Who in their wildest imagination thought my gun range in Tucson would be shut down for the last couple of months, plus possibly longer into the future, during the COVID-19 issue? I knew I needed trigger time before I head to multigun nationals later this summer so what are my options? Well, after leaving my Umarex Elite Force AR airsoft rifles sitting in the garage for the last two years it was time to blow off the dust and figure out how to set up a little course of fire.
Setting Up Your Own Airsoft Shooting Range
First of all, I kicked my dogs out their kennel (photo #1 and #2) though afterward, I noticed our youngest pup, Mingus, was pretty sneaky about getting back in to wherever his mom was hanging out. I gathered all my tools out of our garage and loaded them up on my Red Flyer wagon (photo #3) so I didn’t have to constantly go back and forth. When you take a look at my bin (photo #4) of “goodies” you’ll see I keep everything together such as…
- Airsoft BBs and speedloaders.
- Green Gas Fuel for the handgun and in the bottom of the bin are the new rifle batteries. (P.S. I had to order new batteries as I left the original set in the garage with too much heat!)
- Magazines for both the Elite Force Airsoft Rifle and the Umarex Walther handgun.
- Clear shooting glasses which are a must; always protect your eyes!
- Staple gun with staples.
- Construction paper so you can constantly change the color of your targets without too much fuss.
You’ll see I use a cardboard backer on my target stands with the construction paper targets stapled on. These cardboard backers aren’t super stiff and very few of the BBs bounce back. A number of my Babes with Bullets campers are now trying their airsoft replica handguns in their smaller backyards, putting up a tarp against their backyard fence or back wall of their house. They drape the tarp down in front of their shooting area for a ways as well. It catches a ton of the BBs and the tarp keeps the BBs from denting their fence if it’s wood or from going through their fence if it’s chain-link. If you were trying this in your garage, or possibly you don’t have a target stand, you might want to consider a target stapled to an old pillow that sits on a high stool. Bottom line is there are a lot of ways to set up a little course for yourself so you get some trigger time.
How To Replicate Your Shooting Discipline with Airsoft
My husband offered to start me with a timer that we use in competitions with the same range commands I’ll be hearing in competition such as “Shooter is Ready… Stand By” and then the loud BEEP. In the last photo what I was doing is trying to get speed up on getting the rifle off the safe mode, pulling the trigger and working on target transitions. The Axeon red dot that I have mounted on my rifle is VERY handy as it can show up as red or as green. Plus I don’t watch the BBs coming out to the target rather I’m pushing faster using my Axeon red dot scope instead. The other drill we did with this same set of targets was having Gary call out a color as the beep went off. So, in this case, he might call out BLUE and that would be my first target then move onto finish the other targets with two hits each.
From moving everything out of the garage in the wagon, to setting up targets/stapling on construction paper, to filling up the magazines with BBS; took less than 20 minutes. My trigger and target transition runs were about another 30 minutes. All total less than one hour to get my trigger finger moving and to remind me how to snap the rifle up to start taking targets. A productive and fun way to spend less than an hour to get in some constructive training time!
#practicetocompete
By Deb Ferns from Babes with Bullets, the only firearms academy with all-female instructors that are national and world-ranked shooters. Deb is Camp Director/Co-Founder of Babes with Bullets, Babes with Bullets 3-Gun Challenge Match Director, Founder of the Women’s Outdoor Media Association, Director of the Ladies Adventure Camp Experience, Host for GunStuff TV… and Deb’s wish for 2020… “May you be a light to many, but most importantly to yourself.”