• Watch Out for Scammers!

    We've now added a color code for all accounts. Orange accounts are new members, Blue are full members, and Green are Supporters. If you get a message about a sale from an orange account, make sure you pay attention before sending any money!

Anybody else shooting pellet rifle for practice?

tomcatmv

Private
Full Member
Minuteman
Apr 13, 2017
2,476
3,889
Central Texas
I live in a nice hood with a fairly large yard that all fenced and have a Ruger springer that's rated at 1,100 fps. I made a pellet trap out of some 5/8" plywood, basically a 12" x 12" by 16" tall box and filled it with that old tire rubber mulch you can buy and then I cut rigid foam insulation board for the face and just thumb tack my targets to it. I can sit it out to about 25 yards. Good fun and practice.
 
I live in a nice hood with a fairly large yard that all fenced and have a Ruger springer that's rated at 1,100 fps. I made a pellet trap out of some 5/8" plywood, basically a 12" x 12" by 16" tall box and filled it with that old tire rubber mulch you can buy and then I cut rigid foam insulation board for the face and just thumb tack my targets to it. I can sit it out to about 25 yards. Good fun and practice.

I have a nice back yard with an empty field behind it, out to about 150 yds. I hang paint can lids, 5 gallon bucket lids, and the occasional aerosol spray can for giggles. I shoot mostly BB's with he occasional pellet. Its good on squirrel's out to about 20 yards or so. I mostly use it for keeping birds out of the fruit trees. I just shoot near them and they take off.
 
Yes I’ve a few air guns pump and springers that I train with a lot. Price is still right , fundamentals are key to good air gun shooting - and one day I had the thought that as boy I regularly made incredible shots with my pellet rifle cause I’d go through a 250 round tin in a week. Knew the rifle inside and out. Get good on wind /drop calls with a pellet rifle and see how well it carries over into “real” rifle shooting . Who on the hide owns a .22 LR training rifle and or pistol?
 
Not rifle, but I have a couple of blow back action co2 pistols that I use for practice. The price really is right for ammo, and they can be shot in my garage- no neighbor the wiser...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sean the Nailer
I did for a while but can't really shoot anything where I'm living. When I did, it was great practiss. Would shoot bottle caps and doll heads With my FWB 300RB... could do that all day.

Only have an old Benjamin Franklin for pistol...still a lot of fun
 
Ya'll think my pellet trap is adequate? Seems to work OK although a pellet will go through 5/8" at 20 yds.
 
as long as nothing is coming out the back or sides...you can always add a another layer of something.
 
Just bought a couple of airsofts and BB pistols myself. The Airsoft's are loud enough to probably get neighbors pissed, but I'm thinking of hanging an old blanket off garage door and practice some draw and shoot type training. The BB pistols on the other hand...are LOUD. Sound about like 22 short. However, I may get some frangible BB's and help teach a newbie friend at the range (against paper and steel). She does well, but her eye dominance is a problem as it's atypical.

That said, I'm toying with a nice air rifle now. Maybe a Benjamin Marauder or something of that vein.
 
I picked up a spring action pellet gun just after hearing Samuel Jackson call the Olympic 10m air rifle shooters disparaging names in 2016. Turns out it's a LOT harder than it looks - there's much to be said for bench or prone shooting!! I made a basic trap by putting an old throw pillow in the back of a box and just hung the targets from the front edge of the box. The stuffing in the pillow stopped most of the pellets and left them sound enough for reuse - bonus! Any that cleared the pillow didn't have enough umpf to get through the back of the box, though I did have a solid wood gate as an ultimate backstop if needed.

My plan is to start the grandkids on the pellet gun - low noise and neighbor friendly being two key advantages, not to mention low cost (and availability) of ammo. I recently got one of those spinning targets - better for the kids to see the spinner and not have to run to see holes in the paper.
 
Not rifle, but I have a couple of blow back action co2 pistols that I use for practice. The price really is right for ammo, and they can be shot in my garage- no neighbor the wiser...
This is interesting. A few years ago, another member here pointed me/us towards a "compressed air" system where your barrel is replaced, and a laser is used.
For both target practice indoors, as well as 'realistic cycling' sort-of-thing.

