Bullet trap ideas for recycling lead

[JIMinPHX]

Sparkz,
About 15 years ago, I tried stacking up some railroad ties & using them for a backstop. Everything was find until a shot hit right at the seam where 2 of the ties met. A lowly .22lr went right out the back.

If you shoot at stacked wood, you need to have something behind the seams. If you cut thick cookies out of a big log & shoot into the flat end, you are probably safer. I think that if you look back about a hundred pages or so, you will find pictures that were posted by people who shot into stumps & then burned them to recover the lead. As I recall, it worked out well. I suspect that the act of burning the log acts to flux the lead as a bonus.

[JIMinPHX]

did a quick sketch of a propane tank trap idea that popped into my head with pistols in mind..





maybe pool some media at the bottom

I really like this one. It could be a trap in the morning & a smelting pot in the afternoon.

[sparkz]

Jim Thats what we are doing we shoot the cut end and have a mountian behind it so we will mine that too if we shoot poorly haha
but so far its working out,, also have an Idea about Convayer belts cut to fit a large Flat rate box ( LFRB) full to top with squares of this stuff and open or replace box as needed so I am tryin to see if "weeser" can ship me a box or two of that material so we can try that one to

Il let you all know what and how its working


Patrick

Sparkz,
About 15 years ago, I tried stacking up some railroad ties & using them for a backstop. Everything was find until a shot hit right at the seam where 2 of the ties met. A lowly .22lr went right out the back.

If you shoot at stacked wood, you need to have something behind the seams. If you cut thick cookies out of a big log & shoot into the flat end, you are probably safer. I think that if you look back about a hundred pages or so, you will find pictures that were posted by people who shot into stumps & then burned them to recover the lead. As I recall, it worked out well. I suspect that the act of burning the log acts to flux the lead as a bonus.

[Whizzer]

Sparkz, the biggest share of OEM belting for the balers that make big round bales is made in my home town. The errors, drops, and overruns go into a big trailer which they pay somebody to haul off. I have permission to go get some, but it's heavy. (PM sent with my phone number)

Since my post a page or two back, which refers to this belting idea that I borrowed from someone else, I've built several traps of Crumb Rubber. I use 5 gallon plastic buckets and lids from Home Depot, and their RED Rubber Mulch. I like 'em.

In the bottom, I cut a round disk of treated 2 by 12 (with no knots) and under the lid, a round disk of foam floor matting from Harbor Freight to aid in holding in the crumb rubber when the lid gets too shot up. I costs me about 13 bucks per trap, and easily stops my cast boolit handgun rounds. 9mm, 357 mag, 38 spec, 380 ACP, and 22 rimfire. Even mousephart rifle rounds are too much for one bucket, but JIMinPHX suggests two buckets, which I have not tried. I can stop a 150 grain Lee round flat nose over 9.6 grains of Unique that lodges in the wooden disk from a 30-30 Winchester levergun, but any heavier loading than that is out the back.

I'm my opinion, doubling the buckets is going to stop a LOT of pretty hott lead. And you can always add a steel disk, but I've not tried that yet either. The rubber mulch pours out easily into a larger container, to sort for lead, and it's a light weight, portable solution.

But like I said in my PM, call me and we'll get you some baler belting on a UPS truck. I'm anxious to get a review.

And what is that avatar of yours? If it is for real, that guy had a really bad day!

[sparkz]

""what is that avatar of yours? If it is for real, that guy had a really bad day! ""Not me BUT
He was an Electrician like me working in CO, and was useing a Greenlee Naileater bit (like a ship auger but for power drill)
he fell off a 5 foot ladder and went thu his EYESocket and loged as you see the real X-Ray!! after Hours of surgery it dawned on Dr to Just Unscrew the bit! but he had to Unchuck the Naileater on the job him self!! (What a guy huh) brother in law drove him from job to hosp, wher it "Cught the eye of surgen, and work started"
guy walked out of hosp like 3 days later with a GOOD Eye!!
and ya know electricans are crazy to do what they do so noone can tell if any brain damage haha

But yes true story and real X-Ray, Electrician having a Bad day...

Il see if we have that material but still may hit ya up for a FRB
for R&D,,

Patrick

[Whizzer]

Amazing story, and I believe it! Seems like his "number just wasn't up".

Speaking of numbers, you've got mine in a PM so call it anytime about the rubber belting.

Stan

[freebullet]

I blame you guys...

[freebullet]

It needed to be light small cheap and easy. I figr it should stop handgun rnds short of 357. It has 1" coarse sand sheetmetal plate 3" of sand 2 layers of carpet rubber mulch carpet layer more rubber mulch 2 more carpet layers packed in tight. Carpet on lid outside also. Won't have time to test till the weekend.

[shooterg]

So how hard is the steel in a backhoe/excavator bucket ? I can get a fair sized one for hauling it, about 3' x 3' inside The angle of the inside as it sits on the ground would deflect boolits down, maybe dig a pit and line with sand/rubber mulch ? Just use my "political" sign collection stuck in front to staple targets to. Should be OK for lead. Maybe not so alright for jackets ?

