Home(Made) On The Range

Please enjoy our UBC collective announcement homemade airgun ranges for everyone!

When we start out, air rifles and pistols are the focus of our desires, and ranges and targets are of limited appeal, but a safe and legal place to shoot is vital, usually solved by joining a club, or getting permission to shoot over some land. In a perfect world, we would all have our own range at home, and for those of us who enjoy air pistols, that is achievable. Six yards is the traditional range for many air pistol competitions – and some classic rifle challenges – think bell target. UBC members have created safe range areas in lofts, inside garages, in secluded back gardens … so to give you some ideas, here are a few of our members’ home ranges.

GORDON SMITH’S LONG SHED

I had a small strip of unused ground between our house and the neighbours’ fence. It ran the length of the house and was just under a metre wide, so when we were getting some fence repairs done, I asked the joiners to install a roof from the house to the fence, to fence panel it and put a shed-type door at each end. I also spoke to our neighbours to confirm that they were happy with the plan, although I didn’t say what the shed was for at the time.

Now I had a strange, long shed, but not yet a range, so I tested a spare Landrover roof for resistance to air rifle rounds, and then as it was surprisingly good, I cut and fitted it as a partition to create a space for bikes at the front of the house, and a ‘safety’ backstop for my range. We have to ensure that no pellet ever leaves our boundary, so this backstop is a last line of defence behind a large Kevlar weave sheet intended to stop any stray pellets and the dedicated target backstops as a first-line. I still check all my backstops every time I shoot, for peace of mind.