What are you using, if you care to share?
 
This is interesting. A few years ago, another member here pointed me/us towards a "compressed air" system where your barrel is replaced, and a laser is used.
For both target practice indoors, as well as 'realistic cycling' sort-of-thing.

What are you using, if you care to share?
I realize this wasn't my question; but I have an HK USP & P30 BB pistol. They cycle the slide.

I would NOT shoot this in my garage; but each person can consider their risk. For close range self-defense the airsoft HK USP seems to be the ticket. Just moved to 0.28 g and other than the loud factor I could easily train 15-20 yards with it; very accurate for what it is. with the 0.25 gr...they are moving too fast and curve ball. Though, the 0.25gr works better with the spring operated P30 airsoft. (mainly got that to scare off grackles).

My HOA (don't get me started) is no "BB gun" but not sure what the airsoft rule is...probably none. Hence why I may put a blanket in garage off garage door and shoot into that from a draw position. Not perfect, but I could use more time on the draw.
 
Ya'll think my pellet trap is adequate? Seems to work OK although a pellet will go through 5/8" at 20 yds.
It'll work for a while but will eventually you'll shoot though it.
Edit...what do the pellet impacts look like? Is the rubber mulch slowing the pellet significantly?

Get you something like this. It's not big but it works well. I've got a similar one that's about 30 years old...works great
 
Last edited:
This is interesting. A few years ago, another member here pointed me/us towards a "compressed air" system where your barrel is replaced, and a laser is used.
For both target practice indoors, as well as 'realistic cycling' sort-of-thing.

What are you using, if you care to share?
1A23CF0C-D2F7-4EEA-9D0E-91F084DAAFEA.jpeg

I built a BB trap from moving blankets and pine 1x4s. At 10 yards it has enough oomph to embed steel bbs into the wood, or bounce them back at you. Wear eye pro. The blankets don’t stop the bbs going in, but catch them before they ricochet- until they get shredded. The air pistol has adjustable sights that work as intended, a good trigger, and enough recoil (because of the reciprocating slide) to make you aware that you need to manage it to some degree. It is also loud. I wear ear pro in my garage. It will also shoot as straight as you can- at least out to 10-15 yards, and until the CO2 cartridge really loses steam. You can also get low recover bbs (copper clad lead bbs) that reduce the ricochet chance. But, they are more expensive, not reusable, and more of a pain to clean up.

But, full disclosure, mine has stopped functioning and I need to replace it. I got a Sig 320 CO2 pellet pistol, but the chain drive magazine mechanism makes the trigger really suck. But, it is accurate enough to keep everything well within a 4 inch circle at 10 yards, running it as fast as I can keep it on target.
 
Since I’m trying to save my 22 ammo mostly for matches I bought a Weihrauch HW95 and a HW97k this spring. Shoot both of them quite a bit when weather permits. Have steel targets at 20yd to 100yds.
 
  • Like
Reactions: powdahound76
20cal Benjamin Marauder, great for shooting indoors or your back yard. Was disappointed initially accuracy/consistency wise till I read they needed H & N Field Target n Trophy 5.5mm pellets. They seem to need larger diameter pellets. Uncannily consistent now stacking five pellets on top of each other out to 25m. I would recommend changing out the stock for something that fits adults, and buying a good floor pump. You can spend a lot more, but for light use and shooting around the house they are pretty solid performer given how inexpensive they are.
 
  • Like
Reactions: camocorvette
actually just placed an order for one of the new Crosman 2240XL's....not only are the great little guns to tinker with, it should be a good little game getter.....at the very least, i can have some fun plinking with it.
 
RWS Diana 34 in 22 caliber. Find the right pellet and its MONEY!!! A LOT of Eurasian doves , couple groundhogs, squirrles, and skunks would attest to its capabilities. Occasionally I get lucky and hit a starling at 50-100 yards, but the damn things just dont stand still long enough for me to get a high hit percentage on the latter..
 
