How Many People Practice in Their Backyard?

[Lee King]

I bought a 1911 style airsoft a couple of years ago, but switched to Limited. I never really practiced with it much. I just pre-ordered the WE HI-Capa 5.1 CQB from evike and I want to use it pretty seriously. My garage is crammed full of motorcycles and lawn mowers. The back yard seems much more convenient but my neighbors all have a clear view of my backyard. I do have a privacy fence but the countour of the yards puts me a little lower. Just wondered if anyone had experience with their neighbor's reaction to seeing them running around the backyard with a seemingly real gun blazing away.

[Jack Suber]

I bought a 1911 style airsoft a couple of years ago, but switched to Limited. I never really practiced with it much. I just pre-ordered the WE HI-Capa 5.1 CQB from evike and I want to use it pretty seriously. My garage is crammed full of motorcycles and lawn mowers. The back yard seems much more convenient but my neighbors all have a clear view of my backyard. I do have a privacy fence but the countour of the yards puts me a little lower. Just wondered if anyone had experience with their neighbor's reaction to seeing them running around the backyard with a seemingly real gun blazing away.

Not me. I have targets all over my back yard that I use for dry-fire (when I actually dry-fired ). No compliants so far.

[Lee King]

I bought a 1911 style airsoft a couple of years ago, but switched to Limited. I never really practiced with it much. I just pre-ordered the WE HI-Capa 5.1 CQB from evike and I want to use it pretty seriously. My garage is crammed full of motorcycles and lawn mowers. The back yard seems much more convenient but my neighbors all have a clear view of my backyard. I do have a privacy fence but the countour of the yards puts me a little lower. Just wondered if anyone had experience with their neighbor's reaction to seeing them running around the backyard with a seemingly real gun blazing away.

Not me. I have targets all over my back yard that I use for dry-fire (when I actually dry-fired ). No compliants so far.

Your yard's relatively secluded though isn't it?

[MikeFoley]

In my experience you can fire real guns in your subdivision and never hear from your neighbors. People in general are self-involved enough to not notice anything in plain sight, especially if it is quiet. I would just do it, and deal with the neighbors one on one if they have concerns. My guess is if you show them what you are doing, they will think it is harmless and maybe even cool.

[Duane Thomas]

Tell them what you plan to do, and ask them if they're cool with it. They probably will be, and they'll appreciate the courtesy. I'm assuming your next door neighbors are not mortal enemies or anything.

[billfer]

I agree that most people won't give you a second look once they understand what you're doing. Around my place people mostly just mine their own business and leave me alone. One thing I do, however, before I get started with a dry fire practice is put a paster over the buzzer on my timer. It muffles the sound well enough so I don't draw a lot of attention.

I've also been live fire practicing out behind my place for years now and using a little common sense as to when I shoot and how long I shoot I've not gotten any complaints so far.

Bill F.

[Jack Suber]

I bought a 1911 style airsoft a couple of years ago, but switched to Limited. I never really practiced with it much. I just pre-ordered the WE HI-Capa 5.1 CQB from evike and I want to use it pretty seriously. My garage is crammed full of motorcycles and lawn mowers. The back yard seems much more convenient but my neighbors all have a clear view of my backyard. I do have a privacy fence but the countour of the yards puts me a little lower. Just wondered if anyone had experience with their neighbor's reaction to seeing them running around the backyard with a seemingly real gun blazing away.

Not me. I have targets all over my back yard that I use for dry-fire (when I actually dry-fired ). No compliants so far.

Your yard's relatively secluded though isn't it?

Somewhat. Anyone around the fence could see what is going on. But my neighbors pretty much know whats going on. I have one neighbor who practices with his bow in his yard (even though its illegal here) and no one complains - so far.

[bbbean]

Fortunately, on the farm, I can practice in the back yard with anything 50 cal or smaller without bothering the neighbors. If I shot something larger, they'd hear it and come over to ask if they could shoot it!

I'd go with Duane's suggestion to simply tell them what you're doing. Maybe even invite them over to try it if they're interested. If they know what it is, they're a lot less likely to think you're doing something dangerous.

[AR Gunner]

I bought a 1911 style airsoft a couple of years ago, but switched to Limited. I never really practiced with it much. I just pre-ordered the WE HI-Capa 5.1 CQB from evike and I want to use it pretty seriously. My garage is crammed full of motorcycles and lawn mowers. The back yard seems much more convenient but my neighbors all have a clear view of my backyard. I do have a privacy fence but the countour of the yards puts me a little lower. Just wondered if anyone had experience with their neighbor's reaction to seeing them running around the backyard with a seemingly real gun blazing away.

If your neighborhood is anything like mine, as long as you aren't shooting out windows or making a lot of noise, your neighbors won't care.

