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View Full Version : Do any of you guys use a bullet trap?



yammerschooner
10-20-2005, 11:57 PM
Question kind of says it all. I was just wondering if any of you casters save yourselves some of the lead scrounging by using your own traps. I know the best bet is to make a friend at the local tire shop. I know it isn't cost effective to recycle your own, but I imagine a couple of you like tinkering with a welder.

If you have one, would you mind posting a pic?

Buckshot
10-21-2005, 02:07 AM
...........It would be too much hassle to carry one to the range, and shooting in my garage would have the authorities swooping in (I DO shoot 22 Colibri's on occasion). Not what you're asking for but to 'fire' a bore slug I have a large bag full of folded & stacked rags. Usually 1/2 to 1.5grs of Bullseye will get it done.

On the rare occasion when a full load needs to be fired I have a 4" long piece of 2x2x1/4" steel tube left over from when I was building my reloading and work benches. Roll up a couple rags and stuff'em between the barrel and the pipe. It's done in the back yard and just makes a dull thump.

..............Buckshot

David R
10-21-2005, 06:00 AM
In the winter, I used to put the targets in the same place. In the spring when the snow melts, there lay all of your boolits looking just like you shot em.

David

Bullshop Junior
10-23-2005, 01:13 AM
Well with my family we have to do something because we go through about 1 bucket of wheel weights every 2 monthes. we usualy shoot them into a bank, or during the winter we use the tractor to make a big snow pile and shoot in to that, and when the snow melts off in May there are the bullets. My brothers and I have a fight about who is going to pick up the most bullets. Last winter my dad gave me a coffee can full of 35 cal bullets and when spring came thay were all gone. A lot of the time I use an old blower head for a pellet trap.
DANIEL / BS JR.

charlie / sw mo
10-23-2005, 11:22 AM
Question kind of says it all. I was just wondering if any of you casters save yourselves some of the lead scrounging by using your own traps. I know the best bet is to make a friend at the local tire shop. I know it isn't cost effective to recycle your own, but I imagine a couple of you like tinkering with a welder.

If you have one, would you mind posting a pic?
i do all my paperpunching into a detroit bullet trap at 25 yds. the bullets go into a curved affair in the back of the trap and drop into a bucket. works perfect. tried to post a pic for you but its to big to post. i havent figgered out yet how to shrink a pic. i can e-mail it to you off list if you want.
charlie in sw mo

yammerschooner
10-23-2005, 01:03 PM
If you email it to yammerschooner@yahoo.com I will resize it and post it for anyone else reading this thread.

charlie / sw mo
10-23-2005, 03:35 PM
If you email it to yammerschooner@yahoo.com I will resize it and post it for anyone else reading this thread.
i sent you a pic earlier today--i anybody thinks they want to make one of these i can send the specs
charlie in sw mo

Oldfeller
10-23-2005, 05:27 PM
World's cheapest and most effective bullet trap -- 55 gallon plastic drum filled up with moist sand. Dry sand put into a drum with the lid left off is self-maintaining. Rain enters the top, moistens all the sand and the excess water then exits the lowest holes.

Drum must be made of plastic to "heal" the bullet holes to keep the moist sand from leaking out. Rotate drum frequently to expose new shooting areas.

I stole this idea from Mike Root -- it was one of his better ones as a single drum lasts a long time and is easily mined once it gets too shot up to hold sand any more.

Oldfeller

wills
10-23-2005, 06:28 PM
Here is this business about "rain" again!

yammerschooner
10-24-2005, 08:32 PM
i sent you a pic earlier today--i anybody thinks they want to make one of these i can send the specs
charlie in sw mo

Charlie, I had some problems with my email yesterday, and the pic never showed up. I checked my spam filter and still had no dice. First time I am aware of an email going MIA on me. If you resend I will get it posted.

Over the last day and a half I have begun to get a little paranoid about whether my computer is letting me send and receive emails!

Thanks again.

wills
10-24-2005, 08:46 PM
I have heard the intrepid Carpetman traps cats & sparrows, but finds it greater sport to stalk his boolits with a butterfly net.

Scrounger
10-24-2005, 09:19 PM
I have heard the intrepid Carpetman traps cats & sparrows, but finds it greater sport to stalk his boolits with a butterfly net.

That's wrong; there are a couple of guys with butterfly nets stalking the CarpetMan.They're giving him a suite in the Goodyear Hotel...

charlie / sw mo
10-24-2005, 09:55 PM
i sent you the pics again maby yahoo is screwing it up-- will try the other address
charlie in sw mo

yammerschooner
10-24-2005, 11:03 PM
Within the last hour or so the two pictures you sent both showed up, yesterdays date stamp and everything. It seems yahoo is making some changes in the format of how pictures are sent through their email.

