Boolit trap for recovery of precious metal

[357maximum]

I went back through the search feature and found a couple of threads, but was wondering if anybody has come up with anything new/better/easier...

I am thinking the ol angled plate box I have already wastes too much lead.....I am going to try filling it with either old carpet/ or rubber tire...any thoughts or pictures to share. for a MO BETTER IDEA .....I have a ton of recycled 3/8 plate that is 2'X3' so material and fab or not an issue....

thanks

[44man]

I haven't had any luck with an angled plate and sand. Even pure lead boolits disintegrate on it. Shrapnel blows the sand out and cuts a huge slot in the ground. A stack of tires with an angled plate behind might work.
I had a site that showed bullet traps that would stop bullets from a .50 BMG machine gun. It had shallow angled bottom and sides with a liquid flowing. The back went into a snail affair that spun down the bullets and dropped them into a container. I can't find it now but I remember they were very expensive. Cheaper to buy shares in a lead mine!

[LIMPINGJ]

If you have large round bales I have lined up a couple to use as a backstop. I place a sheet of plywood behind the bales and when I start to find bullets penetrating both bales and hitting the plywood it is time to burn the backstop for lead recovery and get new bales. With the last couple years of dry weather the price of bales has been high here in NE TX, but in normal years they make a cheap way to recycle your lead.
Jim

[RayinNH]

357, the problem with the rubber or carpet would be seperating the metal from the debris.I'm assuming this is for personal use and wouldn't need to be more than three feet wide. I think I would just build a water trap. You'd be able to use it eight months a year, which would get most of your lead back ( the warmer months). Put a plug on the bottom so you can drain it for winter, or else risk breaking your weld seams when the water freezes. Shoot only lead boolits at it, as jacketed rifle will leave nasty dents and gouges in the plate unless it's AR (abrasion resistant) plate. Leave a plastic barrel nearby to catch rain water for topping it of as it evaporates also. ..Ray

[garandsrus]

357maximum,

My club uses shredded tires at about a 40 degree angle as a backstop. It reallly stops the bullets! The material is about 18" thick. You can find the rubber packages for landscaping materials.

The easiest way to separate the rubber and bullets is to shovel the material into a water bath. The rubber will float and the lead will sink. Scoop off the rubber and put it back in the trap. You could even line the tank with something so that you just need to pull up the liner and all the lead will come with it.

John

[45 2.1]

I had a welder build my boolit trap back around 1980. It consist of two heavy plates at + 45 degrees and - 45 degreesa with about a 2" gap at the back. A piece of circular casing pipe has a slot cut out of it about 4" wide longitudinally and the top plate is butt welded to one side of the cut. The bottom plate is welded to the outside roll of the casing and two flat plats make up the sides. Its hung on two posts and when its time to empty it, I simply remove one support rod and roll it upside down. All the lead comes out of the casing and I return it to its working position and put the rod back in. The boolit hits the plate and slides down into the casing and rolls till it stops.

[Johnch]

45 2.1 could you post a pic or a simple drawing ?

I think I under stand what you are saying .
But I might not :coffee:

To much work .
Not enough shooting

Cut , split , hauled home and stacked 4 + cords of Oak today
My mind is a little numb

Johnch

[45 2.1]

45 2.1 could you post a pic or a simple drawing ? Johnch

It'll take a few days, but i'll measure mine and post a simple drawing of it.

[Pepe Ray]

Positive, Easy & Cheap
Pepe Ray

[robertbank]

I have one made up by a welder similar to that already described only I finally went to a box trap at the back. The pipe I was using kept splitting over time. Works but I have to get a wled repaired. I'll post a picture or two tomorrow.

Take Care

Bob

[ron brooks]

What do al of you think would happen if you built a pipe or rod which was on bearings. On this rod or pipe weld down the length four pieces of plate at 90' angels. This would be balanced. When a bullet would strike the top plate it would spin and this should help prevent disinigration<sp?>. If this spinner was inside a box with a sloping back plate I would think it would work.

Thoughts?

