Boolit trap

[RU shooter]

I have been thinking of making a boolit trap for my back yard as the little pop of my light loads dont seem to bother the neighbors any but I'm still worried about a ricocet or a one going astray. What i was thinking of is a box made of wood and then line the insides bottom , 3 sides and top with some sheet steel from work maybe 14 ga. for the front i would cut out a section to hang the target say 12"x12" and screw in a pc. of rubber conveyor belt .5 thick , then fill the box with sand to actually stop the boolit and put a steel lined pc of wood for the top on a hinge was trying to guestimate how deep i should make this box though? Would 16-18" of sand be enough to stop 150-185 gr 30 cal boolits in the 1000-1200 fps range@ 50yds ? I know how much wood it takes to stop them but never shot into sand for penatration testing. Any Ideas fella's....................................RU

[Hackleback]

There is a recent thread about traps, might try the link below

http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=11313&highlight=trap

[357maximum]

I updated the linked thread with my success...my trap is rather large..but I imagine a 2'X2'X2' box filled with ground up rubber landscaping will do you just fine...so far so good....the tire sidewalls used as facing self heal for the most part and do not leak any of the contents out...a thin piece of 1/4" luan plywood should be all that is neccessary as an expendable target board to tape or staple your paper targets to...

[imashooter2]

I don't think 14 ga (.075) will stop the bullets. You'll probably need something considerably more substantial. I once upon a time built a trap of the sort you're describing. I used 2 sheets of 10 ga (.134) back to back hung on a 60 degree angle to deflect bullets into a box of sand. I only shot .22's, .32 ACP and .380 ACP into it. Over time, the double sheet of 10 ga dished from the constant bullet hits. It dished a lot, as in made a bowl that began to direct splatter back toward the shooter.

I found I didn't need much sand. 6 inches was plenty in my application. Double that in yours should be adequate. The deflection off the steel takes a lot off penetration.

[tomf52]

+1 on what 357 Maximum described with the shredded rubber material. This seems to be what a lot of the new commercially built ranges are doing. Just make it deep enough. I've been thinking about making a trap myself for .22's in the bassement. I have a 58' long basement so I can put in a 50' range. I was thinking of a box with 2' square frontal area about three to four feet deep filled with the shredded rubber. If you make it deep enough you don't have to worry about material retention in the front. Just slope the material up towards the rear. My thoughts were for 1/4" plate on a vertical back wall and about 1/16 sides, top, and bottom with an angle iron frame. An added feature of using this material is that the lead can be picked out by dumping the shred in water, rubber floats, and the lead would sink to the bottom to be scooped up.

[alamogunr]

I made this trap:

http://www.reloadammo.com/backstop.htm

Except I made it quite a bit larger since the .25" thick steel plate I had was larger and I didn't have the means to cut it. At a 45 degree angle, a heavy .45 Colt load didn't even dent it. I haven't shot it with any rifle loads yet.

Doubling thinner sheets won't prevent dishing. The top sheet will yield and transfer to the back sheet.

[RU shooter]

I don't think 14 ga (.075) will stop the bullets. You'll probably need something considerably more substantial.

I found I didn't need much sand. 6 inches was plenty in my application. Double that in yours should be adequate. The deflection off the steel takes a lot off penetration. Oh yes I'm aware that 14 ga mild plate would not be enough ,The idea I have in my head about this contraption is that the sand in the box would be the only thing contacting the bullet I didnt want a angled plate for the bullet to impact as in the other designs, only the sand to soak up the energy,the 14 ga was just basicly to be a liner .

If need be I could put a .375 plate on the back wall as a" just in case" I am leaning towards something like 18"H x 24deep x 18"w

[imashooter2]

Ah! I see now. In that case, I like the shreded rubber filler much better than sand.