Boolit Trap

[Steph]

I’ve learned so much from reading on this site I thought I’d give something back. I got into casting a few years ago to save a little money and because I just enjoy doing it. With the scarcity of scrap lead and the cost to buy new, I thought it would be worthwhile to try and trap the lead I shoot.

I did a bit of research on this site and online in general. Most of the traps I saw stopped the boolit with a purpendicular hit, which often “vaporized” the lead. I set out to build a trap that would slow the boolit and try and keep it more in one piece, less lead dust.

I found some 1/2” steel plate and a piece of 8” schedule 80 (1/2” wall) steel pipe. I’ll let the pictures tell the rest.

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[MUSTANG]

The tool bar just above the box you type your text into has an icon (count three icons from the right side; going left). That icon will allow you to add a pic. a Pop up block will appear; select Click either the From Computer or the URL option. If you select the URL; be aware that some pics on the Web can not be attached to the site here as they have protection codes embedded that prevent linking to them.

[deltaenterprizes]

If you make a V shape with the pipe ( spin out chamber)in the middle with the whole thing vertical
you can catch all of your boolits in a 5 gallon bucket under the pipi!
I saw this design at an indoor range I sold boolits to when I was a commercial boolit caster.
The V was about 90 degrees, the top and bottom were at an angle also.
The equipment is still in use in a range called “ Jefferson Indoor “ in Metairie Louisiana .
You want to use AR500 plate.

[Steph]

More pictures (if I can get it to work). Worked in testing area.

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[Conditor22]

steph, welcome to posting on CB

I have found that IMGUR is the easiest way to add pictures

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?375622-Posting-Pictures-using-IMGUR

Adding pictures directly from your computer is a pain (you need to downsize the pictures to under 200kb and your limited to the amount of storage space you can use)

Looking forward to seeing your pictures. OSOK did a boolit trap recently which turned out nice.

[Steph]

So I think I did what DELTAENTERPRISES suggested. My idea was to have the boolit enter the pipe tangentially to the inside edge of the pipe and it would then spin out and fall to the bottom.

It works pretty good. Still smashes the boolit. There are a few good chunks but a bit of dust too. The wood is from the board I put my targets on. It burns out in the casting.

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There is a little splatter up and down out of the trap when the boolit hits the side. I discovered this by putting a piece of paper over the top. There were very small pin holes in the paper after a few shoots. The bigger problem is when a small piece of lead spins out the top of the pipe! Got “shot” with a B.B. size piece. I took it out of service after that until I made a lid for the top of the pipe. Works great now!

Have reshot the same lead several times now. That’s cheep shooting!

[Steph]

Thanks for the suggestion. I will definitely check that out.

[Baltimoreed]

Neat project. Is it supposed to be shot at with the pipe vertical or horizontal? If horizontal you could seal the ends and fill it with water to collect all the lead. Might keep the bullets in one piece too.

[Gewehr-Guy]

That's a neat idea for a trap, I'm sure I could find enough iron around the farm to build one, but it's all covered in snow now, not like the green paradise where you live :razz::razz: If I do ever get one built,I'd like to mount it on a small trailer to pull it to any distance , and to be able to mow around it.

[Steph]

I designed it and use it with the pipe vertical, so the lead drops down into a pan. From there, I drop it straight into the melting pot. I hadn’t though about laying it down. I guess it could hold water that way and slow them down much faster.

[Steph]

Gewehr-Guy - the photos were taken in the summer of 2017. I’m in Iowa and we have a frozen mess outside now. I haven’t calculated it but I’m guessing mine weighs around 400-500 lbs. I move it around with a compact tractor/loader. A trailer would be a lot more convenient though!

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

Cool! This is what mine looks like. I built one similar to yours. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLyiA8Udq-k

[Baltimoreed]

My bullet trap is made from a large rectangular steel funnel called a splitterbox that I bought from the plant where I used to work 25-30 years ago, paid 68.00, it weighs 680 lb. I had my local welding shop weld some steel to the funnel end to direct the stuff towards the ground into a bucket but if I would have thought it through I would have made a better system to collect the lead.

[Steph]

Coyotehunter - exact same principle! In all my searching when I was developing my plan, I didn’t run across yours. Good to know 1/4” plate works for most/all handguns. I got my material from a scrap yard. They pull out the usable stuff and sell it for about 1/3 the price of new. 1/2” is what they had so I went with it. I think the angle of hit makes a big difference. I tried to get mine around 15-20 degrees. I’d like to try my 308 on it sometime. Maybe this summer. Thanks for sharing.

[Steph]

Baltimoreed - I saw yours when I was reasearching for my plan. Great idea! To fabricate that though would have been a little trickier. How thick is the first elbow? Does it take direct hits if you shot into the center of it?