Ron

[357maximum]

All my versions of angled plates simply destroy the boolit...I am leaning towards the rubber landscaping...there is a playground with it locally, took a good long look at it,,,,,, and I think the stuff will work...Need to find a way to make the front of the box..self sealing or mostly so...I thought maybe if I could make the front out of layered tire sidewalls, contained by a replaceble plywood front and fill the rest of the box with the recycled rubber landscaping it would work....the float it in water deal sounds perfect for recovery....I tird pink foam board for insulating....that made one big pink mess....bad idea #373...


catching the boolits has been easy,,keeping them whole, and recoverable,,,well that has simply kicked me in the teeth all along...get alot of dust and alot of waste......

.My dad has a 30 yard pile of sand and that works, but you have to invest alot of time and energy to get the lead back, and over time you lose alot of it to oxidizing...simply looking for a better way...


I would love to see the pictures from the above successes, and would highly appreciate it...


Thanks fellas

[45nut]

.that made one big pink mess....bad idea #373...
:)):

Care to tell us about #350-372?

[357maximum]

.that made one big pink mess....bad idea #373...
:)):

Care to tell us about #350-372?

So far what I have found not to work so well..


O.S.B board in layers...splinters anyone? My thinking was I could remove the chips and the lead put it in an old steel 5 gallon can ,sets it on fire, come back and claim my lead....well....first off...make sure your steel bucket was not soldered together.....I got my lead, but it contained alot of charred grass, AND WAS STUCK TO THE EARTH...STILL SAVED THE LEAD .... NOT A TOTAL FAILURE, but the whole pile of mess of chips/splinters/dust created was less than ideal...

"THE BLOCK" foam archery targets will not even slow a pistol boolit down...total failure...


a big pile of old red bricks...while it will contain a better part of the lead it makes one ell of a mess...cool red dust show though...not a long lasting material..


I tried many different angles of steel plates,,,the boolit blew up 90% of the time,,,not going to work for more than gathering lead/dirt dust...in my opinion...someone show me a pic that proves me wrong...please...

so far I have had the best luck with a three foot in diameter old boxelder stump...shooting into the end grain....the boolits pile up into a blob within the stump , and slowly start ejecting themselves several at a time all mangled and ripped up in front of the stump. It is a little hard on the target paper when they eject though,,,,,,,, there is a lot more boolits in that stump. Maybe if I had 1 big stump for every couple years, i could have a bonfire party to reclaim the lead....that stump would burn for a week though....long party


I saw some special concrete the military uses for catching lead....if I had all of my tax dollars back...I might be able to afford an adequate backstop of that material by 2019...



So far I'm thinking the rubber flap/chips/flap/chips/flap will be my next adventure...I like the use water not fire recovery idea.....I want it about 4 foot square.......I can shoot up to 440 yards , and enjoy shooting that far with guns not normally associated with 400 yards...just for kicks and giggles..and I could also move the target paper around a bit as to not wear out the center too quickly .

I have a clay safety burm behind everything,,,but am looking for a better method of lead retrievel than mining the burm...I have a lot of lead put up and in reserve,,and i would like to keep it that way....and not be required to have an archeology team when it comes time to retrieve my lead...them wheelweights are not getting any easier to get hold of...and my lead pipe supply is finate......glad i got while the gittin was good...

Michael

[ARKANSAS PACKRAT]

Michael look around for some rubber conveyor belting, has cord like a tire and is tough. I had thought about putting it in front of a box of sawdust with plywood baffles, (baffles so I would not have to empty the whole box) I was concerned about oxidation from the sawdust. this may work with the rubber filler. Possible sources? concrete plant or quarry?

[garandsrus]

Michael,

At the indoor and outdoor range I shoot at, there is no front to the rubber. The rubber is at about a 40 degree angle, sloping towards the shooter, of course. The targets are just put on a frame in front of it. The bullets don't wear a hole in the rubber. As they strike they "spray" the rubber a little, but not too much. If you do see a hole developing after a bunch of shots, it's as easy as raking the material back into the hole.

