shoot my .22 rimfire rifles as well. It came in yesterday and it is a heavy duty unit. I tried it a little bit last night and it worked great. It is a bit loud but a bit of caulk on the back side will dampen the sound some.

I am glad I developed my little indoor range, it has allowed me to shoot and relax during the winter months. My standing shooting has improved tremendously as well since I have had more time to practice in the garage. I would like to make another pellet trap that isn't as deep as the Outers trap, I have an idea for one and I think I will try to develop it as an upgrade to my indoor range.