Training at home with an air rifle or air pistol

• Treat the gun as loaded, and never point it at anyone, dry firing included.
• Dry fire only where your gun’s maker allows it; Weihrauch says never with a spring-piston gun.
• Train in short, frequent sessions, and stop when the position gets sloppy.
• Shoot live only where the law lets you, into a trap rated for your gun, with a solid wall behind it and safety glasses on.
• Air the room, wash your hands, lock the gun away, and log what you trained.

The NSRA’s golden rules begin: never point a gun at anyone, and always treat it as loaded. Weihrauch’s manual says to treat every gun as loaded even after you have checked it, and Walther’s LG400 manual adds dry firing: never point the muzzle at yourself or another person, even in dry training.

• Know what is behind the target. Weihrauch asks what your pellet will hit if it misses, ricochets or goes through, and wants the backstop where it is still safe if it fails.
• Keep people and animals out of the line. Weihrauch wants spectators at least 3 metres behind the shooter and no person or livestock near the target; at home, see that nobody can walk through a door into the line of fire, and keep children and pets out of the room.
• Have someone watch while you are young or new. Weihrauch says younger or inexperienced shooters must shoot only with a competent person watching.
• Aim only at a target or a trap. The range rules of Svenska Skyttesportförbundet (SvSF) allow aiming practice only at a firing point or a designated place, towards a target or a backstop, and none while anyone is in front.

The ISSF rule book defines dry firing for air guns, and says where it belongs at a match:

Dry firing

Releasing the trigger of an air gun fitted with a device that lets the trigger work without releasing the air.ISSF Rule Book 6.2.4.1

Where

Dry firing and aiming exercises only on the firing line, or in a designated area and direction.ISSF Rule Book 6.2.4.1

A dry shot is a whole shot without the pellet; the sights show whether the gun moved. The ISSF National Coach Course for rifle builds the trigger in steps:

1. Take up the first stage only, without firing.
2. Press gradually into the second stage without firing, to feel how much pressure you can put on it.
3. Make the complete release, with attention to both stages.
4. Dry fire at a point on the wall, releasing the trigger so that the rifle does not move.

For the first steps it suggests closing your eyes, to feel only the trigger; at home, put the point on your trap and keep the muzzle there. Positions are built the same way: the CMP’s coaching booklet has new shooters do many dry and live fire repetitions in each new position, and Target Rifle Australia (TRA) tells beginners to learn about dry firing from their coach.

The press itself is in Trigger control.

Go by your own manual; if it is silent, ask the maker before you try. With the dry-fire setting off, a pull of the trigger fires air even with no pellet in the barrel: Feinwerkbau empties the 800’s air cylinder that way, and marks it as no dry firing. Treat such a release as a shot.

1. Check that the gun is empty: open the action and look. Weihrauch’s rule is never to take somebody else’s word for it.
2. Put the pellets in another room, and set the dry-fire mode.
3. Aim at a small mark on your trap, with nobody in front of you.
4. Fire every dry shot as a real one: position, breath, trigger, follow-through; see Air rifle positions.
5. Stop when the hold or the release gets sloppy.

How often is for you and your coach; several short sessions a week beat one long one, and a live session now and then checks that the dry work reaches the card.

Holding is how still the gun stays while you aim. The coach course’s drills for hold, balance and position mostly need no range:

• Hold the rifle in position for longer than a shot takes, without aiming, and feel your balance.
• Aim at a point on the wall, and keep it in the middle of the front sight through each pause in your breathing.
• Get into position in front of a mirror, to make it the same every time.
• Stand with your eyes closed, then on one foot, eyes still closed, each side.
• While aiming, close your eyes now and then, to check your balance and that your muscles are relaxed.

Rest between holds with the muzzle on the trap, and stop when the holds get shakier.

Why the gun never stops moving, and why that is normal, is in How to hold a gun steady.

A pistol is held in one hand at arm’s length, so its holding drills work the arm and the stance rather than the position. TargetShooting Canada’s stance exercises, written for air pistol, build up in five steps:

1. Hold the pistol, arm extended, at no point of aim and without shooting, to feel a stable stance.
2. The same, on a point of aim.
3. On a point of aim, close your eyes, open them after two seconds: if the stance is right, the point of aim has not moved.
4. Break out of the position (lower the arm, step back) and adopt the stance again.
5. The same, on a different point of aim each time, until the stance comes quickly and the same.