We have a freestanding backstop for the 25 yd line (on the rifle range). I can take a picture of it and send it to you if you would like. It is basically just a box with an open front that has a sloping bottom at about 40 degrees so that the rubber can be put in about a foot deep from front to back (top to bottom).

John

[trooperdan]

If any of you guys are near a military base you might be able to scrounge some of the plastic targets used for rifle practise. The will withstand many many hits with a M-16 or M60, the plastic seems to close up around the bullet leaving a very small hole.. and tougher than woodpecker lips too!

[montana_charlie]

I'm waiting for that picture from 45 2.1, but the shredded rubber sounds interesting. As a container for that, I think a BIG tire (from construction equipment) laying on it's side would make a good one...and a decent target mount.

I'm thinking a tarp on the ground, lay the tire on the tarp, shovel it full of shred.
Then, hoist up one side of the tire, drag the tarp out to float-separate the contents, and reassemble...turning the tire a few degrees if the 'face' was showing too much 'wear'.
CM

[robertbank]

When I was looking for bullet trap designs I googled the topic and ran across a picture of a range where they used shredded tires. Range was outdoors. If you do a search you will likely run in to it.

Take Care

Bob

[dragonrider]

The use of rubber chunks such as chopped up tires as a boolit stop while seeming like a good idea at first can be a major problem. Especialy at an outdoor range where someone might fire a tracer round at it and the resulting fire would be extreemly hard to put out. My club considered it when rebuilding the backstops but decided against it for that reason. Now at someones own personal range Perhaps not a problem. I have visited an indoor range where such a system was installed and according to the owner it was pretty easy to recover the bullets from the material, I don't rememberr how he separated them. Just a thought.;
I also visited an outdoor range that had built a wall of whole tires, lay em down stack them up and fill with sand, as the backstop, this became a problem with boolits bouncing off the tires and coming back uprange. Don't know what the outcome of that was.

[357maximum]

I like the "open pit" idea with the rubber chips....I think my existing box could be modified for that..........do not worry no tracers...just cast/ rimfire and softpoint j words....


I can build the back higher than the front,,for the slope ,and if neccessary cover the whole mess with fiberglass window screen to keep gravity a bay......I have several industrial rolls of "irregular" screening...I use that all bunched up to stop arrows in a heavy cardboard box with a piece of foam at the front to hold the arrows rigid,,,[note] does not stop a boolit either....i tried..only works for arrows......yeah I'm cheap...

Thanks guys...

[PatMarlin]

-subscribe-

[Ricochet]

A caution with the tire bullet trap: Long ago I found that when I shot at the side of an old pickup truck tire with a .22, the bullets would bounce straight back at me. Never got hit by one, but some skittered by in the dirt right swiftly.

[Pepe Ray]

Nothing is perfect.
Pepe Ray

[floodgate]

Our club built a 50-yard "Helldorado" range for CAS work, with tall (10') earth berm on three sides, backed on the outer side with several truckloads of tires we got "for free". First rain, they filled with water, and we had a plague of mosquitoes the following spring. When we decided to get rid of the tires and replace them with heavy RR tie and highway guardrail timbering (8" x 8"), we discovered why we had gotten the tires "fro free". Ever try to empty water out of several hundred tires?

floodgate

[scrapcan]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=3049&highlight=bullet+trap

[BudRow]

After experiencing a couple of failed attempts to make a cast bullet trap for personal use in which the object was to recover the lead, I have what I think will work. I've read all the posts here and was inspired to try some of the tips offered. I went to the junk yard looking for an old hot water heater tank, just a small one say 10 gal. or so. They are galvanized and have a fairly thick wall. What I ended up getting was a scrap 20 lb. size propane bottle (next size bigger than the standard barbaque one). I cut the top off at the point where it became full diameter and then welded three forward facing 5/16 studs. These are used to hold a plywood cover on with wing nuts. Next I bought some of the rubber mulch I read about here and jam packed it as full as I could get it. I had some old conveyor belt rubber laying around so I cut three round pieces and put them on top of the mulch. I had to kneel on the plywood with my full body weight to get the wing nuts started. Finally I put one more piece of conveyor rubber on the plywood to pin the target to. It has worked for cast boolits so far though I have not tried the "J" ones at their higher velocitys. One last note: the rubber mulch I used does not float on water - it sinks.
Best Wishes, Bud

