Backyard/Patio Target Shooting

[trebor44]

I have a covered Patio in my backyard and over the years I have taken advantage of it to shoot my Crosmans.  I was able to shoot from inside the house this winter (open patio doors) at a target setup by the fence.  Note do not use a wooden fence to staple targets to.  I did and had to improvise a 'target backing board' from some scrap I had.  The distance to the target was approximately 40+ feet.  Nice setup for rain or snow.  Now that the weather has warmed, I moved outside to the patio and setup my portable shooting bench in the shade of the patio cover.

So about noon I decided to fine tune the 1377 with its TruGlo red dot.  The 1377 has a steel breech, 14 inch barrel and few other enhancements purchased from Alchemy.  Distance to target was now 32 feet.  While shooting and tuning the red dot I thought I was hearing 'bounce backs', then one did hit my lower leg!  Even though I was only doing 4 pumps the pellets (Swiss flat face) still had enough energy for a mild sting and came back about 35 plus feet.

So the solution was to use a steel pellet/bb trap.  Saves the lead and mitigates the bounce back.  Other solutions to 'catch' the pellets would also be option.  Glasses, a trap device keeps this a fun thing to do in the backyard.

[JMJinNC]

I use target boxes filled with rubber mulch, 4-6" deep. No ricochet and super quiet.

JMJ

[RetatCDude]

Rubber mulch then when full of pellets, dump the box of mulch and debris into your large shop vacuum.
Fill with water.
Skim off the rubber.
The lead sinks to the bottom where you can collect it and give it to the bullet casters..

[trebor44]

Rubber mulch and a container of water sound like a great idea!   I just need to modify my paper soaking bucket by adding a larger screen (hardware cloth) to the bottom of the inner bucket.   That will be a lot easier than digging the pellets out of the wood backing.  Since I do cast bullets this is a real plus.

[RetatCDude]

There you go..