Air Rifles

I went initially looking for a local archery range for myself. On the day I went with the kids and as We reviewed the facilities we heard the rifle range. So we went and had a look. Both of them wanted a go so we booked a slot for the next day, hiring the ranges guns to see how they got on.

They both enjoyed the hours shooting and did really well considering it was the first time they had shot a gun properly.

As a child on my grandfathers farm and in the ATC I always enjoyed the challenge of shooting. In the ATC I got the opportunity to shoot both .22 and 7.62 SLR rifles and really enjoyed the pass time. So I decided to get our own air rifle, nothing overly expensive but still a known good brand and not a cheap and cheerful that would eventually frustrate due to inaccuracy.
So we now have a BSA Meteor break barrel air rifle.

Air Rifle Targets

To keep the children’s attention I print our own targets from images online. The more popular ones being zombies and Fortnite characters from there computer games. You can also find a number of sites with free to print targets.

Another useful addition to the targets are stick on reactive target dots. These become fluorescent yellow when they are hit, with them being small they also get them to apply a little more effort to hitting them.

https://www.nssf.org/shooting/targets/
https://www.gr8fun.net/index.php?main_page=page&id=4

The range its self also has a variety of targets to aim at, James likes hitting the bells, I like the small banks of round disks that spin when hit, challenging myself to hit all of them in a row without missing.

Shooting club

When we booked a lane during the holidays we got to meet the shooting club. This group of people really did take the kids under their wing and let them shoot all sorts of different guns, they had a wonderful morning and I would like to thank them for all there generosity and patience.

Friends

James has had a couple of friends come along and have a go. It really is a good pastime for children as it teaches them respect for a weapon, highlighting that the real world is far different to a computer game.

They have to understand and follow the safety rules and when shooting they have to calm down and concentrate, controlling their stance / grip and breathing to get that shot in.
But overall the competition to get the better shot or as most of them do try to shoot the forehead or groin out of the target character.

Pellets

Over the past two years we have worked our way through a number of different air rifle pellets but find the following brands to be our preferred choice.