[arkypete]

If memory serves, the spaces between the synapses seems to growing, there was an article about using conveyer belting as bullet stop. The belting was three or four foot wide and four or five foot long.
Four or five belting sheets were hung a foot or so apart, one behind the other, like curtains. The article reported that the bullet trap was long lasting, little to no ricochet. When the front curtain was holed another curtain was hung.
Jim

[357maximum]

Been looking for conveyor belting for awhile now,,,no dice....I do have a stack of sidewalls that I picked up today...all precut and in a bundle...bought them from a local farmer...they use them to hold the sheeting down on the silage in their bunker silos...cost me a 12 pack of milwaukees beast...that curtain idea will get tried also...proably first and with tire sidewalls instead of belting.....wrong time of year to be locating landscape supplies around here apparently...


Thanks fellas,,all good ideas....

[njmj]

357 Maximum,
What angles of the plate have you tried so far? A couple ranges near me have their top plates at 22 1/2 degrees. The slight angle appears to be easier on the plate so I'd think it would be easier on the bullets too. The part I don't like about this type trap is, the plate stops about 3 feet above the ground, so the bullets still end up in the dirt. The idea with a pipe in the back with a slot cut out sounds like the best way as long as the maintenance is low. Maybe a little used crankcase oil applied with a roller once in a while would help, too. We had a plate at a 45 degree angle for 7 yds but the lead and sand compact into a solid mass at the bottom and you almost need dynamite to break it loose. I know it sounds like fun but I didn't have any. (dynamite) Another bad thing about this is you think you have solid lead but it's really about 90 % sand and the rest lead. When you try to melt it, it just sits there. If you ever get it to melt you have 3" of sand and 1" of lead.
To my mind the less extra junk you have to deal with, whether it be wood, rubber, or whatever, the better. Please keep us up to date on your successes as well as failures as I'm faced with the same problem. Good luck, NJMJ

[Hackleback]

I think that there are several commercial "snail" bullet traps. You might want to look into this design.

http://www.snailtraps.com/

This one has several different concepts (including several discussed already) for traps and a lit. cited section at the end. Pictures too!!

http://www.terrancorp.com/sacon/files/sacontri/sacontri.htm

Good luck

[Pepe Ray]

NJMJ.
I can see that your experianced.
Some people just HAVE to spend money. Whether it's material or labor.
Pepe Ray

[357maximum]

357 Maximum,
What angles of the plate have you tried so far? A couple ranges near me have their top plates at 22 1/2 degrees. The slight angle appears to be easier on the plate so I'd think it would be easier on the bullets too. The part I don't like about this type trap is, the plate stops about 3 feet above the ground, so the bullets still end up in the dirt. The idea with a pipe in the back with a slot cut out sounds like the best way as long as the maintenance is low. Maybe a little used crankcase oil applied with a roller once in a while would help, too. We had a plate at a 45 degree angle for 7 yds but the lead and sand compact into a solid mass at the bottom and you almost need dynamite to break it loose. I know it sounds like fun but I didn't have any. (dynamite) Another bad thing about this is you think you have solid lead but it's really about 90 % sand and the rest lead. When you try to melt it, it just sits there. If you ever get it to melt you have 3" of sand and 1" of lead.
To my mind the less extra junk you have to deal with, whether it be wood, rubber, or whatever, the better. Please keep us up to date on your successes as well as failures as I'm faced with the same problem. Good luck, NJMJ


Exactly the problems I have had...i have tried all the way down to 35 degrees, my plates weren't long enough to try 20 degrees.. tha sand turds are exactly what I am trying to get away from.. I hope to get the tire sidewalls cut up and hung in my old dust trap this weekend...I call it a dust trap because that is all I ever caught..was fragments and dust, which turned into powder (oxide) right quick...If I shot 5 pounds of lead into it..I would be real lucky to recover 1 pound of lead to recycle. Hopefully the tire chunks will do better....if not ....I have talked to the guy that tends to the playground, sounds like he may have some excess mulch that could find it's way to my house come spring...time will tell... they buy it by the dumptruck load once every couple of years, and their connection will not deliver less than 5 yards of it. I have thought about that option too, but the fella is over the road right now and apparently his cell phone is off...I promise to update when i know more..

