AIR GUN RANGES Summaryof a Presentationto the NationalShooting Range Syrnpasium by LeoR. Lujan,USST Director Junior Development

Allofus in the shooting sports have been taking a newlook DesignConsiderations for lndoorAir Gun Ranges at airgun ranges during the last decade. That is becausewe Multipurposeranges are seldom designed primarily as a havebeen building only one indoor smallbore range for every rangesowhen the space is selected, aseries of tradeoffs must tenthat have been closed. Building even a smallnew indoor be consideredto come up with a safe range. The major rangethat meetsall the environmentaland safetyrequire- considerationsare: mentsfor firearms can easily cost in excessof $100,000. Containment.One of thefirst considerations should be, "Will Theattraction to airgun ranges is that they can be setup a strayBB or pelletbe contained within the area." lf the nearlyanywhere - at home,in schools and church fellowship wallsare made of sheet rock, it maybe possiblefor a pelletto halls!Before discussing air gun ranges, we should give some penetratethe wall. lf a wall can be penetrated,you must thoughtto theair gun itself. considerwhat is on the other side of the wall. You may want to obtaina sampleof the wall material for testing to determine Historically.Invented in the 1500's, air guns have been penetrationand bounce-back characteristics. Masonry walls aroundjust as longas firearms.The Austrians were the first arethe mosteffective in termsof containment. andlast to usethem on a largescale as a weaponof war. They Access. Doorwaysand passagesinto the rangearea wereso effectivethat Napoleon Bonaparte decreed that any fonrvardof thefiring line must be blocked.Locked doorways Austriancaptured with an airrifle was to be hungon thespot. shouldhave a warningposted on them if theycan be opened Becauseor theirquiet operation, they have been a favoriteof by a keyfrom outside the range. poachers European forcenturies.Lewis and Clarktook an air PelletTraps. Workingwith beginning pellet shooters, I madefrequent in rifleon their expedition of 1804and entries prefera metaltrap with a largesurface area (24" wide x 18" its In late1 860's, simple and theirdiaries on effectiveness.the high).With good initial instruction, a beginning shooter should guns producedin Thepublic inexpensiveair werefirst theU.S. nevermiss this trap and its face is largeenough for a 10bull airgunsfor recreationalshooting andthey have beganbuying competitiontarget for the more advancedshooters. For popular been eversince. bullseyeshooting on paper targets, I cover the face of the trap Uses. Nearlythree million air guns are sold in theU.S. with cardboard.This providesbacking for the targetsand ._.nnually. Thepowerful large caliber air guns are not, to my preventsspent pellets from beingkicked out of the trap knowledge,made today and are mainly museum pieces. The (harmlessbut messy). NOTE: BBs should never be fired into mostpopular air guns are inexpensive .177 caliber pellet rifles a metalpellet trap that is notspecifically designed for BBs. andBB guns purchased for recreationalpurposes. With the BBTraps. BB traps are designed to absorbthe energy of introductionofair guns at the World Shooting Championships theBB and keep it from leaving the trap. Commercial BB traps in 1966,air gunshave become increasingly popular with usuallyhave one or moredrapes which stop the BBand let it competitiveshooters. Air riflebecame an Olympicevent in fallto thebottom of the trap. Cardboard boxes can be used to 1984and air pistol in 1988. Currently there are fifteen shooting makea simplebut effective BB trap. At thebottom of the box eventsin the Olympicsforwhich Gold Medals are awarded and (thiswill be the backof the trap)lay six or sevenlayers of fiveof them are air gun competition. cardboard.Then fillthe box with balls of newspapermade by waddingup singlesheets of newspaper.When the box is pistol Mostelite rifle and shootingathletes around the packed(snug but not too tight) with the newspaper balls, tape guns primary worldtrain with air evenif it is nottheir discipline the lid shutand you havea BBtrap that will last for several place becauseof theconvenience of findinga to shoot.As a thousandshots. Again,I recommenda largesurface for resultof theshrinking number of smallboreranges since the beginningshooters. 1970's,more and more entry level shooting programs have is yourshooters may turnedto airguns to teachmarksmanship fundamentals and Backstops.lf there a concernthat whichyou are firing must be to introducejunior shooters to competition.With the switch of missthe traps and the wall toward protected,you portablebackstop. Half or the JROTCshooting programs to air gun overthe pastfew needto considera plywood pellets; flattenout and fallto the years,the number of junior athletes training with air guns has 3/4inch willstop they however,will bounce BBs back toward surpassedthose shooting smallbore. floor.Plywood alone, the shooter.For a BB backstop,I use the plywoodleaning All of thisinterest in air guncreates a needfor air gun againstthe wall at a 10- 15degree angle and place a 2"sheet rangesand there is surprisinglittle published information on of Styrofoaminsulation in frontof the plywood.A strayBB thesubject. wouldhave to