Indoor Target Stop Steel Bb Gun

I have a friend that just past the carry concealed weapons class (CCW) and got his permit. There is one problem, he has not had any training with a handgun. He is an avid hunter and is proficient with a rifle and shotgun. He asked me for advice ( I have been in law enforcement for over 25 years). Accompanying him to the range I immediately saw that he was handling his handgun just like his rifle, he took careful aim and fired. He missed the center of the target most times. He took so long to aim (several seconds) that his arm would relaxed and he would miss the center of the target. I told him he need to learn to point his handgun, acquirer target, and shoot in less than a second. He tried that and was able to get more shots closer to the center of the target. By then he had expended a box of ammunition and it was time to leave.

Reviewing what I had seen I advised him he needed much more "trigger time" to gain proficiency with a handgun. He said that would be expensive and he did not have the time to go to the range. I then remembered that the US Army had a program in the mid 1960's called Quick Kill where they trained soldier to shoot a rifle (Daisy bb gun) with no sights just point and fire. Within hours a soldier could hit a aspirin size target that was tossed into the air. . The technique was presented to the Army by Lucy McDaniel check Wikipedia for information and description of the training.

The basic principle is learn aim the weapon without using the sights. Think of all the things we hit or throw that do not have sights, just about any ball game, football, baseball, golf, tennis, and even good old snowballs.

So then I thought, get a bb handgun, (Umarex makes c02 replicas that function similar to Colt. Beretta, or Smith and Wesson handguns) Next I needed to find a bb target stop for indoors, I could not find a low cost stop, then I look for an plans to build my own and did not find any plans that I liked. (The stop need to have a large area for the beginner).

I had a florescent light fixture fail in my shop, It was a 4 foot by 2 foot fixture. I thought this might make a good bb target stop. Instructions follow, it works great. My friend can consistently keep all shots on a 3x5 card at 21 feet with about 2 hours of practice. (6- 20 minute practices). Have not had time to go to the range and see how this translates into live fire, but from past experience he should be able to have a perfect score for his next qualification. (the center mass area on a silhouette target is 8 inch by 6 inch, head is 4 inch by 4 inches)

Step 1:

I started with a 2 foot by 4 foot florescent light fixture. I removed the lamps, lamp holders, and ballast.

Step 2:

On the first attempt I did not have any baffle material in the trap, the attached photos show the dimples in the steel from the bb's. The large dimple is from a 1000 feet per second .177 lead pellet. I would recommend if you are going to use over 500 feet per second to put in disposable baffle material. I had some 1/2 inch plywood that I cut and screwed in from the back side to absorb some of the bb impact. Carpeting could also be used to absorb the impacts. With carpeting attach it to the top and let it hang like a drape. Also foam insulation or cardboard could be used.

Step 3:

The last step was to cut a piece of foam insulation 3/4 inch to cover the front of the trap. The foam is just held in place with clear packing tape. The foam slows the bb's and keeps them from bouncing out to the trap. I lean the trap against my garage door at an angle so the bb's do not bounce straight back out of the entry hole. This piece has over 3000 hits and is still in good shape, when it gets shot up either the replace the damaged areas, again using tape to hold the patch or replace the whole panel.