Michael

[PatMarlin]

Cool Links... :drinks:

[357maximum]

NJMJ.
I can see that your experianced.
Some people just HAVE to spend money. Whether it's material or labor.
Pepe Ray

I hate to buy something I can build for time/energy compared to money. I have a bunch of heavy steel plates that used to be boxes for underground gas regulation sites.

the snail traps look neat, but although i can fab/weld, my plans to not include designing a snail trap (yet)...I cannot believe they would work as well as advertised, and not blow the boolit up to some extent...my goal is to catch the boolit in at least a 90% whole version as it was when I pulled the trigger....waste not want not...

[Firebird]

The stuff at this link http://www.justshootmeproducts.com/catalog/component_targets_533165_products.htm is self sealing and should work great as a front curtain for the ground up rubber, but it's expensive, $250 for a 24" square or 36" round target. You could probably talk to them and get a larger plain piece, but it would be even more money.

Edit: Yes, they have pieces as large as 4'x8', but depending on thickness the price goes as high as $1725. Look in the range equipment page.

[357maximum]

The stuff at this link http://www.justshootmeproducts.com/catalog/component_targets_533165_products.htm is self sealing and should work great as a front curtain for the ground up rubber, but it's expensive, $250 for a 24" square or 36" round target. You could probably talk to them and get a larger plain piece, but it would be even more money.

Edit: Yes, they have pieces as large as 4'x8', but depending on thickness the price goes as high as $1725. Look in the range equipment page.

OUCH, ,,,,Hello, My name is Michael...I am a cheap &@$^@!&...I bet it would work, but ouch....I think that a plywood target face will be fine,,a few wood slivers in the melt will hurt nothing...IMHO,,plus i have a bunch of recycled 3/4 inchers already sized to fit old dusty..

I already have an angle iron frame around the old dust collector to affix my target backers...need to modify the pan/cut the rubber flaps and send some lead..hopefully if the family things we are attending this weekend are not too long, i will get my roundstoit...thanks for the link though..

[njmj]

357 Maximum,
I really think the slight angle will be the answer. Although your plates are not long enough ro make the trap with one piece, you can overlap them like shingles on a roof. The disadvantage of this type trap is that it requires more space than an upright vertical type trap. The overlap will have to be the reverse of the way roof shingles are as you're working from the inside up, so to speak. HTH, NJMJ

[357maximum]

357 Maximum,
I really think the slight angle will be the answer. Although your plates are not long enough ro make the trap with one piece, you can overlap them like shingles on a roof. The disadvantage of this type trap is that it requires more space than an upright vertical type trap. The overlap will have to be the reverse of the way roof shingles are as you're working from the inside up, so to speak. HTH, NJMJ


Got ya...and thanks. I am gonna try the rubber curtains/rubber pads and go from there, hopefully I need not look further,,,,If I do... I have lots of plate to try your laminated plate,(never give that a thought, it was too obvious[smilie=1: duh!!) so it may come to that ,iffin the rubber proves unsat...space is not an issue...I have an area 220 yards X 440 yards available for shooting in my back yard...maybe I well build both and torture test them to see whats what...

Thanks
Michael

[ovendoctor]

a few years ago I did a design on a gun range
the divider walls between the ranges were 12 '' thick faced with 2x6 pressure treated wood filled with pea stone
the stone moves wen the bullet strikes it and depleats the energy
it should keep the slug in one piece and not pack like sand
sift the lead out with 3/8'' wire mesh or put the mix of lead and stone in a buckett and shake it the lead will settle in the bottom
I hope this helps

:castmine:

[Old Ironsights]

I went back through the search feature and found a couple of threads, but was wondering if anybody has come up with anything new/better/easier...