Thanks for bearing with me. Here is the resized pic...

waksupi
10-25-2005, 12:01 AM
I've recently had some problems with Yahoo. I apparently was hit by a data miner, and they were sending things with my return address. I've got some nasty replies back, as the material sent apparently was not what you would send to momma.

charlie / sw mo
10-25-2005, 05:43 PM
i just got off the phone with bob ruggles in verona mo . he has 2 tons or more of linotype that he wants 75 cents a lb for plus shipping. he can get around 70 lbs in one of those postal boxes that sell for one price fits all. he indicated it was ok to post his ph # 417-678-7693. iv got no ax to grind here--just passing the info--he also has the furnace used to melt down material and make ingots--no it wont go in one of the boxes but it will just fit into the bed of a pickup.
charlie in sw mo

robertbank
11-18-2005, 12:47 PM
Would you mind sending me the specs for that bullet trap. I had one made and it works - sort of-. Please send them to:

thenortherncrow@hotmail.com

Oldfeller - neat idea, May try that method depneding on how my attempts at making the new bullet trap work out.

Saty Safe

yammerschooner
11-18-2005, 04:18 PM
I guess if someone else is going to make you go through the effort to get dimensions on that trap, I may as well have you carbon copy me on the email you send them.

I wasn't originally going to ask, since I probably won't do anything with it. But if the numbers are readily available...

My email address is yammerschooner@yahoo.com. (I am thinking you may have deleted it after you sent the pictures to me last month.)

robertbank, what problems are you encountering with the one you had made?

charlie / sw mo
11-18-2005, 05:30 PM
Would you mind sending me the specs for that bullet trap. I had one made and it works - sort of-. Please send them to:

thenortherncrow@hotmail.com

Oldfeller - neat idea, May try that method depneding on how my attempts at making the new bullet trap work out.

Saty Safe
the picture posted is kink of dark--i will get 2 or 3 better shots of it when the suns out and some measurements. dont know if its me or the camera but most of my pictures are to large to post here. easier to send them regular e-mail. looks to me like sombody handy with a torch and welder could make one of these with few problems.
charlie in sw mo

StarMetal
11-18-2005, 06:18 PM
You better believe Yahoo is picky about the pictures on their site now since they got sued over a child porn incident involving those personal rooms with cams. Yahoo dropped over 70,000 of those rooms and I'm glad...pure smut.


We could use those child pornographers here at the Cast Boolit forum, would make dandy medium of testing our cast bullets.

Joe

yammerschooner
11-18-2005, 07:48 PM
Now there is a change of subject.

Child porn- is that why they had the picture issues about a month ago? About the time charlie was originally trying to send me the bullet catcher photos, the format of the pictures on yahoo changed. I had problems getting unmodified photos for a couple of days. Since about three days after Charlies email I have been able to receive unmodified pictures. I wonder if there is a coincidence between the issues I was having a month ago and the one you speak of. It is the only issue I have had with yahoo.

Charlie, once again, if you have pictures you would like resized, I will be more than happy to photoshop them and get them posted. The law of averages would suggest that you shouldn't have as many issues getting pics to me as we encountered last time. Just let me know when you send them so that I know when to miss them. I just looked, and the original you sent me is as dark as the one I posted above. However, it looks like it was shot on a sunny day. Go figure.

Take care.

HTRN
11-18-2005, 11:54 PM
The best system for recovering bullets whole is the shredded rubber traps that are common for government facilities.
http://www.supertrap.com/ST_Photos_files/image_range023.jpg

link (http://www.supertrap.com/)

I wonder how much a small scale system would cost and if you could "do it yourself" with old tires and rented industrial sized treechipper.


HTRN

Four Fingers of Death
11-19-2005, 07:03 PM
The best system for recovering bullets whole is the shredded rubber traps that are common for government facilities.
http://www.supertrap.com/ST_Photos_files/image_range023.jpg

link (http://www.supertrap.com/)

I wonder how much a small scale system would cost and if you could "do it yourself" with old tires and rented industrial sized treechipper.


HTRN

Our govt' facility is a couple of posts with a wire strung between them. Keeps the targets bobbing a bit. Of course most everybody shoots for the wire. Most times when you get to the 'govermint facility' the wire is on the deck again.

45 2.1
11-19-2005, 07:17 PM
I wonder how much a small scale system would cost and if you could "do it yourself" with old tires and rented industrial sized treechipper. HTRN

I've been involved with tire turn in deals and tire recycleing for the power plants to burn as fuel. Most tires are steel belted and need a large shear to cut them up. I don't think a shredder is going to do it.

waksupi
11-19-2005, 07:55 PM
Here's my old bullet trap. It mainly gets pistol and .22, but I also have used it quite a bit with cast rifle loads. It used to be in a printers' shop, where he could shoot his pistols inside.