[Lee King]

I bought a 1911 style airsoft a couple of years ago, but switched to Limited. I never really practiced with it much. I just pre-ordered the WE HI-Capa 5.1 CQB from evike and I want to use it pretty seriously. My garage is crammed full of motorcycles and lawn mowers. The back yard seems much more convenient but my neighbors all have a clear view of my backyard. I do have a privacy fence but the countour of the yards puts me a little lower. Just wondered if anyone had experience with their neighbor's reaction to seeing them running around the backyard with a seemingly real gun blazing away.

If your neighborhood is anything like mine, as long as you aren't shooting out windows or making a lot of noise, your neighbors won't care.

While quieter than a .22, airsoft does make some noise.

[gfmun]

I live in an area of mostly older, retired people with small lots and quite open. I am one of the youngsters in the area and I am 66. When I tried to practice with an airsoft I had quite a crowd watching and talking with each other. I explained to each group what I was doing and showed them the small plastic pellets, and nobody called the police. I tried again a couple of weeks later and got a crowd again, so I gave up. Not sure what to do next, as I do not have a garage and no matter where I stand to practice I am in full view of the street.

thanks,

George

[Duane Thomas]

One thing I do, however, before I get started with a dry fire practice is put a paster over the buzzer on my timer. It muffles the sound well enough so I don't draw a lot of attention.

I do the same thing except I use masking tape.

[Duane Thomas]

I live in an area of mostly older, retired people with small lots and quite open. I am one of the youngsters in the area and I am 66. When I tried to practice with an airsoft I had quite a crowd watching and talking with each other. I explained to each group what I was doing and showed them the small plastic pellets, and nobody called the police. I tried again a couple of weeks later and got a crowd again, so I gave up. Not sure what to do next, as I do not have a garage and no matter where I stand to practice I am in full view of the street.

thanks,

George

Where were you practicing that you drew a crowd? Why not just practice indoors? Did you get any negative reactions from the crowd, or were people just like, "Hm, that's interesting." If it was just people watching because they thought it was interesting, why is having a crowd a bad thing?

[Pittbug]

I live in an area of mostly older, retired people with small lots and quite open. I am one of the youngsters in the area and I am 66. When I tried to practice with an airsoft I had quite a crowd watching and talking with each other. I explained to each group what I was doing and showed them the small plastic pellets, and nobody called the police. I tried again a couple of weeks later and got a crowd again, so I gave up. Not sure what to do next, as I do not have a garage and no matter where I stand to practice I am in full view of the street.

thanks,

George

I live in a family neighborhood and my backyard is also in full view of the street and surrounding neighbors. I'm pretty certain that if I set up some drills, I'd have cops show up. In fact knowing my luck, I'd have the local swat cops throwing flashbangs at me.

[Rocket35]

I practice in the garage with the door open and in the backyard. Not trouble from neighbors so far. In the background of one of my vids you can see a kid stop on his bike to watch for awhile and then leave. But that is about it.

[gfmun]

I tried practicing in the back yard and the front yard. Not a lot of room in either as these are very small lots and no wooden fences, only the 4 ft. chain link. Very open. Older people these days seem more concerned about something different in the neighborhood than maybe younger people do. Lots of widows and widowers and a few couples.

I tried indoors ( small house ) and my wife did not really care for the plastic projectiles that I did not get picked up.

This afternoon I read on Ben Stoeger's website that he blocked the follower in his airsoft and practices without projectiles, just the slide going back and forth. That might be my answer for indoors.

thanks,

George

[jmaass]

I never had an airsoft, and although I'm out in the country a bit, I don't have a backstop to allow shooting in the 2-acres of my yard. I once contemplated building a shooting bay at the back of my yard, but decided that "civilization" would inevitably close in on me over time, and I would end up with an unusable facility inside the city limits of Dublin Ohio. (Hasn't happened yet: city still ends 1/2 mile from here).

I did, however, have an assortment of shooting boxes and target stands in my back yard at one time. I would practice box-to-box movement. I could dry fire inside, but movement requires space.

My neighbors had no concerns with me running around, and the nearest neighbors wouldn't have any problem with me shooting for real - unless I didn't let them join in!

[9thEngineer]

I bought a 1911 style airsoft a couple of years ago, but switched to Limited. I never really practiced with it much. I just pre-ordered the WE HI-Capa 5.1 CQB from evike and I want to use it pretty seriously. My garage is crammed full of motorcycles and lawn mowers. The back yard seems much more convenient but my neighbors all have a clear view of my backyard. I do have a privacy fence but the countour of the yards puts me a little lower. Just wondered if anyone had experience with their neighbor's reaction to seeing them running around the backyard with a seemingly real gun blazing away.

I was running around my 1/2 acre yard shooting the feral chickens. My neighbors were probably silently cheering me on. And... I don't need to worry about breaking anyone's window with the plastic pellets my toy Krink shoots!