I am thinking the ol angled plate box I have already wastes too much lead.....I am going to try filling it with either old carpet/ or rubber tire...any thoughts or pictures to share. for a MO BETTER IDEA .....I have a ton of recycled 3/8 plate that is 2'X3' so material and fab or not an issue....

thanks

Here's a good one I found:


A short description of a lead retrieval device. No patent pending.

A number of people out at my range have been intrigued with an indestructible bucket device I developed several years ago to catch my carbine and musket lead during practice. These people seem to think it is worth describing. Given that most shooters I know are quite content to simply staple a paper target to a cardboard backer, I have no doubt most skirmishers would consider my method as involving a great deal of fuss and bother simply to recycle a relatively cheap metal. In 2006 I retrieved approximately 50 pounds of lead. At the going rate down at the Fort of 75 cents a pound that comes to less than $40 in savings. Big deal. Never the less, I take pleasure at the end of a practice of straining a small bucket load of sand through a wire mesh, picking up the slugs left behind and throwing them back into the pot. To each his own but by request the description of the device follows.

I came across some metal scrap at a local machine shop, two short sections of heavy steel piping 8 - 5/8 inchs outside diameter, 8 inches inside diameter. I cut a section down to a 6 inches depth. I blocked off the back end with a ¼ inch piece of steel cut to the inside diameter of the barrel followed by a circle of ½ inch plywood, also inside diameter, plus a second circle of plywood that fits over the outside diameter. This three-piece assembly is held together with a ¼ inch diameter bolt through the disk centers. This assembly is held in place with four 2-1/2 inch angle irons distributed evenly around the outside and bolted through the steel barrel with short ¼ inch bolts and screwed into the back of the plywood.

The business end of the barrel is closed with a circular 1 inch thick ply of cardboard glued together and cut into a 8 inch diameter circle on a band saw, the outside ply is cut to the outside diameter of the barrel. 3/4 inch wide aluminum clips cut from aluminum angle are distributed evenly around the outside of the barrel and bolted through to hold the cardboard plug in place. They are tightened down with short ¼ inch bolts. I hang a wide variety of paper as well as drywall shapes suspended from a piece of aluminum flatbar bolted to the top of the barrel.

I attached a big 7 inch long utility cabinet handle to the plywood backer of the barrel. It does double duty for carrying the barrel to the target frame as well as providing a support for a loose 2 inch diameter bronze ring. The barrel is hung via a rope which suspends the barrel from the 2 x 4 target frame cross bars at my range. One end of rope is attached to a hook bolted through top front of barrel. The other end is tied to a bronze hook that clips on to the ring attached to carrying handle. Clip and ring are not exposed to errant bullets but I have cut the rope a couple of times at 100 yards.

Barrel is filled with sand. I need to determine the weight but I do not believe it tops 25 pounds. At fifty yards musket and carbine rounds with 45 grains of 3F Goex do not penetrate much beyond three inches. The rounds pretty much flatten out to over an inch in diameter. This shallow depth surprised me when I first started experimenting with primitive lead catchers made of wood. They were heavy monsters because I thought I needed a considerable depth of sand. This barrel of mine can only hold a a 4-1/4 inch depth of sand when the cardboard ply and the steel and plywood backer are deducted from the 6 inch overall depth of the barrel. The steel backer still sports an unblemished high gloss dark green Rustoleum coat. The steel backer is necessary though because the shock waves alone will crack and shatter the plywood backer. I have hit the rim of the 5/16 inch thick steel several times in the past several years but the rim shows no damage.

An inch thick cardboard ply also does not leak sand to a great extent though a couple of strips of duct tape are necessary when the groups are tight. The barrel will telegraph the point of impact. Dead center shots will cause the barrel to rock gently back and forth. 6 or 12 o’clock impacts will cause the barrel to shudder. 3 and 9 o’clock impacts will cause the barrel to swing in the direction of the impact, and any variation between high low, left or right causes a characteristic reaction. Most of the time there is no need to consult the spotting scope.