HTRN
11-21-2005, 01:23 AM
Our govt' facility is a couple of posts with a wire strung between them. Keeps the targets bobbing a bit. Of course most everybody shoots for the wire. Most times when you get to the 'govermint facility' the wire is on the deck again.

Yah, but ours loves to spend money - ours. :x

The advantage of this system is simple - the bullets remain solid - which means for indoor ranges there's no expensive HVAC to deal with lead dust.


HTRN

scrapcan
11-30-2005, 11:35 AM
If any of you with a bullet trap with the spiral trap on the end could give and idea of the construction that would be helpful. making the funnel for the trap/target holder is not a problem, knowing what the spirals look like and how thick of metal they are using would be great.

looks like they start in the 6 to 8 inch diameter range (about the size of the top of a coffe can from the pictures) how quick do they spiral? How many spirals? How thick of strap is used for the spiral and the sides of the spiral housing.

that is to cool. If you had one of these in the shop out in the country, you would have things to do all winter long. I know just the guy that needs one of these. :mrgreen:

more pictures or description can be sent to my email address, should be under my profile. Or if you could post the info so all could see it that would be even better.

Thanks
Jeremy

thanks guys.

Four Fingers of Death
12-01-2005, 04:14 AM
mine are hairy and hop. can't be bothered digging the boolits out though.

charlie / sw mo
12-01-2005, 08:58 PM
If you email it to yammerschooner@yahoo.com I will resize it and post it for anyone else reading this thread.
finialy got some pictures took and will send them to yammerscooner who will shrink and post them.( 5 pics) ill post the measurments on another post.

charlie in sw mo

charlie / sw mo
12-02-2005, 12:06 AM
Within the last hour or so the two pictures you sent both showed up, yesterdays date stamp and everything. It seems yahoo is making some changes in the format of how pictures are sent through their email.

Thanks for bearing with me. Here is the resized pic...
the front of the trap is eighteen and a half inches square.
9 1/4 inches down one side the lenght will be 24 inches to the back center
from one front corner the lenght is 26 inches--that shuld give you the right angle--rember the hole in back is one and a half inches square. questions?
i forgot-- the horn part of this is 1/4 in thick material
charlie in sw mo

yammerschooner
12-02-2005, 12:35 AM
Here is everything I received. Thanks Charlie.

The first picture came with the following:
---top shot of the trap--note the angleiron reinforcement on the edges. the curved part in the back is two in thick--the round part is seven inches across. seems to me if a two inch pipe was cut in half -then bent to the shape you see and a cover welded onto it, it might work. i think this was cast in this shape and welded to the front part. thats a two in pipe on the right side


The second and third pictures have the following commentary:
"this is the underside of the back part of the trap. that hole is three and a half inches across."

The "shop picture" had the following comments attached:
"only had 4 pics for the trap--i load 45-70 here and size my bullets"

Once again, thanks for sharing Charlie. I appreciate it.

yammerschooner
12-02-2005, 07:27 PM
Here is sunp0006. This pic shows how the hole narrows down to 1 1/2 inches.

Thanks again Charlie.

scrapcan
12-07-2005, 09:52 PM
A big thanks to you guys for sharing the info. Especially to Charlie and Yammerschooner. I am going to try to build one of these. The thing I noticed fromt he picure is that the bullet flight will enter the snail trap tangent to the curve and then gradually spin down in velocity. Is that correct?

Any Idea how long it takes to loose velocity and drop out of the snail trap?

Thanks again.

charlie / sw mo
12-07-2005, 11:47 PM
A big thanks to you guys for sharing the info. Especially to Charlie and Yammerschooner. I am going to try to build one of these. The thing I noticed fromt he picure is that the bullet flight will enter the snail trap tangent to the curve and then gradually spin down in velocity. Is that correct?

Any Idea how long it takes to loose velocity and drop out of the snail trap?

Thanks again.
i never gave much thought to how long it took a bullet to become spent but if you look at those pics it looks like it just goes around till it poops out. the paint can that catches the bullets dont get any holes or dents.
charlie in sw mo

mart
12-08-2005, 12:56 AM
I built one several years ago that was a thing of beauty. I lived in a rental house 10 miles out of town and had a 100 yard range. I welded up a big trianglular shaped trap on old steel implement wheels. I could move it to the appropriate distance and go to shooting. It really worked great. I left it in the lower 48 when I moved up here to Alaska. I would have brought it up but my wife thought I was crazy shipping 2500 pounds of linotype, pure lead and wheel weights with my household goods. I am in a subdivision now so couldn't use it anyway but it was sure fun designing and building it. Mart

9.3X62AL
12-08-2005, 02:44 AM
We could use those child pornographers here at the Cast Boolit forum, would make dandy medium of testing our cast bullets.

Joe

Yeah--and they should bring a reporter with them at time of recruitment.