Airgun cure for cabin fever

One of the things I really like about airguns, is the ability to shoot them just about anywhere. My office is built in the large finished basement in my house. From my desk to the target cabinet at the other end is 10 meters. This requires shooting across the office and through the exercise room, but all the gym equipment is positioned so it won’t interfere.

The terminal end of this little indoor range is a 3’ x 4’ cabinet that is 16” deep. A lower and upper shelf has been left for storage of targets, pellets, and other odds and ends. The middle section is roughly 2’x3’, and is backed by a 1/4” sheet of steel plate. I purchased a number of cardboard boxes that fits the space perfectly, and when filled with plumbers putty is good for a few hundred shots, occasionally patching it up with duct tape. When the box starts to get torn up too badly, I dump the putty into a new box and start over again. The clip from a clipboard is taped at the top and bottom of the box and used to attach targets. Under shelf lighting is built in, and really makes the targets pop.

My desk is large, and stored underneath in a chest is a rest with a sandbag that sets up quickly and unobtrusively when needed. I’ve also got a chronograph with a light source on a cart that rolls into the utility room when not in use. This little mini range is typically used for initial sighting in of new rifles, measuring pellet velocities, more or less the preparatory work before moving outdoors and shooting at longer range. But on weekends like this, with snow storms blowing it has been a lot of fun going downstairs with a box of reactive targets (animal crackers) to shoot at off hand. OK, 10 meter plinking isn’t that challenging, but my feeling is any shooting is fun and that the more you shoot the better you are when it’s time to hunt. After a day and a half of shooting several guns while the storms continued to blow, I’ve finally run out of air. I either need to go to the garage and grab the spare tank or switch to springers for awhile!

Like to hear how you guys have set up your indoor ranges, always looking for new ideas!