My new guests...I was assured...were "used to gunfire"...where they are standing is around 50 yards from my targets. Those of us that have or are familiar with Veterans know how quiet they are out of the box, I have mine turned down to around 800 fps with domes in addition to having a Sumo fitted...it's about as quiet as an airgun can be, although noise isn't an issue for me...I was throughly suprised with the first shot...mostly hitting the cardboard...the horses hightailed it to the middle of the field...wouldn't have believed it...can hardly hear it in inside the house! I had many cats and a few dogs endure MUCH noiser springers without even waking up from their naps! All I know about horses is they are expensive and they can hurt you...easily. I told these guys and gal...that as my guests they were just gunna' have to get used to it...They were quite impressed with the Vets preformance compairing that days group to one six months ago...even with a little wind...CP domes @ 30yds off my knee....penney group is what the horses saw.