Like I said, it is more bother than it’s worth for most skirmishers. I simply lucked out finding the cheap steel barrel scrap that proved to be pretty hardy stuff but also proved to be an epic struggle to cut into 6 inch sections (saws-all, hacksaw). I have four of these barrels that I have been using for 3 years now. I estimate I have retrieved and recast over 150 pounds of lead. I did not develop the system to save money for the savings are insignificant. It seems an obscene waste of fine soft musket lead simply to send it spinning into the backstop. A 58 caliber musket can loft a considerable mass of this stuff in very short order. Why not recover some portion of an infinitely re-usable resource. http://www.n-ssa.net/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=6102

[357maximum]

I see another similar thread has been started, so I figured I outta get this updated...


I filled my old trap with the ground rubber landscaping, faced the front of the trap with 3 layers of tire sidewall and a layer of 1/2 inch plywood in front as the final layer...I attach my target to this plywood and consider it an expendable/replacement part...the plywood holds all the other stuff in place being hooked to the trap with four small self tapping screw(there is an angle iron frame outside the trap built inverted picture frame like)....so far I have not shot into it alot as my range is flooded due to this really odd fall/springlike..."winter" we are having....when I get a chance to get to it and open her up and take another looksee I will post some picks...I did open her up once after about 30 rounds of assorted 357max and 3030 rounds and shee seems to work quite nicely....the boolets just run out of steam in the ground rubber landscaping...and hold together nicely...


....for anyone in the mid michigan area...the large outdoor amish furniture/outside jungle jim/lawn ornament store on US 127 just south of Becks farm market and just south of maple rapids road carries the rubber mulch...it is about 6 miles south of m-57 and on the west side of US127...the guy I got my trash bag full from got his from there, and I see that they still have a large pile of it out back the last time I drove by...stay tuned and thanks to all who have helped/offered designs/ideas...I believe I have a winner.....

[schutzen]

DANGER: Do not use Rubber Belting as a back stop! Impregnated fiber rubber belting used on conveyer belts to transport crushed rock/coal and like materials is not a suitable material for a back stop. Low velocity rounds will bounce back to the firing line (21-33-50 feet). Trust me on this one; this is the voice of experience. The company I work for scrapped out a 52"X1"X 2 Mile belt and I was able get a property removal slip for a large section. Set 4 switch ties in the ground as uprights and bolted the belting to it to make a 4 station pistol range. .22LR's and most .38’s bounce right back to the firing line. They hurt and will draw blood through jeans. A return in the face or eye would be bad news.
I am using 20 tons of unwashed river sand as a back stop. $50 per load, no ricochets or returns.

[Old Ironsights]

If you build an angled steel plate trap, one way to prevent splashback is to hang 16mil rubber roofing sheeting in front of the trap.

We started doing this at our 50ft indoor range and it made splash a total non-issue AND it made recovery easier.

While not being fully "self healing" it does close up pretty tight after pass-through and lasts an amazingly long time.

Roofing companies will often give the stuff away (roll ends) too.

[Drifter]

Here's a backstop I built about three years ago and so far it's held up to everything we've thrown at it but we mainly use it for pistols. The back and sides are stacked railroad ties bolted to 6x6 treated post set three feet in the ground. The whole thing is about 12 feet wide, 7 1/2 feet tall , 3 feet deep and filled with about 11,000 lbs. of cut up truck tires. We mainly shoot 22's, 9mm, .40 and .45 cal. at it and none go more than 6 to 8 inches in it. The 2x6 treated boards going across the front can be taken out and replaced when needed. So far I haven't had to replace any of them and when weather permits I normally shoot 3-4 times a week and 2-300 rounds each time. When I shoot a hole through one of them big enough that the tire chunks and boolits start falling out I cover the hole with a 16"x16" piece of OSB, shovel the tire chunks in a five gal. bucket and dump it back over the top. I only use single bullseye targets put in the same place each time to keep from having to replace so many boards.

