Rubber mulch for trap question

[Messy bear]

I currently use sand/sawdust mix in my trap at 15" deep. Not many will get to the back of it. I could move the baffle and get close to 4 ft deep. Would that be adaquate for rubber mulch?
If so, what size are the mulch pieces and do they screen out or do you manually separate? Thanks

[tazman]

I am interested in the answer to this as well.

[john hayslip]

We have a newly opened shooting range near my house. The owner is Eric Kinnear and he is a "straight shooter" He did almost all the work himself and is using rubber backstops. He allows shooting of up to 223 rifles on one of the two ranges.

I'm sure if you'd keep questions short and simple he'd be glad to answer.

Contact him at bigkountryshooting@yahoo.com notice the "k"

[BIGRED]

the pieces are Prune sized. some are shreds and some are chunks. they range in size from grape sized chunks/shreds to prune sized. i made 2 traps 1 is 18" square by 7" deep. i have a 3/16"steel plate behind the mulch, this stops anything that makes it thru the 1st few inches. i have a piece of plywood on the front, with a piece of 1/8" rubber mat sandwiched between plywood face and mulch. this serves 2 purposes. 1 is to keep the splinters out of mulch, 2nd is keep mulch in target. I manually remove the boolits by dumping it all out on tarp spreading it out and picking out boolits by hand. my kids, nieghbors, friends enjoy searching for boolits (i don't know why) my larger target is 24" square and 10" deep with a 1/4" steel plate behind mulch. (this dude is heavy.... 2 man lift) Rubber mulch works fantastic.... you may get some packing of boolits if you aim for the same spot every time. this is where the steel plate comes in. the boolits will slowly burrow deeper if shooting in the same spot.

i do not know what optimal depth of mulch is. Mine retain all pistol bullets and light rifle loads. even stops my shotgun and muzzleloader bullets. and a few 50 Beowulf's. if you were to use only mulch (in a big pile) i would assume 3 feet deep would be more than adequate.

Ron

[Bloodman14]

The stuff I use is crumb rubber of the type used on playgrounds under the swingsets and monkey bars. I get it at Lowe's. See this thread.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?233117-If-all-the-COWW-were-gone

[.30/30 Guy]

I am using the stuff from Lowes. I am using a box 26 inches deep. It stops .357 mag, .44 mag and .30 caliber at about 2000 fps.

[JeffinNZ]

Rubber is good until you get a fire! We had rubber at our club and a fire got into it. Bit of a nightmare it was at 4am.

[shaune509]

What started the fire? Tracer rounds, trash and matches, or spontaneous combustion?
Shaune509

[JeffinNZ]

What started the fire? Tracer rounds, trash and matches, or spontaneous combustion?
Shaune509

We still don't know.

Scroll down for the photos: http://www.nzha.co.nz/?page_id=807

[.5mv^2]

We have been using old business papers. Instead of shredding them with a machine we shred them with bullets. My supply is starting to dry up. The big box stores have shredded rubber for about $6-8 for .8 cubic feet. There is a tire shredding business less than 20 miles from here. When the time comes I am going to call them.

I wonder about smelting the bullets after they have some coating of rubber on them.

[Bloodman14]

We have been using old business papers. Instead of shredding them with a machine we shred them with bullets. My supply is starting to dry up. The big box stores have shredded rubber for about $6-8 for .8 cubic feet. There is a tire shredding business less than 20 miles from here. When the time comes I am going to call them.

I wonder about smelting the bullets after they have some coating of rubber on them.

Do it outside! The smell will drive you outside if you do it inside, anyway. SWMBO will kick you outside if you do it inside. Do it outside!

[shooter93]

The local Gun maker here test fires everything he builds or chambers in the basement of his shop. We have a 55 gallon drum set at a slight angle and filled with tire mulch. Noting has ever penetrated the barrel and this includes a 460 Weatherby or any double rifle even when solids were shot r any mil-surp ammo. Tracers can IGNITE tire mulch though....that happened at an outdoor range and for sure the dust comes off the rafters when the big ones are shot.

[nicholst55]

Caswell sells indoor range equipment that utilizes shredded tires - with a steel backstop. We had one in the sandbox on a 40' semi-trailer that would contain up to 7.62X51mm NATO - as long as nobody used tracers!