penetrate4" of Styrofoamto comebacktoward theshooter. I haveused this sort of backstoponly for air gun MultipurposeSpace. One of the most attractive features rangesin conventioncenters and hotels where walls needed airgun shooting is that there are so many indoor spaces that '-6an to be protectedfrom stray shots and I didnot know the skill of beturned into a safeair gun range for a periodof time and theshooters. thenreturned to theirprimary purpose. The space for the air Target Runners. lf all shootingis to be done in the gun rangemay be small (a hallwayat home)or large(a position(pellet rifle or pistol),several firms make an gymnasium)but the basic requirements remain the same. standing excellenttarget runner/trap system that allows you to quickly transportsingle bull targets to andfrom the targetline. Both . EyeProtection. When firing BB guns, all shooters handcrank and motor driven systems are available. The face onthe firing line (and others in the range if possible) should be of the trap is about5" squareso this is not for entrylevel requiredto wearshooting glasses or hardenedlenses. The shootersunless a backstopis used. eyeis the mostvulnerable part of the body. Lighting.Proper lighting isan important feature on air gun . AdequateTraining. Thorough training (explani ranges.This is also something many people neglect in their tion,demonstration, and dry-fire) before a shootertakeshis o,r_- enthusiasmfor keeping their air gun range simple. Overall light herfirst live fire shot with an air riflewill help assure that it is inthe room where the range is constructed should have normal safelyon thetarget and in thecenter of thetrap. illuminationfora classroom or otheractive indoor area. Air gun . Lead. Thereis no problemwith air bornelead shootingranges should never be darkened.Unless a large pollutionfrom air gun shootingand no specialventilation illuminationsystem is usedto brightenthe entire target area, systemis required.Shooters, however, should be cautioned speciallighting should be placedon eachof thetargets. This notto put pellets in their mouth and, after handling pellets, not canbe done using an ordinary 50 to 75 watt bulb with a reflector to eator smokewithout washing their hands. shield. . SafeRange Operation. Procedures for safe range Safety. Commonsense and cautionare probablythe ooerationshould be established and followed. All of the NRA mostimportant factors to applyin the designand use of any RuleBooks provide a listof the standardrange commands; shootingrange but even more so on an air gun range. Many theyshould be usedin the control of the range. peoplefalsely assume the becauseair guns are not as TechnicalAssistance. The USST Junior Development powerfulas most firearms and are relatively quiet, that there is Office(615/831-0485) will be pleasedto answer$eneral nodanger in their use. Air guns can cause serious injury and questionson air gunranges. lf you needhelp with specific air gunrange design must take this into consideration. By rangeproblems, you may contact: acknowledgingthat fact and taking the proper precautions, we Mr.Richard Whiting can keepshooting the safestsport in the U.S. Thesesare NRARange Department someof thesafety factors that must be considered: 1600Rhode lsland Avenue, NW Washington,DC 20036 SpaceRequirements. ln calculatingif a locationhas sufficient space for an air gun range and how many firing lanes can be used,the followingdimensions may be used: A. Depthof trap (andbackstop if used).Determine requirement by measuringactual situation. B. Firingdistance: For pellet gun competition, the distance from the firing line to theface of thetrap should be 33 feet. For BB gun competition,16 feet, 4 3/4inches. C. Firingpositions. In mostsituations you should allow at least8 feetof depthfor the firing position. Four feet is sufficientif onlytl standingposition is to be used. Position shootingrequires 6 to 8 feet. D. Assemblyarealobservation area. \NALL Thisis not needed on a privaterange at home buta schoolorclub range should have 10 feet A{ TARGET LII\IE or morefor an assembly area or observation areabehind the firing positions. E. Widthof firinglane. The firing lane shouldbe 4 feetwide. F. Heightof Targets.In position shoof ing,being able to adjustthe heightof the targetand the trap it is mountedon is an imoortantconsideration. Some traos are mountedon adjustablestands which facili- tatemaking a targetheight change. lf using a box trap or an angledsheet metal trap, settingthe trap on milk cratesmakes for simpleadjustment and easy portability. The NRARules proscribe the following: . BBGun Rule 9.1 5: Targetholder shall be placedso the centerof the targetis not lessthan 1 foot nor more than 1 l l2feettrom the groundfor prone,sitting and kneeling positions.The target height must not be less than3 feet nor morethan 5 feet fromthe groundfor the standing position. FIRING LINE . PositionAir RifleRule 6.2.1 (a): The heightof thetarget for the standing position shallbe between47 inchesand 63 inches abovethe ground.When using multi-bull targets,the center of the upper bull shall not READY LINE exceed63 inches and the center of the lower bullshall noibe lowerthan 47 inches. NOTE: \NALL Therules are silent on requiredheights for thethe other positions.