Drifter :Fire:

[tanstafl10]

Drifter

Thanks for the pic... we are looking to the backstop at our clubs
's range and that is idea I had, but most of the guys are hunters not shooters and we were having trouble visualizing. this will help alot if you do not mind me using it????

[Drifter]

You're more than welcome to use it, hope it works for you.

Drifter

[Bret4207]

Although I have my own sand pit here on the farm to shoot at, I'd also like to be able to recover my lead. I really think the snail type traps are the way to go, provided you still have a sand pile to shoot at for recovery, or maybe some of that new ballistic gelatin stuff I see for sale. Any decent metal shop should be able to roll some 1/2" flat stock, say 12" wide which would give you a big target area, and weld it up in the same design the Savage Snail trap uses. I wouldn't think it'd cost $100.00, maybe a bit more out of agricultural areas. You could actually put a catch pan of sheet metal or plastic under it and I'd think recovery would be near 100%.

Of course I'll never do it, but it's nice to dream.

[DeanoBeanCounter]

Ummmmm...... I'm sorry, but what is OMB? :confused:

[TAWILDCATT]

savage has a bullet trap in which the bullet goes up and spins and drops back down.I have no idea what their web site is.but it might give you better ideas than tires.(hazardist waste):coffee: :Fire:

[Bret4207]

Ummmmm...... I'm sorry, but what is OMB? :confused:

Dean- You mean OSB? Oriented Strand Board- Norborad, Waferboard, Chipboard, Aspenite... I've heard it called all that.

[DeanoBeanCounter]

Your right OSB. Thank you for the answer. It's one of those things where you say "I knew that, I was just seeing if you knew it. :oops: :oops: Oh well, the only stupid question......you know the rest.
thanks

[Coastie]

My 30 yd home range trap is heavy steel plate at a 45 degree angle into a 1/2 (long way) 50 gallon steel water heater filled with sand. It works - fairly well with cast, but most of the bullits are smashed. Jacketed stuff makes dimples, military stuff may make holes and AP is really hard on everything. I let some "guests" use my range . They were supposed to use the berm, next to the trap, but the trap was "Cool". Really cool now - those AP holes allow free movement of air. I'm checking some of the local truck yards for used hard rubber mud flaps for layering in the trap. Thought maybe a rubber front curtin for a target mount and some layers on the plate would protect the plate and keep the boolits in one piece. I'm interested in improving my set-up and.....check your guests ammo - even if they have had law enforcement classes and know all the answers.

[Bad Flynch]

For years I have used a Detroit Master bullet trap. They are no longer in business, I believe. It is made of homogenous armor plate and uses a ramp/slide that feeds into a snail where the bullet expends its energy.

The bullets are mushed up and there are a lot of small bullet pieces, but little or no back-splatter.

I have had it for ~30 years and do not know where one might get another.

[TexRebel]

Just for fun, I use old rubber basket balls for targets, screw in a wood screw in to the inflator hole and hang it with some cord, when the ball gets tore up, cut it open, most of your bullets are inside :Fire:

[calsite]

Sounds like the system we had in the military (Savage manufactured it), angled plate into a deceleration chamber (snail) but I think what came out was pretty much little chunks or dust. Compressed old carpet layers depending on what you're shooting might be a good idea. another idea I had was dirt filled tires

[Old Ironsights]

My basement trap is a thick (12") stack of sisal-backed (no rubber) carpet samples.

Subsonic .22s go 1"-2". Subsonic .38s go about 3".

[mroliver77]

Ironsides,
Please tell more about shooting in the basement. What do you use for ventilation? Very lite .38 loads? What range? I shoot in my shop and stuff is always falling off shelves and such. I do tend to pile stuff though. Jay

[Old Ironsights]

I shoot .22 Colibris and .38 "catsneeze" loads down there. Not a lot, so I just open the window for ventilation.

Range is about 20 feet.

I do it mostly to practice offhand trigger control in my .22 & .357 rifles. (catsneeze out of a pistol is still too loud for the neighboring condo...)