the question of power ?

Nope.

I think an excess of 12-15 fpe is no longer 'backyard friendly', some may even say much lower.

It's not just about if the backstop can/will stop an intentionally placed shot every time, its about accidental discharges, potential double loads/wonky pellets that may send the projectile way off target, mechanical failures that send a shot down range unintentionally, and just the fact you're transferring such high, potentially fatal energies through the air between you and any distance, which leaves even the slightest opportunity for a fatality or serious injury to occur.

If your projectile can fly 100 yards and still be deadly, you should be shooting at something that has 100+ yards behind it with nothing remotely in your projectiles potential path, like a shooting range, or the like...

-Matt

Far too lethal for populated suburban application !!
Not having sufficient or known backstop the danger of striking the unintended is far too great !!

LOL, no!

In my yard, 14fpe would be used with extreme caution in one shooting lane.

5-9fpe still requires caution and stealth, with a little lesss worry.

Absolutely not. Most suburban yards are like 20yds. If you can't manage pests with less than 1/5 that power you should probably just call in a pro. For things like squirrels you really shouldn't need much more than a 30S

It’s a concern for me. We are responsible for every shot. Muzzle discipline is crucial. I don’t like shooting over 16 fpe for the entirety of my yard, I only feel more comfortable with a little more in one direction. In the last two years I have really liked going 177 at 12fpe or my Concept Lite 22 on low power shooting 9fpe. I’d never shoot a PB in a suburban yard.
If its for pest control of rodents and birds, the PP700S-A is a great platform. The single shot and adjustability of caliber and power is perfect for suburban shooting. Right now mine is shooting 9 fpe with 8.44 gr pellets. It served me well for years with 16gr 22cal at 16fpe for rodents.

I think a 22 LR is clearly too much for my back yard and most. I would also argue it is way more than necessary for pests unless you include >20 lb animals in your list of pests. But for my yard, I am very comfortable target shooting with my 25s tuned to over 40 ft lbs and my two 22s tuned to over 30 fpe. I would and have shot at pests on the ground with one of the 25s and I shot many squirrels out of trees with the other one when it was tuned to over 30 fpe. BUT I have a large lake behind my house separating me by hundreds of yards from neighbors AND I look for an angle where a miss or pass through will still hit a tree stopping the projectile on my property. After looking hard at the trajectory charts I am planning to use my 177 tuned to about 18 ft lbs when the season reopens. It will carry about half as far and more clearly within the uninhabited zone on a miss. It does not drop a squirrel as quickly in many cases as a 30 fpe 22 or 25 but the difference is a step or two with decent placement.

This is a good thing for all of us to think about and do some math on. Shooting up into trees will allow a lot more carry on the pellet and if you use slugs the danger zone will extend potentially significantly. But another factor to be considered is stopping the pest within your yard. I used my Prod, my first PCP, on several squirrels at it's original 12-13 fpe tune. I did not like the results. Some issues were undoubtedly placement at least as much as power. But I get consistently good results with it tuned up to about 18 fpe. I am not arguing that others cannot, presumably due to better placement, get consistently good results with lower power. I am just saying I tried it and I did not. Shooting a pest and having it crawl next door to die isn't as bad as shooting something you did not intend I guess but it not a way to make friends with neighbors. My recommendation is to keep power up closer to 20 fpe and avoid shots where a miss could hit something you should not shoot.

In other words, we need to both consider where our misses go AND take down our targets consistently. Or just shoot paper. In the rare event I miss my pellet trap the pellet just goes safely in the lake. Paper is my safest and by far my most frequent target.

A .22 LR can also pass through most pests and continue on with high fpe. Too much for my backyard.
I'll stick with my Maximus at 23 fpe.

Practice and discipline is often overlooked by the casual shooter, add coupled with complacency because it’s “just an airgun” is a recipe for things to go wrong.

I mainly shoot pests at one spot in my yard. These are rodents to raccoon size. I practice that 18 yard shot daily. I might go weeks to months without taking a shot at a pest, but you’ll be darn sure I’ll take at least one shot a day at a resetting metal target just under the feeder. Knowing your rifle and ability is a prerequisite.

I think some of the responses have gone beyond the scope of the question. I agree with the spirit of the majority, and I would not shoot a .22 RF in the yard. The risk isn't that the backstop will not stop it, but that the backstop isn't hit! We all like to think that our gun handling is safe, and that an accidental discharge is not a risk, but that's wishful thinking. I've had a couple of ADs in my life. If they had occurred in my yard, the result could have been tragic. Those were learning experiences, and I'd like to think it will never happen again, but I don't know that to a moral certainty.

beerthief said:

For comparison : a .22 standard velocity PB is a 40 grain projectile @ 110 FPE . 1150 FPS .
Would you shoot this in your suburban yard ? would your backstop guarantee to stop this every time ?

