Indoor Air Gun Range?

G

GunXpatriot

New member
So I was planning to set up a little 1 or 2 pellet trap airgun range in my house. I actually read an article on pyramyd air, found here

http://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2006/12/setting-up-home-airgun-range-part_14.html

Getting a pellet trap and a location to shoot is the easy part, but that lead dust concerns me. Apparently, lead pellets don't start to fragment until 600fps, according to Tom Gaylord. Although I wouldn't be shooting anything faster than that, more likely 500 max, should lead dust still be a concern?
 
Unless you are shooting thousands of shots per day in a confined area lead dust should not be a major concern. Touching the pellets to load exposes one to greater contact. If it still is a concern 'DuctSeal' a clay product used in electrical applications can be formed into a trap to capture the pellets. It can be cleaned and reused for a long time. Home centers would be a source for Duct Seal.
 
My old pellet trap was a wooden cigar humidor filled with a couple of inches of duct seal. It worked great on pellets up to 1000 fps. After a while you'd need to scoop out the mass of lead in the center, but that was pretty easy- just fill in the hole with some new clay. Close the lid and nobody was the wiser.

I'd probably hesitate to use the type of trap that makes a pellet disintegrate if it's used indoors.
 
Actually, now that I think about it, I can always put a piece of carpet along the top of the track, where the pellet is deflected. That should soften things up and prevent disintegration on impact.
 
I shoot bullseye pistol in competition, and between matches and practice I'm often in the range 2 or 3 nights a week. In between, I practice with an air pistol in my basement.

A few years ago, I was diagnosed with elevated lead and started wearing a respirator in the regular indoor range. I didn't wear the respirator in my basement airgun range. After a couple years, my blood lead level came back into, and has since stayed within, the normal range. Based on that experience, I think that you need not be concerned with lead contamination in your indoor airgun range. My understanding is that most of the airborne lead in shooting ranges comes from the lead styphnate priming compound and not the bullets. Obviously, the priming compound is not an issue with airguns.
 
Flyfish, I know many target guns are lower velocity so i was wondering what velocity you were shooting at in your basement? I too am considering a set-up and have this concern.
 
I shoot a Steyr LP50. I haven't attempted to chrono the pellets, but my understanding is that airguns used in international competition, such as the Steyr, are limited to less than 500 fps, so I would assume something in the high 400s or so.

Edit: Your question made me curious, so I did some Googling and found that I was wrong about the 500 fps limit for competition - that's the limit for airguns in Canada, so that may have been what I was thinking about - but not too far off on the velocity. According to one seemingly authoritative site I looked at, Olympic quality air pistols such at the Steyr are typically in the 550 fps range.
 
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My air rifle "trap" is a cardboard box (that also holds the targets). Inside are 6 lids from 5-gallon buckets that I don't use stacked in a vertical fashion. No pellet from my 1000 fps rifle has ever penetrated more than three lids - keeps them all inside the box nice and deformed, but not fragmented
 
I've been using airguns in the garage for years.
No harm that I've noticed....that I've noticed......that I've......
What were we talking about?

For targets, I use 1/2 plywood boxes, about and inch and half deep, lined with carpet and rags, with cardboard facing, under the paper targets.
Some are ten years old, at least, and still hanging in there.
Don't sweat the lead pellets.
If they really bother you, use airsoft, although they aren't as accurate, more like a bb gun.
 
For targets, I use 1/2 plywood boxes, about and inch and half deep, lined with carpet and rags, with cardboard facing, under the paper targets.
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This is pretty much what I use, too. Works fine, and carpet scraps are free. The plywood is probably overkill, but I think cardboard is a little low-rent -- my nice air guns deserve better. :)

I wash my hands well when I'm finished, but other than that, I don't worry about it.
 
You are more likely to get lead poisoning from handling pellets than you are from lead dust; not that I would be too concerned about that either.
 
You are more likely to get lead poisoning from handling pellets than you are from lead dust
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Not if you take the simple precaution of washing your hands before eating or smoking. Lead has an extremely low dermal absorption factor, meaning that very little of the lead that may get onto your skin actually enters your body. The problem is if you then take those lead-contaminated hands and, say, eat a sandwich - about 40% of the lead that you ingest is taken into the body. Worse yet is if you inhale the lead dust - something on the order of 90% or more of finely divided lead entering the lungs enters the bloodstream.

That said, I agree that an airgun range in the basement is not a health risk to be concerned about.
 
My fingertips will show visible traces of lead on them from handling the pellets after shooting my air gun. I do wash my hands, but after pushing one lead pellet at a time into the chamber for even 50 shots, I can see the lead. I don't worry about lead dust from shooting 1/10th as much as I do about handling lead pellets.
 
FlyFish so you're saying handling lead pellets is really no big concern as long as one is diligent about washing? I used to play with them as a kid and certainly never washed my hands much. I once even swallowed a lead pellet. I assume it passed shortly thereafter :) Kids don't care about anything, though. As an adult I'm far more careful about toxic exposure.
 
FlyFish so you're saying handling lead pellets is really no big concern as long as one is diligent about washing?
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Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. The scientific literature is full of studies supporting that conclusion. Here's one from the World Health Organization: http://www.iom-world.org/pubs/IOM_TM0604.pdf, but a little Googling will find many more. (The WHO study actually deals with lead exposure from PVC window frames, but if you scroll down to the first paragraph of the text, you'll see that their summary statement regarding lead uptake is pretty much the same thing I said).

Because kids are so much more sensitive to lead exposure I'd still keep them from handling the stuff, but adults don't have much to worry about.
 
My fingertips will show visible traces of lead on them from handling the pellets after shooting my air gun. I do wash my hands, but after pushing one lead pellet at a time into the chamber for even 50 shots, I can see the lead. I don't worry about lead dust from shooting 1/10th as much as I do about handling lead pellets.
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Yes, I understand that. I get lead on my fingers as well, both from loading my air pistol and reloading conventional ammo. My point, however, is that lead doesn't pass through the skin except in trace amounts and therefore the lead you can see on your hands doesn't pose a risk, unless you eat or smoke (or lick your fingers or pick your nose, etc.) before washing it off, in which case it can enter your body either via ingestion or inhalation, respectively.
 
Come to think, I just had my blood tested for all kinds of things.
And no lead problems.
I use my pellet guns indoors a lot, and have for decades.
Can't imagine how many thousands of shots.
So, don't worry.
Unless you just like to.
 
All very good information! I kind of have an idea of where I'm going with this now. I'm glad the lead dust isn't necessarily as bad as I was thinking it would be. And I always make sure to wash my hands very thoroughly after handling these things, so it shouldn't be a problem. Thanks!
 
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