I think you should worry more about your lungs in an enclosed enbvirement with that type of ammunition. I would think you would be better off using an air rifle. You might try one of the more accurate ones like the military uses for practice.
Regards Bill

The basement is ventilated and I have a couple well placed powered dryer exhaust vents since I do my casting and a lot of other stuff down there.
   I already have a couple of Martinis that I'll use. At this point I cannnot afford or justify an air rifle of equal quality.  I have scopes for them,  I just have to figure out which one will focus down to the close range I'll be working at.  I've been playing with a recently acquired BSA Cadet 22 rf conversion fitted with an anschutz take off barrel that will work well as a practice rifle with a bit of action tuning to lighten up the trigger pull.  Eventually it'll be my squirrel and starling rifle.  Once I get into it a bit more I may switch over to the Swiss federal martini with the DST.   I just don't want to frog things up with the CBCaps.

I bought that LH air rifle for indoor practice - have shot it outdoors at 25 yds - it is a tack driver - the rimfire

A couple of comments, not necessarily opinions or recomendations, just FYI stuff.

I have cast bullets & fired RFs indoors since the '60s, in mostly poorly- or un-ventilated environments. Got worried a while back & had a blood test for lead, results were in the low normal range.

I shoot a lotta CB Longs & some Aquila Colibris, but I try to avoid the Short length since I don't want to have to clean the chamber after every shooting session. Sometimes the Colibris don't exit the muzzle, depending.

I use a commercial steel Outer's bullet trap @ 33 feet & the sound of the bullet hitting the steel is sometimes louder than the report.

Also have a 177 spring-piston air rifle (FWB) along with the various 22s, but only fired ~5000 rounds over the last 20 years.

Now some opinions. 1) I no longer worry about lead. 2) I don't use Shorts 'cause I'm scared of damage to my LR chambers, & IMO damage would occur eventually. 3) I don't use set triggers when shooting in my shop since my bullet trap is mighty small & my walls are mighty thin; you guys with basements are very fortunate IMO since an AD is much better-contained, and an AD WILL occur with set triggers sooner or later. I will get a larger splash panel, but still have reservations about using set triggers indoors. 4) for a good short range setup, I suggest a barrel with a twist for Shorts, something in the 1:20" to 1:24" range; this should prove to be more accurate than the usual LR twist when combined with the CBs. I recently relined a friend's Ruger No 1 RF in this fashion & he reports great results so far. 5) IMO the Colibris are not for me, the low velocity combined with the questionable/variable barrel time will give the wrong impression of my performance. 6) I love shooting the air rifle, it's far far more accurate than the RFs at this range & provides great practice & recreation. 7) My next air rifle will be a side-lever-cocking 22 cal since the 177 is inadequate for small game & the side-lever is perceived as being more accurate with a scope.
Good luck, Joe

I've tried that Aguila Colabri stuff and found it hopelessly inaccurate; too much vertical. Try a box before you buy a brick. It makes no noise, (the hammer fall drowns the report) but make sure the bullet comes out, ( I had one stick in a dirty bore, and the gunshop in Buffalo marks the boxes " For Handguns Only"). I got a cheap pellet gun for indoor, and shoot out the shop window with the 22.

Over the years I have taken an awful lot of birds, squirrels and rabbits with a .177 cal air rifle.  This 2002 superair side cocker with fully adjustable everything sure is sweet.  I know one thing - I have it sighted for 25yds and it is almost like you can't miss.  you all have a good day now - the rimfire

Dale53 wrote on Oct 16^th, 2006 at 7:34pm:


Having shot the M14 in competition, it was those folks that used - guess what - AIR rifles over the winter that did the best.