[grumman581]

So how hard is the steel in a backhoe/excavator bucket ? I can get a fair sized one for hauling it, about 3' x 3' inside The angle of the inside as it sits on the ground would deflect boolits down, maybe dig a pit and line with sand/rubber mulch ? Just use my "political" sign collection stuck in front to staple targets to. Should be OK for lead. Maybe not so alright for jackets ?

If I remember correctly, power equipment like that has a hardened replaceable wear edge on the digging side and the rest of it is a more normal steel. Considering the fact that the buckets are usually curved, you might want to work out all the angles on paper to ensure that you don't have a first or second order reflection (ricochet) that might have it coming right back to you.

[BIGRED]

i made one then after seeing how effective it was i built another "smaller one".
1st one was a 2' square box made from 2X10 pine. the 2X10 is the frame (sides) of the box. I screwed on a 2 foot square piece of 1/2" plywood on the back. Inside the box i placed a piece of 3/16 steel and drilled 2 holes and bolted it to the back plywood so it would not shift. i then layed it down and filled it with rubber mulch from Home depot ($5 per bag) took 2-1/2 bags to fill. then i placed a 18" square recycled rubber tile in the front where bullets would come in from. this was in the garden section also $6, it was for a outdoor patio DIY walkway. then i placed a 2' squared thin 1/16" piece of rubber floor mat across front screwed on a piece of 1/2" plywood 2' sq on the front and put on 2 handles on the top to carry it. i have shot it with everything from .22 up to 45 acp, jacket and cast bullets. most bullets are 100% intact and reusable (if you dare) (tried it and got inconsistent ejects). when i get home from shooting i lay it flat unscrew the wood face and all of the wood splinters / chips are right on top because the thin rubber floor mat kept it out of the mulch. after i dump the wood off, i remove the 18" tile and start digging for lead. my kids fight over the digging, not kidding... they love it. as you dig transfer the mulch to bucket. the steel plate in the back keeps everything inside in case you shoot in the same place alot it will create a slight channel and the bullets will stack up in one spot by the plate. Sense most people never reuse the bullet, it doesn't much matter what condition they are in. just so you get 100% of them back for melting. i now have 2 and have to say the big 2' square one is a 2 person lift, the smaller 15" square with 2X6 is much more manageable. my friends shot at it as well so i get to keep 100% of the lead shot at it. i would assume if you wanted one for rifle loads you could beef up the rear steel plate to 3/8" and put it at an angle to deflect bullets inside the box. i have about $30 in the big box and maybe $15 in the smaller box. it really works well.

Sorry but i have not taken pictures of it yet.

[Springfield0612]

Update on bullet buckets: I've been using the bullet buckets now for a couple months. Initially they were working well when I was using rubber backed carpet in layers with with rubber mulch. Once the carpets wear out then I was getting pass throughs out the back of the buckets with .45 acp and 9mm cast reloads. They seemed to handle 50 rounds or so before they started punching through the back. Anything more then 100 rounds I completely destroyed some buckets. A fellow shooter (that will remain nameless to prevent any unwanted couch sleeping) that uses my other bucket is still working on her accuracy and has a tendency to hit the edges of the buckets and has blown out the sides.
So my next venture is to take the propane tank/bucket idea a couple pages before and use the rubber mulch instead of sand. Hoping that the tank will keep the bullets from passing through the sides and blowing out the mulch every where! Buckets are cheap, and lids are cheap, but I can buy used propane tanks for $10/ea. That's 3 buckets with lids brand new cost wise. I've all ready used twice that!
Thanks for all the great ideas on this thread!

[freebullet]

Well i tested it out.
Attachment 68185

[freebullet]

No bullets made it to the sand. The girls did shoot the stand right out from under it. We fired 200 rnds at it.
Attachment 68187

[freebullet]

We shot 38-45-9 at it. Next time we will see if 357 makes it to the metal.
Attachment 68191Attachment 68192

[freebullet]

It's been kinda of a neat little project. Have to thank yall for the ideas.
Attachment 68193

[Springfield0612]

Here's the propane tank bullet catchers.

[JIMinPHX]

I'm thinking of a sort of bullet trap, what it is is really just my rifle plate that I would put into a wooden jig that supports it at around 45 degrees. Underneath I would have a box filled with sand, it would probably extend a foot around the stand itself. I think the stand could be rigged so the plate could move a bit rather than be static, like the lower portion could lift when hit, to minimize wear on it. Material is Armox 500.


The idea is: I shoot at plate, bullet ricochets/splatters into the sand of the box. Allows me to recycle it sometime in the future. You could also hang a paper target infront if you wished.

This guy had a sort of similar solution to what I am thinking, mine would be for outdoors use:
http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/...t_Trap_001.jpg

Conceptually, that is pretty close to my "boolit trap Jr." that I posted in the first few pages of this thread. That one had issues with boolit spatter eating up the wood in a few small areas. I suspect that you will have the same issues. You might want to look back to see the wear on my wood so that you can add a little sheet metal to improve durability.

[58 Siesta]

I really like the simplicity of the JIMinPHXs design. Has anyone tried that style (angle deflect) with a water-filled catch bin? Seems to me a person could get near 100% recovery of material that way. Just a lurker finally stepping out of the shadows here...

[moptop]

Here's the boolet trap that my brother built. The bottom is just filled with sand. It's very easy to clean. I just pull a rake with some hardware cloth (square hole chicken wire) stretched across it thru the sand.