Comments on: Shooting in the Back Yard http://www.airgunsofarizona.com/blog/2008/12/shooting-in-back-yard.html Weekly airgun reports from airgunners to airgunners! Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:47:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jock Elliott http://www.airgunsofarizona.com/blog/2008/12/shooting-in-back-yard.html/comment-page-1#comment-1669 Jock Elliott Thu, 24 Mar 2011 12:12:11 +0000 http://www.airgunsofarizona.com/blog/2008/12/shooting-in-the-back-yard.html#comment-1669 Ray, Thanks for your question. First, I believe that a good backstop is always a good idea when you are target shooting. It helps to prevent pellets from going someplace that you didn't intend. Second, I don't completely understand your parents objective. If the area between your shooting position and your backstop is an area where people typically walk, then it is a bad idea to be shooting there unless you have a way of warning people and keeping them out of your shooting lane. If people never walk in that area, then there is no problem. If the concern is that your parents might wander into the lane and get shot, you could tell them that you will always warn them when you are about to begin a shooting session and will post a sign saying that at your back door. I have a smiliar situation when I am testing airguns. My shooting lanes are near the house. I tell everyone in the house that I am about to shoot airguns and to let me know if they are going to cross my shooting lane. At the same time, I have very, very careful about the presence of people and animals when I am out shooting. Another thought occurs to me: if you have neighbors who live near by and who sometimes cross your property to get to somewhere else, you need to have a chat with them to explain that you will sometimes be shooting airguns and that you will put up a warning sign when you are shooting, and that they are not to cross the shooting lane. You need to take safety very seriously. Airguns are relatively more safe than firearms (a pellet won't travel two miles, go through walls of a house and kill someone), but they still can be lethal if mishandled. Just recently there was a case in which one youngster killed another (both were under ten) when an airgun was mishandled. (In that case, the parents should have provided strict supervision.) In that case, the gun was a cheap, wimpy pump-up gun, but it was lethal nonetheless. I suggest you sit down with your parents and say, "I am as concerned about safety as you are. What I can I do to shoot on the family property and meet your concerns?" Ray,

Thanks for your question. First, I believe that a good backstop is always a good idea when you are target shooting. It helps to prevent pellets from going someplace that you didn’t intend.

Second, I don’t completely understand your parents objective. If the area between your shooting position and your backstop is an area where people typically walk, then it is a bad idea to be shooting there unless you have a way of warning people and keeping them out of your shooting lane. If people never walk in that area, then there is no problem. If the concern is that your parents might wander into the lane and get shot, you could tell them that you will always warn them when you are about to begin a shooting session and will post a sign saying that at your back door.

I have a smiliar situation when I am testing airguns. My shooting lanes are near the house. I tell everyone in the house that I am about to shoot airguns and to let me know if they are going to cross my shooting lane. At the same time, I have very, very careful about the presence of people and animals when I am out shooting.

Another thought occurs to me: if you have neighbors who live near by and who sometimes cross your property to get to somewhere else, you need to have a chat with them to explain that you will sometimes be shooting airguns and that you will put up a warning sign when you are shooting, and that they are not to cross the shooting lane.

You need to take safety very seriously. Airguns are relatively more safe than firearms (a pellet won’t travel two miles, go through walls of a house and kill someone), but they still can be lethal if mishandled. Just recently there was a case in which one youngster killed another (both were under ten) when an airgun was mishandled. (In that case, the parents should have provided strict supervision.) In that case, the gun was a cheap, wimpy pump-up gun, but it was lethal nonetheless.

I suggest you sit down with your parents and say, “I am as concerned about safety as you are. What I can I do to shoot on the family property and meet your concerns?”

]]> By: Ray http://www.airgunsofarizona.com/blog/2008/12/shooting-in-back-yard.html/comment-page-1#comment-1668 Ray Thu, 24 Mar 2011 11:52:18 +0000 http://www.airgunsofarizona.com/blog/2008/12/shooting-in-the-back-yard.html#comment-1668 Ive been air gunning for about 2 years now with magnum springers in the 17 cal however recently I have wanted to go up to PCP rifles and buy a crosman Marauder at .25 cal. I had just gotten the power source delivered a high pressure hand pump and have been working on a stronger back stop such as old logs of about a foot or 2 ft thick which should work as a great back stop when its finished It will be about 5-6 feet high and a good 2-3 logs thick and 10-12 feet in length there is no person or persons property behind this back stop for a good half mile as it is all woods I am wondering am I taking all the necessary precautions as im not shooting towards anyone else's property no one ever heads back there unless they are trespassing as it is on my family's property. Im asking this becouse I am 19 in collage living with my parents and they have had no problem with my hobby untill just yesterday when they confiscated the air pump still in package from pyramid Air and one of them is complaning that Old ladys will run out in front of my target )= I highly disagree with that but it is there house so with all that said....... SHOULD I SHOOT IN MY BACK YARD OR GO TO THE STUPID RANGE!!!!! Ive been air gunning for about 2 years now with magnum springers in the 17 cal however recently I have wanted to go up to PCP rifles and buy a crosman Marauder at .25 cal. I had just gotten the power source delivered a high pressure hand pump and have been working on a stronger back stop such as old logs of about a foot or 2 ft thick which should work as a great back stop when its finished It will be about 5-6 feet high and a good 2-3 logs thick and 10-12 feet in length there is no person or persons property behind this back stop for a good half mile as it is all woods I am wondering am I taking all the necessary precautions as im not shooting towards anyone else’s property no one ever heads back there unless they are trespassing as it is on my family’s property. Im asking this becouse I am 19 in collage living with my parents and they have had no problem with my hobby untill just yesterday when they confiscated the air pump still in package from pyramid Air and one of them is complaning that Old ladys will run out in front of my target )= I highly disagree with that but it is there house so with all that said……. SHOULD I SHOOT IN MY BACK YARD OR GO TO THE STUPID RANGE!!!!!

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