Home built target stand/ boolit trap

[moptop]

Here are a few pictures of the boolit trap my buddy and I use indoor in his horse arena/barn. The boxed area right below the bottom of the targets is filled with sand. We have used it for almost everything, .22LR, both handgun and rifle up to 25yrds, 9mm, .38spl, .45ACP, .44 BP RB, & .45 BP RB. It's worked great so far, no holes anywhere yet! I'm not going to tempt it with any .357mag loads to be on the safe side and definitely no rilfe cals other than .22LR. We put it on sled rails so he can pull around it with his four wheeler. What easier way to reclaim & reuse our lead. Amazing what one can build with scrap & junk.

I've seen several posts asking about boolit traps so I thought I would share. Hope it helps.

[44Vaquero]

Great Idea! How thick is the steel plate?

[moptop]

Vaquero, the plate is only 3/8" thick. It has that diamond pattern on one side. We got it from a metal salvage yard for 15 bucks.

[Daywalker]

Impressive!!

[geargnasher]

Nice work!

The only thing I would caution against is the wooden sides. Spatter from the boolits making it all the way back to the plate can easily exit the sides, and the abrasion to the inside of the sides is cumulative.

You can do the same thing with a thinner box make from 2x12 lumber for the sides, bottom and vertical partitions every foot or so, an OSB front, back and a layer of tarpaper and cardboard or asphalt sheathing on the front for a target mounting pad, and put your steel plate on the back for a fail-safe. I have made lots of these filled with used blasting sand and I have only shot through them when hitting the same place three or more times with a .45/90 or .30-'06. Also, mine are all made from 2x8 lumber, the 2x12 should be impenetrable if you maintain it well and add steel behind. I use berms behind mine, so no steel back. This type of trap recovers the boolit whole and not splattered to pieces, so the sand can be sifted and the boolits recovered easily and recast when the front gets shot up and it's time for an overhaul.

Gear

[mroliver77]

Kind of late here but do your boolits splatter, shatter or otherwise break up? Your steel is at quite a steep angle. I figure maybe that helps to lessen the damage to the boolits.
Jay

[moptop]

The .22's seem to be the only ones that do shatter. We set the plate at that angle to act more like a guide or deflector rather than a back stop for that very reason. My friend wanted to put it at a 45 deg angle but I thought it was too steep and would just end up shooting holes in it. So far, so good.