Bullet trap for cast bullets

[HighHook]

Hello, I am new to the forum. I have been casting bullets for 28 years and throwing piles of lead away for too many years and always looking for deals and wheel-weights.

I am just a plinker with lots off steel swingers and was thinking of designing swingers encased in thick steel. Has anybody built these and have some pictures? Info would be great for the future off money savings in the lead.

Thanks in advance, Paul

[303Guy]

Welcom aboard HighHook

Sounds like a good idea. How heavy are you prepared to live with? Lead spatters on hitting steel. No reason why that spatter should not be trapped and recycled.

[HighHook]

Thanks, 303guy

Maybe we will get some food for thought on this thread.

Highhook

[bbs70]

Been thinking about a bullet trap myself for some time now.
Still can't figure it out.
I've even thought about a bullet trap on wheels that I could pull behind my truck and take to the range.

To me.
1. It has to be light enough to be portable, (don't want to leave it at the range or it might get shot up from high powered rifle shooters).

2. Strong enough to stand up to hand gun bullet impacts.

3. Keep splatter and richochets from happening.
I've been to cowboy shoots as a specator and have been hit with bullet splatter and have seen richochets hit close by.

The only thing I have come up with so far is to shoot into a thick piece of a log.
No splatter, transportable, easy enough to come by.
When the log is shot up, I take it home and retreive the lead bullets I can see then burn the rest to get the rest of the lead.

While this won't work shooting for swinging targets, it might be an idea for stationary ones.

[markinalpine]

There are a couple of stickies and other threads dealing with this topic. Here are a couple of samples:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=26627 Currently 309 posts!
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=21235
Welcome to the board.
Mark

[HighHook]

Thanks, bbs70 and markinalpine

The idea of Lloyd Smale's stationary contraption is great but i need portable. i like the idea of the rubber mulch encased in plywood and some steel on another post.
I also have the problem with buddy shooters that tear things up. (whole different story)

Thanks again,
highhook

[markinalpine]

Thanks, bbs70 and markinalpine

The idea of Lloyd Smale's stationary contraption is great but i need portable. i like the idea of the rubber mulch encased in plywood and some steel on another post.
I also have the problem with buddy shooters that tear things up. (whole different story)

Thanks again,
highhook

...using the rubber mulch system. I did an experiment by filling an 12" by 12" by 18" cardboard box with rubber mulch, and shooting it with rimfire through .45 handgun bullets and boolits. The rimfire, .22lr and .22 WMR penetrated about 4-6", the 9mm FMJ and JHPs made it about 12", but the .45ACP and .45 Colt, both cast boolits, blew all the way through (except for one of each, which I recovered at the very end of what was left of the cardboard box).
Anyway, I have an idea now of what I need, but I just haven't had the energy to get the necessaries assembled.
Mark
ps, you're welcome.

[montana_charlie]

I have one gong I shoot at sometimes, which is from a disc plow...and has a dished surface I shoot into.
After about forty rounds, I went down to see which way the lead spatter was headed as it left the vicinity.
It went away at an angle slightly forward of the impact surface.

To catch that spatter, I plan to set a tractor tire in position so the gong hangs in the opening, but slightly to the rear of center...more or less even with the rear bead.
I also plan to insert some 'spacers' all around to keep the two beads stretched away from each other to make a larger 'cup' to catch the lead.

The part I don't know about this plan is...Will the tire stop the lead, or will it penetrate?

CM

[sheepdog]

The rubber mulch trap can't be bet. Cheap light and portable!

[thx997303]

Relatively cheap anyway.

[harrya]

What I use as a trap is a stack of 4 ft long telephone poles laid on top of each other. They're against 2 fence posts with the holes in them. I screw 4 or 6 inch lag screws or even just large nails to hold them up. As a safety back up to that I have 3 stacks of tires filled with sand in a triangle setup. That's mostly for my peace of mind, BUT do have a few holes in them, so they do work. Behind that is about 1/4 mile of GA Swamp!!! When the poles get shot up, remove and insert new ones. NOT portable, but works for me.
harrya

[Vance in Ak]

The range I shoot at is made up of sand oits. I plan to take some copier paper boxes & set them end to end then fill them with sand. I'll shoot into targets on the end & see if it stops ok. I'll just poor them out through a frame with 3/8" hardware colth in the bottom to sift my bollits (480 ruger & 450 Marlin) out.
Should be cheap (free) & portable.

[mannyCA]

heres a link to a post I put up showing my trap and results, best part is you can back the truck up into the garage and throw it in.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=71370

[geargnasher]

Jim's sticky on boolit traps, I think was posted above, somewhere about page five (the way I view it) he has an exhaustive list of calibers and penetration data, more than you wanted to know I assure you! Check it out: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=26627

Gear

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
Check out the other bullet trap threads.
i described mine there. it is portible, on wheells. stops 44mag lead,357 FMJ, & 7MM/06 LEAD . 1,000'S OF ROUNDS SO FAR.

[XWrench3]

i know, leaving all that precious lead behind really sucks! i shoot out on public land. the usfs has inadvertantly created a great place to shoot by using huge stumps to block off a two track that used to be used to get around out in the woods. they wanted people to only walk out there i guess. that lasted about 3 months before somebody blazed trails around the block offs. anyway, i (and many others) use this area to shoot into. it works very well, but i sure wish i could bring home all that lead. for me, i would have to make some kind of trailer type thing to shoot into, or it would just disapear.