The stance itself, and the trigger that goes with it, are in the one-handed pistol stance and trigger control.

For live shots at home, where the law allows them, buy a trap whose maker states what it stops, the gun, the calibre and, where given, the power, and check your gun against it. Gehmann, for one, names the gun each of its pellet boxes is for, air rifle or air pistol, and says an angled, sprung 3 mm steel plate at the back prevents ricochets. Weihrauch’s rules for a backstop:

• Inspect it before and after each use, and stop using it if the surface shows signs of failure.
• If a pellet bounces back, stop shooting at once and replace it.
• Never shoot at wood, rubber, glass, water or anything else likely to cause ricochets.

Put a solid wall behind the trap, never a window, a door or a thin partition, and light it: Anschütz’s manual asks for a trap that is completely safe and visible. Even a tested trap can throw a pellet back. The British Ministry of Defence’s range advisers endorsed a pellet trap for cadet ranges in 2011; two cases of backsplash followed, both put down to rifles not filled with air as their maker instructs (Range Advice Note 2/12).

Weihrauch’s, Walther’s and Anschütz’s manuals all ask for it. Walther wants every shooter and everyone nearby in protective goggles and ear protectors, and Weihrauch warns that normal reading glasses do not protect. The American Academy of Ophthalmology calls ballistic eyewear the only kind designed for air guns, and goggles and sunglasses made for skiing or sun not safe. If you wear glasses, wear ballistic safety glasses that fit over yours, or ask an optician for prescription ones.

Pellets are made of lead, which is poisonous, the NSRA warns: wash your hands after handling them, never swallow one, and take care when you clean up. Lead-free pellets exist too; see Airgun pellets.

• The New York State Department of Health tells shooters to wash hands and face right after shooting or picking up spent pellets, and not to eat or drink where they shoot.
• Empty the trap without raising dust: the department warns that sweeping stirs it up, and the NSRA recommends goggles and a mask for cleaning.
• Lead dust on clothes, shoes, skin or hair can be carried home, where it is especially dangerous for children, the department says. Keep the trap out of their reach.
• If you shoot live at home, where the law allows it, choose a room you can air, not one where you cook, eat or sleep; Weihrauch says shooting indoors needs proper ventilation.

Check once more that the rifle is unloaded and uncocked before it goes away; Weihrauch says never to put a gun away loaded or cocked. A loaded rifle is unloaded by firing the pellet into the trap, as Weihrauch and Anschütz say. A cocked, empty rifle is uncocked as its own manual says; for its spring rifles, Weihrauch has you press the muzzle firmly against a soft pad, such as carpet, and fire. Weihrauch, Feinwerkbau and Walther all say to keep the rifle apart from its pellets and out of children’s reach, Weihrauch in separate locked cabinets. Storage can also be a matter of law, as Weihrauch’s manual notes: see the law where you live.

TRA calls a shooting diary a very useful tool: after any shoot, record what produced the good shots, how you felt, what you learned and any change to your technique, and keep track of your scores each week.

For a home session, add what you trained and how it felt. Judge it over weeks, not one evening: Reading your shot groups shows how.

Shooter logs each session with its gun and notes, and typed scores and score trends per gun are free. A card you shoot live is scored from a photo, on the phone or with AI depending on the target (AI scans past the free ones use credits). Pro adds unlimited scans, saved targets and shot-pattern analysis.

Can I dry fire a spring air rifle?

Not unless its own manual says so. Weihrauch’s manual says never to dry fire a spring-piston gun; with one, train the hold and the position instead.

Can I dry fire a match air rifle?

Match rifles such as the Feinwerkbau 800 X, the Walther LG400 and the Anschütz 9015 have a dry-fire setting. Follow your own rifle’s manual; with the setting off, a pull of the trigger fires air.

Do I need eye protection with a pellet trap?

Yes. Rifle makers ask for it, and pellets can bounce back from a trap. Wear safety glasses, and keep everyone else in the room in them too.