It'll work for a while but will eventually you'll shoot though it.
Edit...what do the pellet impacts look like? Is the rubber mulch slowing the pellet significantly?

Get you something like this. It's not big but it works well. I've got a similar one that's about 30 years old...works great
The rubber mulch works great I have yet to have a pellet "escape" from the trap. I haven't dug through it to look for pellets so don't know what shape they're in. I do have to replace the foam board after a couple hundred shots as it gets fairly shredded.
 
The rubber mulch works great I have yet to have a pellet "escape" from the trap. I haven't dug through it to look for pellets so don't know what shape they're in. I do have to replace the foam board after a couple hundred shots as it gets fairly shredded.
exactly

best and most quiet trap i have is a tubberware bin with a rectangle cut out for left over amazon boxes over rubber mulch

shooting several different kinds of pellet rifle but all over 1200 FPS .177 and 22. bin is prob 4" deep.

nothing escapes or bounces back
 
I've been using AG's for practice for most of my life and I'm over 60.

About 24 years ago I bought my first PCP AG. Shorty after that I got into the sport "Field Target Air Rifle". Not many years after that I had my first AZ state match win in that sport.

So I got into AG's for competition and I still am to this day. In 2012, when I won my 2nd state AZPRC long range centerfire championship on steel, I was asked by a guy this question - Hey Steve, what do you attribute your ability to shoot as well as you do?? I replied that I practiced with AG's. He thought I was kidding but I was telling the truth and proceeded to tell him about my past experience with AG's.

This custom Thomas HPX pcp air rifle in 22 cal is by far the highlight of my many AG purchases over the years. I named it SURELY because if I miss it's surely my fault. As far as precision with a pellet gun this rifle is one awesome rifle, maybe most precise in the world and I'm not exaggerating!
This spring I won my division in a 2 day match and got enough money to pay for my entire vacation with ole SURELY. That was one fun weekend.

I'll be competing in an airgun match called the RMAC in August. 1st prize is $21,000, wish me luck please!

IMO, everything in marksmanship except "recoil control" can be learned using airguns.

DSC00297.JPG
 
What is a good fairly reasonable air gun to use for trainjng. I would really like to find me one that will fit an mpa chassis.
 
Fit an MPA chassis, not going to happen. Airguns are a completely different breed of gun that doesn't follow firearm footprints.

There was guy somewhere overseas making AM21/M40 based high powered air gun… I think 25 caliber comet may have been 30 caliber... Unfortunately I can't find the link anymore... Basically its custom stuff and I think it was a little bit over 2 grand

You can find airsoft that is similar in style as the base firearm...most are crap though.

What is reasonable price? Are you wanting spring, air piston, C02, PCP?.

What type of training? If you're just looking for trigger time behind the rifle then basically anything will do. If you're looking to mimic what you already have thats a 700 footprint then you're better off finding a 40x in 22lr.
 
Last edited:
Wishful thinking. I suppose. Was just looking for something similar to do some barricade work with at the house. I already have a cz455 in an mpa chassis just cant run it in the yard and the closest 22 match is once a month( and usually my working weekend) and 1.5 hes away. Its all good though. Will continue to do dryfire training between matches
 
If you don't mind air soft, you can definitely find one. You can go with a high end gas gun, basically propane or c02, or a Springer on the lower end


I had one the had an AICS pattern magazine that was a gas reservoir/magazine. Something like that can be a lot of fun in the backyard with a Mini course out to say 30 yd... A lot of fun
Ran into this
 
Last edited:
Interesting. Wonder if the grip can be changed out in the mdt one????? Thanks
 
I have Ruger 22 cal air rifle but have mainly used it for killing tree rats.
Since i live in Colorado now versus Arkamsas it would be better served shooting bums instead of tree rats.
 
I have Ruger 22 cal air rifle but have mainly used it for killing tree rats.
Since i live in Colorado now versus Arkamsas it would be better served shooting bums instead of tree rats.

I too have the Ruger 22. For the money it's a fine air gun.