Click to expand...

I can shoot 30 FPE pcps safely in my backyard. I don’t shoot into the tree and do minimal pesting on my property. That said my favorite PCPs are 17 FPE guns..

My bullet traps will stop a 22LR, But I won't shoot my 22LR in my yard and
we live in a more rural neighborhood.
That is how I got into air gunning.

When we moved into our house we didn't have neighbors so I could safely shoot gophers in my yard with my 22LR.

As our development filled in I decided to get an air rifle to safely shoot critters in my yard.

It depends on who your neighbors are.

In a small New Mexico town its pretty common to shoot rimfire at the house. Elsewhere maybe not. I don't get too concerned when my neighbor starts banging away with his rimfire. But if I was in another setting Id take cover.

A 22 is too much in the city limits here. The law here agrees. You aren't going to jail for shooting a pest but you might get an invitation to speak to the judge.

Outside of town it's a free for all. You hear shots all the time. You can do whatever you want as long as nobody gets hit. But if you scare someone your going to get shot. Or they might call the law. Both happen daily.

I shot my 30-06 off my front porch often for 20 years. No one freaked out. Times have changed though and I think the days of burning powder in the backyard is over for me.

I'm darn careful about the air gun too. If someone sees you with a rifle and calls the cops it's going to be a bummer. I can control the shot and be safe. But I can't control others reactions. Some people get frightened when they see a guy with a gun. I understand that. I do too. So I try to sidestep any BS that I can.

I don't want to be seen or heard shooting anything if I can help it. It's no big deal where i live. Everybodys packin' and you can shoot just about anywhere in every direction with whatever youve got. But a guy can't be too careful.

.177 or .22 (low power) are perfect for "backyard" shooting IF legal. When we lived in town it was legal IF the pellet did not leave your property and used the House as a final backstop with a target box against a 4x8 sheet of 3/4 plywood attached to the house. Legal. And we still had the police stop by once. They cleared the call then spent 20 minutes shooting most of what we owned (did not shoot the Career Ultra novelty gun and everyone had a nice time. They also made some note in some file so if ever called again no one would waste time responding. Now we have acres but only shoot high power (anything) in the old gravel pit - which has wind breaks on all sides and 110 yards!-.
John

In my neck of the woods our gun laws are pretty much non existent with us locals. But we have the utmost respect for firearms and safety. No accidents remembered in my 62 years. There have been shots used to stop illegal activity . Very rural setting so I’m fortunate to have more liberty than some people.

The absolute most power I am comfortable shooting in a suburban backyard (around half acre lots) is probably around 35 FPE. My gun is capable of around 40 FPE but I have it currently tuned to 31 FPE. Even at that lower power, I still feel it is already pushing it. This is for a varmint rifle. If I ever get a rifle dedicated for target practice, I'll probably have it tuned to 15 to 20 FPE.

There's also the issue of sound. I don't think my gun is all that loud but neighbors are definitely going to notice if I shoot it continuously for target practice. Also, at 30 FPE, the projectile impacting an animal is usually much louder than the gun's muzzle report. You can hide the muzzle report by shooting from inside a window, but you can not hide the impact noises.

When I was pesting with my 30 FPE PCP, there were too many instances where I had too pass up shots. Most of my opportunities being sub 50 yards, 80%, sub 40 yards. My 17 FPE PCPs are simply murder on small pests from 10 to 50 yards… Ready to kill at short range and eager and willing and able to kill out to 50 yards consistently… Mi Atomic XR…

I under stand power and to much of it, Our air guns do not look like pellet guns, At least some don't, Anyone one had SWAP called on them..
The guy in El Paso did , Lost his life pulling his pants up,,
Mike

Depends on how big your backyard is, when I was a kid, my older brother put out a neighbor's window with a 6-8 ftlb bbgun shooting and missing a bird on a wire. needless to say, my father took the gun never to be seen again.

beerthief said:

For comparison : a .22 standard velocity PB is a 40 grain projectile @ 110 FPE . 1150 FPS .
Would you shoot this in your suburban yard ? would your backstop guarantee to stop this every time ?

Click to expand...

Wow, no never.

I had a 15 acre property and only deployed my 22LR in very specific directions.

Our club has a range where 22LR and airgun slugs are allowed only if the shots bury directly into the berm. There are a couple of houses and a farm about a quarter-mile away on the other side of the range and ricochets will reach them.

I agree you have to stick with low fpe pellets only.